Gloomwood

Unironically the best horror game I've ever played. To put it shortly, game doesn't have amazing graphics (and personally, I think poorish quality graphics leave room for imagination, and it gets the messaging to the point, think of half life 1 and 2), but it makes up for that with ambiguity and amazing setting and sound design. There has been no "boring" part of the game (at least for the first 5 hours). The game tries very hard to make all areas thematically "unwelcoming" to keep tensions high, and when something is happening out of your control (or even in your control, for now), even higher. The Game will always keep you on your toes with hints of what's to come having a story, but always something unexpected. The game will always give you an idea of what you are getting into as well, making you excited for more. Lots of alternate approaches to get to the same end. Backtracking is actually meaningful, you can't carry everything on your person so if you are playing on normal (or hard if you are doing very good) and feel like you are missing a resource, you'll probably remember: "oh hey I think I saw more ammo back in this building." Additionally, there is a lot of optional content that you can outright miss out on, or choose not to interact with. Lastly, going loud IS possible, albeit it cant be done ALL the time, you cant take too many hits (without healing or some specifically well developed "tainted blood" so you better just take out the big-un's first) especially with how the guns are designed. The guns will take out groups of enemies on their own, however reloading is slow and is obviously LOUD. Not a single cheap scare in the game, only stakes and tension. Also, I don't know if this is an oldhead term, but my friends have supposedly NEVER heard about "the funnies" comic strips. This is just here to make fun of them.