When looking at common levels in video games – most especially horror games – hospitals tend to come up incredibly often. While nobody knows for sure why it’s so popular a setting, some players can name a few digital hospitals that are reason enough.
A building that’s meant to represent solace from sickness and injury can have an entirely new purpose in video games. Sure, in most games, hospitals are where you heal, but in others – it’s where you avoid if you want to stay alive.
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Either way, hospitals aren’t going to be going anywhere anytime soon, especially as more games make their way into the limelight.
One thing is for sure about these hospitals in video games, though: they’re even scarier in horror settings.
10Wildberger Hospital
Tormented Souls
Fans of classic horror games who stumble uponTormented Soulswill be hit with wave after wave of nostalgia for their favorite horror titles. It’s a love letter to classic PS1 horror with updated graphics, complete withintricate puzzlesandfixed camera angles.
Of course, the game is also home to a classic setting: theWildberger Hospital. This hospital, uniquely enough, started off as a mansion, before being converted into the haunted building that we end up being trapped in by the start of the game. Because, clearly, a simple mansion wasn’t enough anymore.
You spend the game trying to escape with your life, especially after you wake up with an eye surgically removed. That’s definitely a motivator to want to get out of there.
Navigating the hospital is a challenge, as the darkness itself is deadly if you’re in it for even a second too long. This forces players to have to choose between carrying a light or a weapon with them, adding to the overall tension that the hospital provides.
Classic horror fans would get a kick out of the mansion/hospital combo, a double-whammy of fears that remains simply unforgettable.
9Riverside Institute
Call of Cthulu
Call of Cthulhu
H.P. Lovecraft, regardless of how you feel about him, revolutionized the horror genre with his macabre and unexplainable fears. This is also known asCosmic Horror, andCall of Cthulhuin particular almost always comes to mind in the subgenre.
Call of Cthulhuis anXboxRPG horror game where you play as the private investigatorEdward Pierceas he works to uncover the truth about theHawkins Family. Allegedly, they died mysteriously in a fire – that is, until you encounter Charles Hawkins, the patriarch, when he kidnaps you and takes you toRiverside Institute,where you’ll spend a good chunk of time.
Whileit’s hard for games to nail Lovecraftian horror, the Riverside Institute is something else entirely – a mental asylum and Sarah Hawkins’s prison. Charles, deranged and believing his daughter to be an Oracle, was keeping her hostage there.
The entire level is unnerving and when the horror really starts to pick up the ante. While I’m not the biggest fan of cosmic horror personally (it’s just not really my thing), the game does a good job with its atmosphere, especially at Riverside.
So, that just makes everything all the sweeter when you escape and burn the institute to the ground.
8Pokémon Center
Pokémon Franchise
Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!
In essentially every singlePokémongame, in every town and every region, aPokémon Centeris available to take care of you and your precious friends. Not to be confused with the in-person stores thatNintendohas around the globe, Pokémon Centers are hospitals for Pokémon.
Pokémon Centers (also colloquially called aPokéCenter) restore your Pokémon’s HP, PP, as well as any and all status effects completely for free. The facility is run by aPokémon Center Lady, who is calledNurse Joyin the anime.
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Eversince the very first generation of Pokémon, these medical centers have been helping heal countless different injured Pokémon as well as provide relief to their owners. So long as players can find a red roof, they’ll find a way to take care of their Pokémon after battle.
Keep in mind, this center is only available in fully-released games of Pokémon, meaning that the related apps (such asPokémon GOandPokémon TCGPocket) won’t feature the location or Nurse Joy.
7Medical Pavillion
Bioshockis perhaps one of the most iconicsteampunktrilogies in gaming, with anequally iconic plot twistthat’s still talked about to this day. In the first game in particular, players must enter theMedical Pavilionas part of the second level.
Located in the underwater city ofRapture, the Medical Pavilion served as not only a hospital, but also as a hub for medical businesses. Over time, however, it ended up being less medical and more cosmetic surgery.
By the time the player gets to the Medical Pavilion, it’s jammed shut by aSecurity Bot. After completing theHackingtutorial, players are able to venture inside only to find it completely desolate and abandoned – besides monsters, of course.
It’s an excellent introduction to horrorif you happen to have a weak stomach for it, and a new take on a classic clinical setting.
6Shalebridge Cradle
Thief: Deadly Shadows
TheThiefgames remain some of the mosticonic stealth gamesof all time, where you play as theanti-hero Garrett, a master sneak thief, robbing various locations throughout the games.
In the third game,Thief: Deadly Shadows,one of these locations isShalebridge Cradle, or simply called The Cradle, which is a long abandoned asylum. For many players, this is one of the scariest moments in the trilogy, with the hauntings making appearances left and right, constantly keeping you on edge.
The mental asylum is alive, simply put – alive with the dead. As Puppets reanimate former patients and pursue you with malevolence, it’s no wonder that it ended up being one of the scariest levels in gaming for many players.
Personally, I thinkMoira Asylum from theThiefremakeis creepier, but the ambience and atmosphere at the Cradle can’t be beaten, even if Moira Asylum does betterquiet horror. It stood out for a reason, after all.
5Raccoon City Hospital
Resident Evil 3
InResident Evil 3: Nemesis,Jill Valentineis not having a good day at all. From losing a good chunk of herS.T.A.R.S.team, fighting for her life in a zombie-infested city, and now being on the run fromNemesis, the entire course of the game is one of the worst days of Jill’s life.
Of course, this is continued in theResident Evil 3 Remake,despite the fact that developers ended up cutting content (such asThe Clock Tower) in an already short game. Thankfully,Raccoon City Hospitalwas carried over the same way.
After being infected with theNemesis Virus, Jill is bedridden and dying, while it’s up to Carlos to find a cure and save her – which happens to be at the hospital.
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Players won’t have to think too hard on appreciating these puzzles.
It’s also just hilarious playing Carlos as he realizes that he’s in aResident Evilgame. Zombies and B.O.W.s? No problem, completely explainable. Voice activation? Suddenly, it’s the most sci-fi thing he’s ever seen – and you can’t get that kind of hilarious interaction with any other hospital.
While I was bummed that the Clock Tower didn’t make it, it was genuinely nice to see the hospitalagain in the remake, now operating with more than one purpose.
4Beacon Mental Hospital
The Evil Within
Nothing works better as a creepy horror setting than a mental asylum, and that’s exactly whatThe Evil Withinexploited withBeacon Mental Hospital. It’s devouring you, engulfing you in barbed wire and suffocating you in madness.
Escaping Beacon is no easy feat, especially considering all the puzzles that are thrown in your direction. Some of them, such as theBody Bag Puzzle, are incredibly unique, intertwined perfectly with the setting and keeping everything connected. There isn’t a single part of the asylum that won’t go unexplored – just as there won’t be any area that you’re able to leave unscathed.
While at this asylum, you are constantly put at the edge of your seat and fighting for your life. So, by the time you’re able to finally escape with your partner, the mental hospital has long seared itself into your memory, unable to break away from the horrors that you witnessed there.
Just be sure to keep your head down because you don’t wantThe Butcherto spot you. After all, no one would want to end up like those Body Bags.
3Alchemilla Hospital
Silent Hill
Players did not know what they were in for when they booted upSilent Hillfor the very first time on thePlayStation. They expected horror, sure, but they genuinely weren’t ready for what terrors awaited them.
Starting atMidwich Elementary School,Harry Masonmust make his way through the desolate town in search for his daughter,Cheryl. Just turned seven last month, short black hair – you ask anyone who would listen, but nobody has a clue. That is, until you learn Gillespie, specifically inAlchemilla Hospital.
Alchemilla Hospital is also whereLisa Garlandworks, who you run into during your search. It’s full of nurses and doctors that Alessa had changed with her curse, especially due to her fear of them.
And, considering how horrifically abused she was byThe Orderby the time she was seven, with the hospital keeping it under wraps, I can’t really blame her for that animosity.
2Mount Massive Asylum
Outlastis an indiestealth horror gamethat has cemented itself in the horror section of the Gaming Hall of Fame. Playing asMiles, an investigative journalist, you end up atMount Massive Asylum– with no way to get out.
There isno combat in this game, meaning that players have to avoid enemies by running and hiding around the asylum. The entire building is your setting, your shelter, and your prison.
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You have to survive being pursued by the many different freaks that you run across, making for a terrifying experience unlike any other. There’s a reason why so many horror fans insist that everyone should play it at least once, and Mount Massive Asylum is a huge contributor to that.
Mount Massive ended up becoming synonymous withOutlastitself, with gamers biting their nails before they even press Start since they already know what’s coming.
1Brookhaven Hospital
Silent Hill 2
While Alchemilla Hospital in the first game was particularly terrifying and memorable, the iconicBrookhaven HospitalfromSilent Hill 2improves on all that. Not only is it ten times scarier, but it holds significant metaphorical meanings around every corner.
TheSilent Hill 2 Remakehad big shoes to fill when it came to Brookhaven Hospital, especially considering its infamy – but it nailed it perfectly, with somenostalgic Glimpses of the Pastas an additional treat.
In Brookhaven, this is whereJames Sunderlandencounters the iconicBubble Head Nurse, who is probably one of the most well-known enemies in the franchise other thanPyramid Headhimself. What’s more, is that these nurses are a direct manifestation of James’s sexual frustrations while his wife was dying.
Genuinely, when it comes to hospitals, nothing tops Brookhaven Hospital, as nothing else could even come close.
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