October is finally here, and it is the perfect time to try a few horror titles. But as a gamer, I´m a bit of a chicken when it comes to playing the horror stuff, so I thought to myself why play a game where you´re trying to escape awful monsters when you can play as one yourself?

So, in scouring for such titles this is what I found.

1. STUBBS THE ZOMBIE

Zombies, the most popular videogame genre. But what if you could be one instead of mowing down the undead?

In this homage to B-plot movies and the 50s, you are Stubbs, a poor Salesman who almost got together with the love of his life until he got murdered by his rival.

Now back from the dead decades later he seeks revenge. Create an army of undead minions, use your body parts as weapons, mind-control the living remotely, and more.

Game Link: Humble Bundle/Steam/GOG

2.OVERLORD 1 AND 2

Okay, so maybe Evil Dark Lord straight from Lord of The Rings might not count as a monster. But you do have a bunch of gremlins-like creatures at your command to wreak havoc.

To summarize the series, you play the role of a Villain and depending on your origin story for each game (fallen anti-hero, son of the previous overlord, etc...) you have to rebuild your glorious dark empire. Command your minions to attack, mind control, or slaughter the locals, use resources to upgrade your weapons, castle, and become the biggest bad there is.

In terms of gameplay, it´s more like a dark version of Pikmin, where different colored minions have different abilities. Also, you then can acquire funny hats for them and you have the option to bring back your favorite ones.

I´d argue Overlord 2 is the best one, and it´s a shame this franchise ended so soon.

Game Link: Steam/GOG

3.CARRION

You get to play as a blob monster ala The Thing. Players will control a creature that has escaped containment, much to the alarm of the organization who been studying this creature

As you devour swarms of soldiers and scientists, you can progress the game by upgrading abilities and discover new pieces of genetic code, which allows the creature to go in size, break barriers and find new types of attacks.

The creature, however, is not completely invincible, as it can still receive damage, forcing you to think your way through as you traverse the facility

There is also a story to have here, in which the creature tries to learn more about its origins.

Game Link: Humble Bundle/Steam/GOG

4.VAMPYR AND VAMPIRE THE MASQUERADE

I know what you´re thinking two vampires games in a single entry? Well, they have similar themes, both are RPGs where you play as a vampire, and must make certain moral decisions. The only difference is the setting and the fact they´ve been released a decade apart.

Vampire the Masquerade is a classic that needs no introduction, but if you have been living under a rock, you get turned into a vampire and thrown into a world of vampire politics, rivalry among different supernatural communities, and a potential end of the world scenario.

After being spared from execution from the local Vampire Prince due to your Sire´s transgressions, you are forced to take on a variety of tasks to prove your worth of such mercy. There are several clans to choose from, with each their own set of abilities, decent voice acting, and cool writing.

Don´t let the outdated graphics turn you off, plus thanks to a community that grew around it, several mods improve or even add new gameplay elements like creating your vampire childe, or play clans from the original tabletop that were never added.

Game Link: Humble Bundle/Steam/GOG

Vampyr on the other hand plays more like a typical Gothic Horror set in the early 20th century. The main character is Jonathan Reid, a doctor turned vampire, who is trying to do everything he can to save the city of London from the Spanish Flu epidemic.

As a vampire, he will still need to feed, to do that you can conduct investigations on the different patients in your care, their habits, their stories, which in turn gives experience points to improve your abilities

But killing isn´t mandatory to progress the game, which ending you get depends on how many you´ve killed or turned. The game might be a bit more challenging, but you do get the option of roleplaying as the tragic monster that resists his nature or just fully embrace the dark side. it´s up to you.

Game Link: Humble Bundle/Steam/GOG

5.LUCIUS

This title takes a lot of inspiration from the Omens movies. Playing as the literal Son of the devil, this game requires stealth more than going on full guns blazing. Since you´re a child, you will need to think more strategically to carry out your father´s will. Use your power to turn crosses upside down to remove protections, set things on fire, trick adults into getting locked in in a freezer, stab people with a knife, and most importantly, don´t get caught.

But don´t feel too bad about his family, and they hid some dark secrets as well. However, the game doesn´t take itself too seriously, thanks to its cheesy b-plot dialogue. It´s like playing a deadly version of Home Alone.

Game Link: Humble Bundle/Steam/GOG

6.UNDERTALE

Wait, this is the cute RPG game where you befriend monsters and subverting the genre what is this doing here you might ask?

Well, yes you have that option and indeed most first-time players play it as a typical RPG until they´re introduced to this mechanic and can even go back and play the game in Pacifist mode.

But you have the option of taking a different route and slaughter every monster that you see. It changes the game completely, it goes from a cute heartwarming game to a reverse horror story of the poor monsters being murdered by a human serial killer. And it has one of the bleakest endings in the game. The silver lining its this path offers one of the coolest boss battles in RPG history.

Game Link: Humble Bundle/Steam/GOG

7.STYX MASTER OF SHADOWS

Styx is a stealth game with an evil Goblin as the main character. Lacking memories of his past, Styx has to traverse the tower of Akenash to reach the world tree. He has memories of a friend that is a prisoner that needs to be freed and doesn´t know why.

Tough this requires working from the shadows, travel the world in whatever way you want, assassinate or escape your enemy's attention completely. You can create clones to do your bidding or create a distraction. There are also treasures to be found through your exploration, making this a profitable venture.

The story offers a cool plot twist that I´m not gonna spoil, but if you must know this is a spin-off from Of Orcs and Men, where you also play from the perspective of the non-human side, you can also check that one out.

Game Link: Humble Bundle/Steam/GOG

8.DESTROY ALL HUMANS!

It´s a reverse Alien Invasion story! A classic that I couldn´t resist putting here. You´re an evil alien trying to conquer the Earth in the 50s.

Here are some of the things you can do, disguise yourself as a weakling human, anally prob people, use your spaceship to fire lasers, control objects with your mind! And all backed with dark sci-fi humor.

But sometimes during the mission you need to think carefully, the game has an alert system if you act suspiciously, which will make the army and cops come crawling in to stop you, but this just makes the game more fun.

Game Link: Humble Bundle/Steam/GOG

9.ANY MULTIPLAYER WITH A MONSTER VS HUMANS MODE

There has been a popularity in the type of genre where the players have to work together to survive a serial killer/movie monster. These games also offer players the chance to play as said enemy that everyone is gonna run from. It´s difficult to pick one so I´m gonna just summarize the ones I´ve enjoyed.

• Among us: where you play on the spaceship and secretly one of you is the imposter.

• Identity V and Dead by Daylight: both have similar mechanics, however, one is ported to mobile devices and has some cute Tim Burton-based designs.

• Secret Neighbour: a spin-off of Hello Neighbour. The neighbor can disguise themselves as a regular player. The objective is to gain the trust of friends before betraying them. Players have to look out for any suspicious behavior. There is are a variety of gadgets to traps players and prevent them from finding the basement door.

• Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 : has a game mode where players can control one of the different zombie mutants and go against other players. I think going as the hunter is my favorite because I get to jump around doing parkour as I hunt my enemies

There you have it, a list of games where you play as the monster. I picked some of my favorites of those I plan on playing in the future. If you have a favorite game in this genre that is not on this list feel free to share in the comments. And happy monster hunting!

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