Haunted House: Lighting the way

I’m cautiously creeping through an old mansion on a stormy night in search of three pieces of a magical urn, the comforting warm glow of a match my only guide. A vampire bat appears close by, snuffing out the light as it chases me across the room. I have no way to fight back, and in this unplanned murk every path to safety is suddenly lost to the shadows. I’m going to die here, desperately feeling around for an exit in the dark. This intense scenario isn’t found in some legendary survival horror hit or esoteric imported nightmare simulator, but Atari’s 2600 classic Haunted House. As blocky and detail-free as it may seem, this early ’80s treasure has the same lofty goals as From Software’s Echo Night and Konami’s Silent Hill: this game wants to make me afraid of the dark. And it does it very well. Not straight away, though—like any truly great horror experience it has to lull me into a false sense of security first. Which is why the lowest difficulty setting, described as a training…