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Now, perhaps P.T's most famous element - Lisa. She is absolutely one of the scariest antagonistic characters I've ever seen in a horror game. Lisa's general silhouetted appearance rounding the corner is a masterful blend of design and gameplay. You get so used to rounding that corner and basically seeing nothing, but when you do, there she is, looming, unmoving, human-like but monstrous. It's the unsightly nightmare you never knew you had, and again, that sound design comes into play here, her erratic breathing that would sometimes appear to alter between laughter and despair is so chilling. And then, you have to WALK towards her. Yes, yes, yes, I absolutely love it! THIS right here is why P.T. ranks so high on the scariest games of all time list. You have so many horror elements working together, cranked all the way up, and the game doesn't back down at any turn, only forcing you further down and down until finally you're in its deepest dark. This is pure fear and it scolds cowardice, it lectures on family pain, and it doesn't want you to be comfortable, ever.

Lisa is the clear representation of the wife that was unfairly slain by her own husband, though also perhaps a mother who suffered in silence, a person dead years before it actually happened, immersed in a world of horror surrounded by booze and drugs. Lisa carries all that pain with her, and it can be seen up-close in her disfigured visage and unhinged and intense for retribution. Only a short while later, you discover the next piece of tragedy - a fetus, writhing and crying in the sink, blood splattered everywhere. It says so much with so little, and the way it traps you in the bathroom gives you nothing but time to soak in the grotesquery. You'll never forget the sight.

The game's sense of reality starts to crumble. The hallway, you realize, is a long way away from ever providing the same sense of repetitive comfort it once did. Roaches now infest the whole house, a sign of abandonment. Pictures are ripped and defaced. Lisa surrounds your entire presence. No matter how long you've been there, you will never get used to it. Eventually, the swinging chandelier is replaced instead with a blood-soaked refrigerator, The sound effects and flickers on the screen now become your constant companions, always out-of-sync with your brain's perception, and confusion becoming the constant state of mind. The game completely validates its created nightmare and you're just another hapless victim of its poisoned narrative. I applaud P.T. for taking the metaphor so far into the realm of hopelessness. You're trapped, trying to figure out just what exactly to do while trying to solve the final puzzles. It's an onslaught on the senses in every regard. The room grows increasingly more distracting, the puzzle problems increasingly more complex, even the fetus starts taunting you.

Okay, okay. For such a small game, P.T. is one of the most densely packed experiences you will ever see or play. It uses absolutely everything from its claustrophobic atmosphere to its mind-bending mechanics to its sound design to its story, straight-forward enough so you can follow it through its more surrealistic elements but symbolic enough to continue SH tradition and poke at the psyche. This game was an absolute bombshell when it dropped, and horror games everywhere mimicked its hallways, looping, and psychological puzzle solving to often mixed effect. I honestly feel like games such as Visage or Layers of Fear often miss one crucial aspect that made P.T. the masterpiece it is, whether it be gameplay that's painfully slow or missing true scares in its monster design or more accurately, the way that horror is executed. P.T. still remains in a league of its own, and its supremacy comes with the reminder that it was never meant even be similar to Silent Hills. It was smartly made as a stand-alone experience, a horror game now hidden away in a black cave, and it's surreal and familiar world the catalyst for the scene surrounding the entire horror gaming experience in the past decade. If there's a level or map creator in a game, you can be guaranteed someone created the P.T. hallway in it. This is a game that will forever be iconic, because it doesn't just stand as a fantastic horror experience, it also became the symbol of corporate greed, the fragileness of game preservation, and the connection of fans that shaped and inspired their own games. P.T. is more than a game - it is a pillar in gaming history and it will forever remain as such.