Whether you’re a horror fan looking for something to push you to your limits, find your newest fear or celebrate another spooky season around Halloween, plenty of great scary games are ready and willing to test your mettle in clever and inventive ways.
Horror games have been a main staple of the industry since its earliest years. Over the last few decades, they’ve evolved from frightful text adventures into survival horrors, gore-fests and line-crossing psychological tests that continue to delight and strike fear in greater measure thanks to ever-better visual capabilities. Not that you need good graphics to freak players out—the indie scene also continues to deliver incredible, lo-fi experiences like Conscript, Signalis, and Crow Country.
From AAAs to solo dev projects, horror titles are enjoying a renaissance. Some specialist publishers, like Blumhouse Games, solely focus on creepy games; since 2022, the Horror Game Awards—the first ceremony of its kind—has recognized the annual pioneers of scary, interactive experiences.
Still, it can be difficult to pick a guaranteed classic—so this list of the best horror games should give you a good place to start.
Top Horror Video Games
As with any list, these rankings are based on a mix of widely celebrated horror games, personal feelings and general vibes; only you know what’s scary to you, but this collection aims to cover all bases across popular genres: FPS, action-adventure, visual novel and even text adventure.
Common subplots across these titles play on popular fears and phobias in many ways. Action horrors make you confront evil head-on, usually with weapons; survival horrors exacerbate this by making useful items, such as ammo or your life itself, precious. Then there are your stealth horrors: non-combat experiences that force you to navigate, but avoid, enemies for fear of being caught and killed—or worse. Fear in these games can come through jump scares, psychological horror or slow-building storytelling that subverts expectations, deceiving you in new and ever more harrowing ways to the point you even question reality itself.
While some games have infamously scary horror-themed missions in an otherwise straightforward experience, these don’t qualify for the list, but it’s worth taking time to salute a few of them while we’re here. These include Ravenholm in Half-Life 2, anything Dunwich-related in the Fallout series, the bloody maze of Max Payne, Evelyn Parker’s harrowing storyline in Cyberpunk 2077, or Shalebridge Cradle from Thief: Deadly Shadows. Most recently, 2024’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 smashed it out of the park with ‘Emergence’.
15. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
Exploring Chornobyl, the world’s most infamous nuclear accident site, is one thing. Seeing its anomalies and mutants is another. The relentless weapon degradation mechanic is one of the most scary propositions for any gamer—but nothing compares to your first encounter with a Controller, a psychic enemy that literally pulls your mind out of your body.
You first cross paths with one of these chunky lads in the first couple of hours, in the tunnels under the wasteland. It’s a jarring, confusing and weirdly claustrophobic experience that doesn’t feel old, even long after its 2007 PC release by GSC Game World. Not only are Controllers among the most unique enemies in action RPG history—they heighten the horrors of the Zone to all-new degrees, and as a result, you’re constantly looking over your shoulder.
It was a PC-only release for so long, but at least you can now try it out on PS4 and Xbox One, courtesy of a 2024 release.
14. Doki Doki Literature Club!
Classic dating games have their takes on bad romantic experiences, but nothing can prepare you for Doki Doki Literature Club!, which starts as a lighthearted visual novel where you meet the cutesy Sayori, Monika, Yuri and Natsuki.
In this 2017 PC game from Team Salvato, which has since been ported to all major consoles, you write poems, involve yourself in club activities, and build relationships with the quartet—lovely!—but it’s not what it seems.
Eventually, the game’s characters develop jarring personal problems and mental health issues, to the point the game’s antagonist completely smashes the fourth wall and makes you question the boundaries between gaming and real life. It’s a masterpiece of staging, story development and insidious storytelling, but must be played to be fully understood.
13. Siren
Known as Forbidden Siren in the PAL region, Japan Studio’s 2003 PS2 cult hit Siren—writer Keiichiro Toyama’s follow-up to the original Silent Hill—is just as terrifying, oppressive, and disturbing as its forerunner, though its unique gameplay mechanics pushed it to new and different heights.
Siren is set on a remote island plagued by supernatural occurrences, and you, as one of ten characters, have to evade terrifying human creatures called “Shibito”—infected, zombie-like people who bleed from the eyes and try to kill anyone who isn’t infected. To avoid them, you use “sight-jacking,” which lets you see where they are, and important items for progression, from their perspectives. Sometimes, it all goes wrong—there’s nothing like seeing a psychopath, through their own eyes, find and murder you.
12. Dead Space
Dead Space spawned two diminishing sequels and an impressive remake, but nothing quite compared to that first-ever experience—ever-increasingly garish and gruesome monsters in a world inspired by Resident Evil, Alien and Event Horizon.
Released for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in 2008 by EA Redwood Shores, Dead Space places you in the boots of Dr Isaac Clarke on the derelict Ishimura spaceship, infested with horrific, humanoid Necromorphs–enemies who can only be killed by severing their limbs. Combined with spectacular set-pieces and some of the most atmospheric sound engineering in horror gaming, you couldn’t feel more alone, not least because you’re searching for your beloved Nicole. The number of ways to die is as creative as it is mortifying, and the 2023 Dead Space remake, available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, brings all this back in delightful 4K.
11. Alien Isolation
Alien: Isolation is one of the best examples of stealth horror: a masterclass of atmosphere, pacing and AI design. The subject of the game demanded it, of course: the Xenomorphs from the Alien universe are the textbook definition of intelligent apex predators, and in this game, you’re its foremost target.
Prioritizing tension and suspense over hot and heavy action, Isolation’s Xenomorph learns from your actions, making each encounter unpredictable as your towering, assassin-like enemy adapts to your every move as you hide in lockers, crawl through vents and inevitably lose track of the alien’s location. The game’s eerie sound design and perfectly captured environments heighten your feelings of helplessness. The game may be developer Creative Assembly’s crowning achievement—though with an Alien: Isolation sequel confirmed, the best may be yet to come.
It landed between console generations, so you can pick it up for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, PS3 and PS4, plus the Switch, PC and OSX, and even mobile.
10. I Have A Mouth And I Must Scream
Going way back to antiquity—well, 1995—MS-DOS games had a habit of going very “route one” with their tales of horror, and what better way to scare an audience than to adapt Harlan Ellison’s nihilistic 13-page story from 1967, I Have A Mouth And I Must Scream, into a PC game?
Set in a post-apocalyptic future, where an AI supercomputer has destroyed the world and killed all but five humans–only to torture these survivors for centuries–I Have a Mouth, and I Must Scream touches on themes including sexual violence, insanity and genocide. It’s not an easy experience, but it’s one of the finest works of science fiction and will stay with you for a long time.
9. The Evil Within
Directed by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, The Evil Within–for Xbox 360/One, PS3 and PS4, and PC–is an intensely psychological affair, combining creative monsters and a suffocating atmosphere with clever combat and truly disgusting visuals. The game pulls you into the mind palace of a psychopath, so you should expect nothing less.
In his 2014 outing from Tango Gameworks, you assume the role of Sebastian Castellanos, a detective investigating a mass murder at a hospital. Soon, you and your team are thrown into a horrible otherworld filled with twisted creatures, while being forced to contend with your own mental deterioration and hallucinations. The Evil Within manages to tap into all the classic fear factors, like jump scares, psychological horror and an ever-foreboding sense of dread. You’ll need a strong stomach.
8. RE2 Remake
The original 1998 Resident Evil 2 scarred a generation—many people will have talked about a certain two-way mirror with their therapist—but the RE2 Remake from 2019 stepped things up a huge notch. Raccoon City and its ragtag characters and monsters are realized in glorious 4K, removing any traces of accidental comedy from the original.
Capcom elevated the horror game experience not just through a renewed focus on visceral gore and incredible lighting (or lack thereof), but with a careful respect for the original game’s iconic assets, from Raccoon City Police Station to William Birkin’s gruesome, multi-stage transformation.
The cherry on top is the seemingly ever-present threat of a stalking Mr. X–the million-foot-tall, but surprisingly dapper, T-00 Tyrant sent to kill any living thing inside the police station. You’ll always hear his size 22 boots somewhere nearby. You can grab it on PC, PS4 and PS5, Xbox One and Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and even iOS.
7. Fatal Frame
Like Siren, Tecmo’s 2001 classic Fatal Frame on the PlayStation 2 helped introduce a whole generation of gamers to Japan’s best horror games, which combined national folklore with boundary-pushing mechanics. Taking place in 1986, you play Miku Hinasaki (and, briefly, her older brother Mafuyu), who can both see the supernatural.
Mafuyu disappears inside an isolated mansion, and it’s on you to save him with the power of the Camera Obscura, which can photograph and capture ghosts—but it’s all about risk vs. reward, as getting closer to these enemies does more damage. It’s a dark and creepy game in every sense, which continues to slowly build tension while delivering consistent scares along the way.
6. Until Dawn
A lot of narrative horrors have aimed for true greatness, but few have hit the heights of Supermassive Games’ 2015 PS4 (and now PS5) superstar Until Dawn, which combines a subverted take on American teen slasher movies with clever, ever-evolving storytelling that relies on every decision you make—usually in the heat of the moment, under high stress.
Until Dawn is set in an isolated mountain lodge one year after a tragic event, and taps into classic horror tropes—including a truly insidious threat hiding away in the darkness—and the game makes you feel ten times worse about each of these, as your decisions can lead to your friends and loved ones dying in particularly gruesome ways. Luckily, Until Dawn has just been remastered in Unreal Engine 5—it’s the perfect time to try it or jump back in for a glossier and more refined take on the original.
5. Outlast
Red Barrels’ 2013 debut Outlast is the absolute gaming embodiment of nightmares, with a simple premise that will connect with any player hoping to be scared out of their wits. You’re an unarmed photojournalist trapped in an abandoned asylum, forced to navigate its claustrophobic corridors, relying solely on your camcorder to see in the darkness.
And what enemies lie in that darkness: “Variants,” mutated inmates and patients from the facility, who stalk the halls with twisted designs on your body. Between the limited visibility, soul-draining sound effects, and sudden—often unavoidable—encounters, you’ll feel under attack at all times, with no way of escape. It’s easy to get (and cheap) on PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC.
4. Condemned Criminal Origins
The first Condemned game, which landed on Xbox and PC in 2005, remains one of the most heart-stopping horror games ever made. It combined the Fallout 3 green-grey palette with a truly nihilistic story, in which you play the role of a cop able to sense a murderer’s actions.
While it’s a time-honored trope, nothing—nothing—quite compares to Condemned’s jumpscare from an early crime scene photography session. Combine this with the game’s visceral, melee-based combat system and suffocating level design, and you have an experience that makes you feel like you’re fighting for your life with every insecure corridor or opened door. Sure, the series went off the rails in later releases, but the original is a work of art.
3. Silent Hill 2
A game that needs no introduction—especially thanks to Bloober Team’s 2024 remake for PS5 and PC—Konami’s 2001 classic Silent Hill 2 is a standard bearer for best-in-class horror games, combining deep, considered psychological horror elements, horrific enemies and an emotional narrative that follows protagonist James Sunderland’s search for answers after receiving a letter from his dead wife.
In this unmissable PS2 outing, he finds himself in the fog-shrouded town of Silent Hill, where its unearthly monsters act as enemies and metaphors for James’ shortcomings, such as guilt and sexual repression, chiefly represented by the iconic Pyramid Head: a hulking brute that drags a Buster Sword-style cleaver and torments you with periodic encounters. It covers all bases: an everyman, trapped in a hellish world—partly of his own making—where each turned corner is more hopeless and terrifying than the last.
2. Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Frictional Games’ 2010 magnum opus Amnesia: The Dark Descent is another excellent stealth horror, but without it, we may never have had the likes of Outlast or Alien: Isolation; it set the standard for what could be achieved is terrifying due to its emphasis on the simple metric of sanity.
In this first-person adventure game for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch, you assume the role of Daniel, who awakens in a dark, foreboding castle with no memory of his past. As you explore the dark and dingy environment, you encounter the horrifying Gatherers—heavily mutilated humanoids that symbolize fear and guilt. The sanity mechanic heightens tension; hiding in the dark, or seeing these horrible apparitions, affects your mental stability as you try to unlock the secrets of why you’re trapped in your hellscape.
1. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Released in 2017 by Capcom for PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, and now even iOS, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard revitalized both the survival horror genre and a flagging Resident Evil franchise with a first-person story that sees Ethan Winters, searching for his missing wife, stumbling upon the decaying plantation home belonging to the terrifying Baker family, ruled with an iron fist by monstrous patriarch Jack Baker, joined by his feral wife Marguerite and their sadistic son Lucas.
Within the infested walls of their home, RE7 forces you to think on your feet, responding to different forms of threats from these seemingly unstoppable enemies, in a space they know better than anyone. The restrictions of the first-person view make things all the more claustrophobic, but what truly pushes this to the highest level of horror gaming is its VR adaptation, which requires nerves of steel.
Bottom Line
The best horror games can only be dictated by your own fears and thresholds–there’s no use playing a scary experience if, on some level, you don’t enjoy the feeling of being frightened. Do your research, take them at your own pace, and before you know it, you could find a whole new world of gaming.15 Spine-Chilling Horror Games You Need To Play Now</h1>
