masterpiece. As videogameaddicted turns 30, it is the proper time to look again and rejoice the defining experiences that formed gaming as we all know it. To rejoice the discharge of the brand new Resident Evil (a collection that has spawned a minimum of one masterpiece), we thought we would begin by exploring the fantastic world of horror video games.
Few genres have mutated and developed as a lot as horror. This has given rise to absolute basic franchises like Silent Hill, Castlevania, and Resident Evil, in addition to fashionable masterpieces like Lifeless Area, Bloodborne, and Mouthwash. From their humble, easy pixel artwork beginnings to the hyper-realistic, ultra-violent video games of right now, listed below are 30 horror masterpieces and the handfuls of horror video games that impressed them and terrified us.
1. Shadow Gate (1987)
The early days of horror video video games have been characterised by minimalist, creepy, text-based adventures like Thriller Home and Transylvania, labyrinthine haunted homes, and even the terrifying Area Invaders. In Area Invaders, waves of creatures slowly wash over your solely protection towards a deathly black display. However 1987’s Shadowgate bucked that simplistic pattern to turn into one of the crucial immersive early horror video games. It combines a novel first-person perspective with a puzzling setting, nice writing, and troublesome environmental puzzles that may finally discover their means into video games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill.
ICOM Simulations, the unique studio answerable for Shadowgate, went on to make a sequel, Past Shadowgate, and dabbled in horror video games like Dracula and Not Afraid of the Darkish, earlier than lastly shutting down in 1997. The unique Shadowgate obtained a pleasant remake in 2014 and was ported to the cute little crank-powered Playdate handheld simply final 12 months, however that is not a part of the sport. Like many different entries on this checklist, this franchise recurrently releases new video games. Both means, this can at all times stay one of many early masterpieces that helped set the stage for horror gaming for years to return.
2. Doom (1993)
As of late, folks principally affiliate Doom with revolutionizing first-person shooters and offering tons of ripping, tearing, and ass-kicking in a number of video games over the many years because it first modified the world in 1993. However Doom’s contribution to the horror style was simply as necessary, which is sensible contemplating Alien and Evil Lifeless have been a few of its largest inspirations.
As you make your means by means of darkish, dank hallways stuffed with terrifying guttural sounds, you may face off towards zombified people, cybernetic spiders, and demons flying from hell, all beginning in a chapter known as “Knee Deep within the Lifeless” and ending on “Nightmare!” issue, very becoming for a sport the place chainsaw-wielding heroes get bloody faces as they take harm. If that does not scream worry, I do not know what does.
The Doom collection repeatedly explored these themes because it developed, pushing and pulling horror parts to various levels of success whereas balancing it with its notoriously brutal energy fantasy. 2004’s Doom 3 took the collection to darkish locations (actually), using shadows, soar scares, and cramped environments to elicit terror. Later video games, however, saved the identical terrifying creature designs, however broadened the extent design, elevated the scope, and elevated the violence of the unique.
Constructing on the success of 1992’s Wolfenstein 3D, Doom at all times deserves to be celebrated for altering first-person gaming eternally. However let’s additionally always remember the impact it had on horror.
3. Clock Tower (1996)
Constructing on the story established in 1995’s Clock Tower, the 1996 PSX sequel (also referred to as Clock Tower) overhauled the unique 16-bit puzzling point-and-click journey sport with full 3D graphics, CD-quality voice appearing and sound results, and a deeper unraveling of the villain Scissorman, leading to a really unsettling expertise. Horror video games from this period could not have deliberately been much less horror video games, however Clock Tower saved its use of soundtracks to a minimal, so gamers would usually hear solely the echoes of their very own footsteps for lengthy intervals of time till an enormous, sudden cinematic second swept in, disarming them and making them soar off the sofa.
Clocktower takes inspiration from basic Italian giallo movies like Suspiria and Fenemona, and follows an analogous construction of dropping an unsuspecting feminine protagonist into an more and more weird and harmful world. Nonetheless, not like conventional horror movies, there are a number of endings throughout a number of storylines. The 1996 Clock Tower sport has since spawned a number of sequels and religious successors, however for a wide range of causes it by no means grew to become as fashionable as its contemporaries. The most important cause for that’s that it was launched simply as one other horror masterpiece was opening the door and strolling into the room…
4. Resident Evil (1996)
It is a golden rule of horror {that a} creepy previous mansion in the course of nowhere is the setting for some superlative horror. Films like 1963’s The Haunting and 1980’s Changeling knew this, and so did video games like 1987’s Maniac Mansion (even when they veered towards the absurd). So is Resident Evil producer Tokuro Fujiwara’s unique horror sport, 1989’s Candy Residence, which is a top-down precursor to the unique Resident Evil in virtually each means. Outdated mansions are scary. What’s behind that squeaky door? What’s that thud within the attic? What’s lurking within the basement? You higher discover your flashlight and your previous keys and see for your self easy methods to get out of right here.
Resident Evil locations the swarming, groaning hordes of the undead from Romero’s 1968 basic Evening of the Residing Lifeless in a mansion-sized puzzle field that gamers ship to discover and survive the night time. It took the perfect parts of early horror from all mediums and turned them into one thing completely new. Cinematography is not sometimes a phrase that online game geeks, like film buffs, usually use to explain their favourite pastime, however Resident Evil nails it, with its locked digital camera perspective and dynamic angles that body protagonists Chris and Jill in distinctive methods, usually deliberately stopping us from seeing what’s lurking across the nook. This, mixed with clunky tank controls, restricted weapons and therapeutic objects, a sparse and ominous soundtrack, creepy voice appearing, and good old school soar scares, made Resident Evil shortly turn into among the best horror video games of all time since its 1996 launch.
Capcom’s sensible remake launched for the GameCube in 2002 fully redid the graphics and added some loopy new story beats (shout out to Lisa Trevor lurking within the basement), however this solely continued to exemplify Resident Evil’s standing as a masterpiece.
1992’s Alone within the Darkish created most of the parts that made Resident Evil’s gameplay profitable. Whereas Alone within the Darkish by no means adopted fairly the identical trajectory (lots of its sequels and reboots have been essential failures), the Resident Evil collection has iterated, developed, and even fully reinvented itself through the years. However extra on that later…
5. Castlevania Symphony of the Evening (1997)
1985’s Ghosts and Goblins and 1986’s Castlevania established that horror-themed platformers could possibly be moody and brutally troublesome, however 1997’s Castlevania: Symphony of the Evening set the bar greater than ever earlier than. Combining the non-linear development of video games like Castlevania 2 and Tremendous Metroid, Symphony of the Evening supplied an enormous citadel that you can discover, stage up, and hunt classic film monsters like werewolves, sea monsters, and bats. You may do all this whereas looking for distinctive objects to achieve new areas, battle brutal bosses, and in the end work in direction of a stunning twist that can flip the complete sport the other way up.
There are horror video games that get pleasure from paralyzing your capability to battle again and forcing you to cover in worry and watch for it to return. Castlevania, however, is an influence fantasy that continuously rewards the inquisitive with new weapons, armor, skills, and summons as they develop in energy to defeat Dracula as soon as and for all…or a minimum of till he returns once more within the subsequent sport.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Evening would set the tone for a lot of future 2D Castlevania video games, together with an analogous vary of video games for the Sport Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, and would supply inspiration for a complete era of Metroidvania video games.
6. Silent Hill (1999)
In case you have not summarized it already, the PlayStation has been an incredible testing floor for unique horror video games, and issues obtained even higher in 1999 when Silent Hill first got here out. It takes a extra dynamic method to the third-person motion and puzzle format established by Resident Evil and Clocktower. Utilizing intelligent {hardware} methods, Konami used fog and lighting methods to obfuscate the PlayStation’s draw distance limitations, in the end enjoying to the style’s strengths to create a grotesque, atmospheric world to discover. Silent Hill additionally manages to do all of this whereas telling a a lot sadder and moodier story than your common survival horror sport, providing totally different endings relying on the participant’s actions, and introducing a number of the strangest enemies ever seen in a online game.
The Silent Hill collection has continued to develop and mutate through the years, most notably with an incredible sequel in 2001 and several other different experimental titles alongside the best way, establishing itself as one of the crucial necessary horror sport collection of all time.
7. Everlasting Darkness: Requiem for Sanity (2002)
The metaphor of the “unreliable narrator” in fiction, the place viewers see a narrative by means of the attitude of somebody who could or is probably not telling the reality, usually has fascinating outcomes and sudden twists. Films like Rashomon, The Sixth Sense, and Memento all get pleasure from distorting the viewers’s belief within the narrator. Silicon Knight’s groundbreaking 2002 basic Everlasting Darkness creates the identical relationship between artwork and viewers, however makes use of it as a gameplay mechanic that forces you to manage a protagonist who steadily goes insane for a time frame. You may have to beat disturbing visions, scary encounters that usually do not occur in actual life, and typically break the fourth wall completely.
If surviving a sluggish insanity in a creepy Rhode Island mansion stuffed with violent monsters is not sufficient, Everlasting Darkness sometimes turns off the TV and pretends the display is infested with bugs. On the time, this was nothing wanting superb. Quite a few makes an attempt have been made to revitalize the IP and construct a wholly new sport, however none made it to the end line, leaving the unique eternally deserted because the one and solely Everlasting Darkness sport.
8. Deadly Body 2: Crimson Butterfly (2003)
Sandwiched between the primary and third Deadly Body video games, Crimson Butterfly is the clear standout survival horror of the trilogy, as soon as once more counting on intelligent digital camera mechanics that permit it to each doc and debilitate ghosts. It is a actually, actually scary expertise and you will by no means really feel comfy. Nor must you achieve this when you find yourself in a village infested with all types of bleeding and deformed spirits.
The graphics and mechanics really feel a bit dated in comparison with a number of the extra fashionable video games on this checklist. However with a glossy new remake scheduled for this 12 months, powered by an all-new engine, 2026 is the proper time to take your previous ghost-hunting digital camera again into the night time.
9. Resident Evil 4 (2005)
2000’s Resident Evil: Code Veronica took the unique Resident Evil components to new heights, however 2005’s Resident Evil 4 fully reinvented it, discovering a brand new steadiness between motion and horror that may be the recipe for the collection for years to return. Basic Resident Evil hero Leon Kennedy is pulled from his city atmosphere and thrown into the depths of rural folks horror, stuffed with murderous villagers. This had unbelievable outcomes, and it was no marvel different third-person motion video games shortly took notice. Resident Evil 4’s gunplay and moveset modified the style eternally, and its unbelievable set of upgradeable weapons, distinctive aspect characters, large set items, and over-the-top bosses made it a timeless icon.
However Resident Evil 4’s actual accomplishment is taking the entire parts impressed by these motion films and layering them collectively right into a gritty, atmospheric horror sport. Wolves emerge from the night time, chainsaw-wielding psychopaths decapitate you, blood rains down on you, and hordes assault you with pitchforks and torches to dismember you. Positive, you get greater weapons than earlier Resident Evil video games have supplied, however that does not imply you may’t die various grotesque deaths.
Resident Evil 4 could have modified the collection’ DNA eternally. Whereas older gamers could choose the collection’ pure survival horror roots, this seminal work is undoubtedly among the best video video games ever made. Experiencing its wonderful 2023 remake additional strengthens that assertion.
10. Condemnation: The Origins of Crime (2005)
Whereas Resi 4 terrified GameCube and PS2 gamers, Xbox 360 house owners loved a totally totally different horror sport in 2005: Condemned: Legal Origins. This can be a brutal and gritty first-person horror sport that follows a serial killer by means of an enormous city atmosphere. There’s little or no of the standard first-person shooter fashion right here. Weapons are extraordinarily restricted in each utilization and existence, requiring using on a regular basis objects as blunt melee weapons. That is an method to creating fight situations that really feel very violent and private.
In between these visceral life-or-death brawls, you may have to uncover forensic clues to uncover a bigger thriller and uncover precisely what’s making everybody on the town so insane. It is a soiled, dirty-feeling gameplay expertise with a foul vibe that lingers lengthy after the credit roll. Whereas admittedly distinctive, 2012’s ZombiU managed to recreate an analogous feeling by dropping pipe-wielding gamers right into a loopy metropolis.
12. Concern Extraction Level (2006)
A standalone growth for the unique FEAR, FEAR Extraction Level efficiently combines fast-paced first-person capturing with Matrix-style bullet-time slow-motion mechanics and a novel steadiness system that permits quicker motion when holstering your weapon. These all helped create a fast risk-reward fight setting. It is actually a bit shorter and reuses most of the sounds and visuals from the unique sport, but it surely manages to convey them again in a sensible and constant method to inform a novel horror story that is considerably totally different from different video games on this checklist.
13. Siren: Blood Curse (2008)
Whereas many horror video games have opted to make use of rapid-fire weapons, particularly since Resident Evil 4 confirmed easy methods to do it successfully, Siren: Blood Curse rounds out the wonderful Siren trilogy with extremely satisfying stealth mechanics as you quietly creep by means of an eerie, sepia-toned Japanese village. It is a tense and harrowing expertise, armed with restricted assault capabilities, usually leaving you ready within the shadows for close by enemies to move by, with solely the sound of your individual heartbeat rising looking for companionship. Siren: Blood Curse additionally options a few of gaming’s scariest creature designs, every of which appears to be like prefer it was ripped straight from a Junji Ito portray. Watching them soar out of the shadows is unstoppable in sheer terror.
14. Lifeless Area (2008)
Ridley Scott’s 1979 movie Alien proved that pitting civilian staff towards nasty creatures in an deserted spaceship was excellent for sci-fi horror, and 2008’s Lifeless Area obtained that message loud and clear. On this film, engineer Isaac Clarke takes on a number of the grossest aliens he is ever seen, and so they give him weapons which are nothing greater than rusted mining instruments. With a genius fight system that slows down enemies by focusing on and dismembering physique components, severing limbs and heads, Lifeless Area takes survival horror to daring new heights. That is earlier than the anti-gravity sequence begins.
Two sequels and a religious successor, The Callisto Protocol, revisited the identical themes, as did 2023’s wonderful Lifeless Area remake. Sadly, the way forward for this collection is unsure at this level. Nonetheless, till it returns, the primary sport is at all times price enjoying, irrespective of which model you resolve to expertise.
15. Amnesia: Darkish Descent (2010)
Returning to the journey sport roots of online game horror, 2010’s Amnesia: The Darkish Descent, like Everlasting Darkness, depends on a novel twist on the sanity meter, this time tied to darkness. Or, extra particularly, how a lot time you select to remain within the shadows. Throw in some classic HP Lovecraftian inspiration and an enormous creepy citadel that traps characters who, as you may think, cannot bear in mind why they’re there, and you have a contemporary basic indie horror. It has been capable of join deeply with many gamers, primarily because of its distinctive physics-based puzzles and unforgettable story moments that culminate in massively satisfying methods. Even when it would not scare you simply, there’s an argument to be made that Amnesia: The Darkish Descent may be the scariest sport ever made.
16. The Evil Inside (2014)
2014’s The Evil Inside despatched Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami again to his roots as he realized that survival horror video games have been beginning to take a backseat to motion horror. The Evil Inside, the primary venture for his then-new studio Tango Gameworks, feels equal components basic Resident Evil and Noticed movie collection, however with some parts of 2003’s Manhunt thrown in to make it really feel like a gut-wrenching stab at it. It is a harrowing and complicated expertise stuffed with loss of life traps, torture, violent enemies, and a pervasive sense of hopelessness within the general environment. Regardless of being way more grueling than any Resident Evil sport, it seems like a pure maturation of the basic survival horror components, from hacking with blunt pressure to protected rooms that help you briefly disconnect throughout psychotic hallucinations.
The Evil Inside additionally contains a intelligent mechanic that permits downed enemies to return again to life should you do not burn their corpses in a match. Matches are a useful resource that’s as troublesome to acquire as bullets and therapeutic objects. That is paying homage to Mikami’s remake of Resident Evil, which had related mechanics.
As with many basic horror movies, the plot tends to take a backseat to gore, loss of life, and a basic creepy environment, however the general expertise feels so constant that it is in the end by no means actually dragged down by its shortcomings. Tango Gameworks launched the equally profitable The Evil Inside 2 in 2017, and the open-world first-person horror Ghostwire: Tokyo in 2020. In 2024, Shinji Mikami introduced that he can be launching a brand new studio that may shift its focus away from horror video games. That is positively a disgrace for a lot of, however he’s a legend behind a number of the biggest video games ever made. So long as he is creating one thing new, even when it is not particularly designed to scare us, we’re completely satisfied.
17. Alien: Isolation (2014)
On the heels of 2013’s wildly profitable Outlast, a sport that basically rewrote the foundations of first-person survival horror, SEGA and Artistic Meeting teamed as much as launch Alien: Isolation, a sport that takes the basic cat-and-mouse/hide-and-seek theme and places it into the world of Weyland-Yutani. In Alien: Isolation, Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley from the unique movie, takes on the fast-moving, unpredictable and lethal Xenomorph in a fastidiously recreated retro-futuristic spaceship. The environment, as the youngsters say, is ideal.
All through the expertise, the Xenomorph’s synthetic intelligence is consistently studying new methods and monitoring patterns to actually pull you out of your consolation zone. It is not excellent. As one of many sport’s unique creators admits, the sport runs a bit too lengthy (as many critics stated on the time), but it surely would not actually matter because it’s an general mechanically and visually immersive expertise. And positive, it is actually scary, however should you’re a fan of the unique Alien films, it is also quite a lot of enjoyable to be immersed on this world. The group at Artistic Meeting places quite a lot of love into recreating the splendor of those films, however should you stare too lengthy on the particulars of the luxurious ship’s inside, there is a fairly good likelihood you may get stabbed by an alien’s large tail.
Artistic Meeting then introduced {that a} new Alien: Isolation sport is within the early phases of improvement. So I hope it will not be lengthy till you are again in your particular nook of the universe the place nobody can hear you scream.
18. 5 Nights at Freddy’s (2014)
In case you grew up within the ’80s and ’90s, there is a good likelihood one among your pals invited you to a Chuck E. Cheese celebration. A glorified arcade with Skee Ball, rubbery pizza, and the world’s filthiest ball pit filled with sunken treasures, together with a misplaced bouncy ball, somebody’s misplaced left sock, and a dental retainer (and by some means they weren’t even the scariest issues there). Again within the social gathering room, a bug-eyed animatronic band sang songs and made jerky actions behind pretend devices till the aforementioned rubber pizza was served. Then the band and the highlight above it cease, stopping the second and watching you creepily when you eat. Mainly, it was nightmare gasoline for any child attempting to win sufficient arcade tickets to get some shitty prize.
A long time later, in 2014, developer Scott Cawthorn realized that this quick meals nightmare was the proper setting for a horror sport that would introduce a complete new era to the again rooms of Chuck E. Cheese, and 5 Nights at Freddy’s was born. Flip that inspiration right into a point-and-click journey sport. On this sport, you play a lonely night time watchman who watches over Freddy’s Pizza restaurant after the purchasers are gone. Animatronics are psychotic killers who cannot wait to scare you and kill you.
What’s particularly stunning concerning the FNAF video games is that youthful audiences, who have been usually excluded from the style’s extra violent and mature video games, shortly fell in love with them, making them a worldwide hit and creating a complete new era of horror followers within the course of. 5 Nights spawned a number of sequels and two theatrical movies, and though precise Chuck E. Cheese eating places are nonetheless dwindling in quantity throughout America, it is protected to say that Freddy’s has surpassed Chuck E’s in popular culture recognition and tendency to scare youngsters world wide.
19. Bloodborne (2015)
2009’s Demon’s Souls and 2011’s Darkish Souls had loads of horror parts, however FromSoftware’s dwelling nightmare masterpiece Bloodborne takes the punishing, hardcore gameplay the studio was identified for and drops it into its most sinister world but. Bloodborne’s grim metropolis of Yharnam is completely out to kill you, from brutal environmental disasters to a rogue gallery of gnarled monsters attacking from the darkness. However beneath the oppressive, darkish themes of evil monsters is a fast-paced, extremely satisfying motion RPG with a number of the finest and most diverse fight within the style.
Positive, Bloodborne and its military of expertly crafted creatures will kill you time and again, however each time you handle to inch nearer to the subsequent shortcut, or defeat one of many many towering beasts with just a few days left, you may soar off the sofa, soar for pleasure, and scream in victory.
Bloodborne has a deep and complicated storyline that followers have been decoding in their very own methods for over a decade. Each nook of the dilapidated cobblestone streets, barren countryside, decaying alleys, and impossibly grand castles feels full of life, loss of life, and lore, all set in stunning and haunting orchestral music. FromSoft has since revisited related sentiments of their wonderful grim fantasy-inspired video games Darkish Souls 3 and Elden Ring, however nothing nails horror fairly like Bloodborne.
20. Soma (2015)
Undersea marine amenities are a loss of life lure for people. A shocking dystopia, BioShock taught us in 2007 that the sunken metropolis of Rapture had descended into hell. And in 2015, Frictional Video games’ SOMA as soon as once more plunged us into the depths of insanity beneath the darkish and harmful waves. SOMA leaves gamers largely helpless towards a slew of mechanical and natural enemies that trudge by means of a sunken analysis middle, inserting the emphasis on survival because the story beats unfold little by little. It is solely while you understand that issues is probably not so good on the bottom that issues actually begin to gel and turn into actually hopeless.
21. Till Daybreak (2015)
In 2012, Telltale’s The Strolling Lifeless broke the mildew of narrative-driven video video games by presenting a collection of linked, episodic tales that rise and fall based mostly in your selections. It took the intentional building of a very good TV present, blended with the inventive autonomy of a very good online game, and created one thing fully distinctive that felt private and highly effective. It was a pure extension of video games like 2010’s Heavy Rain, a pulpy serial killer story that unfolded relying on the participant’s selections and actions, resulting in good endings, dangerous endings, and actually dangerous endings.
In 2015, Supermassive Video games revisited this idea with Till Daybreak, this time constructing on the basic “younger folks go someplace they are not presupposed to go and begin getting killed off one after the other” film, however integrating branching narrative options that solely the medium of video video games can present. Till Daybreak incorporates various nice slasher film tropes into the expertise, and whereas it really works very effectively as a single participant sport, it is much more efficient when mixed with a gaggle of real-life buddies huddled round a tv, desperately shouting out private resolution selections earlier than watching characters die in violent and absurd methods. It is actually enjoyable to play by means of time and again, watching particular person story beats unfold otherwise, seeing how saving one character from loss of life could result in a fair worse loss of life for one more, and so forth. Till Daybreak has gone by means of prequels, remakes, religious successors, and movie variations, and the idea clearly nonetheless has some life left in it, even when its protagonists not often share the identical destiny.
22. Inside (2016)
Mechanically, Playdead’s 2016 basic Inside took most of the parts that made the studio’s earlier hit Limbo work so effectively and improved on it in virtually each means. Inside is as soon as once more a largely black and white platform sport with an impassive younger boy as the principle character. Boys die all of a sudden and steadily from varied environmental horrors in brutal and violent methods. As he explores his world, he slowly peels again the layers of the larger image…if he can survive the night time. It’s totally totally different from the colourful hop-and-bop side-scrollers you have come throughout, however that is why it really works so effectively.
There are not any partitions of textual content to parse, and no audio added to cutscenes. A tragic, moody, minimalist story drips by means of easy imagery and a fragile however profound rating that has extra in frequent with an industrial engine room than a Koji Kondo soundtrack. And like Limbo, it is the form of expertise that begs to be unpacked and dissected by means of quite a few interpretations lengthy after the credit roll. Playdead is presently engaged on an unnamed third sport that clearly takes visible cues from its predecessor, and the earlier we be taught extra about it, the higher.
23. Lifeless by Daylight (2016)
As you have in all probability observed by now, horror is a style that lends itself very effectively to being skilled alone at nighttime, but it surely additionally works nice with buddies. It is nice to observe a scary film with different folks, but it surely’s much more enjoyable when you recognize one among them is the killer searching down the remainder of you. That is why 2016’s Lifeless By Daylight works so effectively. It is a implausible, fast-paced, uneven multiplayer sport the place one participant takes on the position of a brutal killer, whereas the remainder of the gamers attempt to group as much as survive…or simply go into the night time individually and get picked off one after the other.
Like many fashionable on-line video games similar to Fortnite and Name of Responsibility, Lifeless by Daylight finally grew to become outlined by its collaborations with different mental properties and types. However being a horror sport, we have been ready so as to add all types of licensed monsters from each movie and tv to our roster of crafty and savage killers. Everybody from Freddy Krueger to Ghostface and even Chucky finally obtained into the sport, making Lifeless by Daylight a large celebration of style icons.
24. Little Nightmares (2017)
For kids with vivid imaginations, horrors cover in each darkish nook of the bed room. There is a monster beneath the mattress, a creature within the closet, and the shadow solid by the flickering mild bulb within the chandelier is definitely a six-foot-tall toxic tarantula ready to prey on them…a minimum of, till the screams begin and their mother and father come operating in and inform them to go to mattress as a result of it is all of their heads. 2017’s Little Nightmares builds on this concept, taking the enduring yellow raincoat from Stephen King’s IT and inserting its younger protagonist in a home of horrors. It is like enjoying cover and search in Tim Burton’s sketchbook. It is a mixture of some actually enjoyable monster designs and a few irritating sport selections at instances, however in the long run all of it balances out to be a particular puzzle-platforming horror sport. The truth is, the premise was so strong that Little Nightmares finally grew to become a full trilogy of video games, resulting in Tarsier’s Studio’s newest bold horror sport, Reanimal.
25. Visage (2020)
In 2014’s groundbreaking horror expertise PT (aka “Playable Teaser”), the minds of Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro got here collectively to create a claustrophobic, looping horror expertise stuffed with terrifying surprises at each flip. Initially meant to result in a full-fledged fashionable reboot of the basic Silent Hill collection, the universe (particularly Konami) obtained in the best way and the sport was canceled. PT was faraway from the PS4 retailer and everybody concerned went their separate methods, leaving an enormous “what if” query. A scenario that players are eternally caught in. That is a disgrace, as a result of the probabilities for a collaboration between these two inventive geniuses appeared infinite. On a extra constructive notice, Kojima is engaged on a brand new horror sport, and del Toro continues to make nice horror films. And in 2020, the proficient of us at SadSquare Studios launched Visage, an incredible religious successor to PT. So all just isn’t misplaced.
Visage revisits an analogous premise to the one seen in PT, trapping you in a haunted home, tormenting you, and steadily chipping away at your sanity as you attempt to uncover and unravel the reality of what precisely made the place so evil. It is a actually unsettling expertise, and it manages to catch you off guard many times in daring and scary methods, primarily as a result of every room feels pure, lived-in, and purposefully staged. You shortly begin to really feel like the home is a spot the place actually dangerous issues occur. Positive, it is a disgrace we by no means obtained a real follow-up to PT, however its potential lives on within the indie horror sport scene.
26. Resident Evil 2 (2019)
After 2012’s Resident Evil 6 was divisive and failed to fulfill inner gross sales targets, Capcom used this setback as a possibility to place some brakes on Resident Evil and give you a wholly new plan for the collection. The end result was 2017’s Resident Evil 7, a tense first-person sport that traded over-the-top motion for tense survival horror, and a superb two-pronged assault that was shortly adopted by Resident Evil 2, an entire remake of the 1998 basic. However not like Capcom’s earlier Resident Evil remakes, 2019’s Resident Evil 2 ditched tank controls and stuck digital camera angles, as a substitute providing you with full and fluid management over motion and aiming.
The end result was an absolute masterpiece, proof that Capcom was capable of make a decades-old sport really feel each new and nostalgic on the identical time, honoring the unique for older followers whereas modernizing the components for brand new gamers. And whereas the 2020 remake of 1999’s Resident Evil 3 missed the mark and felt like a slight step backwards, the 2023 remake of Resident Evil 4 picked issues up and is extensively considered among the best remakes in online game historical past. Coinciding with these releases was the wonderful Resident Evil Village, however now in 2026, Resident Evil Requiem makes use of two predominant characters to present gamers each the survival horror and motion fight expertise that Resident Evil has been identified for for many years. None of those achievements would have been potential with out Resident Evil 2 and Capcom’s drive to return to its roots and future-proof the collection. After 30 years, it is thrilling to assume that this legendary horror sport collection could be getting began.
27. Phasmophobia (2020)
Whereas the Resident Evil collection continues to thrive by incorporating first-person horror, indie video games have discovered their very own success in the identical house, utilizing perspective to do groundbreaking and scary issues. Phasmophobia is a good ghost searching simulator that may be performed solo or with buddies, and both means it supplies a really unsettling expertise.
Like the perfect indie horror video games, fight is de-emphasized in favor of survival, however not like video games the place you anticipate to cover and wait out the night time, Phasmophobia is extra about paranormal investigation, forcing you to go deeper and deeper into its world to report all the pieces you see. And hey, you are going to see some shit. And, as within the aforementioned Everlasting Darkness, the characters’ sanity is actively hampered by the ghosts they witness and work together with. This format was an enormous hit amongst streaming viewers. As a result of it seems that the one factor extra enjoyable than watching one participant endure by means of horror is watching a gaggle of buddies undergo hell collectively.
28. Alan Wake 2 (2023)
13 years after the unique Alan Wake and 4 years after the monumental and devastating motion sport Management, the fellows at Treatment Leisure have launched Alan Wake 2, a shocking psychological horror sport that fuses the tales of two totally different protagonists to create one of the crucial distinctive experiences of all time. At first look, Alan Wake 2 could seem to be a typical third-person action-horror sport, however issues shortly go fully off monitor and the expertise turns into one of the crucial unpredictable horror tales of all time. A fairly superb accomplishment contemplating how deep the style was on the time of its launch. It is also one of many best-looking video games ever made, with photorealism in all the pieces from the leaves to the facial hair. However its most fascinating accomplishment is the best way it balances the grueling homicide investigation with the insane absurdity of Twin Peaks, hitting the excessive notes of comedy as a lot as it’s horror.
29. Mouthwash (2024)
Who stated nice horror video games wanted cutting-edge visible and graphical constancy to promote? There’s one thing splendidly creepy about lo-fi aesthetics, fuzzy textures, warbled sound results, and unusual, insensitive characters. In spite of everything, that is the spine of early horror video video games constructed across the limitations of {hardware} and expertise. That method created a feel and appear that appeared surprising on the time, however felt dated a couple of years later, and folks are actually reverting to a sure fashion that they deeply miss. 2022’s Signalis understood its mission when it advised a contemporary sci-fi horror story utilizing enhanced PS1-era graphics. 2024’s darkish and violent Mouthwash took issues even additional, stripping the gameplay mechanics right down to the naked necessities, specializing in exploration and restricted interactivity on a derelict ship misplaced in house, and weaving each pre- and post-crash tales collectively to ship a deranged double-crossing horror story the place nobody might be trusted and issues simply preserve going loopy.
30. Silent Hill 2 (2024)
Developed by Bloober Crew, the studio behind horror video games like 2016’s Layers of Concern and 2019’s The Blair Witch Mission, 2024’s Silent Hill 2 Remake is a contemporary tackle the basic survival horror sport, ditching locked digital camera angles and low-poly fashions for a full third-person expertise with beautiful new graphics. It is like when Capcom reconsidered Resident Evil 2.
The Silent Hill 2 remake is a triumph, inheriting the entire environment, tone, and desperation of the unique sport, and correctly deciding when to reduce or develop on moments and themes, leading to an expertise that each honors the unique sport and, at instances, exceeds the supply materials.
A 12 months later, in 2025, Konami printed the wonderful Silent Hill F. Though the writer has fumbled with the collection earlier than, it appears to be like like they’re lastly on monitor to giving players one other nice new Silent Hill sport for years to return.
These are 30 nice horror video games that modified the world of gaming as we all know it and paved the best way for the style to develop, evolve, shock, and thrill gamers for many years to return. And with huge horror video games like Resident Evil Requiem and Reanimal popping out in 2026, and lots of extra to return, issues are simply getting began.