Summary
- Horror games can be visually striking without hyperrealism — unique styles like black and white can still be terrifying.
- Games like The House and Neverending Nightmares prove that minimal aesthetics can intensify the horror experience, rather than detract from it.
- World of Horror and Buddy Simulator demonstrate that eerie atmospheres and psychological horror can make gameplay chilling.
Horror games are one of the genres of games that rely most on their visual style, as this can make or break it. This doesn't necessarily mean they need to look hyperrealistic in any way, as indie developers have made careers from even pixelated horror games, but they need to grab the player in some way.
Best Horror Games With Stylized Graphics
These fantastic horror games deliver frightening environments and immersive scares with their stylized graphics.
One way to do this is by opting for a unique color palette, or doing away with color entirely and utilizing a more monochromatic experience. These black and white games prove that color isn't necessary to deliver a frightening experience, as they execute their visions perfectly with more minimal aesthetics.
7 The House
The Jumpscare Fest That Took the Internet by Storm
- Released: 2005
- Platforms: PC (online flash game)
- Genre: Point-and-click Horror
Back in the early to mid 2000s, flash games were a big hit, as players could just load the game via their browser and while away an hour or so playing a simple but fun game. One that became an online craze was The House, a simple but effective point-and-click horror game.
The simple gameplay has the player going from room to room and interacting with objects until they get jumpscared, and then it's time to move on to the next room. It doesn't sound like much, but the jumpscares were highly frightening, even if players suspected they were coming, and it did well enough to receive a sequel (The House 2). Though the story is rather barebones, as it is about a house being marked derelict after a family committed suicide. This short, black and white horror game is here to serve scares, not plot.
6 Closure
Incorporates its Color Scheme into Puzzles
Closure
- Released
- March 27, 2012
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Eyebrow Interactive
- Publisher(s)
- Eyebrow Interactive
- Genre(s)
- Puzzle
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 3
Closure might be one of the most unique and novel platforming games a player could ever experience, as they play a spider-like creature guiding three humans through platforming levels by manipulating light and darkness itself. Sources such as flashlights and lanterns can create light to guide the way forward, but areas that remain dark are treated as voids that can create potential problems during the real head-scratcher puzzles.
Darkest Platform Games, Ranked
The platforming genre is historically light and breezy, but that doesn't mean there aren't notable examples of far darker platforming games.
The locations vary from dark forests to abandoned carnivals, all of which help to create a haunting atmosphere (along with the black and white artstyle, of course). Eerie yet innovative, Closure is certainly a game that should not be missed.
5 Neverending Nightmares
An Unrelenting Loop of Horrors
Neverending Nightmares
- Released
- September 26, 2014
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Android, iOS, Linux, Microsoft Windows, PS Vita
- OpenCritic Rating
- Fair
Inspired by the developers' struggles with mental illness, Neverending Nightmares is not a game that holds back on anything — well, except color. Most of the game looks like a hand-drawn black and white horror game, as even shadows look like they were sketched with a pencil. This artstyle encapsulates the feeling of being stuck in a nightmare perfectly and serves to highlight objects of interest (and, of course, blood).
The main character, Thomas, appears to be stuck in a string of nightmares as he explores various locations such as a mansion, a cemetery, an asylum, and a forest. Occasionally he will be visited by horrifying images of his sister, Gabby, who also seems to have died in a different way from the last, and there are times when Thomas dies. But even death offers no reprieve, as he awakens into another nightmare.
4 Buddy Simulator 1984
Do Not Be Fooled By the Innocent Name
- Released: February 18, 2021
- Platform(s): PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5
- Developer(s): Not a Sailor Studios
One that might have flown under the radar of many gamers is Buddy Simulatory 1984, a game that players should not take as face-value, as the misleading name hides the horrors within. Beginning as a text adventure, the game eventually opens into a fully explorable turn-based game in which the players can roam around and talk to some of the strange-looking NPCs (who definitely look Undertale-inspired).
The titular character, Buddy, often breaks the fourth wall by talking to the player like they are old friends, but as the game progresses, the character of Buddy devolves, becoming increasingly possessive. Bearing psychological elements and fourth-wall breaks within its story, Buddy Simulator might not be an outright blood-curdling game, but certain imagery and themes are definitely chilling enough to make this game an uneasy experience.
3 Return of the Obra Dinn
Uncover the Truth of Dark Events Aboard a Ghost Ship
Return of the Obra Dinn
- Released
- October 18, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Lucas Pope
- Publisher(s)
- 3909
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
The ocean is a frightening place, as there is still so much lurking beneath the waters that humanity knows nothing about. And, when the titular ship returns to port after being missing for five years, players know it must have run afoul of one nautical danger or another. And, playing as an insurance investigator working for the East India company, that is exactly what the player must do as they explore the derelict, trying to piece together what happened to the crew.
Best Horror Games Set On A Ship, Ranked
The best horror games set on a ship at sea deliver a terrifying combination of claustrophobia and thalassophobia for a powerful horror experience.
With a haunting atmosphere and some truly terrifying scenery that points to something more of the supernatural realm, Return of the Obra Dinn is truly an excellent monochromatic mystery horror game that preys on fears of the unknown, particularly those hidden in the deep, dark depths of the ocean.
2 Limbo
A Perilous Platforming Adventure
Limbo
- Released
- July 21, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
Platforming and horror are two genres people don't really expect to go together, as many know games such as Super Mario Bros for being platforming games, but the minds at Playdead decided to put a brand-new spin on this decades-old genre, resulting in the creation of Limbo.
In this game, a young boy awakens next to a dark and eerie forest, and steps foot inside, searching for his sister. On his search, the boy must solve platforming puzzles in order to progress, as well as contend with the horrors that come to attack him — the most terrifying being the giant spider. Thanks to Limbo's aesthetics, the giant spider looks more like it is made of shadow rather than being corporeal, but this does little to make these encounters any less frightening.
1 World of Horror
Inspired by Horror Legends
World of Horror
- Released
- December 8, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- panstasz
- Publisher(s)
- Ysbryd Games
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Inspired by the works of writers such as HP Lovecraft and Junji Ito, the Old Gods are on the rise in Shiokawa, and madness seems to have gripped the city. In buildings such as hospitals, schools, and forests, strange occurrences that defy all reason and logic are being sighted, and no one knows how or why this is happening.
Using turn-based combat and player choices, the World of Horror will show no mercy, as one wrong choice could have absolutely disastrous consequences, and if it's a game over, the cycle of the game begins anew, right from the start. Despite the black-and-white 1-bit graphics style, World of Horror doesn't hold back in its difficulty with how frightening it is, as some of the phenomena the player witnesses could rival the horror greats that inspired this title.
Best Horror Games With Minimalist Design, Ranked
The minimalist art design and narratives of these indie horror games do nothing to take away from the terror they inspire in their players.