Horror games have a lot of tools in their toolbox to get scares out of the player, but immersion is maybe the most effective. Nothing makes things feel more scary than making them feel as realistic as possible, and refusing to let a player step away from the controller.
Best Horror Games That Get Creepier As They Go On
Not every horror title is forgiving, as now and again, a team of developers will instead design the game in a way where it only becomes more and more
Luckily, there are plenty of incredible horror games that place realistic immersion as the top priority, resulting in a terrifying crop of great horror games. This list is ranked both by the quality of the game and how immersive they are to play.
8 Phasmophobia
Ghost Hunting Incorporated
Phasmophobia
- Released
- October 29, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Kinetic Games
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror, Puzzle
Horror games tend to go through evolutions and fads, hopping on a popular idea and exploring it as much as possible before moving on to the next idea. In the 2020s, the biggest trend in horror gaming is social multiplayer horror with communication-based shenanigans to make even co-op gaming scary.
Phasmophobia is perhaps the best example of this trend. Players are tasked to hunt ghosts in a variety of spooky locales with their friends, but the ghosts rarely cooperate. Voice chat can get disrupted, jump scares are dynamic, and the deeply immersive atmosphere is the glue that ties the whole experience together.
7 Sons of the Forest
Mutants Make Monstrous Neighbors
Sons of the Forest
- Released
- February 22, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Endnight Games
- Genre(s)
- Survival, Open-World, Survival Horror
- Platform(s)
- PC
Sons of the Forest is a very ambitious game, not only as a sequel to the very popular The Forest, but also as a game that's built almost entirely out of systemic scares rather than scripted scares. The mutants and cannibals of the island will make themselves known based on systems, not what the devs have pre-programmed in.
Mix that with a lack of music, great realistic graphics, and immersive sound design, and the player is constantly put on edge in Sons of the Forest, where bad guys could be lurking anywhere in the thick brush. Every twig snapping could be a hostile, making Sons of the Forest a great recipe for frayed nerves.
6 Outlast
An Abandoned Asylum is Filled with Grotesque Horrors
Outlast
- Released
- November 4, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Red Barrels
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, Linux, macOS
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
In the wake of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, the early to mid-2010s saw a massive influx of first-person horror games where the player can't fight back, jumping on the increasing popularity of reaction videos on YouTube. Outlast is one of the best games to come out of that genre.
18 Outlast Characters That Chilled Us To The Bone
Good horror games create characters that are absolutely terrifying, and the Outlast series succeeded in giving us figures to flee and hide from.
Tasked with documenting the breakdown of Mount Massive Asylum, the player is soon plunged into a deadly fight for survival among the insane inmates who have a propensity for... Unsavory acts. The night-vision camcorder perspective has a great immersive effect, making a relatively low-budget game feel much more realistic and extremely scary.
5 Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Hiding In The Dark
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
- Released
- September 8, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Frictional Games
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror, Indie Games, Adventure, Action, Puzzle
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Android, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, macOS
Some games in the horror genre act as complete tidal shifts, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent is perhaps responsible for the biggest one of all. Inspired by the likes of Eternal Darkness, Amnesia puts the player in a helpless position where they need to nurse a sanity meter in order to stay alive in the abandoned Gothic manor full of monstrous creatures.
The real magic from the game comes from its immersive approach to light and sound, with big, scary moments that provoke even bigger reactions in the player. It's a major reason why a lot of the biggest YouTube channels ever got popular in the first place, and it's a great introduction to horror games for beginners.
4 Silent Hill 2
James Is Feeling Other-Worldly
Silent Hill 2
- Released
- October 8, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Bloober Team
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PC
Doubts were high when the remake of Silent Hill 2 was announced. The original version of the game is considered one of the best horror games ever made, so any remake has a high quality bar to hit. Thankfully, Bloober Team didn't disappoint and pulled it out of the bag with their 2024 remake, where they absolutely nailed the assignment.
While the original PS2 version is certainly brilliant, the fresh coat of paint in the 2024 remake has made the graphics look better than ever, with expansive levels and horrifying monsters that are even scarier than ever. That extra level of realistic immersion works in the remake's favor, making the darkly oppressive atmosphere ever more overbearing to play through.
3 SOMA
Underwater Hellhouse
SOMA
- Released
- September 15, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Frictional Games
- Genre(s)
- Horror
Frictional Games had a problem following the massive success of Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Sophomore efforts always have a lot of pressure, and the mixed reception to Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, the Chinese Room developed spinoff, showed that players' expectations were high.
Every Game by Frictional Games, Ranked
Frictional Games Studios is responsible for some of indie gaming's scariest titles, but which among them is the greatest?
SOMA was the result, a blindingly brilliant sci-fi horror game that explores consciousness and robotics at the bottom of the ocean. The game's immersive sound design is some of the best ever made, and the game's graphics hold up very well to this day. The base at the bottom of the sea is one of gaming's most immersive settings ever.
2 Alien: Isolation
Xenomorph On The Prowl
Alien: Isolation
- Released
- October 7, 2014
WHERE TO PLAY
Adaptations of the Alien franchise to the world of video games have a spotty history, to say the least. Expectations were low, but when Alien: Isolation released in 2014, it quickly became a cult favorite due to its incredible graphics, immersive sound design, and pioneering enemy AI that makes fans hunger for a sequel to this day.
While the player can fight back against the Xenomorph, options are limited, meaning they need to pay attention to every bump they can hear to try and figure out the Xenomorph's location so they can hide or run as the situation demands. Game design feeds into the immersive presentations, making it one of the most nerve-shattering horror games to release, made ever more terrifying in VR.
1 P.T.
Hideo Kojima's Horror White Whale
P.T.
- Released
- August 12, 2014
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- Kojima Productions
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
- Platform(s)
- PS4
Few games have cultivated the cult status of P.T., the short-lived demo for the canceled Silent Hills that was supposed to revive the franchise under the stewardship of Hideo Kojima in collaboration with Guillermo Del Toro and Norman Reedus. That never came to be, and P.T. Can no longer be downloaded, but it remains one of the most immersive horror games ever made.
The short game forces a player to simply walk down a corridor, around a corner, then down some stairs as many times as they need to finish the game. However, Kojima uses sound, stunning photorealistic visuals, and keen horror sensibilities to scare the living daylights out of a player. It's immersive, impressive, and incredibly frightening from start to finish.
Best Horror Games With An Emphasis On Combat
Some games deliver heart-pumping action, while still exploring themes or monster designs that stop them from being classed as mere action titles.