In modernity, horror games are well regarded as being some of the best video games of the entire medium. However, not long ago, horror video games were a sideshow, and it can be hard to know where to begin if you're just getting started.
5 Influential Indie Horror Games That Changed The Genre
The most influential horror games don't always come from the AAA space — sometimes, great indie horror games push the genre forward.
Luckily, lots of horror games can be grouped within their console generations, which each have their own particular styles, intensities, and legacies. While it's hard to objectively rank them, some consoles have become synonymous with the horror genre due to their extensive and iconic libraries, and those are the best places to look for beginners and veterans alike.
5 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
8-Bit Horrors That Set The Tone For Generations
- Some of the NES's most important horror games include the beginnings of the Castlevania franchise, Sweet Home, Maniac Mansion, Shadowgate, and Uninvited.
- This is the first console generation to conceivably have a distinct and strong corpus of horror games that set the foundations for what was to come.
While its games may not be the prettiest or the scariest, the NES is the first generation of console that can be reasonably personified as having a cogent impact on horror gaming, as it features some cruelly forgotten horror games lost to time. Despite the pixel graphics, these games have mountains of charm and charisma that far outweigh their inevitably dated design.
Whether it be the RPG dungeon crawler of Sweet Home, the lively monsters of Uninvited, the 80s-style send-up of Maniac Mansion, or the legendary horror action of several Castlevania games, the NES has a fearsome library tailor-made for horror enthusiasts — or those looking for scares that are a little on the milder side.
4 PlayStation 3
HD Horrors Emerge To Deliver Immersive Frights
- Some of the PS3's most important games include Dead Space, Dead Rising, The Evil Within, and The Last of Us.
- With the HD era, horror games diversified, with some becoming more realistic, some more experimental, and some far more silly, alongside the emergence of indies.
By the PlayStation 3 era, many games had cross-platform capabilities, so it's hard to pick one console over the other in this generation. However, due to the PS3's inherent preference toward Japanese horror games — which have proven to be a major bastion of the genre — along with the genre-defining exclusive of The Last of Us, the PS3 edges out its competition on the horror front.
Gamers entering the new HD generation had a host of wildly varying tones in their horror games. Dead Space and Dead Space 2 delivered sci-fi action and John Carpenter-style thrills. Dead Rising leaned hard into horror comedy and absurd kills. The legendary Shinji Mikami returned to the genre that made him famous with the divisive but effortlessly charming The Evil Within. Meanwhile, indie games were taking off that would radically change the horror genre forever.
3 PlayStation 1
The New Japanese Juggernaut
- Some of the most important PS1 horror games include D, Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare, Clock Tower, Silent Hill, and Resident Evil.
- The PS1 was the first console generation where horror games began to look a lot like what they've become today with the foundation of several key franchises.
The late 90s and early 2000s saw a massive influx of Japanese horror films made cheaply, often on digital cameras, that scared the pants off Japanese and international audiences alike. This fascination with horror media spread directly into the video game world, with the original PlayStation receiving a healthy dose of J-horror-infused games that remain influential to this day, even if some were a little too short.
6 Early PS1 Horror Games Almost No One Remembers
These horror games launched early on the PlayStation 1 console, and have gone into obscurity.
It would be impossible to talk about the PS1 without the inaugural entries of the Silent Hill and Resident Evil franchises, which are still going strong to this day. Other notable offerings include the enigmatic D, the somewhat infamous Clock Tower, and the troubled but cult classic favorite of Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare.
2 PlayStation 4
Next-Gen Nightmares Usher In The Modern Era Of Horror
- This generation's greatest games include P.T., Resident Evil 7 and 2 Remake, Until Dawn, The Evil Within 2, and The Last Of Us Part 2.
- Older Japanese franchises were revived, while Western-based developers released ever stronger entries.
In retrospect, the PS4 generation of consoles was a bigger leap forward than many expected, and it's home to an incredible roster of games that are still regularly played to this day. That goes doubly for this generation's horror output. While the Xbox One and Switch did have some strong horror catalogs, the PS4 remained unmatched for sheer quantity, with some of the most stand out-games appearing on Sony's console as graphical styles grew ever more experimental.
Maybe the most important horror game released on the PlayStation 4 is the P.T. Demo, the ill-fated project of Hideo Kojima to reboot the Silent Hill franchise. P.T., despite not being a full game, is regularly cited as one of the most frightening games ever made, and its graphical fidelity is still stunning over ten years later. Not to be outdone, this generation also saw the revival of the Resident Evil franchise with Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil 2 , the remake of the original, becoming all-time greats in the genre.
1 PlayStation 2
Early 2000s Horror Fans Are Treated Like Royals
- Some of the PS2's most important horror games include Resident Evil 4, Silent Hill, Manhunt, Kuon, and Fatal Frame, among many more.
- As a competitor to the more family friendly Gamecube and the burgeoning Xbox, PS2 became the home of J-horror and adult-themed Western games.
Where the PS1 set the foundations of the J-horror revolution, the PS2 set it in stone. One of the most popular consoles ever made was sternly supported by its Japanese founders as a piece of solid counter-programming to the more kid-friendly Gamecube and the still burgeoning Xbox. That means that the PS2, among other aspects, became known as the home of truly adult games in the console space, so horror understandably thrived to such an extent that it's hard to squeeze them all into a single list.
While its litany of horror games is too lengthy to list, special attention must be paid to Silent Hill 2, and Resident Evil 4, two entries into the legendary franchises that regularly top best-of lists to this day. Both are immaculate games that master psychological horror and action horror respectively, with rabid fanbases well into the 2020s. Then, new and increasingly popular studios like Rockstar released games like Manhunt to cater more and more to the adult audience. There's no doubt that the PS2 is the best home for horror games that consoles have ever had.
8 Best Horror Games With Dark Humor
Whether it's through players or the game's story itself, these horror titles are perfect examples of how terror and comedy can walk hand in hand.