Summary
- Horror gaming continues to experiment, delivering scares in unique ways, boosting indie development.
- Immersive Sim games pair well with horror, offering unique experiences like The Cat Lady or Darkwood.
- Unique horror games like Eternal Darkness and Doki Doki Literature Club break the mold, creating lasting scares.
Of all video game genres, horror gaming remains one of the most consistently experimental. Players adapt to scares, so game developers always need to think of new ways to try and deliver once reliable scares in new ways that make their games feel more exciting than ever. Boosted by horror's affinity for indie experimentation, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic about horror gaming's future.
The Best Horror-Based Immersive Sim Games, Ranked
The Immersive Sim genre pairs well with the urgency of horror. For the best horror-based Immersive Sim games, check out these titles.
Whether it's games that have unique sanity mechanics or experiences that fuse near-countless genres into one, there are plenty of great, unique horror games. This list is ranked both by the quality of the game and by how unique they remain in the present day.
8 The Cat Lady
Psycho-Somatic Adventure Gaming
The Cat Lady
- Released
- December 1, 2012
WHERE TO PLAY
The Cat Lady follows Susan Ashworth, a lonely 40-year old on the verge of suicide. She has no family, no friends and no hope for a better future. One day she discovers that five strangers will come along and change everything...
By author Remigiusz Michalski (Harvester Games) this suspenseful psychological horror game features stylized artwork, a simple keyboard control method and English voice acting, plus a compelling, atmospheric 70 minute soundtrack by micAmic (now included free with every copy in Library > Music) and featured artists Warmer, 5iah and Tears Of Mars. The Cat Lady contains strong adult themes and is recommended only for players over 18.
The developers describe the content like this: Contains occasional graphic violence & gore, some strong bad language and infrequent frontal nudity.
The early 2010s were something of a golden age of horror gaming. The indie boom led to renewed interest in smaller projects, and horror gaming became a profitable way for indie developers to make their mark in the era of online discourse while still showing off their development chops. This time, more than any other, bred loads of great, unique horror games.
The Cat Lady is one of the best from this era and is well-regarded for its great writing. Set up like an old-school side-scrolling adventure/puzzle game, The Cat Lady is a disturbing and effective look into the experience of depression and misery, resulting in not just an effective emotional story, but also some truly surprising scares that will make even the most steeled horror gamer shiver.
7 Darkwood
Twin-Stick Horrors
Darkwood
- Released
- August 18, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
Craft weapons, prepare traps, fortify hideouts - you will explore and scavenge the eerie forests of the Soviet Bloc by day, then hunker down in your hideout at night. With nightmarish forces corrupting the woods, wait and pray for the sun to come up the next morning.
Wade through the grueling, bizarre world of Darkwood and delve into the creepiest secrets of its inhabitants to escape the infested land before it destroys your body and consumes your mind.
- No jump scares: an atmospheric horror experience that creates a feeling of tension without cheap horror tricks.
- Day and night cycle: roam the corrupted woods by Day and use your hideout to seek survival during the night.
- Randomly generated map and events: the world will vary for each play-through and each player.
- Crafting: scavenge for materials to upgrade your hideout and create weapons, traps or potions.
- Skills and perks: develop your character by injecting a strange essence into your bloodstream.
- No hand holding: test your skills and figure out things on your own!
- Branching storyline: shape the world of Darkwood and determine the fate of its inhabitants.
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- Acid Wizard Studio
- Publisher(s)
- Crunching Koalas
- Engine
- Unity
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
- How Long To Beat
- 19 Hours
A presumed truism of horror gaming is that the closer the player is to the first-person perspective, the better. It's one reason why something like Resident Evil 7 is frequently cited as being far scarier than Resident Evil 4. So, by that logic, a top-down perspective should be the least scary of all... Right?
Best Survival Horror Indie Games
There are plenty of smaller, indie games that scratch that spooky survival horror itch. From Darkwood to Signalis, here are the best of them.
Darkwood set out to prove that idea wrong. Though it does have a top-down perspective, Darkwood delivers a consistently eerie atmosphere and some genuinely great scares. Few other horror games attempt this perspective, making Darkwood stand out to this day.
6 Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Sanity Breaks Reality
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
- Released
- June 24, 2002
WHERE TO PLAY
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem is a Nintendo GameCube exclusive psychological horror game with heavy sanity elements. Created by Silicon Knights, this M-rated horror game sees players guide Alexandra Roivas through a spooky mansion. The game also lets players explore other time periods as other characters in order to flesh out the mysterious narrative.
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Animated Blood and Gore, Animated Violence
- Developer(s)
- Silicon Knights
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
- Platform(s)
- GameCube
- How Long To Beat
- 14 Hours
The popularity of sanity meters has waxed and waned in horror gaming for decades, mostly because many devs struggle with integrating them in a meaningful way. Sanity meters are a key part of horror TTRPGs, but they can struggle to transfer to the world of video games.
Eternal Darkness is largely credited with being the first video game with a sanity meter mechanic (the patent to which has only just expired), and to this day, it remains one of the most unique and enduringly popular executions of the mechanic. Sanity is just as important as health, and when it decreases, things get really weird. Somehow, even over two decades later, it's still one of the most unique horror games ever.
5 Iron Lung
Bloodborne Submersible
Iron Lung
- Released
- March 10, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
Iron Lung is a short dread-driven submarine horror game from the developer of DUSK, The Moon Sliver, and Squirrel Stapler.
Set entirely within a claustrophobic one-man submarine nicknamed the "Iron Lung," you must blindly navigate an ocean of blood to take photographs of key locations, and hope whatever lives below doesn't find you.
There is only a single porthole on the sub, and it needs to be closed due to depth pressure, so you have to navigate purely via an incomplete map, proximity sensors, sound, and a primitive external camera which can be used to take the pictures you need to complete your mission, or to get a grainy low resolution visual of what's happening outside.
Success will require resourcefulness and patience.
- ESRB
- t
- Engine
- unity
- Genre(s)
- Indie Games, Adventure, Simulation
- Platform(s)
- PC, Nintendo Switch
- How Long To Beat
- 2 hours
Though the heady days of the early 2010s in indie horror gaming have long passed, it still remains a viable root for indie developers to make their mark and, if they're lucky, create a truly viral hit that can break out into the mainstream. Iron Lung is one of the very best examples of this process in an atypical horror game, breaking out from the crowd.
In the game, players are sealed into a rickety submersible tasked with navigating a literal ocean of blood, using faulty sensors and clumsy movement, all while the craft threatens to rupture, and there's increasing evidence that there's something in the ocean hunting the player. It's oppressive, atmospheric, and genuinely scary stuff that stands out from the horror crowd and has become a community favorite.
4 Doki Doki Literature Club
Dating Sim Reimagined
Doki Doki Literature Club!
- Released
- September 22, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
Hi, Monika here!
Welcome to the Literature Club! It's always been a dream of mine to make something special out of the things I love. Now that you're a club member, you can help me make that dream come true in this cute game!
Every day is full of chit-chat and fun activities with all of my adorable and unique club members:
Sayori, the youthful bundle of sunshine who values happiness the most;
Natsuki, the deceivingly cute girl who packs an assertive punch;
Yuri, the timid and mysterious one who finds comfort in the world of books;
...And, of course, Monika, the leader of the club! That's me!
I'm super excited for you to make friends with everyone and help the Literature Club become a more intimate place for all my members. But I can tell already that you're a sweetheart—will you promise to spend the most time with me? ♥
This game is not suitable for children
or those who are easily disturbed.
- Developer(s)
- Team Salvato
- Publisher(s)
- Team Salvato
- Engine
- Ren'Py
- Genre(s)
- Visual Novel, Horror
- Platform(s)
- PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
- How Long To Beat
- 4 Hours
A lot of games don't like to get too meta about their genre or presentation, because it can break a player's immersion, which doesn't help with engagement. However, for horror, one of the best ways of creating great scares is by breaking down the presumed barrier of safety between fictionality and reality, and that's exactly what Doki Doki Literature Club does.
8 Best Horror Dating Sim Games, Ranked
These dating sim games have introduced elements of horror to create an entirely different sort of experience for gamers.
In the game, players take control of a high-schooler in a very trope-heavy, stereotypical dating simulator game. However, as the player continues, it becomes clear that there's a dark, sinister underbelly to the game's world and characters, resulting in some of the finest horror sequences in the whole genre. It remains unique in horror gaming and beloved for it.
3 Dredge
What Lurks Beneath The Waves?
Dredge
- Released
- March 31, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
Captain your fishing trawler to explore a collection of remote isles, and their surrounding depths, to see what lies below. Sell your catch to the locals and complete quests to learn more about each area’s troubled past. Outfit your boat with better equipment to trawl deep-sea trenches and navigate to far-off lands, but keep an eye on the time. You might not like what finds you in the dark...
Starting from your new home in the remote archipelago, ‘The Marrows’, take to the water and scour the depths for curious collectables and over 125 deep sea denizens. Explore each area while completing quests and visiting neighbouring island regions – each with their own unique opportunities, inhabitants, and secrets.
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Use of Tobacco
- Developer(s)
- Black Salt Games
- Publisher(s)
- Team17
- Engine
- Unity
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
- How Long To Beat
- 10 Hours
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
One problem with the boom in the horror genre of gaming since the early 2010s is that it can be increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd when everything seems to have already been done. That means indie developers tend to focus on what can make their games unique, and Dredge is a great example of that process in action.
In the game, players take on the role of a boat captain tasked with going out to sea and catching some fish. The only problem is that the sea is haunted by Lovecraftian monsters, and there is horror abound in every island. It's a charming but effective horror game that makes thalassaphobes out of every player.
2 Inscryption
Card-Gaming Horrified
Inscryption
- Released
- October 19, 2021
WHERE TO PLAY
From the creator of Pony Island and The Hex comes the latest mind-melting, self-destructing love letter to video games.
Inscryption is an inky black card-based odyssey that blends the deckbuilding roguelike, escape-room style puzzles, and psychological horror into a blood-laced smoothie. Darker still are the secrets inscrybed upon the cards...
In Inscryption you will...
Acquire a deck of woodland creature cards by draft, surgery, and self-mutilation.
Unlock the secrets lurking behind the walls of Leshy's cabin.
Embark on an unexpected and deeply disturbing odyssey.
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Daniel Mullins Games
- Publisher(s)
- Devolver Digital
- Engine
- Unity
- Genre(s)
- Roguelike, Deckbuilding
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
- How Long To Beat
- 13 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- No
- File Size Xbox Series
- 4 GB (October 2024)
Daniel Mullins is close to rising ot the Mount Rushmore of indie game developers, consistently making great games that prioritise unique gameplay and powerful mechanical narratives over all else, and it's earned him a massive fanbase, never bigger than after the release of Inscryption.
It's difficult to describe all of Inscryption, but to say that it's just a horror-inflected card game is to drastically undersell it, but to say more is to spoil one of modern gaming's greatest games. This one needs to be played with as few spoilers as possible.
1 Pathologic 2
Fight The Virus
Pathologic 2
- Released
- May 23, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
Pathologic 2 is a narrative-driven dramatic thriller about fighting a deadly outbreak in a secluded rural town. The town is dying. Face the realities of a collapsing society as you make difficult choices in seemingly lose-lose situations. The plague isn’t just a disease. You can’t save everyone.
The plague is devouring the town. The chief local healer is dead, and you are now to take his place. You’ll have to look for unexpected allies. The local kids are hiding something. Try playing by their rules.
You only have 12 days.
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood, Language, Partial Nudity, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Ice-Pick Lodge
- Publisher(s)
- tinyBuild
- Engine
- Unity
- Number of Players
- 1
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Verified
- PC Release Date
- May 23, 2019
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Fair
- How Long To Beat
- 27 Hours
In the modern indie space, it's always a fight for attention. However, sometimes, a developer decides not to care at all about what the general gaming public might want, and just makes something so odd and idiosyncratic that it can't help but naturally stand out from the crowd. The Pathologic series stands alone as one of the best and most unique open-world games in that space.
Pathologic 2 is sort of a remake of the original game in which players take on the role of doctors trying to prevent a plague from taking over a small Russian town, but as anyone who has played the game already knows, that doesn't tell half the story. Genuinely frightening at times, ecstatically funny, janky, and wholly unique, Pathologic 2 is unlike any other horror game ever made and is well deserving of any gamer's time.
10 Best Horror Games With Difficult Moral Decisions
Some horror games are all about jump scares and gore, while others are about deciding who lives, who dies, and what it really takes to survive.