Summary
There are games to fit any kind of mood. Sometimes you want to take on waves of enemies, other times you want a light-hearted story. One genre of games that just keeps growing is thehorrorgenre, for when you want to feel a little scared.
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Whether you’re a fan of horror in all its forms or you just get a kick out of fending off deadly monsters, there are plenty of games out there for you. Steam has a plethora of different horror games to try out. With so many to choose from, which are the best to jump into?
10Five Nights At Freddy’s
Five Nights At Freddy’shas been around for a little while now, and in its time, it has enthralled and scared many different generations of gamers.
Being anovernight security guardat a kids' pizza place may seem like a sweet gig, but the animatronics don’t like to stay where they’re supposed to. What follows is a tense series of nights where more and more things go astray. Solving the puzzle of Freddy’s while staying alive is quite a thrill, though.
Sometimes your foray into horror is better with friends. For those times, Dead By Daylight has your back. This asymmetrical survival horror game sees a small group of survivors tasked with escaping a small map while a single killer stalks you.
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It’s a pretty fun concept, especially if solo-horror can be a little too scary. There are a wide variety of characters to play as, each with their own individual traits, which makes every game play a little different.
8Phasmophobia
Sometimes you want to play a horror game with your friends that doesn’t just require running and hiding. Phasmophobia sees you take an active stance in hunting down some ghosts.
Whether you were always a fan of ghost hunting shows or not,Phasmophobiahas a lot to draw you in. Use a handful of high-tech tools and some archaic ones too, in addition to teamwork to find out what ghost you’re dealing with before getting rid of them for good. Just be careful; they won’t go without a fight.
7The Forest
Survival horror has been a booming sub-genre for years, and it’s easy to see why with titles likeThe Forest. An island, a mystery, and a handful of deadly mutants; it may be a stressful time, but it’s not one you’ll soon forget. The Forest is a game that blends a lot of different game mechanics with relative ease, and by the end of it, you’ll just be wanting more. There may be plenty of games with similar island survival ideals, but none do it quite like The Forest.
6Resident Evil 4
TheResident Evilseries has been a horror cornerstone for decades now, so much so that it has spread across media platforms. Resident Evil 4 is no exception to this rule. Lean Kennedy is back, and he’s ready to spin-kick any undead he comes between him and saving the president’s daughter. It’s a plot that is so uniquely Resident Evil, but it also has a surprising amount of scary moments in a game that likes to play the humor card from time to time.
5The Mortuary Assistant
Few games balance narrative horror with subtle environmental eeriness quite likeThe Mortuary Assistantdoes. River Fields Mortuary may not sound like the best place to stay the night, but it’s where you’ll get the experience to put your mortuary degree to good use. Shame they didn’t teach you about banishing demons in school, though, right? Don’t worry; you’ll have plenty of first-hand experience by the end of this game… if you survive.
4Outlast
Outlast has been a big name in horror since it came out in 2013. There’s a lot it has done to rocket the horror genre further into the mainstream. A defenseless protagonist, a spooky and isolated asylum, and an evil plot full of enraged monsters; there’s a lot the game throws at you, but there’s a thrill in this overwhelming nature. Body horror, survival horror, isolation, and plenty of other sub-genres are at play here, and they all make for an experience that is top-notch horror.
3SOMA
There are few places so uniquely scarier than the bottom of the ocean. Throw in some cybernetic experiments gone wrong, and you haveSOMA.
You feel every second of how alone and fearful the protagonist of SOMA is; that’s how pervasive the atmosphere of the game is. Few games balance gameplay, story, and overall scare factor like SOMA does. There will be plenty of times when the main quest you’re on quickly gets forgotten as survival instincts take over.
2Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Long-time horror fans will know the nameAmnesia: The Dark Descentby heart. It has grown as a series since that first game, but it’s far from too late to experience where it all started.
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Amnesia sees the protagonist suffering from, you guessed it, a bout of amnesia. Not everything is as it seems though. It has a surprisingly deep plot, someuniquely scary monsters, and a setting that adds to the gothic feel of it all. Amnesia has been a hot topic for how it approaches sound and creature design in horror; go to Steam and see why.
Few names come up in horror as much asDead Space. Honestly, space is one of the few settings that instantly provides a sense of loneliness and danger that is so all-encompassing.
All-encompassing is a good way to describe Dead Space’s horror. Every time you think you have a handle on the necromorphs and the terrors they cause, the game will throw something new at you. It’s a masterclass in keeping you on your toes. From character design to an emotional story, all the way to the varied settings, there’s a lot to marvel at in this game.
