Your Final Frontier...
In my never-ending pursuit to find the best horror games that feel truly scary or are reminiscent of the 90’s and early 2000’s horror but actually play well, I took upon myself to gather up all modern horror games that are worth playing. What defines a horror video game? Most people typically assume that there are simple answers, such as ghosts, zombies, space, or any other single word category. While it’s difficult to pin down and categorize horror into a single genre, or even sub-genres, what makes horror games keep us up at night is the fear of the unknown. We can characterize this as a basic uncertainty, ranging from the unknown lurking around every corner to the never ending pursuit of the antagonist. Humans have harbored fear of the unknown since ancient times, and video games can provide us with a glimpse into this terrifying realm. Games can give us a glimpse into this abyss. While some gamers may not consider Doom a scary game, its release likely frightened many kids and adults, and it may still do so today. Everyone’s fear is a scale or spectrum. There’s not one set number you can place. P.T. was one of the scariest things I ever experienced, and some people laughed the entire time. Some may consider this just a coping mechanism, and others may be able to easily overcome their own fears.Rather than doing this chronologically, I have broken this series up into multiple categories. These games may also fall into other categories, and some may think a single game feels like something else to them while playing it. Horror has also made a comeback over the last five years. Just looking on SteamDB shows that indie horror titles are at an all-time high; however, there is also an onslaught of utter garbage in every storefront.
I hope to sort these out, as good modern indie horror is hard to come by. It’s like sorting through the bargain bin at Wal-Mart. Do you really need to play Hitler: BDSM Bunker or another “creepy” Hentai game only to discover it’s complete garbage? While a lot of these games play off of current memes and satirize political issues, they aren’t “real” games. For every 10 P.T. clones, there’s a single good survival horror out there trying to be something different. For every 20 Five Nights at Freddy’s or Poppy Playtime clones there’s a hidden gem of a text adventure buried under the heaping steaming pile of crap.
My reading of “From Ants to Zombies” by Alexander Chatziioannou inspired this entire idea. It completely transformed my viewpoint and understanding of horror games. What I won’t include are obvious AAA titles from the Resident Evil series or games like P.T. We all know them; everyone has played one of these, and you already know if you love them or hate them. I won’t incorporate any Early Access games or titles released before 2014, unless they belong to a series that has seen a release within the past decade. I will also not include remakes or remasters such as the most recent Dead Rising, Silent Hill 2, or Dead Space games, for example. I wanted to mostly highlight indie horror and games that may have had a larger budget but were easily overlooked or forgotten.
The 10 Categories
New Retro: These are games that try to bring back the feeling and nostalgia or horror games from the 90’s and early 2000’s. PS1 and Nintendo 64 style graphics, older visual effects, maybe even older play styles like tank controls. This category will be last as to highlight the future of horror gaming.
Psychological: This is one of the most common categories in horror. These games usually play a lot of tricks on the mind, have heavy use of music, ambiance, jump scares, or heavily use the story is scare the player.
Zombies, Ghosts, and Creatures, Oh My!: These games are usually considered not as scary to some, but usually still have creepy monster design or mostly use monsters to terrify the player.
Space: Space is a great factor of “Fear of the Unknown”. Games set in space or use the vast void or outer space to scare us.
Relentless Pursuer: Games that constantly keep you on your toes with antagonists that just won’t let off. These games aren’t as popular as they once were.
Fear of the Abyss: These games use phobias to usually scare the player. This doesn’t completely excludes space, but mostly includes games that take place in the ocean.
Eldritch: Lovecraftian horror is the easiest way to describe this, however this can also describe games with entire art style devoted to bio-mechanism, gross organics monsters throughout, and overall giving a feeling of uneasiness or a larger than life monster or being that you can’t ever see, but it lets you know it’s there.
Survival Horror: The most popular genre and what most people think of when they think of horror games. These usually have the player using resource management to survive whatever baddies that come at you. These are also more on the atmospheric side.
Boomer Shooter Nightmares: There has been a huge surge of Boomer Shooters in the ire of Doom in the last five years. While Doom itself doesn't make the list there are so many great indie shooters out there that it needed its own category.
Errant Children: This category includes both protagonist and antagonistic children in the game. These are very uncommon, and have mostly dropped out of favor over the last decade, but a few still exist.
Stasis (2015)
Stasis: Bone Totem (2023)
Platforms: WIN, MAC, PS5, NSW, XSX
STASIS is a unique, point-and-click sci-fi-horror adventure game set in the distant future. Players must solve puzzles, interact with computers, and combine items on an abandoned spacecraft. John Maracheck, suffering from pain, faces his wife and daughter's disappearance. This is a very frightening game and one of the scariest point-and-clicks, if the the scariest, I have ever played. The ambient sound design alone is enough to make you lose sleep.
STASIS: BONE TOTEM is the latest installment in the STASIS anthology, featuring a new story, characters, and underwater environment. Mac and Charlie, a husband and wife duo, discover an abandoned oil rig in the Pacific Ocean and uncover a secret that Cayne Corporation will keep hidden. The game offers an immersive narrative with spine-tingling horror and unexpected twists, combining the thrilling storytelling of STASIS with a tense underwater setting. It features stunning visuals, a music score, a screenplay, and veteran voice acting. While not quite as scary as Stasis, the game is more weird and dives deeper into the occult territory.
Aliens: Dark Descent (2023)
Platforms: WIN, PS5, PS4, XB1, XSX
Aliens: Dark Descent is a game where players command a squad of Colonial Marines to stop a Xenomorph outbreak on Planet Lethe. The game involves real-time combat against iconic Xenomorphs, rogue operatives from the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, and new creatures from the Alien franchise. Players must navigate large open levels, annihilating enemies strategically and intuitively. They can customize their squad with different classes, level up, and specialize their soldiers with unique abilities and weapons. The game also allows players to research new tech and improve their squad. Think of this as a turn-based strategy version of Alien: Isolation. Dark Descent borrows a lot of what worked in that game such as tension and atmosphere. Despite being top-down the game is still quite scary and intense.
Observation (2019)
Platforms: WIN, PS4, XB1
Observation is a sci-fi thriller that follows Dr. Emma Fisher and her mission crew through the lens of the station's artificial intelligence, S.A.M. Players assume the role of S.A.M., operating control systems, cameras, and tools to uncover the true nature of themselves and their crew. The game is much slower paced than you would want since this is essentially a puzzle-based walking simulator. The game is very tense and the atmosphere is suffocating and lonely.
Prey (2017)
Platforms: WIN, PS4, XB1
In Prey, Morgan Yu is a key subject on Talos I, a moon-orbiting space station, where an experiment aims to alter humanity forever. However, the space station is overrun by hostile aliens, and Morgan is hunted down. To survive, Morgan must use his wits, weapons, and abilities to uncover the dark secrets of Talos I and his past. The game features a sci-fi thriller setting, and an unimaginable threat from a living ecology. Players must use their alien abilities to craft useful items and survive unprecedented threats. This game infamously was the troubled reboot of the Prey series. The 2006 darling didn't get the true sequel treatment it wanted and we didn't get the exciting game that Prey 2 never was. However, Arkane did a fine job giving us a System Shock like experience with interesting enemies.
Alien: Isolation (2014)
Platforms: WIN, LIN, MAC, PS3, PS4, 360, XB1, NSW, AND, IOS
Alien: Isolation is set in a world of constant dread and mortal danger. Fifteen years after the events of Alien™, Amanda, Ellen Ripley's daughter, embarks on a mission to unravel the truth behind her mother's disappearance. She navigates a volatile world, confronting a panicked population and an unpredictable, ruthless Alien. Underpowered and underprepared, Amanda must scavenge resources, improvise solutions, and use her wits to survive. The game takes place in the decommissioned trading station Sevastopol, where Amanda encounters a rich cast of inhabitants and faces the same terrifying thing that separated them. This is considered the best Alien game to date and one of the most terrifying games ever created. I still can't get through this game ten years later. It's gorgeous to look at and feels great to play.
The Expanse: A Telltale Series (2023)
Platforms: WIN, PS5, PS4, XB1, XSX
Telltale's latest adventure takes players on the role of Camina Drummer, the Executive Officer of the Artemis, as they explore the dangerous Belt aboard the Artemis. The game features an immersive exploration of zero-g environments, shipwrecks, and zero-g thrusters. Players must make difficult choices and navigate the complexities of space, politics, crew animosities, and their responsibilities to protect the Belt. The game offers no right or wrong path, only choices and their consequences. This is one of the few adventure games I didn't want to end. The story telling and pacing was so good I played it through in one sitting. The space setting isn't so much a antagonist itself, but is unfortunately mostly a backdrop. It's scary in a sense that it feels like something is out there and you never know what it is.
The Invincible (2023)
Platforms: WIN, PS5, XSX
Yasna, an astrobiologist, finds herself on the unexplored planet Regis III in a space race. Her mission becomes a search for lost crewmates, and every decision she makes can bring her closer to danger. She must make difficult choices and witness one of 11 possible endings in the philosophical story. The game is based on Stanisław Lem's iconic novel, The Invincible, and involves interacting with robots, people, and analogue technologies in a retro futuristic timeline. The game challenges Yasna to make difficult choices and witness the consequences of her choices. While the game is mostly a walking simulator at heart, the story is fantastic and so is the lore and technology used in the game's world. It's fascinating to explore and learn more about this world, and space itself is the enemy.
