Summary
- Horror games scare players by taking away control - some offer more tools and choices than others.
- Alien: Isolation is a standout in immersion and terror, emphasizing player choice for survival tactics.
- Hunt: Showdown 1896 excels in flexible gameplay, urging players to be creative with builds and strategy.
Part of what makes horror games scary is that they take away a player's control over the situation they're in. Sometimes, there's no way out, and there's nothing to be done about it, which is the scariest idea of all.
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However, not all horror games are like that. Some try to provide as much choice as possible, giving the players tools, strategies, and playstyles to conquer the horror any way they like. This list of horror games is ranked both by the quality of the game and by how many options it gives the player to conquer their fears.
8 Alien: Isolation
Xenomorph On The Loose
Alien: Isolation
- Released
- October 7, 2014
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Strong Language, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
For a long time, the Alien franchise struggled in the video game world with some truly shocking entries, so expectations were low for Alien: Isolation. Ever since its release, it has become a cult classic, remembered as one of the most immersive horror games of the 2010s, and easily one of the scariest too, with a single Xenomorph hunting the player through the cramped Sevastopol space station.
In a game defined by working around intelligent enemy AI, player choice is everything. Players can choose to stock up on weapons to try and fight the alien off. Alternatively, they can sneak, use tools, rush, or any combination of the above to survive. Succeeding in Alien: Isolation is all about improvising the best solution available in the moment for whatever style suits the player best.
7 Dying Light 2
On The Rooftops
Dying Light 2 Stay Human
- Released
- February 4, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes
Most zombie games put players in the thick of the horde with little option but to fight for their lives, but Dying Light 2 is all about giving players power and choice. That's because they are given a massive amount of traversal equipment to soar through the skies above the zombie hordes, and fight their way out however they see fit (with a great modding scene to expand that choice set even further).
If players want to, they can grab the biggest gun they can find and mow down zombies, use the game's nighttime zombies against human enemies, or simply stealth and parkour their way past foes. It's up to them, and with faction choices that impact the open world, choice is king in Dying Light 2.
6 Bloodborne
Fear The Old Blood
Bloodborne
- Released
- March 24, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
Though FromSoftware is a proven entity by now, releasing some of the best RPGs in the past decade plus, back in 2015 many were still uncertain about Bloodborne. The original Dark Souls had cultivated a large following, but Dark Souls 2 was divisive, and Bloodborne seemed like a big swing in a whole new direction.
It turns out that Bloodborne was one of the finest games ever made. Though it didn't offer quite as much build choice as FromSoftware's other RPGs, there was still plenty of leniency in how players could kit out their hunter with magic, strength, dex, bleed, and beast builds to conquer the game's roster of deadly eldritch bosses.
5 Hunt: Showdown 1896
The Weird West
Hunt: Showdown 1896
- Released
- February 22, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Violence
- Genre(s)
- First-Person Shooter, Extraction
It is extremely difficult to make a horror PvPvE game actually scary, as well as competitive and flexible enough for players to do what they like, but Hunt: Showdown 1896 pulled off the impossible and remains one of the best extraction shooters on the market.
Players are dropped into a map alongside several other crews and tasked with hunting down a monster, then extracting. However, the amount of choice is incredible, both in builds and in strategy. Some players prefer to sit in the mountains with a sniper and cover large swathes of land, others prefer raw aggression, and some prefer avoiding other players altogether. There's an impressive amount of psychology and game theory involved that rewards players for creative thinking and playing their own way, and that's to say nothing about the many build varieties.
4 Pathologic 2
Immune Response
Pathologic 2
- Released
- May 23, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood, Language, Partial Nudity, Violence
Trying to describe the Pathologic series to someone who hasn't played them before is pretty much impossible. While it is essentially an open-world horror RPG about curing an infectious plague, ten minutes of gameplay will reveal just how weird and idiosyncratic the game truly is.
The game's infamously brutal difficulty also pushes players into making unique choices. To stay on top of the economy, players can try and help others, steal, starve, or sell everything they've got. Most objectives have multiple methods for completing them, and different playthroughs offer branching paths that are both player-influenced and driven by the whims of the plague's chosen victims. No two playthroughs of Pathologic 2 play quite alike.
3 Sons Of The Forest
Mutant Island
Sons of the Forest
- Released
- February 22, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Survival, Open-World, Survival Horror
When the original The Forest was released early in the 2010s, it quickly racked up a reputation as one of the scariest survival games ever made, with impressive enemy AI and a gripping world full of danger. A sequel wouldn't be easy to deliver on, but today, Sons of the Forest offers the definitive version of the game.
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Plunged onto the island with no choice but to adapt and survive, players need to figure out fast where to build their base, how to build it, and what to do with that cannibals and mutants that come looking for a meal. Scare them off? Kill some of them (and how many of them)? What defenses might be needed for the next attack? When's the right time to go exploring the island's caves? There are countless questions to answer, and the game's incredible AI rewards creative thinking and playing in a unique way.
2 Project Zomboid
Live Your Unlife
Project Zomboid
- Released
- November 8, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- m
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
In the early 2010s, survival games (spurred on by the success of DayZ and Minecraft) were having a moment, with every indie developer releasing their own version to capitalize on the hype. Most of these games faded from memory, but Project Zomboid remains one of the shining examples of this period in gaming history.
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Taking place in an isometric low-poly Runescape- style graphical world, Project Zomboid is the definitive zombie survival game that rewards creativity, strategy, and ingenuity, where the only way to survive the mounting zombie horde is for the player to play to their strengths however they can.
1 Prey
Mimic The Competition
Prey
- Released
- May 5, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Language, Use of Alcohol, Violence
- Genre(s)
- FPS
Immersive sims are one of the least appreciated sub-genres around. Despite offering maximum freedom to the player with wonderful world-building, immersive sims consistently struggle to find a large audience, which is a particular shame when it comes to the absolutely stellar Prey.
Stranded on a space station full of Typhon aliens who, along with being terrifying monsters, can morph into any object in the game, players are always on edge, and creativity in solving difficult problems is always encouraged. It's the gold-standard immersive sim full of hidden details that makes it worth playing multiple times just to try out all the possibilities.
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