Cartoons and horror at first sound like an unlikely pairing. Cartoon art is often associated with younger audiences or children's television, while horror often encompasses much more mature content. Despite this, the fusion of cartoon aesthetics and horror elements has become a popular combination in the gaming world.
The following games are some of the best cartoon horror games, representative of why the subgenre has made its way to the forefront. Different from mascot horror and visual novels, these games are notable for their illustrative art and animation style, and the way that the nature of cartoons deceives players' expectations.
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10 Bendy And The Ink Machine
Illustrated Cartoons Come To Life
Bendy and the Ink Machine
- Release: February 10, 2017
Bendy and the Ink Machine follows animator Henry Stein, who has returned by invitation of his former partner to their old studio. Upon arriving, he finds that the place is covered in ink. The player must solve puzzles and fight deformed illustrations that have been brought to life to progress and discover what's really going on.
The aesthetic and environmental design sets Bendy and the Ink Machine apart from other horror games. Developer Mike Mood states that he took a lot of visual inspiration from Bioshock, although it exceeds its precursor in creepiness with the uncanny 1930s-esque cartoon characters.
9 Hello Neighbor
Uncover Dark Secrets While Solving Puzzles
Hello Neighbor
- Released
- October 8, 2017
- Developer(s)
- Dynamic Pixels
- Platform(s)
- Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Stadia, Xbox One
Hello Neighbor is a stealth horror game. After witnessing his neighbor locking a child in the basement, the player must find a way into the house, figure out what is going on, and escape. With a combination of strategy, stealth, and puzzle elements, this is an equally fun and challenging game.
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Hello Neighbor also uses AI to help the neighbor predict the players' route based on their strategies, and lay down traps to catch them, making it harder to enter and escape the house. The exaggerated cartoon architecture and character design give a freaky spin to the mystery horror genre.
8 The Walking Dead
Comic Book Style Zombie Apocalypse With Emotional Storylines
The Walking Dead The Game
The Walking Dead is an episodic adventure-horror game, based on Robert Kirkman's comic book series of the same name. The player takes on the role of Lee Everett, a criminal who is freed when the police car transporting him crashes. Navigating a zombie-ridden world, he finds and vows to reunite a girl, Clementine, with her parents.
The course of this game is determined by the choices that the player makes, exploring relationships and morality in a variety of complex scenarios. Each character is unique, driven by their own goals and fears, and despite the comic-style graphics, The Walking Dead is both a gory and touching experience.
There are four seasons of The Walking Dead, each with five episodes, and a bonus DLC episode for the first season.
7 Little Nightmares
A Platform Horror With A Dark Plot And Amazing Visuals
Little Nightmares
Little Nightmares is a platform horror, following a little girl named Six as she tries to escape the Maw, an underwater vessel inhabited by giant grotesque and hungry guests and captured children. The player explores a variety of different disturbing areas as they progress through the game to piece together the world they have been thrust into.
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The atmosphere of Little Nightmares is gloomy and at times repulsive, but the plot is engaging with an abundance of secrets. The puzzle elements and the various threats will keep players on their toes.
6 We Happy Few
A Survival Horror With Great Dystopian World-Building
We Happy Few
Inspired by the likes of A Clockwork Orange and Brave New World, We Happy Few takes place in "Wellington Wells," a dystopian city based on an alternate timeline version of 1960s Britain. Inhabitants are forcefully provided with "Joy," a hallucinogen that makes them forget "The Very Bad Thing."
Players can take control of three different characters, each with their own backstory and skill set, as they attempt to escape the city. The game uses both stealth and survival elements, with crafting and hunger/thirst meters that need sustaining. While not a horror in the conventional sense, the game does feature horror elements. The changing state-dependent environments, dark plot, and unnerving character design make for an extremely uncomfortable experience.
5 Alice: Madness Returns
Brilliantly Re-imagines A Classic Story
Alice: Madness Returns
Book and film buffs alike are likely familiar with Lewis Caroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Garnering animated and live action film adaptations, this classic story has also made its way to the horror gaming world. Alice: Madness Returns takes all the original quirky elements and transforms them into a darker, twisted version of the story.
Playing as Alice, who has been released from Rutledge Asylum, the player must navigate their way through both wonderland and reality in an attempt to resolve Alice's childhood trauma. With freaky enemies, familiar characters, and puzzle elements, this game has something for all horror fans.
4 BioShock
Survival Shooter With A Unique Aesthetic
BioShock
- Released
- August 21, 2007
- Developer(s)
- Irrational Games
BioShock is a first-person shooter action game with an Art Deco-inspired, graphic novel art style. The player takes on the role of Jack, whose plane crash-lands in the sea. After being transported to "Rapture", an off-grid underwater city free from the shackles of post-World War II society, he must embark on a quest to rescue the family of his guide, Atlas.
While not explicitly horror in terms of jumpscares or supernatural events, the plot that unfolds is extremely disturbing, and the player will discover that darker things are at play. Not everything (or everyone) is as it seems. Bioshock tackles issues such as wealth divide, prohibition, trafficking and revolution in highly atmospheric ways.
3 Baldi's Basics
An Educational Game That Gets Increasingly Sinister
- Released: March 31, 2018
- Developer: Basically Games
- Platform: Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux
Baldi's Basics is a survival horror disguised as an educational game. The player must navigate a school to find seven notebooks and complete math questions while avoiding the ruler-wielding Baldi. The catch is, some of the equations are impossible, and incorrect answers make Baldi more aggressive.
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Conceptually, this game is simple and absurdist, but it still proves a terrifying experience. The variety of characters that roam the hallways to hinder the player's progress and the tension of being constantly chased down makes Baldi's Basics a difficult, albeit humorous, horror game.
2 Error #53
A Fun But Not-So-Innocent Adventure Game
- Released: July 17, 2013
- Developer: Sean Toman
- Platform: PC
Due to the unsuspecting art style of cartoons, some cartoon horror games seem wholesome at first. Error #53 is one of these games. Set in a medieval-style village, the player must speak to the King. He then tasks them with defeating Jack and his henchmen, who have been repeatedly sneaking into the castle to steal his gold.
While at first Error #53 seems like a fun hack and slash game, the gameplay gets darker as it glitches and onslaughts the player with unexpected jumpscares. Overall, this is an unsettling game that throws the player off their guard.
1 OMORI
A Psychological Adventure With A Strong Message
OMORI
- Released
- December 25, 2020
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Developer
- Omocat
Omori is a horror RPG, following Sunny and his alter-ego, Omori. The player begins in "the white space," a blank landscape with a single room containing a journal, a laptop, and tissues. Once leaving, they can explore the sleeping "headspace" and the waking "faraway town," followed by Omori's friends.
Events get more distressing as the truth about the group's past is gradually revealed. Each character has unlockable skills for battles in this Pokemon- meets-Stardew Valley- meets-Undertale game. Overall, Omori is a beautiful game that explores themes such as grief and guilt through surreal landscapes, and has multiple endings.
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From the torture of Doki Doki Literature Club to the eerieness of Resident Evil and Silent Hill, here are the scariest horror video games of all time.