Forget films: no medium shows how broad the horror genre can be as well as games do. While you’ll naturally think of having to fend yourself against or otherwise bolting it from all kinds of frightening monstrosities, horror can also be atmospheric and psychological. It can take on different formats, where text can be just as chilling as a cinematic. Believe it or not, it can also be a strange source of comfort when the real world itself is full of horrors.
So this Halloween, whether you want to turn all the lights off and be immersed in pure fear or play with others and enjoy something a little more manageable, these 10 spooky games each offer different ways to engage with horror.
Silent Hill f (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC)
While last year saw the excellent remake of Silent Hill 2, a genuine new entry for Konami’s survival horror series is all the more tantalising, especially one not set in the titular American locale but a rural town in 1960s Japan. Playing as teenage schoolgirl Hinoka, you and your tight-knit friends try to escape from a fog that has swept the town, bringing with it deadly red spider lilies and grotesque monsters.
Ebisugaoka covers a surprising amount of ground, including a field of scarecrows that makes for one of the most nerve-wracking puzzles, but it’s the writing from renowned Japanese horror writer Ryukishi07 that gives Silent Hill f the special sauce: a horror game with plenty to say about patriarchy, femininity, and societal pressures. Just be prepared to replay the game and endure its clunky combat to experience the whole story.
Mouthwashing (PC)
Set on board a freighter spaceship, this non-linear first-person narrative games follows its five crew members in the aftermath of a mysterious crash that leaves the captain severely maimed but still alive, while everyone is trapped and stranded as supplies dwindle. As grimly horrifying as it is bleakly absurd, especially once you discover the reason behind the game’s title, you also abruptly jump between perspectives taking place sometimes months before or after the crash.
While it has its run-and-hide-or-die gamey moments, it’s the claustrophobic atmosphere and narrative of workplace tensions and distrust that pulls you in, while it turns out you don’t need the most cutting-edge graphics to create some of the gnarliest imagery that will haunt you long after you’ve rolled the credits. It’s also coming to PS5, Xbox Series X and Switch soon.
Alien: Isolation (PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch)
Taking inspiration from Ridley Scott’s original space horror masterpiece before the franchise morphed and mutated with mixed results, you play as Amanda Ripley searching for her mother, which finds her winding up investigating the Sevastopol space station, which also happens to have become home to the ‘perfect organism’.
It’s this one xenomorph’s AI that becomes the centrepiece of Isolation as you’re powerless to defeat it but can only at best make it flee with a flamethrower while otherwise using the iconic motion tracker to evade its presence as you cower inside lockers and pray nothing pops out from the vent shaft above you. It’s also got the most suspenseful manual save system ever devised, which may also trap you in a difficult spot.
Phasmophobia (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S)
If you find horror games a bit too much to handle by yourself, why not play with friends? This online co-op ghost-hunting game has up to 4 players investigate haunted locations using a variety of equipment, including EMF readers, thermometers, and night vision cameras to record evidence of paranormal activity.
While still actually in early access since 2020, there’s already plenty of spooky content, including 20 ghost types and 10 locations, as well as weekly hand-crafted challenges. If the first-person exploration gets too intense, you even have the option to hang back as a support from the truck, using motion sensors and CCTV to support the team.
Crow Country (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, Switch)
Here’s a retro-inspired survival horror featuring obscure puzzles and inventory management. What makes it more retro of course is its PS1-style low-poly visuals and prerendered backgrounds (except this time they’re not pre-rendered as you’ll see from a rotating camera) that manage to both evoke both the original Resident Evil and Final Fantasy VII.
Those Playmobil-looking characters do give this a bit more of a light and cosy vibe, though that’s intentional. Indeed, you also have the choice of just how much of a survival horror you want it to be, including the option to remove all the monsters so that you can just focus on solving its puzzles at a more relaxed pace.
Luigi’s Mansion (GameCube, 3DS, Switch 2)
The game that popularised the notion that Mario’s brother is a scaredy cat, this GameCube launch title remains a classic family-friendly spooky adventure. Instead of the usual platforming, Luigi straps on a state-of-the-art vacuum cleaner that can suck up ghosts as he explores a mansion to find and rescue Mario. It’s designed with such characterful charm, especially Luigi himself as he nervously calls for his brother or hums and whistles to the game’s signature theme tune, while finding secrets in each room feels like you’re on the kids show Finders Keepers.
While you can also opt for the larger sequels on Switch, there’s something to be said for how the original kept its mechanics fresh compacted into just that one titular mansion, which Switch 2 owners with a NSO and expansion pack membership can revisit for free from 30 October.
Alan Wake 2 (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S)
If the original Alan Wake imagined what would happen if a Stephen King-type author was transported into a nightmare mirroring the plot of his own novel, this long-awaited sequel also brings in influences of both The X-Files and Twin Peaks, as the story splits between new protagonist FBI agent Saga Anderson and Wake as he tries escaping an alternate dimension he’s been trapped in for the last 13 years while his evil doppelganger Mr Scratch runs amok.
The shift to survival horror is a major improvement over its predecessor, while post-launch updates have tried toning down some of its intense jump scares, though much like its Lynchian inspiration, there’s more to this game than plain horror, with some inspired mix of game visuals and live-action, culminating in an unforgettable musical number. PlayStation Plus subscribers can also get this game for free this October.
Emio: The Smiling Man (Switch)
An unusual one on the list for sure, as this is actually a sequel to Famicom Detective Club, a duology previously only released in Japan until the Switch remake in 2021.
It’s a tough recommend in other ways, from its very archaic adventure game format, with a very limited set of verb actions that deliberately requires repeating the same action until something decided to say something new, while the murder case in question spans back to a cold case and urban legend from 18 years ago that seems to have alluded everyone’s memory. And yet with it right until its shocking, gnarly and outright nasty conclusion and it becomes crystal clear how this came to be Nintendo’s first PEGI-18 rated game.
The Midnight Walk (PC, PS5)
With characters built from real clay then digitally scanned in and animated in a stop-motion style, this dark first-person adventure is like if The Nightmare Before Christmas was a game, exuding cosy warmth, especially with your companion Potboy whose flame will light your way. There may be some pretty frightening monsters too, which you’ll have to stay one step ahead of, but you’ll also sympathise with them as you learn of their tragic backstories.
It’s also designed to be played in VR, in particular taking use of PSVR2’s eye-tracking functionality where actually closing your eyes doesn’t just help you escape some threats in the dark but even open up secret paths.
Resident Evil Village (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, PC, iOS)
Capcom’s long-running series has undergone many changes over the years, unwittingly pioneering third-person action shooters then stripping things back to pure fear. This first-person instalment attempts to balance those directions, being more action-oriented from its predecessor from the off, while still having one standout frightfest sequence at House Beneviento, as well as camping it up with the village’s four larger-than-life lords, literally so with scene-stealing giantess Lady Dimetrescu.
It may not be the series’ best, nor is forever faceless protagonist Ethan Winters easy to warm to, but it’s still a good shlocky time for Halloween that’s worth revisiting before the next instalment arrives next year. If you have a PSVR2, it’s also another excellent and immersive way to experience Village up close.
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