Where can I find the most terrifying PC games? The player often needs to abandon the standard action formula in order to survive a scary game, and instead must constantly avoid or outrun their pursuers. They make you feel weak instead of strong, and they’re the ones that stick with you the most after you finish the game.
Where can I find the most terrifying PC games? Rather than focusing on standard action principles, scary games have you always on the run from your enemies. Those make you feel weak instead of strong, and they are the games that stay with you the longest.
It goes without saying that the most effective horror games have a lot more than just jump scares and bloodshed. We have included a few obvious choices, such as Outlast and Amnesia, but you may also expect to find games that use alternative strategies, such as atmosphere and careful pacing, or surprising multiplayer antics, as you will find in Phasmophobia.
Don’t forget what Roosevelt said: “We have nothing to fear until that scene in FEAR where you’re climbing a ladder and Alma comes out and you’re all like, ‘Argh!’
The best horror games in 2022. https://t.co/sYKfd87qap pic.twitter.com/nrurxM50K5
— PC Gamer (@pcgamer) October 24, 2022
Truly profound advice.
Some Of The Best Horror Games PCAre:
- Phasmophobia
- Daytime Killings
- Public Transportation Leaves
- Raccoon Village: A Resident Evil Fantasies Setting
- Evil II: What Lies Beneath
- Isolation from an Extraterrestrial
- Criminal Progenitor: Condemned
- Darkwood
- Second Shock System
- Dark Descent: Amnesia
- Outlast
- In a Void
- Untold Tales
- Terrible Nightmares
- Inside
- Oxenfree
- Doom 3
- In the Quarry
Since its Early Access release, Phasmophobia’s popularity has skyrocketed. It has gained more than a cult following, and it shows no signs of slowing down.
Even though Phasmophobia is primarily a horror game, it can also be seen as a cooperative detective game, as you and up to three other detectives visit a haunted location and try to figure out what kind of ghost is causing all the fright before reporting back. Dark, narrow passages and strangely quiet rooms necessitate coordination, your best detective hat, and stable nerves.
You and your group must investigate the haunting and fulfill objectives like snapping a picture of dirty water or questioning the ghost using tools like ouija boards, a spirit box, a crucifix, and smudge sticks. However, you should exercise caution because all your inquiring is likely to enrage the spirit, and you wouldn’t want to remain in the vicinity if it went on the prowl.
Daytime Killings
Dead by Daylight is the pinnacle of its genre, the asymmetric multiplayer horror game. It’s up to you whether you want to play as a lone killer or as one of four human survivors trying to get off the map at any cost. There isn’t much the survivors can do to defend themselves, but by working together they can confuse, distract, and annoy their assailant as they make preparations to flee. Due to the player-driven nature of the game, there is never any way to know what will happen next, making for a deliciously basic framework that hosts some of the best scares in gaming.
Dead by Daylight’s true power, however, lies in its ever-growing roster of playable assassins. Almost every well-known horror character has been added to Behaviour Interactive’s roster, from old-school slashers like Ghostface and The Shape to gaming’s most dreaded foes like Nemesis from Resident Evil and Pyramid Head from Silent Hill. It is up to the survivors to adjust to whichever killer they are being hunted by, as each one has a distinct set of powers that reflect their own particular brand of murder and hatred. If you need help deciding who to kill, you can refer to our Dead by Daylight killers ranking.
Public Transportation Leaves
Metro Exodus is a mashup of genres, combining a story-focused family drama with a Wolfenstein-inspired, heavy metal-scored first-person shooter. However, the journey to Metro Exodus’s satisfying conclusion is peppered with a number of terrifying horror game segments.
The day/night system in 4A Games’ irradiated adventure gives players the freedom to make Artyom’s journey as open and aggressive as covert and hidden as they see fit. A much frightening adventure awaits those who opt to sleep through the day and sneak up on their foes in the dead of night. The human foes may be on the defensive, but the chill of a howling Watchmen or the charge of a Humanimal is extremely disturbing.
However, as we mentioned in our PC review of Metro Exodus, the game is at its most horrifying when the rules are altered. At the beginning of the game, you learn how to put out the lights and rule the darkness. Then, when you’re in the spider-infested bunkers beneath the Caspian Sea, it becomes your weapon. Your spider enemies are easily killed by bright illumination, so they avoid it by hiding in the darkest corners they can find. It’s clear that in Metro Exodus you can never relax your guard, as their vile, hairy legs scrape frantically against the walls.
Raccoon Village: A Resident Evil Fantasies Setting
The main character, Ethan Winters, of Resident Evil Village has a tough time of it from start to finish. In Resident Evil 7, we encounter Ethan for the first time after he receives a mysterious message from his long-lost wife. He immediately embarks on a search for her, which ultimately leads him to a scary bayou cabin and a deadly run-in with the shady Baker family. Thank goodness, Chris Redfield comes to the rescue, and Ethan’s life returns to normal, if only temporarily. With Resident Evil 8, Ethan’s life is flipped upside down once more. Now he’s trapped in a village full of monsters and crazed villagers. Resident Evil Village’s tall lady opponent is memorable, but the game quickly becomes terrifying in its first-person survival mode.
Although Resident Evil has a rich history of both great and terrible games, the sixth installment, released in 2004, was arguably the worst. Our Resident Evil Village review shows that this game is among the best of the best. You’ll need all your wits about you to make it through this terrifying journey, full of werewolf-like beasts, zombie thralls, and more. Long, razor-sharp claws allow even the tall woman to sever limbs with ease. This may not be the best Resident Evil game for those who are easily disturbed by graphic depictions of violence against the human body.
In addition, it has arguably the series’ scariest moment so far, which we won’t reveal anything about here. Unless you are feeling more courageous than usual, we recommend leaving the lights on when you enter that residence to play.
Evil II: What Lies Beneath
The finest horror games are the ones that keep you awake. When judged by that standard, The Evil Within 2 easily emerges as the best game of all time. After witnessing a pile of mutilated carcasses skitter over the floor and rearrange themselves into the shape of a pale, fleshy mass of limbs with several faces, all of them laughing, and a buzzsaw in place of a right arm, you will likely have a hard time falling asleep.
This is just one of several terrifying set pieces in The Evil Within 2, each one as original as the last. The excellent follow-up from Tango Gameworks is more than just a compilation of memorable scares. Killing bosses and exploring haunted houses are separated by open-world areas where anything could be waiting for you, from shotgun ammo to a sneaky ghost who will torment you for the rest of the game.
The Evil Within 2’s survival horror origins shines through despite the game’s clever monster and level design. You’ll always be up against more insane foes than you have ammo for. Take a peek at our review of The Evil Within 2 if that hasn’t already convinced you.
Isolation From An Extraterrestrial
Thanks to some clever artificial intelligence and level design, Alien: Isolation, a horror game in which the player is trapped on a space station with a (spoiler) enormous scary alien, is scarier than it has any right to be. Reviewing Alien: Isolation taught us that the only way to survive your monstrous stalker is to hide from him, as there is no way to harm him physically.
In Alien: Isolation, your survival depends on your quick thinking, your ability to hide in small spaces like under desks and in lockers, and your ability to divert attention away from the looming, Nigerian terror with a variety of distractions, in the greatest tradition of the best horror games. What more could you want from the antagonist of a horror game than a dangerous creature that can appear at any time, unplanned and without warning?
Criminal Progenitor: Condemned
Like your scares to be uncompromisingly bloody and nerve-wracking? Despite its dated visuals, Monolith’s Condemned: Criminal Origins is an excellent and surprisingly simple first-person horror experience.
Here you can assume the role of nighttime crime scene investigator and human punching bag Ethan Thomas in a simulator where you fight other homeless people. Condemned: Criminal Origins is true flashlight horror, with terrifying, unwashed men springing out at you from around corners and out of the darkness, and it succeeds very well despite its notable lack of weaponry. To survive a fistfight, you must be precise with your strikes and patient with your defenses, and when facing several foes, you should usually just try to get away.
It’s not your typical police game, but Condemned: Criminal Origins could inject some much-needed adrenaline into the horror game scene.
Darkwood
Darkwood, one of the best indie games to explore the horror genre, is a great reminder of the power of even a small sound like a scrape or a knock from far away. It’s a first-person horror game where you play as a strange man who cooks mushrooms in a house in the middle of a forest where the plague has broken out.
During the day, you are free to wander the infected forest, fending off rabid dogs, searching for supplies, and pondering your identity and how you got here. At night, though, you have no choice but to return home and wait out whatever horrors the night may bring. Despite your best efforts to stock your generator with fuel, barricade the windows, and lay traps as a last resort, your attackers will eventually find you.
Darkwood has the uncanny ability to creep under your skin and spook you without ever showing you anything. We repeatedly slammed the Esc key and left the computer when we heard rustling noises, inhuman screams, or squeaky doors. Although it’s played from above, this is actually a very good horror game.
Second Shock System
The first-person survival horror genre got a boost from System Shock 2, and the game hasn’t looked back since. Its design encourages discovery and exploration thanks to its seemingly limitless network of decks and living quarters. It’s like being trapped in a haunted John Lewis, only with telepathic killer monkeys instead of ghosts.
You’ll get a stronger sensation of belonging on the sparsely inhabited Von Braun because it feels like a planet that continues to live and develop even when you turn your back on it.
System Shock 2 is one of the best horror games ever made on our platform, but it wouldn’t be nearly as scary without the help of the perverted artificial intelligence SHODAN. The computer’s soothing voice belies its subtle cruelty as it continuously torments and teases you, elevating a tense survival RPG to the level of an isolating horror classic. System Shock 2 has a more profound sense of loneliness than any other space game.
Dark Descent: Amnesia
Nightmares are unlike horror video games in that they rarely follow any sort of logical structure. Amnesia: The Dark Descent is terrifying, though. In this terrifying game, the monsters will always find a way to harm you, you have no choice but to sneak and hide from them, and staring at them will drive you nuts.
When the monsters in Amnesia: The Dark Descent appear, you have no choice except to hide under your bed and listen carefully for their exit. Amnesia: The Dark Descent is one of the most unsettling horror games because it follows the horror genre’s golden rule: the greatest dread is the fear of the unknown.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, the sequel, is similarly affecting the mind. Just like the protagonist of Amnesia, you need to maintain your sanity, thus we wouldn’t advise mainlining them in rapid succession.
Outlast
Outlast is a first-person exploration game set in a deserted mental institution that uses the ‘found footage’ technique popular in modern horror films. If you want to make it out of this abandoned psychiatric hospital with all of your organs intact, you’ll need to evade the cast of demented patients and nasty staff members who inhabit there. In spite of the fact that these conventions have been mined to death in films, Outlast demonstrates that they can be mined to terrifying effect in a horror game.
To navigate the gloomy passages of Outlast, you’ll need to use the infrared mode of your camera, which has a green tint. This gives Outlast its signature atmosphere of unease and leaves you open to attack from enemies lurking in the shadows. The hospital you are currently touring has plenty of batteries that are a perfect fit for your camera, which is fortunate because the batteries in your camera only last for a few minutes. Phew.
In a Void
Dead Space is the narrative of a lovable gang of slacker cultists who drag a deep space-mining ship to its flickering, malfunctioning knees, much like the horror game adaption of Event Horizon that never was.
You are a mechanic with a laser cutter that can dismember the hordes of already deformed extraterrestrial beings that have infested the spacecraft, but you are never truly at peace.
The horror of Dead Space, like that of any good horror game, is unsettling and frequently strikes at your psyche, blending violence and paranoia in a subtle way to create an evocative and unrelentingly dreary miasma of dread. An old-school starship haunted by the ghosts of its past passengers, complete with creepy corners and shadowy hallways.
Untold Tales
Each of the four short horror stories in Stories Untold makes use of a different piece of vintage technology to tell its twisted story, making for a very original and creative collection. In the first episode, you’ll find yourself staring at a chunky vintage CRT display while playing a terrifying text adventure titled “The House Abandon.” As the lights flicker, the inexplicable thuds go unchecked, and the imagined noises keep you glued to the screen in expectation of a jump-scare that never comes, your surroundings will begin to resemble those in the novel you’re reading. Stories Untold’s four episodes stand out from the crowd because of their deliberate pace, which prioritizes ambiance and mood over jump scares.
Paranormal tales range from a threatening thriller revealed through decoding radio signals to a sophisticated science fiction yarn in which you conduct an experiment on a mysterious relic utilizing a plethora of tools and contraptions, and everything in between. And while the episodes stand on their own, there are subtle connections between them, and the finale has a twist that would make M. Shyamalan, the Knight, stunned.
The Stories Untold team is also responsible for the sci-fi horror game Observation, in which players take on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) tasked with rescuing a troubled space station.
Terrible Nightmares
Despite Little Nightmares 2 being out now, the first game in the series is still recommended, as it not only sets up the sequel’s final fight with The Thin Man but is also potentially scarier. Playing as Six, a little youngster seeking to escape the horrors of the mysterious and sinister ship called The Maw, you’ll explore its cramped passageways and tight spaces.
You’ll have to use your puzzle-solving skills to make your way through a labyrinth of rooms and hallways while dodging dangerous enemies. You’re desperately trying to get away from the monstrous Twin Chefs and their butcher knives, and The Janitor’s long arms are winding through the air ducts after you. Despite its brief length, Little Nightmares succeeds in establishing a terrifying atmosphere, a compelling plot, and a terrifying journey that culminates in an epic climax.
Inside
Like in Little Nightmares, our hero will have to make his way through perilous environments while evading enemies and threatening environments in order to reach safety. Using a mind control helmet, he directs the helpless masses of people milling around to carry his stuff or figure out his problems. It’s also likely that you’ll die a lot, and much like in Limbo, your deaths will be depicted graphically and cruelly before the screen goes black.
This gloomy, narrative-driven platform game is an eerily eerie journey, thanks in large part to the graphic design, which features monochromatic backdrops and intermittent bursts of color.
Oxenfree
As with many horror films using a cabin as its setting, the tale begins with a carefree group of friends on a trip to an isolated island for a get-together that quickly takes a deadly turn upon their arrival on the island and their discovery of its forgotten horrors. As the player, you take control of Alex, a defiant youngster who accidentally creates a gap to another realm, and from there you make choices and alter the course of the story by selecting conversation and actions.
It’s a supernatural thriller that veers between the styles of a chilling horror game and a laid-back adventure game, building tension and unease until the climactic showdown. Oxenfree successfully blurs genres into something enchanted, stunning, and chilling.
Doom 3
The release of Doom 3 seems like it was eons ago, but the game is still as terrifying as ever. Like any good classic shooter, the emphasis here is on a growing arsenal with which to dispatch an army of hell demons, upside-down baby-face spiders, and odd alien bears. When compared to the previous generation of flat brown sprites, the id Tech 4 engine was a technological miracle.
The jump scares and pop-up monsters in Doom 3 still feel cruelly timed, even after more than a decade, and the game’s assortment of nightmare fodder makes it ideal for horror games.
In The Quarry
In 2015, Until Dawn, a PS4 exclusive, shocked everyone by becoming a smash hit thanks to its innovative use of player agency in conveying a teen horror story in the vein of the classic “cabin in the woods” novel. The Quarry, the newest entry in Supermassive Games’ Dark Pictures Anthology, is situated in a forested area and follows a group of teenage counselors on their final night at summer camp.
The friends get comfortable for a night of revelry, but soon discover that the bloodthirsty townspeople and whatever is hiding in the woods have their sights set on them. The goal is elementary: escape with your characters intact.
In other words, if you’re the kind to point out when characters in horror films make poor choices, here’s an idea of how far you could get if you took that stance yourself. For a complete list of playable characters in The Quarry, as well as information on how to achieve all of the game’s possible endings, check out the cast page.
Well, we’re done here; those were the top PC horror games. Check out the top PC card and tower defense games when you need some downtime. That’s it, folks; there won’t be any cheesy jump scares during the closing credits, so feel free to emerge from behind any piece of furniture you may have been hiding behind.
Final Words
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