Top 11 Сreepiest Games Ever

Let’s come clean about our tastes in games – all of us adore getting goosebumps while playing some action horror or survival game. The rationale is pure and simple, since most of us are just sick and tired of mundane daily busywork and eager to brighten up our lives. A study from Indiana University shows 53% of respondents have tried playing horror video games and been frightened by them. They say such games stimulate our evolved defense mechanisms that may be of great help when it comes to real-life emergencies.

Horror video games foster immersion much more strongly than do films and fiction

At any rate, today’s gamers find horror games to be not just frightening, but enticing, and clamor for new titles to get unleashed. Even Monster Hunter World seems not so hardcore after all. And while game development studios are working on new eerie franchises, we would like to break down a list of the best video games of the genre, which successfully scared the pants off even the toughest players.

Outlast (series)

Developer: Red Barrels
Publisher: Red Barrels
Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch (in 2018)
Release date on PC: September 4, 2013

This game had a great deal of impact on horror games’ development at that time. A potent atmosphere of the ramshackle asylum gives gamers a touch of the heebie-jeebies and makes them feel like curling up in the corner. I wouldn’t play this game even if it was for free, so creepy it is.

You play as Miles Upshura, a journo, who is trying to find evidence of abusive experiments on patients. As the protagonist advances through the hospital premises, he learns horrific details about inhumane tests which take place there. Despite all his efforts, the main character falls victim to an evil biotech creature that takes possession over his body.

Until Dawn

Developer: Supermassive Games
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform: PlayStation 4
Release date: August 25, 2015

Even though this game has no PC port, it has gained much traction among the proud owners of PS4 consoles all over the globe. Barring some hiccups of animation and a poor camera perspective, the title gathered lots of positive reviews from both critics and players.

The storyline is trivial yet quite immersive, telling us about a group of eight friends who decided to spend their holidays outdoors at a guest cabin in a mountainous area. The youngsters are caught off-guard by a sudden attack of an unknown masked maniac trying to kill them on the spot. Now the friends must hold fast to survive until sunrise.

Dead Space

Developer: EA Redwood Shores
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platform: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release date on PC: October 20, 2008

This game was a surefire success upon its release, with over 2 million copies sold across three platforms.

The storyline of Dead Space is run in a sci-fi setting in the year 2508. You are in command of a rescue mission astronaut, who tries to find the surviving crew members on an abandoned starship after receiving a distress call. The vessel appears to be infested with an unknown extraterrestrial virus, which can transmute dead human bodies into terrifying undead monsters known as Necromorphs. The protagonist has to locate and annihilate a hideous mastermind responsible for virus exposure, and thus save humankind.

The Evil Within (series)

Developer: Tango Gameworks
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Platform: PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Release date on PC: October 14, 2014

This title is ready to give the jitters, no matter console or pc you are playing on. The game takes you into an unreal environment full of nightmares and horrific monsters striving to gruesomely kill the protagonist. After getting thrown into an alternate universe, a PD detective along with his colleagues find themselves being chased by a baffling person wearing a hood and wielding a chainsaw.

The main character, being separated from his mates, tries to solve the enigma of this nightmare to set himself free and return to the real world. The antagonist, in his turn, is longing to possess a human body to further utilize it as a host and solely escape the ethereal surroundings. His objective is to come back to Earth and take revenge on the corporation that put him in this transcendental state.

Alan Wake

Developer: Remedy Entertainment
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Platform: PC, Xbox 360
Release date: February 16, 2012

This spooky game is a perfect combination of action-driven game empowered by psychological thriller settings. As the title implies, the main character is Alan Wake, a famous writer of thriller genre books, who decided to spend his vacation in a lodge at a remote mountain-side location.

After his wife’s sudden disappearance in the lake waters, Alan encounters some mystic forces and has to fight for his life. After avoiding immediate death, the protagonist makes up his mind to investigate his late wife’s story. Later on, Alan has many a challenge to overcome to unveil the mystery and save his beloved.

Condemned

Developer: Monolith Productions
Publisher: Sega
Platform: PC, Xbox 360
Release date on PC: April 11, 2006

The game is a groundbreaking mix of the first-person shooter and survival horror genres. In the USA, it is mostly known under the title Condemned: Criminal Origins and was developed for Xbox 360 with consequent release on PC.

You play as an FBI agent, whose aim is to track down a serial murderer out in the sticks of the fictional town of Metro. Aided by Rosa, his trusted partner, the protagonist progresses on his way to nail the serial killer by collecting numerous clues and evidence and fighting masses of rampaging outskirts dwellers. Eventually, revealing the true personality of the antagonist becomes quite shocking to the relentless detective.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Developer: Frictional Games
Publisher: Frictional Games
Platform: PC, Mac OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4
Release date on PC: September 8, 2010

The game is a brilliant example of the horror genre and has a lot of fans across all popular game platforms. It could even be a part of our TOP indie games list, if it wasn’t so creepy as hell. This fear-fueled adventure boasts unique gameplay mechanics, which makes it stand out from the crowd.

Here in Amnesia you have to prevail against your opponents with no weapons available to make use of. Instead, the protagonist must find safe places to hide from the horrid monsters roaming about, and subsequently run for his life by stunning them for a while.

Dead by Daylight

Developer: Behaviour Interactive
Publisher: Starbreeze Studios
Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Release date on PC: June 14, 2016

The title is an online multiplayer survival game firstly developed for PC and then followed by console versions. Dead by Daylight features both first-person and third-person perspectives, depending on which side you pick in the further standoff.

You can either choose the survivors’ side or prefer playing as a killer. While playing on the killers’ side is quite straightforward and implies direct killing or capturing the opponents, the survivors’ facet is much more sophisticated. In this case, the best bet is to employ your hiding and crouching skills at large to find a way out of the premises and manage to escape the deadlock.

Resident Evil (series)

Developer: PlatinumGames
Publisher: Capcom
Platform: ports and versions on most known platforms
Release date on PC: September 30, 1997

Today this marvellous series needs no introduction to the gaming audience, since it is a far-flung franchise that brags about multiple sequels and spin-offs and branches beyond just games with a number of successful comics and movies released afterwards.

The mainline plot of the series is as straight as an arrow and requires you to fight against zombies and other stomach-churning creatures. The primary objective is to overthrow the dominance of the evil corporation that bears the blame for creating and disseminating a deadly virus.

F.E.A.R. (1, 2)

Developer: Monolith Productions
Publisher: Vivendi Universal Games, Warner Bros. Games
Platform: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release date on PC: October 17, 2005

This is a first-person shooter deftly aligned with scary elements. The installment features both a single-player and multiplayer game modes, which make it an irresistible option to spend your spare time on.

The plot is so intriguing and nuanced that it would take us pages to elaborate on it in detail. Bluntly put, you play as a special forces professional engaged by an organization known as F.E.A.R., which stands for First Encounter Assault Recon. You have to hunt down and confront a perilous scoundrel named Fettel, who managed to seize control over an elite squad of clone soldiers. The storyline is not so simple though, and the protagonist will have to face many unexpected challenges before he succeeds in achieving his final goal.

Alien: Isolation

Developer: Creative Assembly
Publisher: Sega
Platform: PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Release date on PC: October 7, 2014

This is an award-winning horror game with more than two million copies sold all over the globe. The plot of the game is set in alternate future settings. The main character, a lady astronaut who got separated from the rest of her rescue team and left alone to explore the vastness of a dismantled space station. As the protagonist progresses, she is chased by an alien monster, absolutely invulnerable to human weapons.

So the best tactics here are to use stealth maneuvers in order not to get captured and killed by the evil creature. Whether she manages to stay alive or not totally depends on your skillset.

To keep up with the trends in the gaming industry, read our The 45 Best PC Games Ever blog post.