What is the number 1 scariest horror game?

50 Scariest Horror Games of All Time (2022) 1Silent Hill 2. Release Date: Septem. ... 2Resident Evil Series (1-4) Release Date: Ma. ... 3System Shock 2. Release Date: Aug. ... 4Alien Isolation. Release Date: Octo. ... 5Alan Wake. ... 6Layers of Fear. ... 7The Evil Within 2. ... 8Dead Space. More items... •

nerdmuch.com - 50 Scariest Horror Games of All Time (2022) - Nerd Much?

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Horror is the staple of any media and video games often take it to a level we never imagined we would love so much. Scary video games can be ultra-immersive, and that feeling of really being there makes the horror all the more adrenaline-pumping. Whether you are solving the latest serial murder case or wandering about a haunted asylum, the actions of the main character will feel like your own. Sometimes that means running like hell from the scary monster, or sneaking up behind a thug and snapping his neck. Horror is here to make you question your actions in extreme circumstances and wonder if thrill-seeking is really what you are doing playing this game. The list below contains fifty of the best scary games of all-time, going all the way back to the 90s. Though horror has come a long way since games like Alone In The Dark, it is important to see where the genre has come from, how it has grown since, and how diverse the scares have become.

Silent Hill 2

Release Date: September 24, 2001

Systems: PS3, Xbox, Xbox 360, PC

Developer: Konami

Publisher: Konami

Horror, thy name is Silent Hill 2. The first game was good, but the second was even scarier. If you have not yet played this mark in video game history, do so now (there was a remaster for the PS3 and Xbox 360 back in 2012 and it is well worth it). The game begins with a mysterious letter from the main character’s dead wife. What is he to do but try to find his wife? If there is even a chance she is still alive, he is willing to go through hell for her — and he does. For the first part of the game, even though all you are doing is finding keys, Silent Hill is a town that will creep into your mind, not unlike the constant fog that surrounds you. Turns out, Silent Hill really does get to your head. Everything about this game has become iconic in the horror genre, so many games paid homage to it afterward — even Resident Evil 7, with the letter from someone who is supposed to be unable to do so. With rumors of a Silent Hill PS5 reboot swirling, you might want to go dive back into this classic horror gem right about now.

Resident Evil Series (1-4)

Release Date: March 22, 1996

Systems: PC, Nintendo DS, NES, GameCube, PSP, Wii, PlayStation, PS3

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Capcom

If Silent Hill defined horror, Resident Evil defined the FPS horror genre. The Resident Evil games hand you a gun, say “good luck”, and proceed to hide enemies in the worst (or best) places. The moment you think you are safe, out pops a monster and your aim is suddenly horrendous. But Resident Evil is not all about jump scares, it builds atmosphere too. The games usually build the atmosphere with long hallways, mysterious sounds, and enemies that will have you running in the opposite direction. These monsters are a result of a virus that usually stars as the main antagonist, or at least the thing behind it. Most of the Resident Evil games are about secret agents working to protect experiments on horrific viruses. Things go wrong, as they always do, and you are usually fighting your way in or out depending on the game. The monsters will send shivers down your spine, like ominous Verdugo that guard the ever more terrifying Ramon Salazar. Resident Evil also appears on our list of the best zombie games of all-time, so you know we hold it to high regard here at Nerd Much?.

System Shock 2

Release Date: August 11, 1999

Systems: PC

Developer: Irrational Games

Publisher: Nightdive Studios

From the brilliant mind of Ken Levine comes System Shock 2, another historical landmark for video games. This game hit the history books because of its strong story, environmental design, and the famous twist at the end. The story follows an unnamed soldier who wakes in the aftermath of a genetic infection. You are contacted by one of the survivors, Dr. Janice Polito, and she gives you your mission: stem the infection, collect all remaining survivors, and get the hell out. Though simplistic by today’s standards, System Shock 2’s environment set up an atmosphere that was unmatched by no other space horrors at the time. Creeping through each corridor, listening to what happened before you woke up, all of it perfected to keep you on edge. The twist at the end is a tribute to Arthur C. Clarke’s The Space Odyssey, but it took players by surprise anyway — it was in equal parts terrifying and awesome.

Alien Isolation

Release Date: October 7, 2014

Systems: PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Developer: Creative Assembly

Publisher: SEGA

This would not be a true horror list without mentioning Alien Isolation. This game is horror survival like no other before it, basically playing like a giant game of hide n seek between you and a xenomorph. In this game, you really felt like if you did not run fast enough, the big black alien would surely kill you. You may have a gun, but the game is specifically geared to make sure you hardly use it. Alien Isolation does this by limiting your ammo, crafting materials, and making the enemies able to take a lot of damage. This makes for stealth strategies even those who are experts at Dishonored would have to die first to figure out, such as: throw the molotov cocktail to set the alien on fire and hope it dies, or run like hell and hope the next room over has a locker you can hide in. It’s one of the best jump scare games pc and console players can both enjoy.

Alan Wake

Release Date: May 14, 2010

Systems: Xbox 360, PC

Developer: Remedy Entertainment

Publisher: Remedy Entertainment

Though you need the physical disc to actually play this game nowadays, it would not be a horror games list without Alan Wake. This horror game took a look at Silent Hill and tried to improve the narrative. The setting, as implied in Silent Hill as well, is a work of fiction, made up entirely by the mind of Alan Wake. Wake is a writer, caught in the midst of his own creation. Every enemy is a manifestation of his own imagination and parts of his life. Though in Silent Hill it is less by the main character’s own design than it is a really terrible coping mechanism. Much like Fatal Frame, or Project Zero, Alan Wake does not use a weapon to attack enemies or “ghosts.” Wake uses a flashlight to burn the enemies away, reveal who they really are (regrets, unresolved grievances, etc), and then destroy them. Though some might argue that the flashlight functions about the same way as a gun would, the metaphor is more important.

Layers of Fear

Release Date: February 15, 2016

Systems: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC

Developer: Bloober Team

Publisher: Aspyr

Now here’s a game with horror, especially for those of us with claustrophobia. This scary game may be, at its core, just a glorified haunted house tour, but there are a few unique elements that help it stand out. For one, you do not play the sweet and innocent protagonist working against the psychopathic ghosts. Nope — this time you are the psychopath and you are keen on finishing your painting. You need the right materials before you can, however, and by fetching these materials, the players explore the house and the mind of the psychopath within. Second, this haunted house doesn’t just have creepy paintings, the rooms shift and change depending on the main character’s state of mind. If he’s feeling particularly angry, rot and rats will invade the room until there is an illogical abyss at the center. When he is feeling panicked, the rooms become distorted and mixed, not unlike a botched painting. The scariest moment for me was when you are on the run, you go to the end of the hall and close the door behind you. The objective, as usual, is to go into the next room. But each locked door you try disappears as soon as you turn away from it. Eventually, there are no doors at all. As someone who can hardly stand caves in a video game, the panic was all the more intense to find that there was no exit, not even a window. If you spun around often enough in your panic, a door would appear, and it would open all by itself. Layers of Fear can be an acquired taste, but for most, it is the combination of the unique elements mixed in with the old tired ones that really make it a thrill to play. If you ever have a free evening, give Layers of Fear a try and see how many coats of paint you can peel away to reveal the truth, as it’s easily one of the best horror games 2016 gave us.

The Evil Within 2

Release Date: October 13, 2017

Systems: PS4, Xbox One, PC

Developer: Tango Gameworks

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Our Review

As a sequel should, this game takes the series to a whole new level. Sebastian Castellanos enters STEM once again in hopes of saving his daughter, Lily, and helping MOBIUS. The enemies here are fully developed characters, people who have entered STEM and been corrupted by it and the potential power within Lily. The game is still mostly an FPS with a little survival thrown in, closer to RE7 than it is Outlast or Alien Isolation. That said, it is really the enemies and narrative that you play an Evil Within game for. The photographer, for example, sets up an elaborate trap for you long before you meet for a real fight. He reminds me a little of Pagan Min from Far Cry 4, with his suave attitude and penchant towards manipulation rather than true violence. Not that either character shies away from the ol’ pain as motivation. If you thought the first game was a little too glitchy for you, the second fixed a lot of those problems. The story is not exactly the same, of course, and it is not nearly as satisfying to uncover the mystery when you already know most of what is going on. That said, The Evil Within 2 has well-written characters and enemies, making it definitely worth a play-through and a spot on this list.

Dead Space

Release Date: October 13, 2008

Systems: PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, Android, iOS

Developer: EA Redwood Shores

Publisher: EA

If you thought what BioShock really needed was aliens, Dead Space is for you. This game is a twisted story of a Borg-like alien race determined to conquer the universe through monoliths called Markers. These Markers carry an alien virus that will convert whatever species it touches into Necromorphs through their corpses. The Necromorphs, reanimated dead, spread the virus by attacking the living until they are the only thing left. Together, they form a large enough biomass to make themselves a whole new alien to send out more Markers. As the main character, your options are fairly bleak. You can never be sure which is the right decision as the people telling you what to do have rather questionable motives the entire game. On top of that, Isaac is constantly tortured by his supposedly dead girlfriend and we are never really sure if she is uninfected or a Necromorph by the end of the game. If you like jump scares, alien zombies, and curb stomps, Dead Space is for you. It’s sci-fi horror at its finest, and it is one of the most brutal space horror games to play. It just does not let up in both violence and narrative twists.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Release Date: September 8, 2010

Systems: PS4, PC

Developer: Frictional Games

Publisher: Frictional Games

Though all the other games on this list can be terrifying and will have you shaking in your boots, Amnesia is at the absolute top of our picks for the scariest of scary games, with only Fatal Frame as its main competition. In this game, not only are you completely weaponless, you are defenseless as well. The monsters will get you in one hit and there is nothing you can do against them but run for your life. The catch, as there always is in a horror game, is that they cannot see you if you are in the dark. Problem is, your sanity takes a nosedive if you spend more than a few minutes in complete darkness. Your sanity is not just a meter in the top right-hand corner either, your vision gets shaky and your breath quickens until your own panic is all you can hear. This mechanic alone is enough to propel the entire game, but there is so much more to Amnesia. You get so wired, the slightest thing will have you turning tail and running like hell. Like a torch, you did not light, or a doll suddenly appearing while you were busy checking out the rest of the room. If you can find someone who likes horror games, but has not played Amnesia yet, watching them play will be so pure and hilarious. Amnesia, without a doubt, is worth paying money for. Maybe keep the lights on though, and let your heart settle into a more steady rhythm.

F.E.A.R.

Release Date: October 18, 2005

Systems: PC

Developer: Monolith Productions

Publisher: Warner Bros.

This is not a game necessarily out to have you trembling in fear like Amnesia or Silent Hill, but it will keep you on edge. Horror will happen, and it will consist of so much more than the little girl at the end of the hallway. The story itself, for example, as plenty of twists and turns like any other Resident Evil game. F.E.A.R. received critical acclaim mostly for its combat style. Inspired by John Woo films like Hard Boiled, F.E.A.R. really knows how to make every player feel like a badass lone wolf. In combat, you have the capability of slowing downtime. This way, each shot counts and you can take your time aiming to really get everyone in the room. Not only that, but the world also distorts and explodes around every bullet and grenade, making for beautiful art Michael Bay can only dream of. F.E.A.R. is probably the best of the psychological horror games, and if you haven’t played it, we highly suggest you check it out.

Fatal Frame

Release Date: December 13, 2001

Systems: PS3, Xbox, PS3

Developer: Tecmo

Publisher: Tecmo

Fatal Frame is pure Japanese horror in game form. If you ever managed to get through the Japanese version of The Ring, you can understand the enormous differences between what Americans think is horror, and what horror really is. Fatal Frame has one main mechanic that has since been unmatched in other horror games, your Camera Obscura. This fancy camera allows you to attack spirits, but one snap is never enough to do the trick. You must keep the spirit as close to the center of the frame as possible, snap a picture, and then do it again until they are freed or gone entirely. In addition, the story is hardly simple. The more you play, the more you discover just how deep and truly terrifying this house you have wandered into is. Almost every spirit you encounter is someone else who thought they were going to make it too. Only every time, you find a newspaper clipping or something that tells of their death. Each story certainly makes it feel less and less likely that your main character is truly any different, even with your Camera Obscura.

Until Dawn

Release Date: August 25, 2015

Systems: PS4

Developer: Supermassive Games

Publisher: Sony

Basically the movie Cabin in the Woods, only in game form. A group of eight friends go out to a cabin in the woods for a vacation. They have not been there long before the first death occurs and all the characters must strive to survive until dawn. The player switches between each of the teenagers, getting to know them and helping them survive in the cabin and outside. There are plenty of decisions along the way as well, some are to stay still and hide, others are to attack and hope for the best. Sometimes it works, sometimes you get killed. All of your decisions accumulate to what has been reported as hundreds of possible endings and ways to get there. It is possible for the player to keep all the teenagers alive, but it is not easy. Though Until Dawn came out in 2015, the graphics still hold up. This is likely because of the cinematic nature of the gameplay. Until Dawn is not a game focused on combat or technical gameplay, but rather on quick-time events, exploration, and collecting information to make future decisions that could mean life or death for the characters.

Bloodborne

Release Date: March 24, 2015

Systems: PS4

Developer: FromSoftware

Publisher: Sony

If nothing else, the monster designs should have you open-mouthed with something between terror and awe. Some monsters are just plain gross, others are grotesquely beautiful, and others still tell a sad story with the way they move and what weapons they use. Bloodborne has many layers, everything is there to be read and interpreted as mythology belonging to the world or adding to the story the player hardly knows they are in. Bloodborne, just like its predecessor Dark Souls, is not keen on handing out details. The player is given a vague mission with even vaguer morals, yet told not to worry this is the right thing to do. By the end of the game, if the player was not paying close attention, he/she could be entirely lost as to the meaning of the ending and why one choice seemed to be preferred over the other.

Outlast

Release Date: September 4, 2013

Systems: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC

Developer: Red Barrels

Publisher: Red Barrels

This is a game that took the concept of Fatal Frame‘s camera and put a different spin on it, allowing players to navigate dark areas with its night vision capability. Since Outlast does not lend the player any sort of weapons, seeing in the dark is tantamount to one’s survival. The monsters were once human too, making killing them somewhere between putting them out of their misery and killing an innocent person – so many innocent people that were manipulated by circumstance and taken advantage of. In the end, you might feel that you have escaped, but the game inserts doubt so cleverly you will never be sure. Interestingly, the mechanic of the camera will reward you with a nearly complete movie of your entire play-through. Such a tidbit shows just how much you use the camera and how skillfully the game was designed to make you use it at so many key moments. Is Outlast the scariest game ever? It’s a top 10-er for us here at Nerd Much?, for sure.

Outlast 2

Release Date: April 25, 2017

Systems: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC

Developer: Red Barrels

Publisher: Red Barrels

Unfortunately, this sequel is not as good as the first game, but it’s still one of the best scary games of all-time. It still uses the camera mechanic, and this time, there are no weapons to use. Your only options are to run and hide or the enemies will instantly kill you. This becomes a problem when the apparently open world game turns out to be very linear. It wants you to run in a specific direction and hide in a specific place. If you do not manage to find that on the first or fifth try, the enemies will see you regardless of how well you think you are hiding. Furthermore, the enemy characters are less developed and well designed. However, if you enjoy a story about religious extremism, Outlast 2 is for you. Especially if this is not a subject you encounter often, Outlast 2 tells a fascinating story of how easily certain religions can lead to unseemly and contradicting behavior in the followers, and it’s filled with scares aplenty.

Editor’s Note:

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Just how scary is Outlast 2? Well, in my opinion, I found it actually more terrifying than the original. Rhys disagrees, but I thought it is worth noting.

Manhunt

Release Date: November 18, 2003

Systems: PS2, Xbox, PC

Developer: Rockstar North

Publisher: Rockstar Games

If Grand Theft Auto was thought to be a violent game, it is a walk in the park in comparison to Manhunt. This is an early game from Rockstar, and remarkably, it still holds up under the test of time. The graphics are, of course, terrible by today’s standards, but the gameplay is still great. You play the part of a criminal on death row who wakes up not dead but stuck in someone’s sick version of The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell. Sure, the latter is about hunting one human at a time, but Manhunt is about killing many humans in the most violent and spectacular ways possible. You get more points for how brutal or sneaky the attack is, depending on what is demanded of you on that level. That is nothing to say of the sexual aspects involved in some of the levels. Manhunt may not have jump scares or ghosts, but it does have violence and the kind of subtle psychological scares that horror games rarely bother with. The situation and your actions really make you think about what your life and that of others are really worth.

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