Summary
The library of horror games continues to grow in both quality and popularity. Despite the onslaught of different titles,psychological horrorhas endured and prevailed, remaining one of the most popular subgenres in the industry. Focusing on mental states and emotions such as paranoia, fear, and guilt, psychological horror games have plenty of scope to create distressing experiences.
While some horror games, including psychological ones, rely on overt scares to spook players, some of the more effective titles use sound and environmental design to create feelings of trepidation and a general uncomfortable atmosphere. These are some of the mostunsettling psychological horror gamesthat will keep the player ill at ease.
I Have No Mouth And I Must Screamis an interpretation of Harlan Ellison’s short story of the same name, Ellison himself being involved with the game. The player controls five different characters - the last people left on Earth and tortured after the American “Mastercomputer” AM gained sentience and purged the rest of the population.
Each character is put to the test, having to confront their fears and flaws with the opportunity to redeem themselves. Like its source material,I Have No Mouth And I Must Screamtakes realanxieties about AIand all too potential dystopian landscapes and turns them into a genuinely uncomfortable, interactive experience.
Cry of Fearbegan as aHalf-Lifemod, eventually being released as its own title in 2012. Despite itsFPS elements,Cry of Fearhas retained a lot of the unsettling tension that many other action-horror games sacrifice in favor of bloodshed.
Set in Sweden, the player controls Simon as he tries to make his way home after being hit by a car. Unfortunately, the city has transformed into a hellish labyrinth full of horrific monsters that point toward the reality of the protagonist’s world. Complete with gripping combat, a compelling narrative, and a dingy atmosphere of decay,Cry of Fearmasters unease.
Layers of Fearfollows a tortured artist known as “the Painter” as he attempts to finish a portrait of his wife that is supposed to be his magnum opus. It very quickly becomes apparent that he is no ordinary painter, and his past is gradually revealed as the player collects the required materials.
Like a handful of other psychological horror games,Layers of Feardoesn’t have any big aggressive monsters to fight or run from. It instead uses gradually changing environments that parallel with the protagonist’s state of mind, creating an unstable and disturbing atmosphere.
The 2023 remake ofLayers of Fearadds stalker enemies that can kill the player, which some feel takes away the tension of the original.
Outlastis often cited as one of thescariest games of all time, and for good reason. Following investigative journalist Miles Upshur into the horrors of Mount Massive Asylum, feeling safe when playing this psychological survival horror is a very rare occurrence.
Players will be faced with unpredictable NPCs, creepy antagonists, body horror, and distressing scientific experiments, all while wielding nothing but a night vision camera. Creeping through the bloody hallways is nothing short of traumatic, leaving players constantly anxious, even when there is no danger.
Some horror game settings aren’t inherently scary and are only made so by an atypical scenario. On the other hand, there are some locations that players enter expecting to find something untoward; take graveyards or, as in the case ofThe Mortuary Assistant,a morgue.
Regardless of the ever-present suspense of expecting a jump scare (of which, admittedly, there are plenty), there is also something inherently unnerving about those in-between moments where the player is confronted with death in a horriblycold, clinical setting.
TheP.T.has become a pillar of the horror gaming community, remaining one of the most discussed and influential horror titles of all time. Controlling an unnamed protagonist, the player must repeatedly walk through a hallway, completing puzzles and experiencing increasingly sinister events.
The enigmatic and inconsistent nature ofP.T.is what many players find the most unsettling, never getting solid answers as to what is going on and being left in the unknown. The fact that players never know what will be around the familiar corner builds plenty of tension without the need for jump scares.
Art style can go a long way in creating unnerving experiences;Fran Bowis a 2Dpoint-and-click horrorwith a very unsettling graphic design. Guiding the titular young girl, the player must help her find her cat, Mr Midnight, encountering figures along the way that are both whimsical and uncanny.
The environments and figures - from humanoid insects to a giant goat skull-headed beast - encountered along the way are straight out of a warped fairy tale. With a thematically dark story,Fran Bowis a memorable psychological horror game that exploits the unsettling pairing of both familiar and surreal elements.
Fran Bowdepicts (both implied and on-screen) distressing content, including abuse and mental health struggles, that may be triggering for some players.
Upon its release in 2010,Amnesia: The Dark Descentbecame a defining entry in the realm of psychological horror, marking a return to the genre’s roots and a resurgence of similar titles. Following Daniel through Castle Brennenberg, the player must find and kill Baron Alexander as grotesque humanoids hunt him down.
The Dark Descentexcels at curating a sense of dread via both thesurvival mechanics and the lack of combat; as players are unable to fight back, they are left feeling vulnerable and without control. Alongside shadowy passages and unseen dangers, it’s difficult to come out of this game without rattled nerves.
Doki Doki Literature Clubis cleverly marketed as a visual novel/dating simulator, but the innocent title hides something sinister. As the player progresses through the game, romancing three of the four literature club members, the girls' true nature begins to seep through.
Despite the bright colors and art style ofDDLC,there are lots of features that make the game unnerving. From Monica’s fourth wall breaking to strange glitches and warped sound design, there is a continuous sense that something is not quite right, even before things really kick off.
Doki Doki Literature Club!contains some graphic scenes depicting mental health struggles which may be triggering for some gamers.
After its release in 2024,Mouthwashingquickly gained a cult following, being streamed, covered, and praised by horror gamers across a multitude of platforms. The game follows the crew of a freight ship in the aftermath of a crash, with flashbacks to the events leading up to the disaster.
Mouthwashingis a near-perfect cocktail of unnerving elements;the low-poly visuals, visceral body horror, troubled characters, and high-pressure situations all contribute to the overall sense that things are very wrong. The uncertainty as to the lengths that the characters will go to out of desperation keeps players on edge throughout.
Mouthwashingopenly explores themes like abuse, addiction, and mental health struggles that may be triggering for some players.
