For terrifying moments that will stick with you forever, there are no horror games better than these. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the best Horror games of all time.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo and boy am I happy to get to narrate this. These are the top 20
00:12best horror games of all time. We've taken the community feeling, public opinion with
00:16a sprinkling of personal opinion to bring you this comprehensive list. Let's do it.
00:21The Mortuary Assistant. We're starting our list off with a newer indie
00:27entry. You might not think this deserves to end up in the top 20 best of all time,
00:31but play for a solid 30 minutes and tell me you aren't more on edge than you've ever
00:35been in your life. In today's gaming world, a simple creepy ghost isn't always enough
00:40to terrify players. What sets The Mortuary Assistant apart is its chilling setting. As
00:45the title suggests, you play as a mortuary assistant working the night shift, which is
00:49apparently a thing. Anyone with a fear of death should tread lightly when jumping into
00:53this game.
00:59P.T. There may be no more infamous video game demo
01:11in all of gaming history than P.T. and part of the reason why it's so infamous is because
01:16it was so damn good. P.T.'s brilliance lies in its ability to disorient players, no matter
01:22how many times they navigate its labyrinth environment. It's this sense of creeping
01:26madness that defines the game's scares, even though its haunting visuals and disturbing
01:30events are petrifying on their own. The only thing that makes this game suck is that you
01:34literally can't play it anymore unless you get it on eBay and get your hands on a console
01:39that still has it downloaded from 2013.
01:47Condemned tells the story of a federal investigator tasked with tracking down serial killers,
02:00exploring themes that are surprisingly rare in gaming. It leans more towards the psychological
02:04thriller territory like Silent Hill, rather than ghouls, ghosts and zombies. This premise
02:09works perfectly as the killer's mindsets and motives are reflected in the environment,
02:13much like Silent Hill. While Nunner is chilling as the department store where mannequins disguise
02:17themselves as killers, each area's design forces you to delve into the twisted minds
02:22of these criminals to stop them, much like Silent Hill. It's truly a gem on its own,
02:27but it's also very inspired by a certain game series. Think Quiet Mountain.
02:40Darkwood
02:47In Darkwood, you wake up with no memory of who you are, where you are or what's happening.
02:52All you know is that a sinister force relentlessly attacks your cabin at night. To survive these
02:57increasingly violent assaults, you must scavenge for supplies, defensive tools and anything
03:02to keep the lights on for just one more night. While the nighttime sequences deliver Darkwood's
03:06most intense moments, it's the time spent wandering through the endlessly dark forest
03:10in search of supplies that instills a profound sense of hopelessness. Darkwood balances the
03:15survival genre and the horror genre perfectly, and deserves far more praise than it gets.
03:21Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl
03:37You might think the scariest part of Stalker would be the mutants roaming the Chernobyl
03:41wastelands. Few experiences are more terrifying than turning a corner and coming face to face
03:45with something so horrifying you can't even describe it. But what truly sets this game
03:50apart are it's survival elements. You feel utterly out of your depth when you're looking
03:54at the resources you have, as well as the resources that are available. In Stalker,
03:58simply staying alive feels like a challenge, often leaving you questioning why you even
04:02bothered to keep going. Yet you do. Until Dawn
04:11A lot of these entries are wonderful because they were revolutionary, they either started
04:28a new type of game or genre, or perfected it. Until Dawn is one of these games. In Until
04:33Dawn, your choices directly determine whether a character lives or dies. You know how horror
04:38fans yell at the screen, telling characters to run, turn around or not go in there? Now
04:42you get to see how far that advice will actually take them. While the novelty of this mechanic
04:46can sometimes overshadow just how frightening the game is, Until Dawn masterfully uses jump
04:51scares to keep players on edge. Visage
05:04I'll be totally honest with you guys from the get go, this entry was going on this list no
05:20matter what. It's somewhat of a personal pick, and by that I mean I picked it personally.
05:24And by that I mean I ignored and kicked a classic off the top 20 to get this entry in here. But,
05:28play this game and tell me I'm wrong. While Steam is filled with these types of titles,
05:32only a few truly stand out. Visage is the scariest of them. Visage is divided into chapters,
05:38each set in a different time period and introducing new central figures,
05:42though the protagonist remains the same. By tackling heavy themes and constantly shifting
05:47its approach to keep players on edge, Visage creates a deeply unsettling atmosphere and is
05:52in my personal top 5 horror games of all time. The Last of Us
06:22Now, although The Last of Us doesn't make horror its focus, it's undeniably scary,
06:30and if we're talking best horror games of all time, we gotta acknowledge arguably one of the
06:35plain best games of all time in this list. The Last of Us draws from established zombie fiction,
06:40building tension through subtle environmental sounds and clever lighting, before hitting you
06:44with the 28 Days Later style terror if you make a mistake. The game teaches you to be
06:49deliberate with your movements, but what truly makes The Last of Us terrifying is not just the
06:53clickers or tricky ladder puzzles, it's the remnants of humanity that are far more unsettling
06:57and relatable than we'd like to admit. Alan Wake 2
07:19Both Alan Wake games are frightening in their own way, but the original 2010 release suffers
07:45from repetitive gameplay that eventually undermines its fear factor despite its strong
07:49narrative, which I wouldn't traditionally call out, but I gotta pick one, so I gotta be tough.
07:53The long-awaited sequel improves on every aspect, including its approach to horror.
07:58Unlike many games in the genre, Alan Wake 2 doesn't rely on constant jump scares, instead
08:03it delivers carefully timed moments of terror that are so well executed they leave players
08:08on edge long after they've passed. Outlast
08:18Another entry that defined a genre, let's talk Outlast. Outlast takes a unique approach to
08:34survival horror. While it does limit your resources, your battery-draining camera being
08:38both frustrating and your only real tool, survival in Outlast is more about mentally
08:43enduring its relentless scares. Some might wonder, what's enjoyable about a game that
08:47largely involves hiding and running through darkness? But for genre veterans, Outlast is
08:52a test of resolve and strategy. Imagine trying to thread a piece of thread through a small needle,
08:57while all your ex-girlfriends scream insults into your ear. That's how tense puzzle-solving is in
09:02Outlast. Bloodborne
09:13Here's another game on our entry that lives in the same realm as The Last of Us. Sure,
09:26it's not blood-curdlingly scary, but it's such a good game with solid horror elements
09:31that it definitely earns its place on the best of all time. Bloodborne is filled with
09:36human-made beasts, celestial monstrosities and other horrors straight out of a nightmare.
09:40At one point, you face a creature that resembles the biblical accurate spectre of death. Most of
09:45the time though, you find yourself wandering through a plague-ridden town, haunted by the
09:49consequences of human failure, vividly depicted as abominations that prowl the blood-soaked streets.
09:54You know what? I changed my mind, this game is actually really f***ing scary. F.E.A.R.
10:06F.E.A.R. was released during the peak of the scary little girl trend,
10:09which gained traction after The Ring became a hit in the US. Without a doubt,
10:13the haunting figure of Alma remains one of the best examples of the creepy child trope
10:18in gaming. However, it's easy to overlook that F.E.A.R. was also an innovative action game that
10:23raised the bar for enemy AI in first-person shooters. F.E.A.R. has some really cool,
10:27innovative game mechanics that make it stand out as a phenomenal game, regardless of the horror
10:31elements. Soma certainly delivers scares in all the traditional ways, being created by the same
10:56team behind Amnesia. You can expect plenty of frightening visuals and expertly timed jump
11:01scares. However, Soma is the kind of horror game that gets under your skin in deeper ways,
11:06pun intended. By the time you reach Soma's incredible ending, you'll be left staring
11:10at the screen wondering if you will ever reclaim the part of yourself that this game took away.
11:21Fatal Frame 2 Crimson Butterfly
11:26Fatal Frame 2 adopts a unique and brilliant approach to confrontation in video game combat.
11:38Instead of traditional weapons, the game equips you with a special camera capable of repelling
11:43spirits. And I know what you're thinking, how many times is this going to be done?
11:47I'm worried this joke won't land, nobody's ever done that. This intimate style of combat,
11:51combined with the grotesque design of the spirits,
11:53leaves you feeling uncertain about your ability to defend yourself,
11:56even though you're armed with the most effective weapon for the situation.
12:16Little Nightmares
12:18There's something particularly unsettling about navigating a sinister world as a small child like
12:27Six in Little Nightmares. Set in the Maw, players will face various foes intent on capturing her.
12:34Armed only with her yellow raincoat, Six must rely on her ability to escape these dangers.
12:39With an intriguing story and a host of imaginative monster designs,
12:43Little Nightmares gets under your skin, maintaining a constant sense of tension
12:47without relying on jump scares. The second game improves upon the original in each and every way,
12:51but we had to praise the OG game and all of its beautifully terrifying DLC.
13:09The Evil Within
13:13To be completely honest, The Evil Within falls short in several aspects,
13:28however when it comes to scares, The Evil Within certainly delivers.
13:32This relentless horror game features a range of funhouse style scares that are both effective
13:37and darkly amusing. The second game lands harder than the first by improving upon everything it
13:42brings to the table. Shinji Mikami is a master of the genre and his genius earns his game the 5th
13:47spot on this list. Alien Isolation
14:00It's surprising that it took so long for a proper alien horror game to be made,
14:14and by proper, I mean not shit. Alien Isolation utilises a single xenomorph more effectively
14:19than any other piece of alien media since the original film. Imagine that feeling when you
14:24spot a big spider in your room, but it scurries away and you have no idea where it went. Now,
14:28swap that spider for a xenomorph lying in wait, ready to pounce as soon as it reappears.
14:33That's the essence of the Alien Isolation experience. This game, from start to finish,
14:38is so perfectly crafted it should end up as a yearly replay for every gamer.
14:51Resident Evil 7 Biohazard
14:59Resident Evil 7 is arguably the best entry in the franchise. While there were several
15:07strong contenders for that title, Resident Evil 7 successfully revitalised pure horror in the
15:12series in the most impactful way possible. It reminded us that everything was going to be just
15:16fine in this beloved series. The game's opening moments are among the scariest ever created.
15:21A great survival horror game should instil a sense of helplessness, and Resident Evil 7
15:26does just that. The series wasn't scared to go in a new direction, they took a risk,
15:30and boy did it pay off. They won best VR game at the game awards,
15:34and ended up number 3 on this list. Which do you think they're more proud of?
15:46Dead Space
15:57Dead Space is another entry on our list that defined a genre. It introduces so many new
16:04concepts to gaming that are still used today. It's honestly shocking just how many games from
16:09this year have been influenced by mechanics that were introduced in Dead Space, and that is what
16:14makes Dead Space truly brilliant. While the games atmosphere and exceptional sound design have
16:18rightfully received acclaim over the years, Dead Space really stands out due to how its enemy
16:22design impacts both the combat and the storytelling. You'll never forget the
16:27first time you were caught off guard by a Necromorph playing Dead. Everyone
16:31remembers their first sleepy Necro. Terrifying.
16:52If you're on your phone, make sure to go into your settings and switch on notifications.
17:09With the remake dropping less than a month ago, we feel even more confident that it's appropriate
17:13to give this game the number one spot. Silent Hill 2 has established itself as arguably the
17:19most intimidating horror game ever made. The game's intricate psychological narrative distorts
17:24your grip on reality, while the visceral terror of entities like Pyramid Head ensures you won't
17:29find solace in any answers you might discover. Few games can scar you quite like Silent Hill 2.
17:34The original and the remake both leave players with the exact same feeling towards its conclusion,
17:40and it's a feeling that has stuck with most players for over 20 years.
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