Perfect Horror Indie Games
Horror games have always been a staple of gaming, with massive franchises like Capcom’s Resident Evil and EA’s Dead Space series scaring the pants off gamers for years now. However, with the rise of the indie horror scene more and more scary games have become available to the wet-your-pants, sleep with the lights on enthusiasts out there. Here are some of the best little-known horror games out there to keep you thoroughly entertained and scared out of your wits.
Darkwood
Set in a strange world, inspired by Slavic folklore, Darkwood is shrouded in mystery blurring the lines of reality. It’s best described as a top-down horror roguelike that oozes atmosphere, terrifying tension and is a totally unnerving experience. Unlike most games, Deadwood refuses to hold your hand as you brave the day time scavenging for materials around the sinister woods, crafting weapons and discovering new secrets. Yet when night time comes you have to find shelter and set up traps to defend yourself from the unseen horrors out to kill you. Darkwood is an incredibly tense game relying on its atmosphere and the unknown horrors to scare you instead of the usual jump scares other games rely on. The gameplay is brutal and the hands-off approach to the game’s difficulty makes exploration terrifying yet continually intriguing as you uncover more of the secrets hidden within the forest. Be prepared for a nightmarish fantasy that pulls no punches.
Remothered: Tormented Fathers
Psychology plays a huge role within the horror genre and Remothered: Tormented Fathers uses it brilliantly. The story revolves around Rosemary Reed, a fascinating and mysterious woman, who visits Dr. Richard Felton in order to investigate the disappearance of a girl named Celeste. Yet when Dr. Felton learns of Rosemary’s true intentions, the true horror rises to the fore. Remothered relies heavily on psychological horror and features some of the most tense and truly frightening moments in gaming. As well as being mostly defenseless against your enemies, you have some classic survival horror design aspects to grapple with. While not as clunky as its forebears, the controls aren’t the smoothest. And saving and healing are constrained to special save points. Some solid visual design brings the game successfully into the present day, however, and its unpredictable story is well worth experiencing. If you enjoyed the Silent Hill series then Remothered will scratch that psychological horror itch.
The Blackout Club
A first-person co-op horror game centered around a group of teenage friends investigating a monstrous secret beneath the skin of their small town. Think of it as your very own Scooby-Doo detective agency, with more true horror and less scooby snacks. Every night, everyone in town gets out of bed and sleepwalks. In the morning, they wake up with no recollection of what happened or where they were. Some teenagers in this town woke up during one of these blackouts, finding themselves in the woods or on train tracks with no idea how they got there. When they tell their parents, their teachers, the police… no one believes them. Taking matters into their own hands, they formed a club, The Blackout Club, to get to the bottom of it. Unfortunately, the recent disappearance of a close friend means that the sleepwalking isn’t just strange, it could be deadly. You and your friends must team up to overcome the powerful forces that are set against you. Using tools such as drones, noisemakers, and grappling hooks, you will outwit and outmaneuver the adults while attempting to obtain and record evidence that will prove what is happening to the rest of the world. The Blackout Club is the perfect game for people that like to explore horror along with their friends.
Detention
In Greenwood High School, located in a remote mountainous area, two students find themselves trapped and vulnerable. The place they once knew has changed in unsettling ways, haunted by evil creatures. To escape, they must explore the mysterious campus filled with ominous objects and puzzles. Set in a fictitious 1960s Taiwan under martial law, Detention, is a story-driven atmospheric horror incorporating East Asian elements rarely used in games, Taoism, Buddhism and Chinese mythology, the game draws on local Taiwanese cultural references to tell a unique and terrifying story. In this 2D atmospheric horror side-scroller, players navigate the main characters in a classic point and click fashion to explore a high school where evil encroaches. While hiding from the rampaging monsters, your goal is to find items to interact with in the otherworldly rooms. And as more of the mystery is unveiled, the dark past of your cursed school will finally surface. Although Detention is a point and click at heart, don’t for a second think that it is less scary. Its brilliant use of some really creepy visuals and excellent sound design sets this little indie game apart from anything else on this list.
Bendy and the Ink Machine
Don’t ever judge a game by its name alone, and Bendy and the Ink Machine is the perfect example of that. Bendy is a first-person puzzle action horror game that begins in the far days past of animation and ends in a very dark future. Think early days of Disney, but even more horrific. You play as Henry as he revisits the demons of his past by exploring the abandoned animator’s workshop of Joey Drew Studios. With twists and turns around every corner, Bendy and the Ink Machine is sure to thrill you and decimate your childhood. You’ll never look at cartoons the same way again. In the years since Joey Drew closed its doors, a seemingly possessed ink machine has been bringing all the studio’s old characters to life. As you tiptoe your way across the old floorboards and creak through heavy wooden doors, these characters stalk your every move, showing up every now and then just to remind you of what you should be afraid of. Expect tons of pants-soiling moments.
Little Nightmares
Immerse yourself in Little Nightmares, a dark whimsical tale that will confront you with your childhood fears. As Six, you are exploring a mysterious realm filled to the brim with bustling monsters and horrific situations. Death and gore are around every corner in a unique art style that warps your surroundings into twisted terrors of childhood fear. Help Six escape The Maw, a vast, mysterious vessel inhabited by corrupted souls looking for their next meal. As you progress on your journey, explore the most disturbing dollhouse, offering a prison to escape from and a playground full of secrets to discover. Reconnect with your inner child to unleash your imagination and find the way out. Little Nightmares is a horror game that combines stealth and puzzles with an atmosphere of that strange childlike mixture of curiosity and terror, Tarsier Studios managed to build an entire world simultaneously creepy and delightful.
Pathologic 2
Pathologic 2 is a narrative-driven dramatic thriller about fighting a deadly outbreak in a secluded rural town that is dying. Face the realities of a collapsing society as you make difficult choices in seemingly lose-lose situations. The plague isn’t just a disease, it is devouring the town. The chief local healer is dead, and you are now to take his place. Yet most of the dying locals are not best pleased to see you.
This stubbornly unforgiving game will challenge and punish you at every turn as you try to last for twelve days in its deadly village. The town is beset by a vicious plague, and you desperately have to try and save as many as you can. Pathologic revels in darkness and its bizarre setting and story, which you’ll uncover more of if you survive long enough, you have to satiate your hunger, thirst and tiredness to keep on going. It’s a punishing game that does not care about the player, some may find it frustrating, others will revel in it’s unforgiving and horrific nature.
SOMA
SOMA is a sci-fi horror game from Frictional Games, the creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descent. It is an unsettling story about identity, consciousness, and what it means to be human. The radio is dead, food is running out, and the machines have started to think they are people. Underwater facility PATHOS-II has suffered an intolerable isolation and we’re going to have to make some tough decisions. What can be done? What makes sense? What is left to fight for? Enter the world of SOMA and face horrors buried deep beneath the ocean waves. Delve through locked terminals and secret documents to uncover the truth behind the chaos. Seek out the last remaining inhabitants and take part in the events that will ultimately shape the fate of the station. But be careful, danger lurks in every corner: corrupted humans, twisted creatures, insane robots, and even an inscrutable omnipresent A.I. You will need to figure out how to deal with each one of them. Just remember there’s no fighting back, either you outsmart your enemies or you get ready to run.SOMA’s fascinating sci-fi story is front and center, a real highlight of the game and probably the most moving as it not only shocks you with its horror but also it’s unexpected humanity.
Observer
What would you do if your fears were hacked? That is the question Observer asks of its players. A cyberpunk horror game places you in a dark cyberpunk world beset by plagues, war and squalor. You are Dan Lazarski, an elite neural detective known as an Observer, and part of a corporate-funded police unit whose purpose is to hack and invade suspects’ minds. In this future, anything you think, feel, or remember can be used against you in a court of law. As you hack into the unstable minds of criminals and victims to look for clues, you will relive their darkest fears, forcing you to question your own reality and your sanity. Outside of all of the scary moments, Observer is a fascinating, well-realized piece of dystopian fiction. Its intriguing story, with voice acting from the late great Blade Runner star Rutger Hauer, makes it well worth a look for fans of dark dystopian sci-fi horror.
Visage
If you were ever fortunate enough to play the Silent Hill demo, P.T. then you will feel right at home with Visage, a first-person psychological horror game. Explore a mysterious ever-changing house in a slow-paced, atmospheric world that combines both uncannily comforting and horrifyingly realistic environments, and enjoy a genuinely terrifying experience. You’ll wander through the gloomy corridors, explore every dead room, and get lost in endless mazes, your head filling with memories of the dead families that once lived in this very home. This twisted environment, void of any life other than yours, takes you to places you couldn’t even begin to imagine. Much like P.T. you are defenseless, no weapons could save you from the dreadful entities stalking you from the next corner, the next door, or underneath your feet. You’ll be able to pick up key elements, interact with the environment, and search for things that may help you escape this nightmare or pull you deeper into it. Dying is part of the game. You need to avoid terror at all costs, as dark entities are attracted to it. Maintaining your mind as sane as possible will keep you from joining the ranks of the dead. Doing so will not be easy, and you’ll have to figure out ways, like staying in the light, to avoid going insane.