10 best horror games. The best horror games on PC. Video games Arizona Sunshine

Every year it becomes more and more difficult to scare players. Gone are the days when the audience in the cinema would flinch at the slightest rustle in a horror film, and then could not fall asleep for a long time, afraid to turn off the light. Naive times have passed, but the masters of horror and mysticism do not sit still, constantly polishing and sharpening their art of scaring people.

Among the horror games released over the past decades, there have been real masterpieces, based on which films are made and sequels are released. These games are truly seriously frightening, and unprepared players who are accustomed to the usual fun shooters can be quite surprised by their gloomy atmosphere. But how unbearably you sometimes want to look into the other world and, together with the hero of the game, penetrate the secrets of evil.

This TOP included scariest horror games, which are recognized masterpieces of the global gaming industry.

10. Penumbra

Penumbra was developed by the same creative, but very reserved guys as the legendary Amnesia. Therefore, the mechanics of the game are very similar - first-person view, the ability to throw furniture and the option to jump up in fear in your chair.

The main character Philip is looking for his father, who is believed to be dead. His search leads him to an abandoned mine in Greenland. He goes down, but the stairs break off. This is where, as usual, all the fun begins.

There are some interesting references in the game. For example, the inscription "Freeman" on the mount refers to the cult game "Half Life".

In total, the Penumbra game has three interconnected parts. So if you are a fan of long-running horror stories, then you should give this a try.

9. SCP 087

This game is a stair climbing simulator. There is no other way to say it, because in the original version of the game we spend about ten minutes going down the stairs into the depths of something unknown, listening to something unknown and preparing for something unknown.

There is also a remake of this horror called "SCP 087 B", where we walk around the complex of the SCP organization and run into various anomalies in the face of friendly monsters.

The game has a cool feature, namely an eye blink indicator (how has no one thought of this before!). The thing is, when you stand still and look at one of the monsters, as soon as you turn away or blink, SOMETHING happens and you are dead. This is truly something new. Plus, the game map is generated in a new way every time. Happy blinking!

8. Slender

Indie horror Slender is based on the folklore of Internet users. A certain thin man without a face, dressed in a funeral suit, likes to kidnap children in the forest with his long arms. We play as police officer Kate, who is investigating this case.

So, imagine, we have a flashlight in our hands, there is darkness around, a forest and sometimes trucks with Volvo emblems appear.

The goal of the game is to collect seven notes and, of course, avoid Slenderman in every possible way. Since you are unarmed and defenseless, all you can do is run away and not look back.

7. Doom 3

A classic game that only the deaf have never heard of.

In this part of the legendary series, the plot does not shine with originality. We find ourselves on a Martian base, where something suddenly went wrong. We are attacked by monsters, we have a machine gun in our hand, and a fair amount of despair in our heads.... In general, everything is standard. However, the good thing about “Doom” is that it, in fact, gave birth to this standard.

The coolest thing about Doom 3- this is the beginning when nothing is happening yet, but you know for sure that something will happen now. You walk around the base, meet employees, communicate. There was something similar in Half Life, but there you could do without weapons for quite a long time. In Doom, when a blockage occurs, your gun is your everything.

Yes, I also forgot the flashlight, which became a kind of feature of Doom 3..

6. Outlast

An anonymous person sent us a letter that cruel experiments are being carried out on patients in a psychiatric hospital. Of course, we go there, of course at night and of course alone, taking only a video camera with us. In a word - logical. Well, then there’s frenzy, trash and stabbing. In general, everything is in the best traditions of quality horror.

The level of dismemberment in Outlast is off the charts. Here they'll cut off two of your fingers, there they'll take out your spleen, and you'll see they'll get to your heart...

A special feature of the game is our video camera, which can switch to night vision mode and reveal to us unprecedented things in the darkness. Someone carefully placed batteries for the camera throughout the hospital, and we are collecting them to continue filming bloody horrors.

5. F.E.A.R.

A first-person shooter with special forces won't surprise anyone a long time ago. But if you put a dog-shaped girl from a Japanese horror movie in it...

FEAR– not pure horror, it only contains its elements. The game was first released in 2005, and was eventually released not only on PC, but also on consoles. The original was followed by two sequels.

One of the antagonists of the game is the already tired image of a girl in white pajamas and black hair, who is offended by the whole world for some unknown reason. By the way, this image of Japanese mythology is called Onryo. This is the bringing of a deceased person who has returned to the world of the living for the sake of revenge - the restoration of justice or the fulfillment of some curse.

The game has virtually no open spaces, for which it is sometimes criticized. However, an enclosed space is a good move for horror. Claustrophobia, lack of escape route - all this only increases the tension.

Don't forget that the game is, first and foremost, a shooter. By slowing down time, the player can see traces of flying bullets, like in the Matrix, move faster and gain an advantage in battle.

4. Amnesia: The Dark Descent

"Amnesia" was developed by the same company that made us sit back in the game Penumbra, namely - Frictional Games.

The main character Daniel, like the character in the film Hengovr, wakes up in a deserted castle and remembers nothing, not even how he ended up here. The only thing he knows for sure is that he is being hunted by creepy unknown creatures, and he needs to save his life.

The sticky atmosphere of uncertainty and fear is complemented by a feeling of defenselessness. There are no weapons in the game, and the only thing our hero can do is throw improvised things at monsters and run.

The game received high ratings on various specialized sites, and was received with a bang by the public.

3. Dead Space

The action of this game does not take place in an abandoned house, not in a castle, not in a basement, not in a dark forest. All the action of the bloody mess takes place in space! Namely - on a spaceship Ishimura mining minerals on the planet Aegis 7. The ship sends a distress signal, a rescue team arrives, which includes Captain Isaac Clarke, for whom you play. Well, this is where it all begins!

It turns out that the ship was overrun by unknown creatures Necromorphs. What happened? This remains to be seen.

The peculiarity of Necromorphs is that they do not have vital organs. From this gameplay to "Grandfather Space" quite unusual. You won't be able to take down a monster the old fashioned way by stabbing it in the head. The game is a real butcher simulator. To kill a necromorph, you need to dismember it. There will be a lot of dismemberment. Plus, the sci-fi and space setting allows you to create puzzles and game situations related to the weightlessness of outer space, as well as use time dilation.

The game has two sequels, which are considered quite good. However, it is depressing that in the second Dead Space it all comes down to the fact that we go into a quiet room, wait for the monsters, the monsters jump, twitch like epileptics to alarming music, put down all the necromorphs, collect prizes and go to the next room, repeating everything all over again.

The third part of the series was released relatively recently. And there is no doubt that the franchise will continue. Because the popularity of the game is not falling.

2.Resident Evil

A game that made a huge contribution to the development of the horror genre. The first part of the game was released back in 1996. And the last one at the moment - the seventh - in 2014.

Over the past 16 years, the series has evolved greatly. And if at first it was pure surreal horror (a mysterious house filled with zombies, a city affected by a deadly virus), then closer to the last parts the game began to look like an ordinary shooter like Gears of War. The developers have updated the series to keep it in line with modern trends

1. Silent Hill

A cult game that has given rise to a bunch of interpretations, speculations and imitations. Great and mighty Silent Hill from a Japanese company Kanami. The game was made into a pretty good movie, which is rare for movies based on games.

The game's story immersed us in a mysterious ghost town, deceptively quiet and covered in thick fog. The fog masked not only lurking monsters, but also the technical limitations of the first Play Station in terms of drawing distance.

What made Silent Hill really appealing? "Resident", so these are ways to scare the player. The meanest of them is silence, when nothing happens, but the surrounding surroundings put so much pressure on the player that he thinks - now, something will jump out from around the corner, but... This does not happen. Such things were more terrifying than the resident techniques, when the enemy jumped out sharply, only for a moment causing a feeling of fear, but after a second the enemy lay with a bullet through his head.

On top of that, in Silent Hill we play not as a brave special forces soldier, but as an ordinary writer, as in the first part, and as a teenage girl, as in the third, making it easier to get into the skin of the hero and become a stutterer with him.

Unfortunately, after the third part the series slipped into boredom, blandness and self-repetition. In 2012, the last part of the game was released, returning hope to fans.

You'll squeal like a girl while playing these games! Fear, horror, blood and monsters - that's what awaits you in the selection of the best horror games on PC and other platforms

As practice shows, in order to get your dose of adrenaline and thrills, a person does not have to jump with a parachute or engage in some other extreme sport - the modern entertainment industry has come up with an equally effective way to induce a feeling of fear. We are, of course, talking about computer games in the horror genre. Every year they become more realistic and frightening, which only attracts new audiences.

Below we will consider the most highly rated horror films by PC and console users - both masterpieces that have already become classics and modern projects.

Best horror games on PC

Resident Evil series

• Platform: PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, mobile, etc.
• Release date: 1996 to present
• Developer: Capcom

Resident Evil, a long-running horror game from Capcom that has already received dozens of sequels for different platforms and even a series of films based on it, can be called a model of the genre. What's frightening, however, is not the atmosphere or sudden screamers, but the constant shortage of ammo and first aid kits. Zombies and other opponents here are extremely tenacious, they like to drive players into a corner and crush them with numbers. The camera also causes certain difficulties in the first parts, because of which it can be difficult to navigate the space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1OUs3HwIuo Video can’t be loaded: Resident Evil 7 Biohazard Official Launch Trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1OUs3HwIuo)

Unfortunately, after the fourth part, the series took a course in the wrong direction and retrained itself as a pure cooperative action movie, where not a trace remained of the horror film, but cinematography, QTE and other modern “tricks” appeared. It’s good that now the creators have come to their senses and have pleased fans with a kind of return/restart, in which gamers will have to wander alone through a house owned by a family of zombie cannibals.

Manhunt

• Platform: PC, XBOX, PS2-4, Xbox 360
• Release date: 2003
• Developer: Rockstar North

Violence in video games has long been perceived as something commonplace, but some developers still know how to go too far when faced with condemnation from the public and attempts by various human rights organizations to remove their creations from the shelves. One of these creations was Manhunt. Based on its plot, a certain Director created a reality show in which he forced prisoners to fight each other for the amusement of the audience. The player will have to become one of these prisoners.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsnApGCFZc0 Video can’t be loaded: Manhunt (2004) Russian trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsnApGCFZc0)

Most of the gameplay comes down to silently moving through levels, finding various tools to kill enemies (most of them are disposable) and successfully using them on unsuspecting victims. By sneaking up on the poor fellow from behind, you can choose one of three murder options, each of which is particularly cruel. Suffocate with a plastic bag, tear out your spine with a crowbar, or insert a shard of glass into your neck? No question, this is par for the course in the game. Persons with an unstable psyche and excessive impressionability are better off passing by.

Silent Hill series

• Platform: PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Wii U, portable
• Release date: 1999 to present
• Developer: Konami

The Silent Hill series of games is an anthology of dramatic stories filled with psychology and vitality, presented under the sauce of a fantastic narrative about a certain place that is very reminiscent of hell. Indeed, you won’t be able to meet as many creepy creatures as in Silent Hill anywhere. The developers did everything to ensure that players always remained in suspense, flinched at every sound and were afraid to enter the doors that stood in their way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkuVJZ5Rk0Y Video can’t be loaded: Silent Hill Downpour Korn Trailer TGS 2011 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkuVJZ5Rk0Y)

The gameplay of Silent Hill is a third-person action game, but battles with enemies here are presented in doses (which is good, because weapons and ammo are always in short supply), and players will spend most of their time solving complex and often not entirely logical puzzles or running around locations in searching for this or that item. But, believe me, when it comes to serious opponents, you will dream of returning to your usual occupation.

Penumbra Series

• Platform: PC (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• Release date: 2007-2008
• Developer: Frictional Games

The Penumbra trilogy is the first and, according to many, the best project of the independent studio Frictional Games. Its plot tells the story of a certain Philip, who went on an expedition in search of his father to snowy Greenland and found himself in a cycle of extremely unpleasant events, of which a fall from a height into an abandoned mine was only the most trivial. Very soon the story takes a frightening turn when Philip realizes that there is someone else in the darkness besides him. Is what is happening real or is it a figment of the main character’s sick imagination? This is what players will have to find out over the course of three interconnected parts of the story, which will lead to one of two endings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At-w8G6YvKo Video can’t be loaded: Penumbra Black Plague Trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At-w8G6YvKo)

One of the main advantages of Penumbra is its system of interaction with the outside world. The point here is not limited to the banal pressing of the action key, you need to show a little intelligence. For example, to open a water supply valve, you need to grab it and make circular movements with the mouse in the desired direction. The game is filled with a lot of exciting physics puzzles where this mechanic is actively used.

SOMA

• Release date: September 22, 2015
• Developer: Frictional Games

A dark and atmospheric story with a science fiction twist. A young guy with a fatal disease goes for experimental treatment, which ultimately leads him to an abandoned station located thousands of meters above sea level, which, moreover, is also inhabited by robots that have gone crazy and destroy all people. Interesting, isn't it? And this is just a general concept designed to confuse the player, leading him to a completely unpredictable outcome.

It’s a stretch to call SOMA a game – it’s more of an interactive story in which you need to explore the world around you, observe little things, and independently get clues from notes and messages on computers scattered throughout the levels. There are very few puzzles here, and there are no encounters with enemies at all (except for those cases when you need to sneak past a monster unnoticed or run away from it), but you definitely won’t be bored.

Five Nights at Freddy's series

• Platform: PC, Android, iOS
• Release date: 2004-2016
• Developer: Scott Cawthon

An ordinary watchman on his night duty at a diner got into trouble - the animatronic life-size dolls went berserk and are now thirsty for human blood. Any normal person, seeing such a monster in the dark, would have long ago gone to hell, but our protagonist is apparently much more afraid of being fired, so he decided to work until the end of the work week. Now he has to survive for five nights, using cameras placed in the room and the ability to open/close doors. The task is complicated by the very quickly depleted battery charge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bh4VlAKunM Video can’t be loaded: Five Nights at Freddy’s ALL TRAILERS (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bh4VlAKunM)

For a game made by just one developer, Five Nights at Freddy's turned out to be extremely successful. The atmosphere is truly depressing, and the number of screamers per unit of time that does not allow the player to relax is simply off the charts. Believe me, when you sit quietly and look at the camera, and a creepy, angry face of a bear suddenly appears in it with a characteristic loud sound, it is simply impossible not to twitch.

Cry of Fear

• Platform: PC (Steam)
• Release date: February 22, 2012
• Developer: Team Psykskallar

Cry of Fear is a good example of the fact that creating a frightening atmosphere does not require the latest generation graphics, gorgeous animation and epic direction from Hollywood-level screenwriters. This is an amateur modification, created on the basis of a slightly modified engine of the first Half-Life and available for free download by everyone on the Steam service, but in terms of quality it is quite capable of competing with the hits of the horror genre. Over the course of approximately eight hours of the story campaign, players will face their worst nightmares and fight their way to one of four endings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GB1yXGrSsA Video can’t be loaded: Cry of Fear — Launch Trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GB1yXGrSsA)

For co-op fans, Cry of Fear has a separate story, in which up to four people can take part at the same time - it is in no way inferior in quality to the main game. And for those for whom this was not enough, the developers added support for custom scripts.

F.E.A.R game series

• Platform: PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
• Release date: 2005-2011
• Developer: Monolith

At one time, the first part of F.E.A.R made a real revolution - not so much in graphics, but in the artificial intelligence of enemies. Even after more than 12 years since the release of the project, for some reason other developers have not been able to release a shooter in which opponents so skillfully bypass the main character from different sides, smoke him out of cover with grenades and occupy the most convenient places for firing . Luckily, players have the ability to slow down time, which evens out the odds when fighting entire squads of soldiers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJvTEWVs0bE Video can’t be loaded: F.E.A.R 3 GamePlay — Trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJvTEWVs0bE)

The horror component in F.E.A.R is provided by the image of a little long-haired girl, borrowed from Japanese horror films, who became the victim of an experiment to create fighters with the skill of telepathy. As in the films The Ring and the Damnation, they scare spectator-players mainly with jump scares. One thing is good - they are always in place here and do not irritate at all.

Outlast

• Release date: September 4, 2013
• Developer: Red Barrels

The action of the thriller takes place in one of the most favorable places for such stories - an abandoned psychiatric hospital. The main character, a journalist, receives an anonymous tip on a potentially interesting story. The source claims that sinister experiments on the mentally ill have previously been carried out at Mount Massive, and now it’s time to check it out. But who knew that the building was still inhabited by assorted goons, eager to disembowel any person who came near them? Definitely not Miles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GPf3MdVOKI Video can’t be loaded: Outlast — Official Trailer from Red Barrels (Full version) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GPf3MdVOKI)

Finding himself surrounded by psychos with only one camera at his disposal, the journalist finds himself completely defenseless, so he is forced to act quietly and carefully, and if he is in the enemy’s field of view, he must run as fast as he can. Otherwise, you will have to watch a “meat” scene involving you and an inmate of the hospital. And there is little pleasant here.

Slender: The Eight Pages

• Platform: PC (Windows, Mac OS)
• Release date: June 26, 2012
• Developer: Parsec Productions

Slenderman (Stick Man), a monster invented by a user of one of the American forums, very quickly gained popularity on the Internet and became the protagonist of many stories, pranks, and a little later made it to games. One of the highest-quality crafts on this topic, The Eight Pages, tells the story of a girl, Kate, who escapes from a stick insect in the forest with only a camera and a flashlight. The player has only one goal - to collect all eight notes, putting the parts of the story into one whole, before the creature overtakes her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS-lOviBmkM Video can’t be loaded: Slender The Eight Pages Official Game Trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS-lOviBmkM)

It would seem that the goal is simple and understandable, but implementing the plan turns out to be difficult. With each note picked up, Slender becomes more and more aggressive, and begins to appear and scare much more often. And the messages themselves are scattered throughout the level in a random order - after the next restart, you will not be able to run through the location according to the already memorized pattern.

Friday the 13th: The Game

• Platform: PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
• Release date: May 26, 2017
• Developer: Gun Media

Film fans born in the 90s probably remember the American franchise that came to us belatedly about the maniac Jason, who smashed with his trademark machete for a dozen films, and even received a crossover with another famous villain in the early 2000s - Freddy Krueger. And so, after quite a long time, computer game developers decided to return the interest of the audience by creating a very successful multiplayer horror based on the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GULmACd4vgo Video can’t be loaded: Friday the 13th: The Game trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GULmACd4vgo)

Eight people take part in one game session - seven become camp counselors, and the eighth, chosen at random, tries on the famous hockey mask, becoming Jason. The victims' task is to find a way to escape, while the maniac, who has a set of supernatural abilities, must kill everyone. Depending on which side you're on, the gameplay is very different. For some it's a scary game of hide and seek, for others it's a fun grinder with lots of creative execution methods.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

• Platform: PC, Xbox
• Release date: October 24, 2015
• Developer: Headfirst Productions

Call of Cthulhu is a now-classic game based on the works of writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft and retaining (even enhancing) the effect of his signature style. All the described details, such as ancient buildings with gloomy interiors, dark basements and strange creatures, ancient manuscripts and dangerous monsters, were rendered with respect to the original. No screamers or “boo” effects - the developers did a great job without them, instilling a sense of anxiety in the players using the atmosphere alone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfQ-Xqt-d0A Video can’t be loaded: Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth — Trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfQ-Xqt-d0A)

Realistic gameplay is a great way to immerse yourself in the story. There are no all sorts of indicators flashing on the screen, reflecting the level of health, showing a map or a compass leading to the goal, there is no crosshair. Fans of believability will especially appreciate the fact that damage in the game is zonal and is reflected on the character. Getting hit in the hand will complicate aiming, a broken leg will make you limp, etc. During a firefight you cannot recover from this, so you will have to carefully plan your actions.

Duology The Suffering

• Platform: PC, Xbox, PlayStation 2, Wii
• Release date: 2004-2005
• Developer: Midway Games

And again we return to the theme of prisoners. Another brutal and bloody horror film tells the story of Torque, an amnesiac suicide bomber convicted of murdering his wife and sons. While awaiting the death penalty in a maximum security prison, he suddenly encounters manifestations of supernatural forces. Terrible creatures attack the complex, tearing residents and staff to pieces, and the main character successfully escapes. Now he has to figure out what happened and try to find the answer to the question - is he really responsible for the death of his loved ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkhJ7Y80PDU Video can’t be loaded: The Suffering Ties That Bind – Trailer – PS2.mov (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkhJ7Y80PDU)

An extensive arsenal of weapons will help you fight monsters - pistols, melee weapons, a flamethrower, and even a chicken that shoots eggs (an Easter egg for particularly attentive players). Torque himself also has an ace up his sleeve - by charging his rage scale while killing enemies, he can temporarily become a monster himself, tearing all opponents to pieces.

Cold Fear

• Platform: PC, Xbox, PlayStation 2
• Release date: March 15, 2005
• Developer: Darkworks

A worthy horror game that went unnoticed by many due to the release of Resident Evil 4 a couple of months earlier. The projects turned out to be terribly similar, but the public preferred the more famous and already proven series. However, the story of a coast guard man who encounters a ship being attacked by zombie-like creatures is really interesting and can be quite scary in some places. It would seem that you have already cleared the entire compartment of enemies and have already managed to comb the entire space twice in search of a way out, and then for the third time another freak jumps out from around the corner to keep you from getting bored.

The similarity to RE4 can be seen in literally everything. Players will still have to walk around cramped locations and open many doors, simultaneously shooting tenacious enemies and collecting quest items (a door key, a gear from a mechanism, and the like). The main character even has a laser sight on his weapon exactly like Leon Kennedy. In any case, despite the secondary nature and console-specific controls, Cold Fear plays perfectly.

Perception

• Platform: PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
• Release date: May 30, 2017
• Developer: The Deep End

Blind girl Casey has long been tormented by nightmares in which she wanders around an abandoned mansion, and now she has no choice but to face her fears face to face by finding this place and unraveling its mystery. But the entity hidden in the house has completely different plans for the guest, wanting to torture her and drive her crazy, like the people who previously lived here.

However, Casey is not so defenseless. The heroine's lack of vision is more than compensated for by the presence of hypersensitive hearing. The slightest rustle or knock, emitting sound waves, allows her to receive information about the surrounding environment (just like bats with their echolocation). You can also create a sound wave yourself by knocking on the floor and other surfaces with your cane. But this is not always appropriate, since noise can attract dangerous enemies.

Conclusion

Not all horror-themed games that deserve the attention of players were listed above. Much more of them have been released over the past decade. Although major studios now rarely look at this genre, preferring more commercially profitable directions, there is someone to save it. Over the last five years, independent developers have been bombarding Steam and other digital distribution platforms with their intimate projects. And this is great, because for horror a large budget and scope are not so important as a non-standard approach using creative ways to titillate the nerves.

Have you decided to test your nerves and play the most worthy representatives of the horror genre on PC? We present to you a selection that will appeal to all fans of jump scares, interactive horror, frightening plot twists and simply maniacs chasing the player with a good old chainsaw. Enjoy.

The game begins as a bold and, in a good way, scary reboot of the series, towards the end of the plot it turns into a controversial similarity to the previous parts, but the creepy house of the Baker family and its surroundings are etched in the memory for a long time. The level of detail here is simply amazing, and the entire first half of the game is accompanied by a sense of the unknown, which makes you peek around every corner with bated breath and take care of all the ammo you find. And the videotapes in Resident Evil 7, which delve deeper into the Baker family, are perhaps the game's best (and most experimental) moments.

RE7 is very similar in spirit to the first RE game, the HD version of which is also included in this list, since both games are good in their own way.

Year of issue: 2016 | Developer: Playdead | Buy

An intense and dark platformer full of depressing scenes and images: creepy mermaids and robot guards, people hunting you, bad weather and many other moments that we are not going to spoil in any way. Here is a cruel dystopian world in which everyone wants to kill you, and it looks quite unusual.

Even the familiar platforming system takes on new features over time. It's worth playing if only to get a feel for the local setting. I'd also recommend checking out Little Nightmares, a similar horror platformer with the same level of inventiveness, but less scary.

Year of issue: 2017 | Developer: No Code | Buy

In this anthology game, you control the computer as you play through one story after another: it starts with a text-based horror story set in an abandoned house, then moves on to other locations, including a laboratory and an icy station. The connection between these episodes is a mystery that is best left to unravel on your own, and the most interesting and frightening element is how the environment changes as you progress.

Stories Untold was developed by John McKellan, who created the user interface for Alien: Isolation, and the influence of the latter game is felt from the very first minutes of the adventure. It's a fairly short game that will only take you a few hours to complete, and the $10 price tag on Steam seems reasonable.

Year of issue: 2017 | Developer: Red Barrels | Buy

While Outlast 2 is a game that requires you to play through it by feel, hitting dead ends and replaying certain points over and over again, Outlast 2 won't appeal to everyone, but it has one of the most interesting settings on the list. We play as a journalist who goes in search of a missing woman to Arizona, where a little later a mysterious cult kidnaps his wife.

During our passage, we come across scraps of letters that tell about the origins of this cult. We move through dark locations using the night vision mode of our camera, and this is a very creepy adventure, because almost an entire village of fanatics wants our death. And get ready for the most shocking scenes you've ever seen in a video game.

Year of issue: 1999 | Developer: Ghost Story Games, Looking Glass Studios | Buy

As a spiritual successor to the series, Bioshock borrows many elements from System Shock, a creepy combination of RPG and first-person shooter that tells the story of a rebellious artificial intelligence, invariably referred to in upper case as SHODAN. This megalomaniacal cybernetic creature was the forerunner of the Portal series' GlaDOS, but it also boasts a clever character progression curve, superb level design, brutally terrifying enemies, and the then-innovative introduction of audio diaries into gameplay - all of which give System Shock 2 an undeniable place in the pantheon of cult horror films.

In fact, it can be described as Deus Ex on a spaceship - for anyone who is partial to space or has played Deux Ex, such a description will sound very captivating.

Year of issue: 2016 | Developer: Ivan Zanotti's MyMadness Works | Buy

Don't be put off by IMSCARED's rather cheesy "Pixelized Nightmare" tagline - this is one of the most mind-altering games on the market today. It hardly lends itself to description, since the lion's share of the horror contained in it is built on the effect of surprise, which cannot be destroyed by spoilers in this short description. All you need to know about it is that when creating it, the developers were largely inspired by horror films of the 90s - this is noticeable in the general aesthetics and the constant breaking of the fourth wall; IMSCARED constantly tries to surprise, leaving players perplexed.

Playing on emotions, it will immerse you in an incomprehensible and incomprehensible world, not giving you a minute to rest until the very end. You shouldn't expect any screamers here, but scares that will make you jump out of your chair are guaranteed. The 2012 version of IMSCARED from the GameJolt studio is distributed free of charge, while its full and expanded edition is available for pennies on Steam. If you think I'm exaggerating its merits, then try the game for yourself. In the meantime, I'll hide behind the sofa.

Year of issue: 2016 | Developer: Drool | Buy

A true rhythm-action nightmare in which we have to control a silver beetle rushing along the rails towards the giant head of a creepy boss. Death here usually comes abruptly and suddenly. Just miss a couple of turns, and now you've turned into a million sparkling pieces, crashing against a metal barrier. And if you lose the rhythm, you will be attacked by round robots shooting lasers.

All this happens to the accompaniment of an atmospheric soundtrack, the pace of which is constantly accelerating, and the rhythm is becoming more and more confused. The game manages to create a feeling of discomfort and lingering fear, and therefore it is recommended to play in short bursts of 20-30 minutes.

Year of issue: 2001 | Developer: Konami | Download

Many agree that this is the best part of the series, and although Konami has never paid much attention to ports of their games on PC, with the help of mods and various texture and resolution patches Silent Hill 2 can be easily brought to a playable state - just the prices for its rare copies on the Internet exceed the limits of reason. This is the first horror film to address the idea of ​​the subjectivity of the idea of ​​“scary” for each of us, its variability and chimericality, embodied in the gloomy streets and de-energized buildings of the semi-intelligent city of Silent Hill, changing depending on the characteristics of the damage to the psyche of its inhabitants.

The over-the-top surrealism seen in the first and third games in the series fades into the background here, giving way to the personal story of an emotionally damaged widower, in search of his dead wife, making his way through a foggy purgatory populated by real and aggressive embodiments of his deepest nightmares. Or what is this Pyramid Head all about?

Year of issue: 2015 | Developer: Stroboskop | Buy

While Silent Hill and Fatal Frame only use radio as a warning of imminent danger, sound, recordings of electronic voice phenomena, and audio manipulation are key mechanics in Sylvio. The entire stunningly creepy world of the game is built around these elements, and the player will have to uncover its ins and outs, experience many indescribable plot twists and peer into the abyss of pure horror - all with excellent voice acting.

And although the game sometimes begins to repeat itself in terms of the combat system, which can appropriately be called terribly boring, it is still a very atypical first-person horror, full of bizarre and original scenes, full of atmosphere, symbolism and unadulterated fear. Sylvio is an unexpectedly deep game, unique to the genre and trying to look at its already boring standards from a new angle.

Year of issue: 1998 | Developer: Michael S. Gentry | Buy

Modern horror owes a lot to Howard Lovecraft, and not only because he has long since left our world and his works are no longer protected by copyright. Plenty of games have incorporated unique elements of his cosmogonic horror, but Anchorhead takes the best of his vast array of novellas and short stories, weaving them into a chilling narrative within the text-quest genre that follows a married couple who inherit an estate in a bleak city ​​of New England.

The measured exploration of the world at some point breaks down into a tense alternation of fleeing from the fish-like inhabitants of Anchorhead and solving time-limited riddles in order to disrupt an ancient ritual, the successful completion of which could lead to the end of the world. The game in English is free and accessible from any browser.

Year of issue: 2010 | Developer: Frictional Games | Buy

The main character of the game, Daniel, experienced amnesia and woke up in a completely unfamiliar and completely abandoned castle, to explore the dark corners of which he has to go in search of an opportunity to escape. Frictional Games, experienced in creating atmospheric survival horror during their work on the notorious Penumbra series, managed to fill the corridors and halls of Amnesia with the oppressive and enduring presence of evil and almost palpable darkness.

The distant echo of someone's screams, a rumble of unknown origin behind the walls, deformed human figures eternally staggering around the castle in the dim light of candles - these are the only inhabitants of this godforsaken castle. In such conditions, the invariable rule of horror does not work - they say that after the monster has been seen once, it scares much less. In Dark Descent, the environment itself is hostile to the player and gradually sucks the sanity out of him, which makes it a must-play.

Dark Souls: Remastered

Year of issue: 2018 | Developer: FromSoftware | Buy

The PC port leaves much to be desired, but most of its visual shortcomings have already been completely corrected by the efforts of modders. You should start with DS Fix, and then continue at your own discretion by selecting the desired patches on Dark Souls Nexus.

Year of issue: 2008 | Developer: Visceral Games | Buy

A distinctive feature of the lanky monsters in Dead Space is not only the ability to fit into cramped closets and jump out of them at a passing protagonist, but also the fragility of their long, deliciously detachable limbs. The first game in the series was attractive because the player had to control not a Marine, hung with machine gun belts and with a minigun at the ready, but an ordinary engineer who had flown in to repair a broken-down spaceship. At the same time, using various tools familiar to an engineer for cutting and splitting turns out to be much more exciting than the standard machine guns and shotguns that are typical for every first shooter.

And the enemies here react to damage in a completely different way - for example, a targeted hit to the head will only make them even more aggressive. The storyline about an alien obelisk that drives people crazy and is the object of worship of some kind of space cult may seem dubious, but the intense process of exploring the infected ship room by room more than compensates for the shortcomings of the story.

Dead Space is an example of linear horror that has already become a classic, showing itself perfectly even 8 years after its release.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

Year of issue: 2009 | Developer: GSC Game World | Buy

It seems that poor virtual Pripyat will not be left alone, while in real life it has remained completely abandoned since the Chernobyl disaster. In Stalker, it is densely populated not only with anomalies, artifacts, as well as mutated animals and people, but also with many desperate lovers of profit. The series of games, famous not only in the CIS, is dedicated to harsh survival in conditions that are so unfriendly and unnatural for humans.

Before you go in search of valuable artifacts, you will need to master the basics of survival, such as bandages, food and handling weapons. With occasional breaks to relax around the fire with other friendly stalkers, for the most part you'll find yourself fighting for your life in the game's merciless and lonely open world.

Call of Pripyat is by far the best and most technically optimized game in the series, but its prequel, Shadow of Chernobyl, is also worth the attention of all post-apocalyptic fans.

Year of issue: 2012 | Developer: Telltale Games | Buy

Is anyone still afraid of zombies? Sure, they're pretty creepy - these empty shells of people are downright carriers of pure visceral horror - but when was the last time you got a lump in your stomach and a lump in your throat at the sight of a loitering crowd of these guys? Blood, entrails and realistic images of rotting flesh no longer have the same effect. But Telltale's The Walking Dead series spares us the anatomy lesson and instead offers something much more heartbreaking.

The ubiquitous dead are just scenery against the backdrop of a hopeless human drama, a kind of plot engine in the conditions of widespread decomposition of not only living flesh, but also humanity itself, clearly showing what people are capable of in desperate conditions. The people in the game are deep, well-written characters that allow you to completely immerse yourself in the inhospitable world of the Walking Dead universe. The most frightening thing is that the events taking place in the game - in particular, the behavior of people in extreme conditions - could well be repeated in reality, if a catastrophe of similar magnitude happened today.

Year of issue: 1996 | Developer: DigiFX Interactive | Buy

The horror adventure Phantasmagoria is considered one of the best - albeit significantly outdated - representatives of the era of active use of video inserts in games, but only because almost no one has heard of the much bloodier and more disturbing Harvester. Waking up from memory loss in a sick 1950s town where mothers gouge out their children's eyes, paperboys carry pistols, school teachers enforce classroom discipline with a baseball bat, and for some reason no one pays attention to the wasp woman. roaming the streets freely.

All you know is that if by the end of the week you do not become a member of the mysterious Lodge located in the center of the city, then you will not last long - you will have to donate blood as an involuntary donor, which will be released from you by a nurse armed with a scythe. And if the events described above seem very strange, then believe me, this is just the beginning.

Pathologic Classic HD

Year of issue: 2015 | Developer: Ice-Pick Lodge | Buy

Pathologic looks disgusting and painful. On your computer it will look like a gangrene-prone limb in need of urgent amputation. But in this case, such a characteristic, oddly enough, can be considered praise. Behind Pathologic's nasty, off-putting atmosphere lies an unusual and deep plot, often breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the player, often questioning their influence on the events of the game as a whole. You will have to take on the role of one of three available characters with a dark past.

After this, mysterious masked figures will explain the rules of the game: you have 12 days to cure the city of the mysterious disease that has struck it, and that the countdown is carried out in real time, independent of the player’s successes and progress. Successful completion requires reasonable prioritization, skillful navigation of the map in search of the necessary resources and timely assistance to city residents in attempts to slow down the inexorable spread of a deadly infection. But regardless of the success of the player’s actions, he does not have time to save everyone, and the city gradually continues to rot alive as the allotted time expires, which inevitably leads to a disappointing and chilling ending.

Year of issue: 2005 | Developer: Monolith Productions | Buy

The Silent Hill series has excelled in the field of creepy mannequins, but in this regard it is not even close to what Condemned: Criminal Origins shows us. The prerequisites for the events of the game are quite banal: a serial killer is operating in the area, and you are an investigator who is entrusted with the task of catching him. Much more interesting is Agent Ethan Thomas' unconventional approach to investigating these cold-blooded murders.

Condemned: Criminal Origins provides him with a wide selection of firearms, but he does not hesitate to fight off the dregs of society inhabiting Metro City, and with the help of a variety of bladed weapons, each of which has its own characteristics for use in close combat. In this light, the game knows its strengths, and does not hesitate to be bloody and brutal from the outset to the very end, and 10 years after the official release it is still able to surprise even a seasoned horror veteran.

Year of issue: 2014 | Developer: Tango Gameworks | Buy

The reasons why this game is not recommended to be ignored can be boiled down to two words: Shinji Mikami. The Japanese game designer had a hand in the creation of , God Hand and Vanquish - the last two of which, unfortunately, never saw a port on PC. But Evil Within is a worthy successor to the traditions of psychological Japanese horror. Entirely dedicated to playing hide and seek with chainsaw-wielding psychopaths, shooting and burning lumbering zombies and setting traps, Evil Within is rightfully considered the crowning achievement of Mikami's contribution to the development of the horror genre.

Soma

Year of issue: 2015 | Developer: Monolith | Buy

Frictional Games, already featured on our list, once again proves that they, like no one else, understand subconscious human fears and the components of good horror - first they showed us this in the Penumbra series, then in the Amnesia duology.

Soma is their latest terrifying creation, full of creepy inhuman experiments, even more creepy blinking monitor screens, as if watching the main character, and raises questions about the nature of human consciousness and perception, while from time to time not forgetting to wake up the thoughtful player with the unexpected appearance of robot-like monsters.

Metro 2033 Redux

Year of issue: 2014 | Developer: 4A Games | Buy

Like Call of Pripyat, already mentioned on this list, Metro 2033 takes on a post-apocalyptic, nuclear-war-ravaged world inhabited by mutated creatures - most of which will want to eat your flesh the moment they see you in a dark subway tunnel. The year is 2033, Russia fell victim to a nuclear bomb 20 years ago. The surface of Moscow has become uninhabitable, and therefore the game takes place in a confusing and dilapidated metro system, in the suffocating atmosphere of which the main character and his associates are pursued by mysterious monsters called Blacks.

Metro 2033, like the STALKER series, leans more towards the shooter, but while much of its horror comes down to the fear of running out of ammo, the desolation of the post-nuclear world it presents is truly unsettling to the soul - perhaps from the realization of the realism of the depictions. game of possible consequences of nuclear war. However, who knows, maybe it’s all about the terrifying Blacks?

Slender: The Arrival

Year of issue: 2013 | Developer: Blue Isle Studios | Buy

The thin, suit-clad figure who became known as Slender Man got his start on horror forums, but quickly grew into a key figure in a full-fledged horror series. The scare methods he uses are quite straightforward, but no less effective. When looking directly at it, it absorbs the player's soul, and if they try to avert their eyes, it can unexpectedly change its location. You have to collect eight notes in a dark forest, while trying to avoid the omnipresent presence of the demon as much as possible.

The free version of the game, called The Eight Pages, appears in countless let's plays on YouTube, as for many, watching psychological horror on people turned out to be much more interesting than experiencing it for themselves. The popularity of the indie game inspired the Blue Isle and Parsec studios to create a full-fledged and modern-looking version of it, called Slender: The Arrival, available on Steam and supporting Oculus Rift for a full-scale immersion in the abyss of animal horror.

Year of issue: 2014 | Developer: Creative Assembly | Buy

Unarguably the best Alien game ever made, Alien: Isolation introduced one of the smartest and scariest antagonists in history. The Xenomorph's killer instinct is matched only by his cunning. Over the course of 12 hours of gameplay, he will relentlessly pursue the main character of the game - the daughter of that same Ripley from the film franchise - while simultaneously studying the structure of the Sevastopol space station, becoming more and more familiar with its ventilation system and looking under all the tables and into all the cabinets in which potential prey may be hiding .

The motion detector will help you avoid the Alien's tenacious paws, but it has sensitive hearing and will immediately pay attention to a repeating signal, and the muted green glow of the detector screen makes every comparison with its indicators risky. When the game forces you to crawl into a narrow space of a ventilation shaft, and after some time, somewhere behind you hear the rustling of a monster following on your heels, Alien: Isolation will become one of the scariest horror games you have ever played.

Year of issue: 2005 | Developer: Headfirst Productions | Buy

At first glance, Lovecraft's Cthulhian mythology should be a Klondike of ideas for good horror. But in practice, it turns out that literary techniques for creating a frightening atmosphere do not always work when transferred to the screen - in this case, much of the writer’s characteristic sense of ancient and maddening horror is lost.

But despite all the bugs and clumsiness, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of Earth is a one-of-a-kind first-person shooter that not only remains faithful to the literary source material, but also convincingly gamifies it, embodying the author’s vision through a variety of different tasks and situations unfolding at beautifully detailed levels. The journey will begin with an escape from local residents associated with a certain diabolical cult, and will lead the player to the lair of ancient evil, embodied in the form of the nightmarish Shoggoths and their Deep Sea minions.

Year of issue: 2005 | Developer: Monolith Productions | Buy

FEAR performs better in the field of shooters than horror, but the game is still worth mentioning on the list due to its frequent references to Asian cinema, in particular in the form of the main villain Alma, a little girl who can tear people in half with the power of her thoughts. FEAR also skillfully exploits the first-person perspective to enhance the effect of jump scares, constantly guiding the main character through narrow corridors and stairs convenient for these purposes.

For example, if you catch a glimpse of Alma in one of the rooms, you will immediately find yourself in complete darkness, since all the light bulbs in the room will burst. Then, as you grope your way up the stairs, you'll see her at the top, standing in the illuminated doorway, and the floor and walls on the way to her will be covered in blood, so if the opportunity arises to insert a reference to Kubrick's The Shining, then why not do it?

The scare techniques of first-person games may be explored more thoroughly in games like Outlast, but FEAR also lets you pin cloned soldiers to walls with a hand-held punch and punch them in the face in slow-mo while they scream comically. FAAAAK” in his deaf and lisping manner to express fear. Elements of psychological horror were preserved in the continuations of the series - FEAR 2: Project Origin and FEAR 3.

Year of issue: 2015 | Developer: CAPCOM | Buy

Clumsy controls and static backgrounds are recognizable features of the first games in the series, but this does not diminish their reputation as an undeniable classic of survival horror. And considering that the original Resident Evil received an HD re-release last year, neophytes of the genre no longer have to worry about breaking their fingers or eyes trying to survive in low-poly graphics. The famous estate exudes an eerie atmosphere, and hides many unexpected and good jump scares.

The huge spiders that inhabit it are still disgusting, and the constant threat from local zombies slowly but surely shakes both the player’s nerves and the character’s health, who soon turns from a gallant soldier into a limping embodiment of pain and suffering, forever doomed to search in the rooms of the immense building, another octagonal object that fits into that octagonal recess.

Here it is, the face of a true nightmare.

Lone Survivor, a somewhat underrated 2D horror adventure, is a hazy, mysterious tale that draws on classics like Silent Hill and Twin Peaks. The game provides a constant hum of subdued dread and a well-deserved punchline. The flickering scan lines and hard-to-read text are a little hard on the eyes, but it's worth adjusting to the many pixels for the reward.

Horror is one of the types of extreme sports that can produce more adrenaline in the body of an unprepared person than a skydive. Fear in most cases is a conditional thing. It is ingrained in us from childhood thanks to various stereotypes, such as monsters in dark places or under the bed, belief in paranormal phenomena, and so on.

For many decades, our fears have been skillfully used by screenwriters and directors of horror films, who understand perfectly well that a person will definitely go to the cinema again in order to jump on the spot at the right moment from a sudden screamer and get his portion of emotions and adrenaline. Video game developers quickly realized that this effect would be much stronger if you not only watched what was happening on the screen, but also took part in it. This is how the first horror games appeared.

The main problem with modern horror games is that they quickly become outdated in terms of gameplay and graphics. To make a person squeal in fear, he must believe in what is happening on the screen. In this case, films have an easier life, so horror films even 20 years ago can scare you to death.

With games, everything is more complicated, and the same Resident Evil released in 1996 will only give the player the necessary atmosphere, but is unlikely to be able to give him a heart attack. Of course, oldfag hipsters, in an effort to prove their uniqueness, are ready to be afraid of even the poorly drawn Yakubovich in one of the first versions of “Field of Miracles” for PC, but we’ll talk about really scary games at the moment.

We tried to collect in our list those horror games that make you want to take a break from emotional stress. Their authors really tried to make the good atmosphere intertwined with primitive fear for their lives. We've deliberately not ranked scary games in ascending order, as they are all worthy candidates.

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1. Penumbra

Penumbra is a unique project. Its first part was released in 2007 and became one of the main representatives of the survival-horror genre, despite the apparent simplicity of execution. The authors of this terrible game realized that the effect of fear for one’s life and primitive fear can be enhanced if all the weapons are taken away from the player. There are no shotguns or rocket launchers here, there is only a fragile main character without superpowers who is afraid to die. It is better to hide from danger in Penumbra than to fight it off with a hammer.

The game developers used an interesting technique to enhance the immersion in the atmosphere, and added the need for the main character to interact with surrounding objects on a physical level. For example, to pull a drawer out of a table, you need to hold its handle with the mouse button and pull it towards you. This creates an additional effect of presence. Later, many companies will begin to use this technique in their games.

Penumbra has a good plot in which the player has to find out what happened in a mysterious mine in Greenland and what evil lurks in its dungeons and laboratories.

Even 10 years after its release, Penumbra is still scary. The authors skillfully play on the most common human fears. At the moment, the horror game Penumbra has been released in three parts, not counting an amateur mod from fans.

2. Amnesia The Dark Descent

Amnesia The Dark Descent is a direct descendant of the genre from developers Penumbra, who used their previous developments to make the horror game of their dreams. And at the same time give some players a heart attack.

Amnesia came out in 2010 and is still keeping players in their seats. Frictional Games decided to go further and made the main character - Daniel - absolutely defenseless against all the dangers in this horror game.

According to the plot of the game, we wake up on the floor of one of the rooms of a medieval castle and realize that we have lost our memory. From this minute our long journey through the plot of the game begins, which we draw from the notes and scraps of newspapers left by the heroes. The viscous and gloomy atmosphere of the castle draws you in almost instantly. Even when nothing happens on the screen, fear involuntarily takes over, and you begin to be afraid of every rustle. What can we say about the moments when the hero is really in danger.

In Amnesia The Dark Descent, the developers added another interesting gameplay element - the sanity of the main character. When Daniel is in the dark for a long time or sees a terrible monster, chaos begins in his head. You can go crazy here, so it’s better not to look at the monsters, which adds to the fear of not being able to see where the danger is. Absolute tension and cold sweat throughout the entire game.

3. Cry of Fear

Cry of Fear is a unique example of a successful horror game that does not have mind-blowing AAA graphics, gorgeous animation and epic direction that modern developers boast so much about. There is only a quality atmosphere here, which compensates for such a sneaky technique as jump scares. And for this the game can be forgiven for everything. Even the fact that it is actually an amateur modification on a slightly modified Half-Life engine (which was released in 1998, remember). If you are a faint-hearted person and faint when you suddenly see a little spider, then do not start playing Cry of Fear.

This horror game was released in 2012 and is distributed on the Steam service absolutely free. No one pinned their hopes on the mod until the first players left their reviews of the game in the style of “the best laxative and without chemicals.” After this, Cry of Fear became incredibly popular in the gaming community, even among those who consider graphics to be the fundamental factor in games. In addition, this horror game is incredibly hardcore, and the developers’ imagination in methods of bullying the player is simply limitless.

4. Layers of Fear

Layers of Fear is very difficult to understand for those people who regard games solely as relaxation for the mind. To completely immerse yourself in the atmosphere of this terrible game, you will have to think about what is happening on the screen, about the fate of the hero and his thoughts.

If you're a fan of surrealism that is masterfully intertwined with art, then Layers of Fear is sure to please. The story of an artist who expresses his inner world in creepy paintings is truly frightening. More frightening than the jump scares that abound in this truly scary game. Mind games will make you question your own sanity. If you walk along a long corridor and turn back, you risk not seeing this corridor. Nobody knows what will appear in front of you in the next moment.

Layers of Fear has a huge amount of metaphors, so if you like to run through the corridors with a shotgun at the ready, then this game is not for you. The rest will be imbued with the atmosphere and appreciate the work of the authors who tried to make their project a real work of art.

5. SOMA

SOMA is very difficult to call a horror game in the usual sense. There are almost no screamers here, and those that exist are very skillfully delivered at the right moments so that the player does not relax until the end. Instead, SOMA gives us one of the darkest and most atmospheric narratives in video game history. And this is another game from Frictional Games - developers of Penumbra and Amnesia.

If the goal of Amnesia was to scare the player to death, then SOMA wants to tell us an interesting and deep story about the fate of humanity and the main character in particular. Adding to the mystery is the fact that all the action takes place on a scientific underwater station, where we are strangely transported after a seemingly ordinary brain scan. There are no living people left at the station, only a few creepy monsters, which, however, do not pursue us throughout the game, as happens in other horror games.

The loneliness in the dark corridors and the details of the plot are more frightening than sudden monsters in other scary games. This has earned SOMA high marks from critics and players.

6. SCP – Containment Breach

What you won’t find on the vastness of the modern Internet. Sometimes, enthusiasm pushes people to do strange things. For example, the creation of an encyclopedia on anomalous objects in the world, which are united by the abbreviation SCP, while many of them pose a threat to humanity. In order for you to feel the atmosphere of the game SCP - Containment Breach, we recommend that you first familiarize yourself with the paranormal catalog in Russian.

What do you think of the idea of ​​a sculpture made of concrete and rebar (in the screenshot of SCP-173) that requires constant eye contact? As soon as you blink, the sculpture will instantly appear behind your back and wring your neck.

According to the plot of the indie game SCP - Containment Breach, you are one of the workers of a secret laboratory where the most dangerous SCPs of the planet are kept in special conditions, which, due to chance, break free. Your goal is to survive. There are no limits to human imagination, so even despite the low quality of graphics, the atmosphere is guaranteed. You will long remember your hysterical escape from the so-called “grandfather” or “plague doctor.” And the classic 173 will not lag behind.

7. F.E.A.R.

When was F.E.A.R. released? (First Encounter Assault Recon), the game made a real splash in the video game market. Sparkling with fashionable graphics at the time, it was a dynamic shooter, in which elements of a psychological thriller and atmospheric horror were woven.

The Japanese were the first to scare viewers with little girls in their films. Authors F.E.A.R. skillfully interpreted this idea by creating the image of Alma, a girl who became a victim of experiments in attempts to breed a clone of an ideal soldier with telepathic abilities. During the experiment, Alma got out of control and now only wants revenge, destroying everyone in her path.

Playing as an operative of a secret unit to counter paranormal threats, we will have to go through the real hell of a skillfully presented horror, which was released in several parts. F.E.A.R. remains one of the scariest games of our time.

8. Dead Space

Dead Space is one of the few representatives of science fiction in the survival-horror genre. The first part of the game was released in 2008, and no one had high hopes for it, but the players were delighted.

According to the plot of this horror game, we find ourselves in a world of the future, where humanity has already mastered deep space and can afford to mine mineral resources on other planets. A distress signal was received from the ripper ship Ishimura, and the mining company sends a shuttle to the signal location, on which our main character, engineer Isaac Clarke, is located. When the repair crew arrives on the scene, it becomes clear that the game developers were inspired by films such as Alien and The Thing. In a matter of minutes, the hero remains cut off from his group on a huge spaceship infested with necromorphs - a special form of life into which the crew has turned.
Isaac faces a difficult path to save his life, as well as to find his beloved, who was also on the Ishimura.

The excellent atmosphere of this scary game is recreated thanks to the brilliant work of sound engineers and directors, who make you squeeze into your seat while traveling through the narrow corridors of the station with a laser cutter at the ready.

9. Outlast

Outlast quickly became known among players as one of the scariest horror games of our time. Despite the fact that this project is usually called an indie development, its production and development eclipses many AAA projects from video game development giants.
This game will make even the most phlegmatic gamer who is skeptical about the horror game genre squeal. By the way, Outlast is considered one of the most cruel and “meaty”, so it is strictly contraindicated for children. The number of intestines and severed limbs per square meter is off the charts. And this complements the atmosphere of madness, horror and disgust that reigns in the game until the very end.

In Outlast, we play as a journalist named Miles, who, thanks to a tip from an anonymous person, learns about sinister experiments on patients at the Mount Massive psychiatric hospital. Unable to contain his creative impulses, Miles sets out to do investigative journalism with his camera at the ready. And this camera becomes almost the main element of the game. Through her peephole we will see all the horrors that the human imagination can create to people.

Looking at the dismemberment in infrared mode in complete darkness terrifies the player much more than simply wandering around looking for a way out. All this is supported by a gorgeous soundtrack that makes everything that can be compressed shrink. While traveling through a huge psychiatric hospital, at every second you expect another crazy person to jump out from around the corner and start doing all sorts of obscene things to your body.

The hero, as usual, is completely defenseless, so we can only run away from our pursuers, screaming heart-rendingly. The chases are staged very atmospherically and convey to the player the panic of the main character with proper realism. Not everyone will decide to play Outlast, because it has been recognized as one of the scariest games of our time.

10. Alien Isolation

Alien Isolation was a true masterpiece for fans of the original Alien films, which still scare the crap out of people around the world. The ingenious universe created by Ridley Scott and Giger's imagination has come to the point that the whole world knows about it. A lot of games based on the Alien universe were released, but none of them were truly scary and they were ordinary shooters. Everything changed when Creative Assembly announced a new Survival-horror starring Alien.
Alien Isolation is a true tribute to the original 1979 film. The game very accurately reproduced the surroundings of the ships shown in the film, as well as the general style of storytelling. The very first launch brought tears to the eyes of fans as we looked around in the cryosleep compartment to the painfully familiar music.

In the story, we play as Amanda Ripley, the daughter of the main character from the first film. 15 years after her mother disappeared, Amanda suddenly receives news that the Sevastopol space station has acquired a black box from the same Nostromo. Without thinking twice, the girl goes to the station, hoping to lift the veil of secrecy.

The very first meeting with an Alien makes your heart pound wildly in your chest, a feeling you will not soon forget. The authors did a great job on the atmosphere of this terrible game, and the Alien himself was programmed in such a way that he acted as unpredictably as possible. More than once you will have to sit in lockers while an alien creature passes a meter away from you.

If you are a man and have already planted a tree and given birth to a child, then Alien Isolation will make you an excellent house made of bricks, in which you will then discuss your adventures in this game for a long time.

High-quality horror films have always been appreciated by fans of computer games. Thanks to the unique effects of presence (first-person view, a variety of optical illusions), the player literally “gets used to his character, painfully perceiving all the horrors and fear of the hero happening around him as his own. In this review we will consider scariest games on PC, which fans of the genre should pay attention to.

Opens our top of the scariest Penumbra games. This is a series of two games and add-ons that marked the beginning of the survival horror genre. The main character of the story is the physicist Philip, who receives a letter from himself via e-mail, where he explains what happened and asks to complete what he started. All other events of the games described in the letter are just a flashback. A distinctive feature of the series was the effect of presence. It is expressed in the fact that it is necessary to interact with physical objects not just by clicking the mouse, but also by moving the cursor in the desired direction.

Slender: The Eight Pages is one of the scariest video games on PC. It is a first-person horror game. The main plot is built around the mysterious monster Slender, who looks like a humanoid creature in a classic suit with long and prehensile limbs. The protagonist is a girl, Kate, who was forced to leave her house after she noticed Slenderman in it. Once in a huge forest belt, she needs to collect 8 notes left by other children who also met this monster. The heroine only has a camera in her hands that can detect Slenderman if he is nearby. Thanks to the minimalist interface, as well as the well-crafted atmosphere and AI, the game turned out to be truly scary.

8. Doom

Our list of the scariest games continues with the sci-fi first-person shooter Doom, which takes place in a closed colony on Mars. As a result of unsuccessful experiments by scientists on the red planet, a portal to Hell was opened. Initially, the colonists planned to use hellish energy to ensure the smooth operation of the mechanisms, but soon demons poured out of the open portal and completely destroyed the entire colony. The player is a nameless foot soldier who must seal the portal and destroy all enemies along the way. The game is characterized by extreme cruelty, during the battle blood literally flows like a river, and enemies crawl out of all the cracks, and upon death, enemies disintegrate into bloody pieces, which greatly influenced censorship in many countries. The appearance of the demons was made as terrible and disgusting as possible; initially it may seem that Doom is not a frantic shooter, but a real horror game.

Resident Evil is a whole series of scary games in the survival-horror genre, which was created by Capcom under the influence of the film “The Evil Dead”. The first game was released back in 1996 and took place in a mansion that served as a cover for a laboratory for developing a virus that turned infected people into mutants. The hallmark of the games were branded puzzles, but as the series developed, the emphasis shifted more and more towards shooters. However, in the last part, the developers decided to return to the original layout, making fewer enemies, and some of them were even given immortality. All this made it possible to instill insurmountable horror on the player during the passage.

Silent Hills is another continuation of the series of games about the horrors that happen to people in the city of Silent Hills. All the monsters that the main character sees are just a revived illusion of his own fears, materialized according to the will of the place. The atmosphere is pumped up not only by monsters, but also by various mysticism. For example, otherworldly voices that constantly whisper something and random movement of objects.

Opens the top 5 scariest games for the computer Call of Cthulhu. This is a first-person action game that includes quest and horror elements based on the works of the famous writer Lovecraft. The player's main weapon is his stealth, but nothing prevents him from trying to shoot the horrors from the Cthulhu mythos. The main feature of the game was the complete absence of a HUD. The gamer does not see the health indicators of his character. Moreover, in addition to physical health, there is also a level of mental health, which decreases when the protagonist sees monsters and other unpleasant things, such as corpses. If the sanity indicator drops too low, the main character will begin to hallucinate and eventually commit suicide. As the game progresses, gamers will encounter many creatures from the Cthulhu mythos, including Dagon, Hydra, and even Shoggoths.

Outlast is one of the scariest first-person survival horror games. The game takes place in a psychiatric hospital, where some scientists conducted experiments on patients. During one of them, a certain evil entity was suddenly released, killed the guards and disappeared, leaving the brutal psychos alone with the doctors. The main character, a journalist named Mile, arrives at the hospital in order to find out what exactly is happening there. The moment of his arrival coincides with the liberation of the entity and the beginning of general chaos. An interesting feature of the game is that the gamer cannot fight, but only hide from enemies. The protagonist always carries a camera with night vision mode, which allows him to see opponents in advance and avoid them.

Opening the top three scariest games on PC is the first-person shooter with horror elements F.E.A.R. 3. The main character is an operative of F.E.A.R., a fictional special forces unit, who must face an entire army of super-soldier clones. In addition, the protagonist is constantly haunted by visions of the little girl Alma. The game features extremely sophisticated AI, capable of various tactical maneuvers. For example, opponents can move around a player from the rear in an organized manner without making a sound. They also go to reload, use cover and communicate with each other, which gives the impression of a rather complex intelligence. To make life easier for the player, the developers have implemented a time dilation mechanic, which simulates an increase in the level of adrenaline in the protagonist’s blood.

2. Dead Space

Dead Space is a scary sci-fi third-person shooter with elements of survival horror. According to the plot, engineer Isaac arrives as part of a rescue expedition to the USG Ishimura, since an SOS signal came from there. During docking, the rescue ship crashes, as a result of which only a small part of the crew was able to survive. In parallel, it turns out that the Ishimura is under the complete control of necromorphs, into which the dead crew was mutated. As a result, Isaac has to overcome every meter with fierce battles, as monsters crawl out of literally every crevice. A distinctive feature of the game is the main character's weapons, which are ordinary mining tools. The atmosphere of fear and anxiety is heightened by music, the sudden appearance of enemies, and the constant noise from necromorphs, which creates the impression that someone is always nearby.

And the scariest game in our ranking is Amnesia: The Dark Descent. This is a legendary survival-horror game where the player will have to take control of Daniel, a young man who woke up in a small room of a mysterious castle. Nearby he finds a note, from which he learns that he drank the elixir of amnesia in order to heal mental trauma, and also that he needs to kill the local baron, who turned out to be an alien from another world. Moreover, everything is complicated by the fact that in the footsteps of the protagonist there is a mysterious creature, the Shadow, called upon to guard the Sphere - an ancient artifact that the baron took possession of in order to penetrate into another world. The main feature of the game is the complete absence of combat; the player can only solve puzzles and hide from enemies, which creates a unique atmosphere of fear.