Shinji Mikami, the guy who brought us the original Resident Evil, is returning to horror games later this month with The Evil Within. If you can’t wait that long to get your horror fix on though, we’ve got 9 games to keep you up at night while you wait.
Among the Sleep – PC, PS4
The world can be a scary place for a toddler, especially when there might be actual monsters about. Among the Sleep puts you in the tiny shoes of a two-year-old navigating a nightmarish dreamscape with his talking teddy bear, and considering you’re a baby, there’s not a whole lot you can do but hide when things get dangerous.
Alien: Isolation – PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
In space, no one can hear you scream… but my neighbors certainly can. Inspired by Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror movie, Alien: Isolation pits you against a single murderous monster who stalks you across the entire game.
Instead of the usual assortment of jump scares that most games rely on, Isolation‘s monster instead hunts you using a complex artificial intelligence system, tracking you by sight, sound, and smell. Horrifying. On a personal note, it scared me so much that I wanted to throw up.
Daylight – PC, PS4
Waking up with no memories in an abandoned hospital ? No thank you. Daylight gets even more terrifying when you realize that the maze-like environment is randomly generated. No walkthrough is going to help you here.
Five Nights at Freddy’s – PC, Mobile
Five Nights at Freddy’s tasks you with being the night security guard at a struggling Chuck E. Cheese knock-off. That’s not a particularly scary gig, if it weren’t for the fact that the animatronic animal characters get a little bit more… animated when the sun goes down.
Neverending Nightmares – PC
Have you ever woken up from a dream, only to find that you’re actually still asleep? In Neverending Nightmares, Thomas is in that boat, only every time he “wakes up,” he finds himself in an even more twisted version of his dream.
This one is not as overtly terrifying as others on this list, but it’s got a creeping sense of dread that’s going to stick with you for long after you finish playing.
The Forest – PC
It might still be in Early Access, but that doesn’t mean The Forest is missing any scares. The game places you on a forested island as the lone survivor of a plane crash. There you’re tasked with finding shelter and tools; oh, and avoid the roving bands of nocturnal, cannibal mutants who live in caves beneath the island. Sounds like a nice place!
the uncle who works for nintendo – Browser Based
It might be text-based, but the uncle who works for nintendo manages to channel terror and childhood uncertainty in ways that very few stories (let alone games) have ever done before. Give it an hour of your time, and prepare to sleep with the lights on tonight.
DreadOut – PC, PS4
Imagine Fatal Frame but with smartphones and digital cameras, and you’ve got something close to DreadOut. I don’t know why ghosts are scarier when you’re looking at them on a screen on another screen, but somehow they just are.
P.T. – PS4
Despite turning out to be an elaborate demo for the next Silent Hill game, P.T. still has my vote for the scariest game of 2014 so far. A collaboration between Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro, P.T. is basically all of Kojima’s insanity paired with Del Toro’s eye for horribly disturbing imagery. If nothing else, I was afraid of open doors for a good week after playing it.
Any others to add to this list? Let us know in the comments section!
