The Evil Within delivers relentless, old-school terror from a creator who knows exactly how to mess with your nerves. The story pulls you deeper as environments twist, enemies grow more grotesque, and the atmosphere never lets up, backed by a soundtrack that knows when to whisper and when to scream. It can run a bit long, but for horror fans, this feels like a brutal, underrated classic that earns every scare. | © Tango Gameworks
SOMA isn’t built on constant scares, but on ideas that quietly mess with your head and refuse to let go. It uses interactive storytelling to explore identity, consciousness, and survival in ways that feel closer to thoughtful sci-fi than traditional horror. The fear creeps in slowly, and by the end, it’s less about monsters and more about questions you won’t stop thinking about. | © Frictional Games
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin doubles down on what made the series memorable, pairing sharper visuals with heavier, more aggressive scares. Gunfights feel brutal and stylish thanks to bullet time and melee combat working together, while creepy locations and new enemies keep the pressure high. It stays true to its roots while pushing the horror further, delivering tense, chaotic moments that still hit hard years later. | © Monolith Productions
Alan Wake 2 leans hard into weird horror, favoring atmosphere and story over nonstop action. Flashing lights, sharp jump scares, and a deliberately slow burn make it intense, but the payoff comes through its confidence and cinematic ambition. Some sections test your patience, yet the narrative rewards hit hard enough that it’s best experienced with as little foreknowledge as possible. | © Remedy Entertainment
Minecraft doesn’t look scary until Hardcore mode reminds you what’s actually at stake. After sinking dozens of hours into a world, one wrong move while cave diving and everything is gone for good. That mix of silence, uncertainty, and permanent loss can be more nerve-wracking than any scripted horror game. | © Mojang Studios
Outlast 2 throws you into a relentless mix of gore, paranoia, and psychological cruelty that rarely gives you time to breathe. The fear isn’t just confined to scripted moments, but also to the constant sense that something awful can happen at any second, especially as the story delves into darker corners of the human mind. The ending leaves things hanging, but the ride itself is so intense that it earns its place among the most punishing horror games out there. | © Red Barrels
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard strips the series back to raw, first-person terror and never lets the tension ease. Even outside of VR, it’s intensely immersive; however, playing it in VR takes the fear to another level, making every creak and footstep feel personal. It may not be the “perfect” Resident Evil on paper, yet as a pure horror experience, it’s one of the most unforgettable the genre has produced. | © Capcom
Subnautica isn’t built on jump scares or constant danger, yet it can be deeply terrifying in its own way. The fear comes from depth, darkness, and the moment you realize how far below the surface you are, surrounded by creatures you barely understand. It’s easy to lose hours exploring at your own pace, but when things go wrong, and progress is on the line, the tension hits harder than most traditional horror games. | © Unknown Worlds Entertainment
Phasmophobia turns fear into something chaotic and unforgettable, especially when played with friends who panic just as fast as you do. No two investigations feel the same, even on familiar maps, thanks to unpredictable ghosts and systems that refuse to settle into routine. It’s the kind of horror that pulls you back in, mixing genuine tension with hysterical moments you’ll be talking about long after the lights come back on. | © Kinetic Games
Alien: Isolation is openly hostile, built to stress you out rather than make you feel clever or safe. The Alien’s AI is relentless, the sound design is cruel, and the atmosphere nails the tone of the original film better than almost any licensed game ever has. Some late chapters drag a bit, but the tension, fear, and sheer pressure make it one of the most intense horror experiences you can play. | © Feral Interactive
Mouthwashing builds fear slowly, skipping combat and cheap jump scares in favor of thick atmosphere and uneasy, well-written dialogue. The PS1-style visuals and glitchy transitions make every scene feel unstable, like the game itself might break at any moment. Pacing can drag in spots, but the short, intense story and deeply unsettling mood make it stick long after it ends. | © Wrong Organ
Silent Hill 2 returns with modern visuals and sound that deepen the dread without sanding down what made the original so disturbing. Combat can feel repetitive, and some design choices don’t fully land, but the atmosphere and story remain powerful enough to carry every step of James’s descent. It’s still haunting, still emotionally raw, and proof that this nightmare was worth reliving after all these years. | © Bloober Team
Little Nightmares II pulls you forward with eerie visuals and a constant sense that something is watching, even when nothing moves. Some puzzles lean a bit too hard on trial and error, but the variety in gameplay and the quiet, oppressive sound design keep the tension intact. It’s a short journey, yet one that lingers, using wordless storytelling and unsettling ideas to make you genuinely care about its fragile characters. | © Tarsier Studios
Dead Space takes a familiar nightmare and sharpens every edge, expanding the story while giving you more room to move, explore, and panic. The Ishimura looks incredible, but it’s the sound design: distant screams, metal groaning, sudden silence that really gets under your skin. Minor issues barely register when the tension is this relentless, making the remake not just faithful, but flat-out better than the original. | © Motive Studio
Amnesia: The Bunker drops you into a space that refuses to guide or protect you, and that freedom is exactly what makes it so unsettling. Every decision matters, especially when fuel runs low, and a single careless moment can quietly trap you in a nightmare you created yourself. It’s harsh, tense, and deeply uncomfortable in the best way, a horror game that doesn’t just scare you, but demands you earn your survival. | © Frictional Games
Some horror games make you jump. Others make you uncomfortable in ways that stick, long after you’ve turned the screen off. This list is for the ones that do both, and then push a little further, straight into your nerves.
