The Evil Within 2

Shinji Mikami’s Tango Gameworks did an excellent job with the original The Evil Within, and many of those foundations were built upon in new and interesting ways with the sequel that came out in 2017. The Evil Within 2 is one of the very few games that manage to blend pure survival horror with an open-world design without one element overpowering the other. The biggest achievement of The Evil Within 2 is how these contrasting genres complement one another, making exploration enticing and horrifying at the same time. It’s a rather unique kind of game that deserves to be experienced by every horror fan.

Bloodborne

FromSoftware’s 2015 release Bloodborne feels like a loving tribute to the works of H.P. Lovecraft, and the admiration for the author can be seen throughout Yharam’s gothic architecture and horrid creature designs that will continue to haunt your nightmares long after the credits roll. What makes Bloodborne so special is its ability to induce a sense of mechanical dread that goes hand in hand with the general tropes and jumpscares that you would see in any traditional horror game. Bloodborne’s horror is not only limited to facing that threat in the first place but also perfecting your grasp of its complex mechanics to the point that you are actually able to defeat that monstrosity.

Silent Hill 2

Silent Hill 2 is easily one of the best entries in the long-running survival horror franchise, and that statement alone speaks volumes about the quality of the experience considering the series is home to some of the best games of this ilk. The protagonist James Sunderland’s’ search for his missing wife leads him to the desolated town of Silent Hill, which kickstarts the events of this truly horrid nightmare. Everything from the atmosphere to the jumpscares and the story are all bone-chilling in their own right, and Silent Hill 2 also adds an element of eccentricity to the whole affair which makes it one of the most memorable horror experiences.

The Last of Us Part 1

The Last of Us Part 1 takes place in a post-apocalyptic rendition of America where you step into the shoes of Joel, a cynical middle-aged man who must escort a girl named Ellie to a hospital in hopes of finding a cure for the Cordyceps virus. The Last of Us excellently blends stealth elements into the survival horror gameplay blueprint, and what we get is a rather fresh action-adventure experience that also doesn’t fall short on the horror element as well. But what’s most interesting about The Last of Us Part 1 are the characters which are some of the best that we have seen in recent memory, and the narrative does an excellent job of portraying the sheer brutality of a post-apocalypse without holding much restraint.

Alan Wake 2

The original Alan Wake was more of an action-adventure experience, and developer Remedy Entertainment switched things up for the better with the sequel – making it a full-blown survival horror experience. And that feels like a natural fit for this kind of slow and more methodical gameplay where you have to use your flashlights to first weaken the Taken and then proceed to hit headshots with an actual weapon. Alan Wake 2’s biggest strength, however, lies in its narrative, which is best summarized by the statement, “It’s not a lake, it’s an ocean”. The rabbit hole of The Dark Place goes really deep, and you probably won’t be able to grasp the depth of the meta narratives and subplots that make it one of the most intriguing games that you will ever experience.

Dead Space (2023)

EA Motive’s modernization of the original Dead Space was just what fans wanted out of such an experience, and it beautifully presents the crippling survival horror of the original in a way that would placate a brand-new audience. The fresh coat of paint helps to really bring out the horrors to life, and there’s a palpable sense of tension pervading each step that you take through the dingy smoke-infested corridors of the USG Ishimura. It’s definitely along the lines of Resident Evil in terms of the moment-to-moment experience, but Dead Space takes the lead in terms of the narrative which is arguably a lot more engaging and structured than other offerings.

Outlast

Red Barrel’s Outlast is a consistently thrilling ride through a menace-infested Asylum as you try to uncover its deepest secrets. Outlast boasts an incredible atmosphere that ensures that you are constantly being unnerved by disturbing imagery and weird sounds. The game has some great environmental storytelling, and the fact that you can’t really stand your ground against the many horrors that persist also serve to keep adrenaline levels high throughout. Adding to the horror is the distinct visual presentation that’s largely dominated by shades of green and black thanks to the night-vision camera.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem

Silicon Knights’ Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem easily stands tall as one of the most creative horror games of the last couple of generations, and a lot of that can be attributed to the many ingenious design tricks that the team uses to unnerve the player from the very core. You have a Sanity meter that continues to rise as you face the many horrors peppered throughout the game, and once you reach a certain level – the game starts to play tricks on you like lowering the volume or bugs starting to crawl on the screen and much more. The primitive visuals and tank-style controls do mean that the game hasn’t aged all that well, but Eternal Darkness was definitely one of the most horrifying games of its time.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Frictional Games’ Amnesia series is home to some of the best survival horror games of all time, and 2010’s Amnesia: The Dark Descent definitely stands out amongst other entries in the franchise. Daniel’s story about recovering his lost memories whilst exploring a dark and desolate castle is one that will stay with you long after the credits roll, and Amnesia does a really good job with its thick atmosphere and jumpscares that never fail to keep you guessing.

Alien: Isolation

Creative Assembly delivered one of the most horrifying experiences of recent memory with Alien: Isolation, a game that manages to capture the essence of cat and mouse chase so perfectly over the course of its entire runtime. Its biggest achievement lies in the design of Xenormorph’s, which has its own independent AI brain that can sniff out the player based on what you did in previous runs. That element of uncertainty forces you to be dynamic with your survival strategy, which isn’t something that you can say about many traditional horror games. In addition to this, there’s also the story of Amanda Ripley who never fails to keep you glued to the edge of your screen at all times.

Sunset Overdrive

Despite launching in 2014 as an Xbox One exclusive (eventually arriving for PC), Insomniac Games’ Sunset Overdrive is still a classic that deserves more recognition. Its humor may not be for everyone, but the bombastic style and presentation, over-the-top combat and fluid movement, which would go on to inspire Marvel’s Spider-Man, all combine seamlessly. Coupled with an open-world playground littered with stuff to do and a compelling story, it’s a shame that more people didn’t play it.

Prey

Arkane Austin is dragged for Redfall, rightfully given its quality, but also because of its previous effort, Prey. As a reboot of the Human Head Studios’ FPS, it’s an immersive sim with a unique sci-fi setting and moral consequences from the perspective of one Morgan Yu, stuck on the Talos 1 station. Unfortunately, despite its well-designed environments, nuanced gameplay and frighteningly intelligent Typhon enemies, it failed to really make an impact sales-wise. Nevertheless, it’s still one of the genre’s best.

The Evil Within 2

You have to give credit to Tango Gameworks. Following the reception to The Evil Within, it returned to the drawing board and crafted a sequel superior in almost every way. Better graphics, more memorable sequences and terrifying scares, vastly improved gameplay and a story continuation that made us care more about protagonist Sebastian Castellanos and his family. Of course, as the story goes, it saw underwhelming sales and faded into the background. On the bright side, at least the developer bounced back and saw massive success with Hi-Fi Rush.

Days Gone

Bend Studio’s Days Gone is an interesting case – it sold millions, but many never tried it out until it came to PC and was offered free on PlayStation Plus. Its critical reception also left much to be desired, especially considering the high bar of PlayStation exclusives. Those who gave it a chance found a compelling open-world zombie shooter with interesting activities and an intriguing protagonist (despite some horrendous writing in sections). Fans still lament what could have been following reports of a proposed sequel being canned.

Nex Machina

Nex Machina is the final hurrah to Housemarque’s arcade shoot ’em ups and bullet hell titles (or so we thought at the time). A twin-stick shooter that combined elements from Robotron and Smash TV, even bringing on original designer Eugene Jarvis as a creative consultant, it offered gorgeous voxel graphics and fast-paced, intense action. Critics may have embraced it, but the sales said otherwise, leading to Housemarque famously stating that “Arcade is dead.” Fortunately, it didn’t stray far from its roots when it delivered the acclaimed Returnal for PS5.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem

With all the high-profile exclusives on the GameCube, from Metroid Prime to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, it’s a miracle that various third-party titles stood out. Silicon Knights’ Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem sadly wasn’t quite there, despite combining a long-running horror saga with multiple protagonists with an innovative Sanity system that messed with player perception in a fourth-wall-breaking fashion. Even with rave reviews for its story, mechanics and scares, it never received as much attention as the genre’s greats. Hopes for a sequel were buried long ago, but when it comes to compelling horror stories in video games, Eternal Darkness is still one of the greats.

Oxenfree

All these years later, and even with a sequel, the original Oxenfree remains as compelling and unique as ever. The story of Alex, who ventures to Edwards Island with her friends, alternates between teen drama and compelling supernatural mystery with incredibly well-written dialogue. Even better is the dynamic dialogue, allowing one to respond however they wish, leading to different results (and endings). Memorable stories come and go in the games industry, but Oxenfree’s deserves to be highlighted more.

Jusant

In this era of climbing games, where many emphasize the difficulty and frustration that comes from falling down on all that you’ve ever known, DON’T NOD’s Jusant hits differently. Despite its post-environmental disaster world, it offers a relaxing and meditative vibe as you scale a mysterious rock and attempt to piece together the history of its residents. With responsive controls and interesting platforming challenges that never get frustrating, Jusant is a remarkably chilled-out time.

Stories Untold

You probably heard of No Code for their work on the upcoming Silent Hill: Townfall, but horror adventure Stories Untold remains their most memorable work. It’s a surreal experience, seemingly starting as a series of standalone episodes before connecting incredibly. With unorthodox mechanics, including the player playing someone playing an old-school PC adventure game, Stories Untold is unlike anything else out there.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

Falcom’s Kiseki series has always been considered an RPG series with a lower budget, but it made for it with strong characters and writing. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky exemplified this best, introducing us to a fantasy world with airships and magic (but in a more grounded fashion). As Estelle Bright, players embark on a journey to become a full-fledged bracer, joined by Joshua and encountering all kinds of characters and occurrences along the way. Despite a slow start, the first game offers an amazingly realized world, a solid battle system with challenging fights, and an incredible soundtrack that’s still memorable

Mad Max

Another post-apocalyptic open-world title that didn’t quite land with several critics, Mad Max was still a strong adaptation of the source material. Players scoured the wasteland, engaging in vehicular battles while scavenging for parts, but ventured on foot to interact with various survivors and infiltrate strongholds for some solid beat ’em up action. Despite how monotonous the environments could get, it was still worth checking out for fans.

CrossCode

With its 16-bit style visuals and addictive hack-and-slash combat, CrossCode is already one of the best action RPGs few have ever played. However, it also offers a massive world with dozens of hours of gameplay, a great story that plays with established MMO tropes, and one of the more well-written protagonists out there. Coupled with a fantastic soundtrack, it’s a wonder that CrossCode doesn’t have more players.

Tacoma

Gone Home from Fullbright understandably isn’t for everyone, but Tacoma, a sci-fi title focused on rewinding and reviewing conversations in an abandoned space station, is definitely worth checking out. The conversations in question occur via Augmented Reality, leading to the exploration of different spaces at different times of the recording to piece together what happened. It’s an engrossing mystery and a solid adventure title that deserves more attention.

Vanquish

While everyone talks about Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising and NieR: Automata, PlatinumGames’ Vanquish is nearly forgotten. It’s a shame because despite the corny story and voice acting, it offered a new take on cover-based shooting, with rocket-powered sliding encouraging one to reposition quickly. Slow-mo allowed for more precise shooting while memorable boss fights and scenarios added some style to the proceedings.

As Dusk Falls

Yes, it ends on a cliffhanger, and some parts could have been better, but as a narrative title about two families inspired by the likes of Fargo, As Dusk Falls is an intriguing adventure from INTERIOR/NIGHT. Players make decisions at different moments, causing the plot to branch extensively, and every little choice and QTE has an impact. With solid acting and writing, its story is begging for a continuation and an expansion of the unique presentation.

The Evil Within 2

The Evil Within 2 is easily the best horror game that the studio has put out to date, and it features one of the scariest openings that’s sure to remain etched into your memory long after the credits roll. You start out in front of a flaming house, and upon entering you hear the screams of your beloved daughter. As you make your way through the rubble, you encounter Lily – who is enveloped in flames. She comes close and chokes you to death, wakes Sebastian up from this horrible nightmare, and kickstarts the narrative.

Silent Hill 2

Konami struck gold with Silent Hill when it was released in 1999 for the PlayStation One. However it would be the sequel, released a mere 19 months later, that cemented itself in the halls of horror gaming. Silent Hill 2 didn’t just give us iconic horrors like Pyramid Head – it explored the consequences of one’s actions, the confrontation of deep-seated trauma, and the manifestation of one’s inner nightmares. That it was impeccably paced, well-written and atmospheric as a whole also helped distinguish it among other classics.

Nex Machina

Housemarque, better known for the arcade shooter Resogun, released an arguably superior follow-up in Nex Machina. The latter is more of a top-down shooter akin to Robotron and Smash TV, and had Eugene Jarvis – who designed both – as a consultant. The result was an intense, action-packed arcade title with heaps of particle effects, great bosses and excellent areas. Unfortunately, Nex Machina and Housemarque’s other arcade title Matterfall reaped so little success that the developer proclaimed the arcade genre dead and focused on more mainstream genres.

Song of Horror

What if you faced a terrifying being that could also learn from your actions and plan accordingly? That’s The Presence, the antagonistic force of Song of Horror. The title features a number of characters, each exploring the house of Sebastian P. Husher and facing off against the terrifying Presence. When one character dies, the next continues the story, investigating in their own way. However, The Presence will learn from each incursion and hunt you down.

Amnesia Collection

Frictional Games was no stranger to the horror gaming scene thanks to the Penumbra series. However, Amnesia: The Dark Descent completely blew away expectations. Its tale of confusion and mystery, highlighted by the protagonist’s amnesia, clashed with the oppressive shadow that constantly sought out players. Amnesia: The Dark Descent delivered a compelling psychological horror experience that was simple but still wholly terrifying. The Amnesia Collection features the first game, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs (developed by The Chinese Room) and Amnesia: Justine. While the latter two range from above average to good, the entire collection is a steal for the amount of scares it provides.

Outlast

Outlast 2 may have seen a tremendous bump in visuals but the original Outlast is arguably scarier. There are so many things going wrong in Mount Massive Asylum from mentally ill inmates to grotesque oddities like Chris Walker constantly stalking you. The game is focused on stealth and fleeing from foes with the camera’s night vision offering an edge in the dark (though batteries are needed to recharge). From pure insanity to outright grotesque violence, Outlast is an experience that will stay with you long after it ends.

Magical Scissors – Puppeteer

The charm of the PS3 platform game that time forgot, Puppeteer, is all in the presentation. Set up like an elaborate puppet show, the interaction with this charming setup comes from your magical scissors, the Calibrus, and how it can cut through the fabric scenery in delightful and charming ways to continue progression. It takes the craft aesthetic further than its closest competition in games like Tearaway or Yoshi’s Wooly World can hope to match.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Half Life 2: Episode 2

We might as well get the big one out of the way. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 saw the resistance creating a rocket that ultimately closed the Combine portal, thus limiting the aliens from calling reinforcements. As Gordon and Alyx are setting out for the Borealis, two Advisors suddenly arrive and kill Eli Vance. Though our heroes are ultimately saved by D0g, the episode ends with a cliff-hanger. All these years and some artwork teasing the Borealis but still no Episode 3, forget Half-Life 3.