We’ve put together a list of some of the most memorable experiences we’ve had within that framework. Some of them really turn things up a notch, and you might want to keep a light on if you decide to dive in!

Let’s get started.

1. Elden Ring

Despite a more visually bright world in The Lands Between, Elden Ring squirrels away poignant, truly frightening tales in the backgrounds of its dungeons, or in plain sight for the Tarnished to uncover. The lore behind those in pots in any of Shadow of the Erdtree’s dungeons showcases a side to Queen Marika that makes her actions all the more terrifying to think about, while other instances of her kingdom’s trysts with monsters manifest in frightening ways.

Grotesque monstrosities accost you, sometimes in the most beautiful places, while the darkest corners of The Lands Between or the Shadow Tree’s cursed landscape hide melancholy secrets and enemies deadly enough to take out even the best builds. Bloodborne players might be all too familiar with that one and the Madness gauge.

And of course, there’s Mohg’s haunting story to uncover for those of you interested in some gruesome lore that has some far-reaching implications spread across the story.

2. Demon’s Souls (Remake)

One of the best things Bluepoint Studios did with the Demon’s Souls remake was to recreate its environments just as they were set up in the original game while adding a layer of realism to its oppressive levels and its many threats.

Each boss, although familiar, was now all the more terrifying, their new character models lending them an additional layer of imposing dread. That’s also true for many of the game’s grunt enemies as well, and the entire experience was definitely worth experiencing all of the tension between boss runs that comes with it all over again.

3. Lies of P

One of the things that Lies of P does so well is weave in its horror component into its narrative in subtle ways, with it being an important part of the background that underlines the bizarre puppet frenzy and its aftermath. We’re not going to forget fighting Andreus’ mutated form any time soon, or the battle against the Monster of the Swamp.

The DLC took things up a notch right off the bat, having us explore a zoo whose inhabitants were certainly a sight to behold, even as they tore us to shreds. Lies of P hides very morbid tales behind its lore and encourages you to learn more about how the Alchemists and those against them both went to extremes to achieve their goals. We’re not forgetting the results of Romeo’s time with Arlecchino in Overture anytime soon, and that tale alone is enough to earn this one a place on our list.

4. Control: Ultimate Edition

A supernatural realm existing outside time and space, being at the center of Altered World Events that distorted reality, should have been quite a giveaway, in hindsight. But Control cleverly hid its horror behind a layer of sci-fi that could be quite the surprise when the game decides to raise your hackles.

There is some SCP-style terror on offer here, and you’re soon going to be at the center of some very scary encounters in the role of the FBC’s new Director. Warped realities and whispered threats are among the many reasons that this one was a no-brainer for this list.

5. Death Stranding 2

We have two words for you: Beached Things. These monstrosities, called BTs for short, are nothing short of terrifying when you encounter them. These lost souls are not just terrifying to fight, but bring the risk of a Voidout to every encounter with a living being. That’s a sentiment that is right in the background with each one, and is scary enough with each of the BTs bringing unique attacks and horrendous appearances.

Their frequency makes every step through Death Stranding feel like it’s a trek through a world that continues to be haunted by the horrifying event that started it all.

6. Returnal

Housemarquee certainly did a great job of weaving in some brilliantly written psychological horror into Selene’s “time” at Atropos. Not only are the alien monsters she encounters quite menacing on their own, but every discovery of the time loop she is in adds a layer of subtle tension to the rest of the experience, slowly peeling back the layers of a timeline that could plague her for the rest of her life.

Returnal’s very premise sets the stage for a few truly frightening encounters and revelations, and is one that could stay with you long after you roll the credits on it.

7. Remnant II

Irrespective of where you end up at the start of your adventure, thanks to the procedurally generated experience, things get weird and scary quickly in this one. From the time loop in a burning house to tracking down the Nightweaver in the Tormented Asylum, this one can get quite hair-raising when it ups the ante in that direction.

Remnant II’s themes of desolation and a sort of decay in the worlds it takes you to blend very well with the lore and discovery around some of its more imposing bosses, each of which boasts a design that could give even the bravest Travelers.

8. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition

Folklore and monster contracts are a perfect recipe for some chilling stories and horrifying enemies in CD Projekt Red’s excellent take on the novels. Several missions in the franchise’s third instalment bring its many impressive monsters to life, partly through their designs but also via the journey of following their tracks and witnessing what they’re capable of firsthand.

It’s a sense of anticipation and dread that the game does well to capture, especially if you manage to uncover the second DLC’s deepest secrets. Or perhaps uncover a side quest with some truly haunting consequences in the Skellige Isles.

9. Metro Exodus (Enhanced Edition)

4A Games’ take on a post-apocalyptic shooter certainly packs in moments that can have you in sheer panic and trying to button-mash your way out of a situation without even thinking about it. In a world that has many inhospitable areas, and some very terrifying mutant creatures in areas that are, this is a level of gas-mask panic that’s quite memorable indeed.

We’d argue that it’s a survival horror game in disguise, given how challenging it is to brave the world it presents to us.

10. A Plague Tale: Innocence

Guiding your way through a take on a 14th-century setting with the Inquisition on your tale should be harrowing enough. But Asobo Studio certainly dialed things up by factoring in the Black Plague. But did they stop there? There was also a layer of supernatural entities and some horror elements thrown in, making this one a story that had us feeling both terror and awe at so many points.

Hugo’s journey alongside his sister and the erosion of his innocence as he battled his illness is a story that’s right up there with the most haunting ones we’ve seen. It’s made all the more haunting given his young age, the struggles of his sister to find a way out for both of them, and, of course, the sense of melancholy that a land falling victim to the Black Plague can bring if done correctly.

Bonus: Ghost of Yotei

While Atsu’s role as an onryo and the eventual terror she inspires in her enemies is great and all, Sucker Punch included a touch of the supernatural in this one. The Mythic Tale of the Spider Lily General involving his armor turns into a trek through an estate still haunted by his ghost.

He brutalises other bounty hunters ahead of you, he watches somberly as you attempt to navigate his puzzles, and his shadow passes ominously across the window as you enter his home. The eventual battle and the way it ends are as haunting as the journey through this character’s life story.

His story is hauntingly poignant, involving a morbid take on a father’s love that leads to some very interesting conversations with the general himself later down the line. We’d say that uncovering the tale is as unsettling as the premise itself, a sentiment that isn’t helped in the slightest by his estate’s general sense of neglect and suffocating atmosphere.

And that’s a wrap on some of the scariest experiences we’ve had outside of the horror genre. We’d argue that some of these games more than deserve a place among the genre’s finest, though!

A Plague Tale: Innocence is a third-person action-adventure/survival-horror game with variations in puzzles and has very strong stealth elements. This is 1349, France — it is the Middle Ages and the peak of the Black Death.  It centers on two young children: Amicia, a 14 year old girl who watched over her eight-year-old brother Hugo. This is the time of the Inquisition, so Amicia and Hugo are trying to escape the wrath of this heresy as well as the rat infestation. For this video preview we were allowed to see the two children trying to escape the rat plague inside a massive tower, while discovering the right path to the way out.

"The architecture of A Plague Tale is unlike anything I’ve seen before."

The first thing that usually comes to mind when seeing a game with an A.I. co-op partner is that the character’s cooperation is usually terrible. What we see from the preview is a little more cooperation than a standard lame A.I. character that always walks into walls. As you control Amicia, you’ll be able to see fluid movements of Hugo (the A.I. partner), and also see how he interacts without you having to guide him every inch of the way. We’re not sure yet if you’ll be able to switch between partners, but it seems like there are several scenarios where doing so would come in handy. As you make your way through this massive towering building, there will be opportunities to get both characters to interact with the environment. There weren’t many puzzles within the video preview to note, but we see some stealth elements such as Amicia hitting a lantern with a stone to distract the guards to help her progress further along. Additionally, Amicia will be able to throw rocks as weapons, and sneak between shadows to avoid the Inquisition. Furthermore, avoiding the massive swarms of rats will be achieved by lanterns or other lighting that keep these nocturnal animals as bay.

The architecture of A Plague Tale is unlike anything I’ve seen before. Borrowing deeply from the exact architecture of the 14th century, the foundation on which this game exists is magnificent. The Gothic layers give a foreboding tale of their own of danger and death. The heavy lighting effects within the structure dampens all hope of survival, and really adds an eerie spin to the atmosphere. Just make sure you don’t stay in the dark too long. Rats infest the dark, and alone they don’t do much; but when they work together and create a sea of rodents… well, good luck. Transitions between weather will occur, but will not be dynamic. There will be heavy rain and winds that attack the internal structure, throwing off certain game elements along the way.

"Overall, A Plague Tale: Innocence is certainly a game to look out for. Its dark atmosphere weighs heavy psychologically, and it feels almost hopeless once you’re inside."

As rats build up, it becomes a puzzle to avoid them. Using light can help alleviate the stress of crossing paths and sneaking around Inquisition soldiers. There will be times when rats will even attack the enemies and leave the game wide open for different types of scenarios. You’ll see hundreds, maybe thousands of onscreen rats all at the same time, and all moving around trying to cause havoc. This is where the game looks the most intriguing. Seeing all of these rats at once is really amazing and it makes understanding the area that much more challenging. Figuring out just how to get from one place to the other looks to be a lot of fun.

Amicia and Hugo are beautifully modeled in the game and their innocent child demeanor is unique. You can see the movements of a child in their actions. They won’t be hustling down the halls like gun-toting heroes. These children are scared, and they just want to go home. This also brings up the topic of violence. There will not be much violence towards these kids in the game. The game ends, but not in any bloody sort of way.

Overall, A Plague Tale: Innocence is certainly a game to look out for. Its dark atmosphere weighs heavy psychologically, and it feels almost hopeless once you’re inside.

Having to walk through swarms of disease infested rats is no easy task. Taking influence from 14th century French architecture, with the creepy darkness and shadows to go along with it, we had to find out more. We had a chance to talk with Chief Creative Officer David Dedeine to find out what lies behind the creepy walls of this foreboding game.

How interactive is the atmosphere in Plague Tale?

It’s really more about…so for example, will have things like interacting with the traps, which have been made for the rats. And interact with sometimes even the background. The environment will be important but I would say the core of the gameplay is more articulated around at the inquisition on one side, and rats on the other.

The game’s aesthetic is grim but unique. What influences did you look to for properly capturing 14th century France?

So first, we are French and we are in a town in France where we still have buildings of this period of time. When we were thinking about this game, it was a great source of inspiration of something we know is different. Maybe some developers don’t have access to this architecture. So it’s important. It’s all over the place in the area we are located. Its something we wanted to share basically.

How many missions will be available?

It’s more like chapters of a story. We will have around 12 chapters.

"The story is basically linear. There is no branching. We really want to tell a great story. This tale, this nightmare needs to reach the public, talk to the public. We will not try to branch much, we try to focus on this [linear] path."

The central theme focuses on innocence and doing what’s necessary to survive in Plague Tale. Will players’ decisions to kill influence the overall course of the story and the ending?

It doesn’t influence the course in a sense where you will not change the ending of the game. The story is basically linear. There is no branching. We really want to tell a great story. This tale, this nightmare needs to reach the public, talk to the public. We will not try to branch much, we try to focus on this [linear] path.

What are some of the tasks players will have to perform? Is the game primarily focused on stealth and sneaking past patrols?

It’s a mix. It’s still an action-adventure game. So you will have sneak phases, we will have action phases, and also puzzle mechanics.

Given the grotesque nature of the game’s set-up, what influenced the creation of the two protagonists?

It’s really about playing with this huge contrast. Sort of a paradox between the innocent, and the fact that the relation between the two is special, it’s fragile. They are kids. In front of that we put something crude, brutal and dark [characters]. It’s really the way we wanted to fuel the game, I would say.

Can you tell us about some of the puzzles in-games, including the use of light to clear a path through the swarms of rats?

As you can guess, you will have to basically take advantage of the rats against the Inquisition in some cases, or the Inquisition against the rats. All of this will be twisted with elements like, how the wind can interfere with this, how the rain can affect the environment, or the daylight among other things.

Is there any sort of customization in Plague Tale?

Not really. We will have a crafting layer that will allow the character to react differently with the rats, and sometimes with the Inquisition. I don’t want to talk to much about that right now. But that’s basically the idea.

What kind of skills and abilities will the character have? Is there a skills tree?

Sort of. I would not call it an actual skill tree. The type of artifacts you can craft will drive the way you play. It’s not an RPG. It’s more of an adventure game. So there is no character skill tree, but more choices based on what you craft, and what to keep, what you use.

Will the game feature Xbox One X specific enhancements? What can players expect if they are playing the game on Xbox One X? Is 4K/60fps on the cards?

Sure. We will be 4K ready.

On PS4 Pro also?

Yes.

"We’ve done the math, and had all sorts of discussions with Focus Home Interactive. So maybe will try, but right now the discussion we’ve had with the publisher was to not make Switch the priority."

From a development perspective, how do you find the Xbox One X to be? With so much GPU power, we are sure you must be doing some amazing things.

It’s awesome. It gives us a real…as the game was already running on classic Xbox, or classic PlayStation, suddenly you’ve got this power which comes as a bonus. Suddenly you can push the limit quite easily further. They are spectacular machines. Really good hardware. And you can already feel it.

What will the frame rate and resolution on the base Xbox One and PS4 for Plague Tale?

We aim for 30 FPS on Pro and Xbox One X. On the original systems we don’t know yet.

Do you have any plans to bring the game to the Switch? If not can you tell us why? Is it due to its weak processing power?

No. I will not lie by just saying…power. It’s really the power of the device. In this case it was the amount of rats we need to display. We already know that there’s too many rats, too many animations, too many AI at the same time. And if we want to give justice to – it’s like there is a large bridge between [it and ] Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro. And the Switch, it was too hard to make the same game in such a different context.

Did you attempt to get the game onto the Nintendo Switch?

We’ve done the math, and had all sorts of discussions with Focus Home Interactive. So maybe will try, but right now the discussion we’ve had with the publisher was to not make Switch the priority.