2022 has been an unbelievable year forhorrorgames . Whether it ’s baseborn indie game likeIron Lungor the upcomingThe Callisto Protocol , the games industry carry on to showcase why repulsion is such a honest and esthetic genre . Over time , what makes people feel fear has been refined .

It ’s no longer just zombie spirit or jumpscares of old ( though they indeed still exist ) . Now , there ’s a focal point on atmospheric horror , something that ’s been spread throughout the repugnance genre even outside of telecasting games . Those who require a few scares this Halloween season should n’t ignore these games .

The Death | Thần Trùng

The Death | Thần Trùngis a first - person psychological horror game place in the city of Hanoi . The musician control an ordinary man walk the metropolis street when strange things of a sudden start out to happen . vision of his past short come to lifetime , and he has to figure out a way of life to parse delusion from reality .

The Death | Thần Trùngis a solid first effort from a Vietnamese indie studio apartment with a readable passion for their civilisation and its nuances . Vietnamese folklore and custom surrounding death are prevailing in the biz . Plus , the plot is rendered in a photorealistic dash reminiscent of modern Hanoi adds a lot of authenticity to the experience .

The Complex: Found Footage

The Complex : line up Footageis a first - somebody geographic expedition repugnance game mark in the eponymous “ Backrooms . ” The frame twist is a inscrutable someone who has pucker tapes with foreign content within . Upon inserting the tape measure , the participant takes on the role of the photographic camera holder , as they search the seemingly infinite place that is the backrooms .

The Complex : Found Footageis a schoolmaster class in capturing the liminal flavor that the backroom kick up . The gritty filter , 4:3 aspect proportion , and photorealistic environments lend an uncanny Platonism to the whole plot . No one playthrough is likewise , and with the game being totally free on Steam , there is no cause not to try out this good indie title .

Fears to Fathom: Norwood Hitchhike

reverence to Fathom : Norwood Hitchhikeis the second incoming in theFears to Fathomseries . This time around , rather of being home alone , the player is a 19 - yr - quondam college student named Holly Gardner driving back home from a gambling convention . On the way , however , her gondola breaks down and she has to abide in a rather shady motel .

elysian byreal stories from social medium , Fears to Fathombanks on the natural fearfulness of human being caught in realistically alarm situation . Ghosts might not be tangible , but having to continue in a louche motel with creepy guy cable leering at them is something everybody does n’t desire to experience . Norwood Hitchhikecaptures those feelings perfectly with its VHS aesthetic .

Ravenous Devils

Ravenous Devilsis a commercial enterprise power simulator biz alaDiner Dashwith a macabre turn . The player drive controller of Percival , a man running a lowly seamster shop . His wife , Hildred , also runs a successful pub a few floors beneath him . However , the public house has a dark mystery : its ingredients are Percival ’s inauspicious client .

There ’s no use of goods and services ignoring it , Ravenous Devilsmight as well beSweeney Todd : The Game . From its prissy Gothic aestheticto its cannibalistic premise , Ravenous Devilsis a send - up to one of the most classic repulsion stories of all sentence . The glum sense of humor as well as the fast - step gameplay make it a bracing change of pace from distinctive repulsion games .

Night At the Gates of Hell

Night at the Gates of Hellis a first - person retro survival of the fittest repugnance biz with the classical PS1 / VHS esthetic predominant inPuppet Combo’sgames . This prison term around , the developer rove from their tried - and - rightful slasher formula and instead put the player in the thick of a zombi spirit Revelation of Saint John the Divine . Specifically , a zombi spirit apocalypse more cognate to campier B - horror movies thanThe walk Dead .

dark at the Gates of Hellis very over - the - top as a result . Satanic cultist magician , zombie ballerina , and an insane apocalyptic non-Christian priest make for a camp experience . Of course , that does n’t lessen the scares , as many of the zombies are still incredibly unsettling , as well as the slow recognition that perhaps there is no escaping the ending of all things .

The Closing Shift

The Closing Shiftis a first - person Japanese repulsion game with a alone setting for its scares : a trendy coffee shop . The player lease on the character of an unnamed immature woman who is work the night work shift at this coffee shop . As the night grows darker , the client start to seem more ominous and foreign , and the woman begins to suspect that one of them is stalk her .

The Closing Shifthas no supernatural scare . There are no frills about conspiracy or cults . It is a game deadset on making the player palpate like the life of a young woman terrorized by a man who she ’s never seen yet cognise is stalking her at every turn . The“found footage ” feel only add up to the horror , as it makes the player feel like they are simply expect at someone ’s predetermined doom .

Scorn

The recently releasedScornis a first - someone survival horror game set ina nightmarish H.R. Giger - inspired reality , kindred toAlien . The player is thrown into a humanity of living tissue and muscle and must find a way of life out with only their wits . Most critics care to use the word “ a truly living world ” to praise sandbox games , butScorntakes that statement quite literally .

The wall pulsate with lesions and boils . The level squish with every step the actor takes . The inhabitants are barely placeable from the structures themselves , drabbed in a sickening brownish - immature chromaticity . This biopunk world is beautiful in the most macabre way and is well worth it for that alone .

Iron Lung

Iron Lungis an indie sci - fi geographic expedition horror game that defies normal . The player takes the role of a captive who has been put on a barely operational submarine call the “ Iron Lung . ” With minimum breeding , they are forced to explore the deepest depths of an ocean of descent on a distant lunar month .

The only plaza the player will ever see with their own centre is the submarine as there are no window to look out of . Their only grade of vision is an unreliable radar and a tv camera that can only take still pic . The eldritch horror of not roll in the hay what lies beneath the bally tide is enough to put even the most veteran repugnance gamers on sharpness .

The Mortuary Assistant

The Mortuary Assistantis a first - person horror plot that puts the player in the shoes of a funeral undertaker - in - preparation . Rebecca Owens is tax to handle the cemetery shift for her mortuary internship . unluckily , the rationality are far from related to her thesis field of study . The mortician has tasked her with exorcising a devil that menace to destruct their life .

The Mortuary Assistantis a very claustrophobic plot and the dark halls of the morgue are scarcely solace . Most of the puzzle involve graphically performing the duty bear of a funeral director , so that means getting up close and personal with the recently at rest . summate a demon to the intermixture that will assail the player if they make a trip-up , andThe Mortuary Assistantbecomes one of the tense horror games of the year .

SCP: Secret Files

SCP : Secret Filesis a horror anthology secret plan that spans unlike genres in its brief but memorable runtime . The player take on the role of Karl , a rookie researcher at the Foundation who has been tasked with compiling some of the Foundation ’s most important files . However , doing this make Karl ’s perceptions of the humans to change , and it ’s obscure how much of it is genuine .

The game does n’t follow the typical formula thatContainment Breachset , i.e. , run away from a monster . or else , SCP : Secret Filesfocuses on the more enchanting and surreal facet of the traditional knowledge , such asHere Be Dragons , I Am a wassailer , andThe Witch Child . SCP : Secret Filesshowcases just how vast SCP lore can in truth be .

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The Best Horror Games of 2022

streets of hanoi in a horror game

The Backrooms Pool level

Norwood Hitchhike story of stalker

Ravenous Devils cooking up human meat

Night at the Gates of Hell scary woman

The Closing Shift from the perspective of the stalker

Scorn Xbox Cover

Iron Lung a monster’s eye staring at the player

The Mortuary Assistant with demon sitting on a shelf

SCP Secret Files man standing over edge of building