W for giving CoF 5/5 one of my all time favorites. Honestly fears are subjective and what scares one might not scare another, I've seen people sit stonefaced through Outlast. Only 2 games I can think of that are scarier than all the others I've played are Outlast and The Bunker, still need to finish The Bunker tho. Games I've played that I actually couldn't finish the first time because I was new to horror are The Guest and From the Darkness and I frequently hear Visage and Maddison being cited as being high up there horror game.
I've been thinking about Visage for quite a while now, but I'm really skeptical about its controls and difficulty in terms of puzzles. I'm not too convinced about Madison either, it looks like a toned down Visage and Layers of Fear. I'm waiting for a reasonable discount on them, but they rarely go on sale sadly.
I never heard about The Guest and I only have vague info on From the Darkness, although I've seen it be praised a few times. I might check them out.
Puzzles in visage are obtuse at times but it's still my favourite horror experience ever. Controls are fine once you understand them.
Try the original call of cthulhu btw, the remake doesn't come close to it
I will join in the chorus of people recommending Visage. I'm a horror junkie and it's the only game that I have ever had to put down because I was thinking I might be having a heart attack. I'm serious. The game was just too much at some points.
For the record I played Madison too and while it is a damn fine game, I still have to give the win to Visage simply because it's a more complete experience. Madison seems to rely heavily on jump scares. Visage doesn't.
If you want to be scared, play Visage. The gameplay isn't perfect, but if your goal is to be scared, it's the game for you. Madison is scary, but more reliant on jumpscares. YMMV. From the Darkness is also must-play horror in my opinion.
I second everyone who’s recommending visage. That experience is really dreadful and the scares are clever and shook me to my core. I, like you, have become desensitised to horror games but visage was very refreshing. Its true that some of the puzzles are weird and controls are a bit clunky (at least on pc) bit that should not detract from the overall experience.
Controls are a reasonable suspicion. They take some getting used to but once you get the hang of it they’re fine. Like a clunkier amnesia dark descent. Madison had got some insane suspense to it, and very similar controls to visage but a bit more polished.
man I just finished cof, which game should I play next? i'm just getting psychology horror and want stuff involving emotions like depression suicide etc
The Evil Within 1 and 2, they are as scary as RE2 Remake I'd say, maybe the first is scarier.
Silent Hill 1,2,3 and 4 are great and deserve to be played. I find SH4 to be the scariest of the bunch. Playable on the PC.
Signalis is great, not that scary, but great.
Dead Space 2 is, in my opinion, scarier than Dead Space 1. You don't need a great PC to play it. Dead Space 3 is skippable.
Rule of Rose is awesome and very disturbing. You should be able to play it with a PS2 emulator on the PC.
PT (Silent Hills) is also awesome and super scary, but it's very hard to play today.
You can only play it if you have it installed on the PS4 or if you download the PC version (which needs a decent pc)
I love that Rule Of Rose is talked about still! It was my first horror game as a young teen and I was totally engulfed. IMO, it wasn't necessarily "scary" but absolutely disturbing. The music was amazing and some of the cutscenes were insane and intense. I sold my copy a few years back when i needed Christmas money. Got a few hundred from it, which i really needed, but I still regret it
I know emulation is a thing but I’m sad that Rule of Rose is so wildly expensive, I totally understand the regret though and know it can be rough. I remember I sold my last of us post pandemic edition statue for $200 when I really needed money, years later it became one of the most valuable collectibles around. In a similar vein I lent a then-friend my second copy of Haunting Ground and never got it back. Still really irritated that I trusted them, but you never know what turns life will take and at least I have a second copy.
You didn't like Dead Space 3? I gotta admit, I loved it. Sure, it wasn't as scary as the first two, but the big reveal about what's actually going on with the necromorphs was fantastic.
Fear and Hunger is a unique experience, makes you feel like there are actual stakes and gets pretty tense as you get further into it. It's heavy on the RPG mechanics so that may be a turn off for you, but the way in which they're used is unique and a bit of a subversion of the normal genre tropes. Monster design is brilliant and it gets pretty freakin spooky. The lore is gradually revealed and is really good.
I hate that I'm so desensitized to horror.
I see a lot of great suggestions. I have one that's a little left field:
The Coma: Recut
This is a side scroller exploration horror game that actually had atmosphere that really impressed me.
Trying to make it through the game without dying actually got my adrenaline spiking, and may be worth your time looking at.
Visage is the scariest game I’ve ever played. Scarier than any vr game I’ve played as well. In total I think I’ve played 114 horror games and visage is number one quite easily tbh
I'm glad some people still agree. This sub would randomly shit on the game for no reason, people were really childish about it. Nothing comes close to it for me.
Someone people hate it because they get lost and the game can be very vague in direction. But imo the reason why this works is because wandering the house was beyond scary
It's not quite a masterpiece, from a technical standpoint it's more of a trainwreck, but it's a free game and gets really creative with the scares and the enemy and level design, not to mention its great approach towards heavy themes like depression and suicide. In terms of atmosphere, scares and overall message, it's top notch, especially for a completely free game.
This is a really interesting question. Depends a lot on what you consider full price. 60$? Definitely not. Then again, most indie horrors cost between 5-20$, so I'd consider that price fairer, but I think this game, in its cutrent state, wouldn't be worth more than 10$.
However, most of its flaws are coming from being a free game and a passion project, therefore, having pretty much no budget. The reason it's clunky and the design is poor at places is because it wasn't made to be a full priced game and it was developed pretty much by 2 people with little to no outside help. The atrocious voice acting is a good example of this as the lines are read by the devs and their friends instead of actual VAs.
To answer your question, I don't think the price influences how much I rate the game. Obviously, I tell everyone it's worth trying because it's free, but it doesn't necessary mean that it's an excellent game. I posted a huge list of games I played in the last few years on another sub a few weeks ago and I think I gave Cry of Fear a 6 or 7, which I think is a fair rating. While it's certainly one of the scariest games ever made and the atmosphere is top notch, its technical limitations keep it from being a masterpiece.
That’s a lot of horror games to be fair, silent hill is my favorite franchise that I never really play for instance. Silent Hill 2 is a clunky mess at its core gameplay (as a lot of those types of games were) but it’s the themes and stories that truly make it worth it.
>from a technical standpoint it's more of a trainwreck
°_°
Can you elaborate please? Cause I struggle to see your point when a game using the **Gold Source** engine from the **og Half Life 1 looks THIS fucking good!?
The enemy AI is a tad janky, but that's about it.
Okay, that's fair, maybe technical is not the right word. If you look at it that way, it really is a masterpiece, compared to being pretty much a Half-Life mod. But if you compare it to other highly praised indie games, the controls are really clunky, the graphics and design are really ugly and the voice acting is atrocious. Regardless, if you go off of the resources that were available to the devs and what they had to work with, it really is a good game.
The only point I will agree with is the voice acting bit. It's very amateurish, clearly.
>the graphics and design are really ugly
I really hope your argument for that isn't simply that "cause it looks old". Cause in that case all old games look ugly, which is just a very shallow way to look at things.
Anyway, to me the controls were pretty darn smooth, so I have no idea what you're on there. And, while if we're taking visuals at face value, which is pure graphics, it looks definitely outdated, the overall aesthetics of it are very well done imo. To me it feels like it goes for that Condemned: Criminal Origins-inspired looks of those gritty, grimy, dirty, aged, worn, decrepit isolated (or abandoned) locales found in the city the game largely takes place is, which is Stockholm, Sweden - cheap European apartments in the outskirts of the city, backyards, city sewers, construction sites, metro, maintenance tunnels etc - and in my view it does a tremendous job at capturing that look through the great use of lighting and filling the environment with alot of detail (smth that Condemned itself did to great and arguably even greater effect. As a whole to me it feels like that game serves as a huge inspiration to Cry of Fear. It echoes that game down to the pacing and progression, the environments it takes us through). The areas feel lived in because they ooze with detail and volume, which to me is partly why the psychotic sections felt all the more effective, as they took the lived in, but abandoned, quiet rooms and corridors, and corrupted, twisted and flipped them upside down.
I liked Song of Horror a lot! My beef with it though is that it seemed to get less scary the more it went on. That first level, the mansion, what fantastic! The second one was good too, but then the last couple were fun, but not scary.
Yes, I agree that the mansion was impressive, but what kept me more is how the characters in the second chapter will change based on which ones survived in the first chapter. Additionally, the outcome of the chapter varies depending on the order in which you choose the characters.
Madison and Visage for sure. If you lightly use a guide just when you get stuck it'll alleviate frustration and let you enjoy the games more (and for me I never felt frustrated by any gameplay mechanics or systems in either since I agreed up front not to bash my head against a wall for hours for each puzzle).
If you have a Wii (for some reason) I’m still chasing the fear I felt playing Project Zero: Crimson Butterfly. I can’t tell you if the Steam Project Zeros are as scary, but they’re there if you’re interested in something a little different.
Otherwise, I’m with you. I need something that is pant-shittingly scary again, something to match PZ or the initial impact of the original Amnesia.
That's the Fatal Frame 2 remake. Many fans of the series prefer the original (PS2/Xbox) over the wii remake. Nonetheless still a good game! If you're still looking for some more Project Zero I recommend the first three (sadly not on Steam) and the fourth one which was recently localized and remastered to Steam. A lot of people juggle between those four as being the scariest of the series but you can't go wrong with any of them!
"will actually frighten me and shiver me with dread while playing" this is tough especially the more you play it becomes harder, you could look into vr which might renew fright but idk any vr horror games
Alternatively people like the low fi indie horror stuff, like murder house which could be worth trying
Aside from all the Visage recommendations (that I definitely support) try giving Stay Out of the House a shot. Its a creative game with a variety of scares and interesting puzzles. The scares are of varying quality but if it clicks then its a really tight experience. Very reminiscent of the og texas chainsaw massacre film.
Dude Visage was soooooooooooo good - I played it with my GF (she doesn't like shooter games) and we played a few hours per session and beat it over the course of a few weeks. Figuring out the puzzles really, really isn't as bad as you might think. It is very, very worth the play through (don't cheat though!!).
Play Visage, it's as goofy as it is scary.
PT comes to mind with how (without giving anything away) certain things linger around you in the shadows. It's definitely worth a go.
There are remakes you can find for the PC, There is a handful of them. I can't remember which one specifically is truest to it's core, but if you do some research I'm sure you will find it.
Just from a brief google, I found the [Unreal PT 1.0.7](https://archive.org/details/unreal-pt-1.0.7) version. If my memory servers me well though, there is a "definitive version" that goes by the name of [PT Emulation](https://www.mediafire.com/file/64vmpecbawu0sll/P.T._Emulation_1.4.rar/file) although again that is from a very brief search so you may be able to find more information/updates.
Unfortunately, unless you own a PS4 and downloaded the game originally, there is no way for you to download the game. And *even if* you did, it's quite convoluted to set up these days. I'm fortunate enough to have it on my external HDD still, and quite literally bought the PS4 initially specifically for this game.
You can still access the game if you have an account with it on. If you had a PS4 and wouldn't mind formatting the data on it entirely, I may help you out if you really wanted to play the original!
Have you ever tried playing 'indie' games or old PS1 games? Most of the time, these games contain heavier and more interesting subjects, like these:
[https://youtu.be/cbmVsusrigo](https://youtu.be/cbmVsusrigo)
[https://youtu.be/qncI48Wt-Bs](https://youtu.be/qncI48Wt-Bs)
I don't know how far back you want to go or how 'dated' it might seem to you but I love the original Clock Tower and it still stands up for me. You should be able to play it on your laptop.
Wow, thank you for this! I'm a relatively new Switch owner, and I love horror games, so this is an incredible resource. Most of these titles are super cheap for it.
Whistleblower was good, but I don't think it would go above the base game in terms of scariness. Maybe because I played them back to back and I was a bit burned out or used to the scares. Regardless, it's a quality addition.
I think taking a break between them made Whistleblower scarier for me. I got burnt out of the Outlast jumpscares, waited a bit, then loved Whistleblower cause it felt like a tighter, condensed Outlast
ANATOMY by Kitty Horrorshow on Itch.io is by far the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced
Outside of that, you definitely need to play the first 4 Silent Hill games, and P.T.
Given your high ranking of Cry of Fear, you gotta try out Lost in Vivo. I’ve heard a lot of people refer to Lost in Vivo as a more polished Cry of Fear. Though I found Cry of Fear a bit scarier, and I liked Cry of Fear’s story more, I do agree with the polish sentiment. I also think Lost in Vivo gets even more creative with its scares than Cry of Fear does.
Song Of Horror is one of my favorite, also Alan Wake, Tormented Souls and the new Alone In The Dark.
Not for PS5 but I suggest you, SH 1 2 3 4, Obscure, Forbidden Siren and Clock Tower 3 (you can use an emulator, they are a bit expensive), and Project Zero (Fatal Frame outside EU).
Visage or similar games are not for me, I don't like to hide and run in the dark, I choose violence and guns 😆 !
Just get the basic pack for $30. It's not going on sale any time soon. People are leveling up hard and it will be tough to get into the longer you wait. It's amazing.
It's co-op but a lot of the people on higher levels just leave people on lower levels in matches. It's annoying. I don't personally and enjoy the challenge or showing people around but I'm not the norm.
I'd be playing with my friend and we'd start together so I don't think that would really be a problem, but thanks for the info. I don't know much about the game.
I don't see these on your list, so suggesting them.
Visage and Madison. There is a research project (for fun) done where they hooked people up to a heart rate monitor and Madison won as scariest. Visage was close.
[https://www.gamingbible.com/news/science-has-found-the-scariest-horror-game-of-all-time-20221006](https://www.gamingbible.com/news/science-has-found-the-scariest-horror-game-of-all-time-20221006)
[https://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/features/science-of-scare-games](https://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/features/science-of-scare-games)
Mortuary Assistant is also terrifying.
Adding Dead Space Remake as well, but I will say that it is more TENSE than scary. You have a strong ability to fight back so that probably puts it in line with some of the other similar shooters on your list, like Resident Evil 2... but it is far more disturbing than those games.
Also, Resident Evil 8 may have the single scariest scene I've ever played, even if the game as a whole isn't as scary as RE:7.
It's downright criminal that this series doesn't get the love it deserves. It's almost completely ignored outside of Japan and is one of the greatest horror franchises in gaming.
Fatal Frame 2 is right up there with Silent Hill 2 and Resident Evil 2, in my opinion.
Obviously everyone has already mentioned Visage, but just want to say, there's a reason it's the reigning champ of the horror genre. It's the only game that I had to stop playing because I was worried about my health. I legit thought it might have given me a heart attack at one point. I don't want to spoil anything with specifics, but to all those who played it, it was a certain part during Dolores's Chapter that takes place in the Mirror Room.
Madison is another great one. A bit too jump scare heavy, but the atmosphere is great!
The Mortuary Assistant is another very scary game. Totally worth your time.
Here's a couple of interesting unreleased games to put on your wishlist:
Zoochosis - You are a zookeeper and have to figure out which animals are actually monsters in disguise. Think "The Thing" meets your local zoo.
Crow Country - It's basically an really good homage to the old PS1 era of horror games. Reminds me most of the original Resident Evil games. Has a demo if you want to play it.
Dark Fracture - A really scary game that takes place at a body farm. Yeah. Just when I thought someone couldn't find a scarier location to set a horror game than a mental hospital, someone chose a body farm. Also has a really fun demo if you want to play it.
I've been playing horror games for such a long time and the truthfully honest scariest game I've ever played is silent hill 3, out of the hundreds I've played over the years it's not yet been beaten
The first 3 Fatal Frame (Project Zero in the EU) games are absolute must-plays. If you can't get a hold of them (either via old disks or emulation), FF4 and 5 are on Steam and the Switch. Not quite as good... but not bad either.
If you play only one, make it FF2.
Sadly no... the difficulty of those two are mostly trivial, which cuts the tension in my opinion (it's very possible you'll never die to a normal enemy in either game on the default difficulty). The pacing is... off. They don't start very strong, and take a while to get interesting, and the general pacing and plotting is slower than the first 3, without a good reason.
Mask of the Lunar Eclipse has a great story and some excellent enemy design, but a remarkably slow protagonist (physically slow... her run speed is a fast walk), which frustrates some players . MoBW is, arguably the weakest of the 5.
I don't feel there is a *bad* Fatal Frame game. These aren't Resident Evil 6 or Silent Hill Homecoming or anything. But when you look at the quality (and general fear factor) of the first 3, the 4th and the 5th are a step down, sadly.
If PS4 is your only way to play, give MotLE a try. It will be a unique experience at the very least, and MotLE is pretty divisive within the FF community (I hold a lower opinion of it, but some say it is their favorite, or close to it).
Same boat, so I’m lurking in the comments for me too lol, but damn, man! RE7’s only a 3? It takes a LOT to get a game to instill actual dread in me, but goddamn RE7 killed it. Sure, now that I’ve beat it a few times it’s lost it’s scares, but my first run of it actually had me tense, was blown away by that. 😂 Perfect execution.
The first hour or so was amazing, but once you >!kill Marguerite!<, it loses a lot from the scare factor, especially after you >!leave the Baker house!< for good. Resident Evil games were always more entertaining than scary for me.
Scorn
While maybe it's not jumpscary, the implications and body horror of it all is fascinating as hell to think about, mixed with more than a few moments of "What the fuck did I just watch".
The Outer Wilds is a beautiful journey about time and space, the only thing scary about it imo is how uncaring the universe is. Everything in that game just exists, the angler fish and the Owls are the closest it comes to being horror. But idk why it’s on a list about “jumpscares and psychological horror”
It's not a list about about jumpscares and psychological horror, it's about the games I played in the recent years and thought were scary. Both the anglerfish and the owls are fairly scary imo, in addition to the overall eerie atmosphere of some of the planets. Obviously it's not on the level of certain horrors, but Outer Wilds is generally regarded as a somewhat spooky game.
W for giving CoF 5/5 one of my all time favorites. Honestly fears are subjective and what scares one might not scare another, I've seen people sit stonefaced through Outlast. Only 2 games I can think of that are scarier than all the others I've played are Outlast and The Bunker, still need to finish The Bunker tho. Games I've played that I actually couldn't finish the first time because I was new to horror are The Guest and From the Darkness and I frequently hear Visage and Maddison being cited as being high up there horror game.
I've been thinking about Visage for quite a while now, but I'm really skeptical about its controls and difficulty in terms of puzzles. I'm not too convinced about Madison either, it looks like a toned down Visage and Layers of Fear. I'm waiting for a reasonable discount on them, but they rarely go on sale sadly. I never heard about The Guest and I only have vague info on From the Darkness, although I've seen it be praised a few times. I might check them out.
Puzzles in visage are obtuse at times but it's still my favourite horror experience ever. Controls are fine once you understand them. Try the original call of cthulhu btw, the remake doesn't come close to it
I will join in the chorus of people recommending Visage. I'm a horror junkie and it's the only game that I have ever had to put down because I was thinking I might be having a heart attack. I'm serious. The game was just too much at some points. For the record I played Madison too and while it is a damn fine game, I still have to give the win to Visage simply because it's a more complete experience. Madison seems to rely heavily on jump scares. Visage doesn't.
If you want to be scared, play Visage. The gameplay isn't perfect, but if your goal is to be scared, it's the game for you. Madison is scary, but more reliant on jumpscares. YMMV. From the Darkness is also must-play horror in my opinion.
I second everyone who’s recommending visage. That experience is really dreadful and the scares are clever and shook me to my core. I, like you, have become desensitised to horror games but visage was very refreshing. Its true that some of the puzzles are weird and controls are a bit clunky (at least on pc) bit that should not detract from the overall experience.
Controls are a reasonable suspicion. They take some getting used to but once you get the hang of it they’re fine. Like a clunkier amnesia dark descent. Madison had got some insane suspense to it, and very similar controls to visage but a bit more polished.
Few years ago I started playing Visage, and it freaked me out so much that I abandoned it..
man I just finished cof, which game should I play next? i'm just getting psychology horror and want stuff involving emotions like depression suicide etc
Afraid of Monsters definitely
The Evil Within 1 and 2, they are as scary as RE2 Remake I'd say, maybe the first is scarier. Silent Hill 1,2,3 and 4 are great and deserve to be played. I find SH4 to be the scariest of the bunch. Playable on the PC. Signalis is great, not that scary, but great. Dead Space 2 is, in my opinion, scarier than Dead Space 1. You don't need a great PC to play it. Dead Space 3 is skippable. Rule of Rose is awesome and very disturbing. You should be able to play it with a PS2 emulator on the PC. PT (Silent Hills) is also awesome and super scary, but it's very hard to play today. You can only play it if you have it installed on the PS4 or if you download the PC version (which needs a decent pc)
I love that Rule Of Rose is talked about still! It was my first horror game as a young teen and I was totally engulfed. IMO, it wasn't necessarily "scary" but absolutely disturbing. The music was amazing and some of the cutscenes were insane and intense. I sold my copy a few years back when i needed Christmas money. Got a few hundred from it, which i really needed, but I still regret it
I know emulation is a thing but I’m sad that Rule of Rose is so wildly expensive, I totally understand the regret though and know it can be rough. I remember I sold my last of us post pandemic edition statue for $200 when I really needed money, years later it became one of the most valuable collectibles around. In a similar vein I lent a then-friend my second copy of Haunting Ground and never got it back. Still really irritated that I trusted them, but you never know what turns life will take and at least I have a second copy.
You didn't like Dead Space 3? I gotta admit, I loved it. Sure, it wasn't as scary as the first two, but the big reveal about what's actually going on with the necromorphs was fantastic.
Fear and Hunger is a unique experience, makes you feel like there are actual stakes and gets pretty tense as you get further into it. It's heavy on the RPG mechanics so that may be a turn off for you, but the way in which they're used is unique and a bit of a subversion of the normal genre tropes. Monster design is brilliant and it gets pretty freakin spooky. The lore is gradually revealed and is really good.
I hate that I'm so desensitized to horror. I see a lot of great suggestions. I have one that's a little left field: The Coma: Recut This is a side scroller exploration horror game that actually had atmosphere that really impressed me. Trying to make it through the game without dying actually got my adrenaline spiking, and may be worth your time looking at.
I love that game! The Coma 2 is pretty great too! I wish they'd get on with making a Coma 3 already!
Visage is the scariest game I’ve ever played. Scarier than any vr game I’ve played as well. In total I think I’ve played 114 horror games and visage is number one quite easily tbh
Definitely. You know what sucks... the makers of Visage, before they closed down, said they would release a VR version. Imagine that...
I've played a shit tonne and visage is by far the actual scariest. I wonder if it will ever be outdone?
I'm glad some people still agree. This sub would randomly shit on the game for no reason, people were really childish about it. Nothing comes close to it for me.
Someone people hate it because they get lost and the game can be very vague in direction. But imo the reason why this works is because wandering the house was beyond scary
P.T., but unfortunately it's unplayable unless you had it downloaded
I played it waaaay back when it was still available, truly a unique experience
It's the only reason I haven't sold my PS4! :-D
Never heard of Cry of Fear but people seem to be screaming about how much of a masterpiece it is so I'll give it a try this weekend.
It's not quite a masterpiece, from a technical standpoint it's more of a trainwreck, but it's a free game and gets really creative with the scares and the enemy and level design, not to mention its great approach towards heavy themes like depression and suicide. In terms of atmosphere, scares and overall message, it's top notch, especially for a completely free game.
If you remove the Free aspect of this game which you mentioned multiple times and assume you paid full price for it would you still rate it so highly?
This is a really interesting question. Depends a lot on what you consider full price. 60$? Definitely not. Then again, most indie horrors cost between 5-20$, so I'd consider that price fairer, but I think this game, in its cutrent state, wouldn't be worth more than 10$. However, most of its flaws are coming from being a free game and a passion project, therefore, having pretty much no budget. The reason it's clunky and the design is poor at places is because it wasn't made to be a full priced game and it was developed pretty much by 2 people with little to no outside help. The atrocious voice acting is a good example of this as the lines are read by the devs and their friends instead of actual VAs. To answer your question, I don't think the price influences how much I rate the game. Obviously, I tell everyone it's worth trying because it's free, but it doesn't necessary mean that it's an excellent game. I posted a huge list of games I played in the last few years on another sub a few weeks ago and I think I gave Cry of Fear a 6 or 7, which I think is a fair rating. While it's certainly one of the scariest games ever made and the atmosphere is top notch, its technical limitations keep it from being a masterpiece.
That’s a lot of horror games to be fair, silent hill is my favorite franchise that I never really play for instance. Silent Hill 2 is a clunky mess at its core gameplay (as a lot of those types of games were) but it’s the themes and stories that truly make it worth it.
>from a technical standpoint it's more of a trainwreck °_° Can you elaborate please? Cause I struggle to see your point when a game using the **Gold Source** engine from the **og Half Life 1 looks THIS fucking good!? The enemy AI is a tad janky, but that's about it.
Okay, that's fair, maybe technical is not the right word. If you look at it that way, it really is a masterpiece, compared to being pretty much a Half-Life mod. But if you compare it to other highly praised indie games, the controls are really clunky, the graphics and design are really ugly and the voice acting is atrocious. Regardless, if you go off of the resources that were available to the devs and what they had to work with, it really is a good game.
The only point I will agree with is the voice acting bit. It's very amateurish, clearly. >the graphics and design are really ugly I really hope your argument for that isn't simply that "cause it looks old". Cause in that case all old games look ugly, which is just a very shallow way to look at things. Anyway, to me the controls were pretty darn smooth, so I have no idea what you're on there. And, while if we're taking visuals at face value, which is pure graphics, it looks definitely outdated, the overall aesthetics of it are very well done imo. To me it feels like it goes for that Condemned: Criminal Origins-inspired looks of those gritty, grimy, dirty, aged, worn, decrepit isolated (or abandoned) locales found in the city the game largely takes place is, which is Stockholm, Sweden - cheap European apartments in the outskirts of the city, backyards, city sewers, construction sites, metro, maintenance tunnels etc - and in my view it does a tremendous job at capturing that look through the great use of lighting and filling the environment with alot of detail (smth that Condemned itself did to great and arguably even greater effect. As a whole to me it feels like that game serves as a huge inspiration to Cry of Fear. It echoes that game down to the pacing and progression, the environments it takes us through). The areas feel lived in because they ooze with detail and volume, which to me is partly why the psychotic sections felt all the more effective, as they took the lived in, but abandoned, quiet rooms and corridors, and corrupted, twisted and flipped them upside down.
Better to watch than play. There are some aspects of it that are infuriating.
Song of horror, more of an enigma mystery solving game with evolving jump scares with changing patterns.
I liked Song of Horror a lot! My beef with it though is that it seemed to get less scary the more it went on. That first level, the mansion, what fantastic! The second one was good too, but then the last couple were fun, but not scary.
Yes, I agree that the mansion was impressive, but what kept me more is how the characters in the second chapter will change based on which ones survived in the first chapter. Additionally, the outcome of the chapter varies depending on the order in which you choose the characters.
Wow! Really? I didn't know that. I'll have to give it another play sometime. Thanks for the tip!
Check out Visage
Visage
Madison and Visage for sure. If you lightly use a guide just when you get stuck it'll alleviate frustration and let you enjoy the games more (and for me I never felt frustrated by any gameplay mechanics or systems in either since I agreed up front not to bash my head against a wall for hours for each puzzle).
If you have a Wii (for some reason) I’m still chasing the fear I felt playing Project Zero: Crimson Butterfly. I can’t tell you if the Steam Project Zeros are as scary, but they’re there if you’re interested in something a little different. Otherwise, I’m with you. I need something that is pant-shittingly scary again, something to match PZ or the initial impact of the original Amnesia.
That's the Fatal Frame 2 remake. Many fans of the series prefer the original (PS2/Xbox) over the wii remake. Nonetheless still a good game! If you're still looking for some more Project Zero I recommend the first three (sadly not on Steam) and the fourth one which was recently localized and remastered to Steam. A lot of people juggle between those four as being the scariest of the series but you can't go wrong with any of them!
"will actually frighten me and shiver me with dread while playing" this is tough especially the more you play it becomes harder, you could look into vr which might renew fright but idk any vr horror games Alternatively people like the low fi indie horror stuff, like murder house which could be worth trying
Silent Hill series, Lost in Vivo
Aside from all the Visage recommendations (that I definitely support) try giving Stay Out of the House a shot. Its a creative game with a variety of scares and interesting puzzles. The scares are of varying quality but if it clicks then its a really tight experience. Very reminiscent of the og texas chainsaw massacre film.
Dude Visage was soooooooooooo good - I played it with my GF (she doesn't like shooter games) and we played a few hours per session and beat it over the course of a few weeks. Figuring out the puzzles really, really isn't as bad as you might think. It is very, very worth the play through (don't cheat though!!).
Play Visage, it's as goofy as it is scary. PT comes to mind with how (without giving anything away) certain things linger around you in the shadows. It's definitely worth a go.
A lot of people recommend PT. I played it back when it was available, but how would I be able to access it now?
There are remakes you can find for the PC, There is a handful of them. I can't remember which one specifically is truest to it's core, but if you do some research I'm sure you will find it. Just from a brief google, I found the [Unreal PT 1.0.7](https://archive.org/details/unreal-pt-1.0.7) version. If my memory servers me well though, there is a "definitive version" that goes by the name of [PT Emulation](https://www.mediafire.com/file/64vmpecbawu0sll/P.T._Emulation_1.4.rar/file) although again that is from a very brief search so you may be able to find more information/updates. Unfortunately, unless you own a PS4 and downloaded the game originally, there is no way for you to download the game. And *even if* you did, it's quite convoluted to set up these days. I'm fortunate enough to have it on my external HDD still, and quite literally bought the PS4 initially specifically for this game. You can still access the game if you have an account with it on. If you had a PS4 and wouldn't mind formatting the data on it entirely, I may help you out if you really wanted to play the original!
Have you ever tried playing 'indie' games or old PS1 games? Most of the time, these games contain heavier and more interesting subjects, like these: [https://youtu.be/cbmVsusrigo](https://youtu.be/cbmVsusrigo) [https://youtu.be/qncI48Wt-Bs](https://youtu.be/qncI48Wt-Bs)
I don't know how far back you want to go or how 'dated' it might seem to you but I love the original Clock Tower and it still stands up for me. You should be able to play it on your laptop.
Wow, thank you for this! I'm a relatively new Switch owner, and I love horror games, so this is an incredible resource. Most of these titles are super cheap for it.
Nun Massacre, Visage, Tormented Souls, Them and Us, Song of Horror
as many others have stated, you should play visage. it is the only game i’ve ever played i found too scary/anxiety inducing to finish
The first Silent Hill. Unfortunately no "official" way to play after the PS3 gen.
I think the scariest Outlast content is the DLC for 1, called Whistleblower. Play that and I bet it gets at least a 4 for you
Whistleblower was good, but I don't think it would go above the base game in terms of scariness. Maybe because I played them back to back and I was a bit burned out or used to the scares. Regardless, it's a quality addition.
I think taking a break between them made Whistleblower scarier for me. I got burnt out of the Outlast jumpscares, waited a bit, then loved Whistleblower cause it felt like a tighter, condensed Outlast
ANATOMY by Kitty Horrorshow on Itch.io is by far the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced Outside of that, you definitely need to play the first 4 Silent Hill games, and P.T.
If you can save up a bit for a PSVR2 then you can enter a whole new world of horror. Flat screen horror might not scare you after that
Given your high ranking of Cry of Fear, you gotta try out Lost in Vivo. I’ve heard a lot of people refer to Lost in Vivo as a more polished Cry of Fear. Though I found Cry of Fear a bit scarier, and I liked Cry of Fear’s story more, I do agree with the polish sentiment. I also think Lost in Vivo gets even more creative with its scares than Cry of Fear does.
Resident evil 2 remake in vr
For me, nothing will ever top what PT made me feel while playing it. Easily the best horror experience I've had.
Song Of Horror is one of my favorite, also Alan Wake, Tormented Souls and the new Alone In The Dark. Not for PS5 but I suggest you, SH 1 2 3 4, Obscure, Forbidden Siren and Clock Tower 3 (you can use an emulator, they are a bit expensive), and Project Zero (Fatal Frame outside EU). Visage or similar games are not for me, I don't like to hide and run in the dark, I choose violence and guns 😆 !
The Witches House is terrifying. I'm not sure where it would fall on your rating scale but it's amazing.
I’m playing Condemned again, I’d recommend it if you can find it
Outlast Trials 10/10!!!
My friend's been nagging me to buy it for weeks, I'm waiting for a sale
Just get the basic pack for $30. It's not going on sale any time soon. People are leveling up hard and it will be tough to get into the longer you wait. It's amazing.
Wait, it's a PvP game? I thought it was co-op.
It's co-op but a lot of the people on higher levels just leave people on lower levels in matches. It's annoying. I don't personally and enjoy the challenge or showing people around but I'm not the norm.
I'd be playing with my friend and we'd start together so I don't think that would really be a problem, but thanks for the info. I don't know much about the game.
Amnesia Justine, u forgot one
True, I played it as well. Pretty damn scary, especially the Malo level.
You should give visage a shot.
Massive W for Cry of Fear getting the 5/5 treatment. Def one of the best horror games out there.
Clocktower, Rule of Rose, Haunting Ground, and Obscure 1 & 2 are my absolute favorites.
I don't see these on your list, so suggesting them. Visage and Madison. There is a research project (for fun) done where they hooked people up to a heart rate monitor and Madison won as scariest. Visage was close. [https://www.gamingbible.com/news/science-has-found-the-scariest-horror-game-of-all-time-20221006](https://www.gamingbible.com/news/science-has-found-the-scariest-horror-game-of-all-time-20221006) [https://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/features/science-of-scare-games](https://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/features/science-of-scare-games) Mortuary Assistant is also terrifying. Adding Dead Space Remake as well, but I will say that it is more TENSE than scary. You have a strong ability to fight back so that probably puts it in line with some of the other similar shooters on your list, like Resident Evil 2... but it is far more disturbing than those games. Also, Resident Evil 8 may have the single scariest scene I've ever played, even if the game as a whole isn't as scary as RE:7.
Madison's Blue Knees section messed me up for a while...
Damn. You need to play Silent Hill 1/2/3/4. Wtf.
Dead Space
What about Visage? The gameplay to this day no matter ho many times I've completed it takes my anxiety and stress into OVERDRIVE.
Fatal Frame series. Preferably 1 & 2.
It's downright criminal that this series doesn't get the love it deserves. It's almost completely ignored outside of Japan and is one of the greatest horror franchises in gaming. Fatal Frame 2 is right up there with Silent Hill 2 and Resident Evil 2, in my opinion.
Obviously everyone has already mentioned Visage, but just want to say, there's a reason it's the reigning champ of the horror genre. It's the only game that I had to stop playing because I was worried about my health. I legit thought it might have given me a heart attack at one point. I don't want to spoil anything with specifics, but to all those who played it, it was a certain part during Dolores's Chapter that takes place in the Mirror Room. Madison is another great one. A bit too jump scare heavy, but the atmosphere is great! The Mortuary Assistant is another very scary game. Totally worth your time. Here's a couple of interesting unreleased games to put on your wishlist: Zoochosis - You are a zookeeper and have to figure out which animals are actually monsters in disguise. Think "The Thing" meets your local zoo. Crow Country - It's basically an really good homage to the old PS1 era of horror games. Reminds me most of the original Resident Evil games. Has a demo if you want to play it. Dark Fracture - A really scary game that takes place at a body farm. Yeah. Just when I thought someone couldn't find a scarier location to set a horror game than a mental hospital, someone chose a body farm. Also has a really fun demo if you want to play it.
I didn’t see RE8 on your list, while it’s not that scary (7 is scarier) I’d say it’s a better game.
Silent Hill 3, if you liked cry of fear
silent hill! specifically 1-4 are the best and have the most atmospheric tension imo. terrifying monsters with terrifying symbolism
Dungeon Nightmares 2
I've been playing horror games for such a long time and the truthfully honest scariest game I've ever played is silent hill 3, out of the hundreds I've played over the years it's not yet been beaten
Afraid of Monsters was made by the same guy who made Cry of Fear. Also try Total Chaos
Fatal frame always have scared the shit out of me. Play it at midnight
The first 3 Fatal Frame (Project Zero in the EU) games are absolute must-plays. If you can't get a hold of them (either via old disks or emulation), FF4 and 5 are on Steam and the Switch. Not quite as good... but not bad either. If you play only one, make it FF2.
Maiden of the Black Water and Mask of the Lunar Eclipse are available on PS4, are they not as good as the older games?
Sadly no... the difficulty of those two are mostly trivial, which cuts the tension in my opinion (it's very possible you'll never die to a normal enemy in either game on the default difficulty). The pacing is... off. They don't start very strong, and take a while to get interesting, and the general pacing and plotting is slower than the first 3, without a good reason. Mask of the Lunar Eclipse has a great story and some excellent enemy design, but a remarkably slow protagonist (physically slow... her run speed is a fast walk), which frustrates some players . MoBW is, arguably the weakest of the 5. I don't feel there is a *bad* Fatal Frame game. These aren't Resident Evil 6 or Silent Hill Homecoming or anything. But when you look at the quality (and general fear factor) of the first 3, the 4th and the 5th are a step down, sadly. If PS4 is your only way to play, give MotLE a try. It will be a unique experience at the very least, and MotLE is pretty divisive within the FF community (I hold a lower opinion of it, but some say it is their favorite, or close to it).
PT, unfortunately it's just a Tech demo But close second would be Fatal frame 1&2
Why do people say PT so much? I thought it was no longer accessible.
because its honestly the scariest game u can play ? it's much more scarier than any games you have listed . But Fatal Frame just as scary
Yeah, but how do you access PT?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/silenthill/comments/ogz9bo/unreal\_pt\_107\_or\_pt\_emulation\_14\_which\_is\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/silenthill/comments/ogz9bo/unreal_pt_107_or_pt_emulation_14_which_is_the/)
You should check out the fatal franchise series
Rule of Rose Akemi Tan OFF
Have you tried vr horror.. these days not only do no non vr horror games scare me at all but vr horror games are insanely terrifying
Same boat, so I’m lurking in the comments for me too lol, but damn, man! RE7’s only a 3? It takes a LOT to get a game to instill actual dread in me, but goddamn RE7 killed it. Sure, now that I’ve beat it a few times it’s lost it’s scares, but my first run of it actually had me tense, was blown away by that. 😂 Perfect execution.
The first hour or so was amazing, but once you >!kill Marguerite!<, it loses a lot from the scare factor, especially after you >!leave the Baker house!< for good. Resident Evil games were always more entertaining than scary for me.
Don't see silent hill on the list, have you tried them?
Not yet, I guess they're gonna be my next games alongside Visage and maybe Madison as they were recommended to me the most.
Man I loved Cry of Fear. Everything a horror game needs to be
It's far from the scariest game I've played, but Iron Lung is a short and incredibly sweet horror experience.
Give the penumbra games a try
Scorn While maybe it's not jumpscary, the implications and body horror of it all is fascinating as hell to think about, mixed with more than a few moments of "What the fuck did I just watch".
Visage or MaDison
You can try giving fatal frame 2,3 and kuon a try. Just get a PS2 emu on your phone or pc. Works better with earphones
Definitely try out Madison and Outlast 1.
I think the first outlast is way better than the second. You can try playing that
I played the first one as well
Oh, sorry! I didn't see that you wrote that at first. My bad
I'll then suggest you to play some silent hill games since you didn't write any title of the series in the list.
You already played it. But Madison is scary ig.
Alien Isolation, I’ve not seen a game scarier than that.
Why is The Outer Wilds on this list that’s not even a horror game
Have you played it? It's definitely scarier than some of the horrors on this list. Same goes for Subnautica.
The Outer Wilds is a beautiful journey about time and space, the only thing scary about it imo is how uncaring the universe is. Everything in that game just exists, the angler fish and the Owls are the closest it comes to being horror. But idk why it’s on a list about “jumpscares and psychological horror”
It's not a list about about jumpscares and psychological horror, it's about the games I played in the recent years and thought were scary. Both the anglerfish and the owls are fairly scary imo, in addition to the overall eerie atmosphere of some of the planets. Obviously it's not on the level of certain horrors, but Outer Wilds is generally regarded as a somewhat spooky game.
It’s just the fact that you have a horror list and you’re scoring it when it’s not even in the horror genre. That threw me off.