Some people are afraid of spiders; others don’t like heights. But generally speaking, most folks have the very understandable fear of death. While video games offer us an environment where death is just an inconvenience, others use it to amplify the experience.
Survival horror games drop you into perilous and frightful scenarios. The goal is less about defeating foes and more about just staying alive. More than just enemies and monsters pose a risk to your livelihood, too; many games utilize hunger, cold, or limited resources to make staying alive even more challenging. These are the best survival horror games to ever do this.
The world is full of secrets, especially when looking at the darker corners of society that were never meant to be discovered. InOutlast, we get a look at that idea, taken to a fictional extreme. At leastthe first game does.
You play as Miles Upshur, an investigative journalist who visits an abandoned psychiatric hospital in Colorado looking for the truth. Armed with nothing but a digital camcorder with night vision capabilities, you become trapped in the asylum, with countless disfigured murderers haunting every corner.
9Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly
More Camera Centric Horror
Fatal Frameas a series stands out for its haunting method of blending horror gameplay with unique camera-centric mechanics. Instead of traditional combat, you defeat spirits and other monsters by photographing them at key moments. This makes each encounter tremendously tense as you try and wait for the perfect moment.
The sequel takeseverything that made the first game so specialand builds on it. The overall gameplay experience is smoother and more refined. The story, meanwhile, is enhanced even further as a riveting plotline plays out between you and your twin sister.
Based on the film series of the same name,Alien: Isolationfollows Amanda Ripley (daughter of Ellen Ripley from the first film) as she is trapped on a space station, mostly alone. It’s discovered that the titular Alien is also here, having killed almost everyone aboard the station.
Most of the game is spent carefully sneaking around, hiding from the alien as it actively tries to hunt you. And if that wasn’t enough, an army of rebel androids have also grown hostile. It’s an amazing sci-fi horror experience that captures the ’70s tech style of the original film.
A spin-off game called Alien: Blackout came out in 2019. This stationary strategy game for mobile devices was removed from storefronts in late 2023, though.
It’d be hard to have a Survival Horror game list without including at least one Resident Evil game.Villagefollows Resident Evil 7 protagonist Ethan Winters as he searches for his kidnapped daughter in an Eastern European mountainside village. Along the way, he battles against werewolves, giant fish monsters,and big ladies.
Excellent plot, satisfying combat, and puzzle gameplay aside, one of the most beautiful things about the Resident Evil gameplay loop is that with each new playthrough, the horror side is replaced with action. What were terrifying monsters in your first playthrough will become speedrun challenges on your third. Village captures this transition perfectly.
Neil Newbon is the voiceof Karl Heisenberg. He gained considerable acclaim in 2023 for his voice work as Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3, but can be found all over.
6Sweet Home
One Of The Earliest Survival Horror Games Ever
You might not have heard of Sweet Home, but you’ve definitely felt its influence on gaming culture. Sweet Home is an NES game that was only ever released in Japan and it’s a video game adaptation of a movie of the same name. The story follows four characters as they explore a haunted house, trying to uncover why it’s haunted and surviving against the monsters that appear.
Aside from being one of the best NES horror games ever made, this game istremendously important to horror gamingoverall. The first Resident Evil game was originally going to be a remake of Sweet Home, but it was changed due to a licensing problem. It still retained many of the gameplay concepts, though, which would go on to influence countless survival horror games after that.
We’re almost done talking about Resident Evil, we promise.
An absolute jaw-dropper when it first launched,Resident Evil 4is a classic that brought the series out of Racoon City and into the worst part of the Spanish countryside. Returning character Leon Kennedy is sent there to rescue the president’s daughter. Things get weird as you encounter giants,surprisingly elaborate castles, and even a big robot child.
The game also receiveda full remakein 2023. Following largely the same plot, it brought everything fans love about the original into modern quality and smoother controls. Whichever you prefer will come down to personal taste, but they both hold about the same standing.
4Amnesia: The Bunker
The Amnesia Formula, Perfected
When Amnesia: The Dark Descent came out in 2010, it became an industry giant thanks to its immersive and terrifying environment and ‘run-and-hide’ gameplay mechanic. And while not everyAmnesiagame since then has been as big of a hit, The Bunker managed to capture that magic again and bring it even further with expanded gameplay mechanics.
You play as a soldier trapped inside a WW1 bunker. Aside from some hostile rats, there is only one other creature here: a large humanoid monster that stalks you in the darkness. With acute hearing and its own intelligence, you have to watch every sound and step as you carefully navigate the puzzles of the bunker without the creature finding you.
From acclaimed game director Hidetaka Miyazaki,Bloodborneis a mix of Victorian gothic horror, Lovecraftian-style mythos, and traditional RPG mechanics. Throw in the open-world design and giant, intimidating bosses that Soulslikes are known for, and you have one of the best and probably one of the most difficult horror games of that decade.
You are a hunter in the dark and dreadful world of Yharnam. You fight against terrifying monsters, all of which, in one way or another, become the grotesque beings they are, thanks to the influence of otherworldly god beings known as the Old Ones. The plot is tremendously in-depth and complex; explaining it any further would requirean entire article in itself.
2Silent Hill 2
Survival Horror As An Art Form
While artistry can be found in all corners of gaming, few games manage to manifest art and symbolism as powerfully and effectively asSilent Hill 2. It follows the struggles of James Sunderland as he travels to the titular town after receiving a letter from his deceased wife, Mary.
Silent Hill 2 is full of narrative themes and different forms of symbolism, using a foggy landscape, mysterious characters, and terrible monsters to represent some heavy concepts in a haunting but beautifully put-together way.
Pyramid Head’s first appearance was in Silent Hill 2. After that, he would go on to become a horror game icon, making guest appearances in numerous other games, including Dead by Daylight.
1Darkwood
Horror And Survival, Both Cranked Up To 11
No game in existence as powerfully and effectively captures what it means to be a survival horror game like Darkwood. It is absolutely full of terrifying concepts and story beats while still putting a focus on resource collection and management. It delivers both in dirty, discomforting spades.
You play as a stranger deep within a supernatural forest. During the day, you must scavenge for resources and fight against mutants, beasts, and strange monsters. At night, you need to bunker down, barricading windows and protecting yourself from unfathomable nightmares as they invade your camp. Your goal is to find a way out of the forest, discovering the horrible mind-bending truths that keep you there.
Looking for a new and exciting survival game to try?Nightingale is available on Steamin Early Access starting July 30, 2025!
Survival Week
Welcome to the home of TheGamer’s Survival Week, a celebration of all things, well, survival. Here you’ll find features, interviews, and more dedicated to this popular genre, brought to you by Inflexion Games' upcoming open-world survival crafter, Nightingale.
