4) Outlast 1 & 2

Outlast trailer

Outlast is often seen as the gold standard in horror/survival. Set in Mount Massive Asylum, everything around you is designed for terror. Your only goal is to survive and your only weapon is running and hiding from the deranged mental patients around every corner.

The game regularly forces you to make split second decisions to burst into potentially dangerous new rooms armed with nothing more than a night vision camera. Even that fails as your batteries run low.

I love that Outlast remembers that the most terrifying part of any good horror game is the inability to defend yourself. The decaying atmosphere and engaging soundtrack make long stretches of this game painfully tense. You search out pieces of diary and short notes describing the horrific stories of its patients.

Outlast 2 is even better than the first. Ditching the few mechanics I felt were overused and tired, we move from an asylum to the deep south. This isn’t like Resident Evil 7 with its shacks and overtones of domesticity. This is crash-landing in the cult-riddled Supai region. You come across abandoned fields and gory scenes from religious rites.  

This open feeling world makes it easier to hide from your enemies. This also makes it harder to see them. Once again you spend the game looking through the lens of a camera and searching for batteries but this only makes the dark seem more sinister.

Both games are beautifully designed and pay attention to the tiniest of details.

Set in an asylum, the patients in the original Outlast were frequently victims of some macabre treatments. 

Outlast 2 moves to the deep south where you come face to face with cult members looking for their newest victim