Do you love that adrenaline rush that comes from a good horror game? Or maybe you just love that dark atmosphere unique to the horror genre? Well, this is the list for you! Here are 15 games that have either recently come out or will be coming out in the next six months or so that we love, or are excited to get our hands-on.
15. Dryad (Release Date: April 22, 2021)
In Dryad you take on the role of Josh Miller, a true-crime writer investigating a series of murders 40 years ago at Camp Tellus. You head out in search of clues as to what happened all those years ago and find a lot more than you bargained for.
Dryad is a point-and-click exploration game with full voice acting and atmospheric horror around every corner.
What makes Dryad so cool, is that it’s a modern and budgeted use of the point and click exploration format. You don’t see that used a lot in modern games, and you certainly barely ever see it used in horror.
14. The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope
Little Hope Gameplay
Little Hope is the newest release from Supermassive Games, who previously released such games as Until Dawn and Man of Medan. Much like their previous games, Little Hope is really more of an interactive movie than it is a standard video game. In it, you follow a bus of university students, that finds themselves trapped in the small town of Little Hope, which seems to be surrounded by a fog that prevents them from leaving. Things only get stranger and darker from there on out though, as they find themselves pursued by nightmarish creatures and encounter visions of the town’s witch trials era past.
What makes Little Hope so fun is the feeling like your choices matter and impact the story. You control who lives and dies, and that impacts how the story progresses.
13.Transient
Transient Gameplay
Transient places you in the shoes of Randolph Carter, a member of a hacker group living within the Domed City Providence. The Domed City is the last refuge of humanity, built to save them from an apocalyptic event that devastated the outside world. Randolph uncovers some secrets that weren’t meant to be discovered, and it propels him onto a journey of discovery that threatens to rob him of his very sanity.
Transient melds two things that I love: Dystopian Cyberpunk Aesthetics, and Lovecraftian horror. You will have to worry about Randolph’s sanity as he uncovers eldritch truths with the help of his augmented body and hacker skills. This one is such a delightfully stylistic romp that it would have been a crime not to include it on this list.
12. Today is my Birthday
Today is my Birthday Gameplay
In Today is my Birthday you take on the role of Thomas Wilkes, a photographer that after the sudden death of his father wishes to return to the place his father used to work, and always took him for his birthday: Wonder Park. The theme park has been closed for some years due to some earthquakes in the area and now stands silent and seemingly empty. However, before too long, Thomas finds himself unraveling a dark mystery whilst trying to survive the various denizens that call the park home, and are not thrilled at your invasion of said home.
What makes Today is my Birthday such a great horror game is that it really leans into a classic survival horror experience. Weapons are scarce, and what works on one enemy might have no effect on another. You will spend a lot of your time desperately trying to flee from your murderous enemies and that helplessness really makes the horror atmosphere of this game so much more powerful.
11.The Alien Cube (Release Date: Early 2021)
The Alien Cube Gameplay
Alien Cube kicks off as the protagonist, Arthur, discovers a strange artifact, and begins an adventure that will make him question everything, even the very nature of reality itself. You will have to survive harsh weather conditions, as well as Lovecraftian horrors as you explore strange dungeons and other dimensions. If you played the studio’s previous game, The Land of Pain you will also be happy to know that these two games connect, and you will be able to discover more about what happened to the protagonist of that game as well, who was Arthur’s uncle.
What makes The Alien Cube such an exciting entry is its focus on first-person horror combined with the often-used but always fun Lovecraft mythos. It focuses on horror and exploration rather than just shooting your way through hordes of eldritch monsters, and that really ramps up the horror for me.
10. Visage
Visage Gameplay
In Visage, you explore a massive house that is an ever changing labyrinth of terror. Bad things happened in this house, and you (in the role of our protagonist, Dwayne Anderson) will slowly uncover the many twisted stories contained within. You will face a huge amount of well crafted psychological horror that will leave you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.
What makes Visage so great is that it really shows us what P.T could have been if it’d been allowed to be finished. This game takes clear inspiration from P.T as well as games like Amnesia, and ran with it to exciting and horrifying new places. Visage does psychological horror right, and when it’s done right it’s really hard to compete with. There’s nothing like a complete feeling of helplessness in the face of twisted evil to get the fear flowing.
9. Little Nightmares 2 (Release Date: February 10th, 2021)
Little Nightmares 2 Gameplay
In Little Nightmares 2 you return to the nightmare world of the first game, this time playing a boy named Mono, who is aided by Six, the protagonist from the first game as they journey through the twisted world to uncover the secrets of the Signal Tower, that is keeping them trapped there.
Whilst not as traditionally scary as many entries on this list, there’s an undeniable horror-themed charm to the Little Nightmares series. It’s dark and twisted, whilst being somewhat whimsical in its own way. With the sequel coming out so soon, it wouldn’t feel right for it to not make it on this list.
8.Returnal (Release Date: March 19th, 2021)
Returnal Gameplay Trailer
In Returnal you play a space scout named Selene, who has crashed on an alien planet. She quickly discovers that not only is the planet filled with dangerous lovecraftian monstrosities, but she is also trapped in a time loop, waking up where she started every time she dies. Returnal has roguelike elements as well as platforming and exploration, which allows you to have an ever shifting adventure as you explore this strange planet in search of answers.
What makes Returnal so exciting is largely seeing a big budget roguelike, as it’s a genre that really has seen much of its success in smaller indie titles, as well as more stylized AAA releases, such as Hades. With Returnal we will be able to see a heart-pounding horror themed Roguelike with beautiful graphics and solid third-person shooter mechanics.
7. Maid of Sker
Maid of Sker Gameplay
Maid of Sker sets you in the role of Thomas Evans, who at the behest of his lover, is on his way to her family’s hotel to investigate the strange happenings there. He soon finds that the hotel and the island it is situated on are under the control of a cult that call themselves “The quiet ones” who are distinctly unfriendly to outsiders. It is up to Thomas to use stealth and cunning to explore the hotel and discover the secrets within about his lover’s family and the quiet ones.
What makes Maid of Sker so interesting is that it’s enemies, the quiet ones, are all blind. You will have to rely on stealth because the game gives you no way at all to fight the quite ones, except for a sound based weapon late in the game that will briefly debilitate them for you to escape an area (that has incredibly scarce ammunition). It also draws inspiration from Welsh and British folklore, which isn’t used all that much in games so that’s pretty cool too.
6.Amnesia: Rebirth
Amnesia:Rebirth Gameplay
Amnesia: Rebirth takes place 98 years after the first game, this time taking place in the Algerian desert. You will take the role of Tasi Trianon, a French Archeologist on an expedition to Colonial Africa, who’s plane crashes in the desert. She will follow the trail of the expedition, in desperate hope of finding her husband. She has also come into session of a “travellers amulet”, a strange device that allows her to travel through rifts to another world.
What makes Amnesia: Rebirth so great, is what made the original great. It’s atmospheric, terrifying, and you have no way to fight the evil that is hunting you. It’s hide, run, or die. Much like the original, the monsters can sense your fear, and looking at them gradually makes you more afraid. So, it continues the terrifying mechanic of the previous games of making you have to sneak around monsters that you can’t spend too much time looking at, which makes sneaking around them tricky at times. Add to that the overall poorly lit environments where darkness also adds to your fear, and you have a recipe for the fantastic experience we have come to expect from the Amnesia series.
5.The Medium (Release Date: January 28th, 2021)
The Medium Gameplay
In The Medium you play Marianne, a powerful Medium with the ability to travel into and interact with the spirit realm. Marianne, after being plagued by visions, decides to go to an abandoned communist resort in Krakow, Poland where something terrible happened. You will use your powers to solve mysteries and puzzles both in the real and spirit world, all the while trying to survive encounters with the Maw, a dark entity created by the horrific events that happened there.
What makes The Medium so great is it’s mixture of the material and spirit worlds, and your ability to see both at the same time. It’s a concept that surprisingly hasn’t been played with a lot in games, and it’s always interesting when it’s done right. It allows for the game to serve up both real world horror, and more dark and fantastical horror from the spirit world. All of this mixed with it’s frankly gorgeously twisted spirit world environments inspired by the works of famous Polish dystopian surrealist painter, Zdzisław Beksiński make the Medium one of the most exciting new horror games to be coming out in a while.
4. Back 4 Blood (Release Date: June 22nd, 2021)
Back 4 Blood Gameplay
If you’ve read any of my previous articles, you’ll know that I’m a massive fan of the Left 4 Dead series. Now whilst Back 4 Blood isn’t an official part of that series, it might as well be. You play in a 4 person team fighting infected monsters, and it’s made by the team that created the Left 4 Dead games. In this one instead of taking on the role of survivors just trying to escape to safety, you take on the role of a “cleaner” a group of combat veterans that are the last line of defence between humanity and “the ridden” infected former-humans that are zombies by any other name.
What makes Back 4 Blood so great is honestly that it’s basically the Left 4 Dead sequel we have been waiting for for years. Sure, it’s rebranded, and a little bit different in flavour, but at the end of the day all that matters is that it’s fun. With the team that made Left 4 Dead making it, and from what I’ve seen of it; I have no doubt this will be the next game that we are going to be playing for the next decade.
3. Phasmophobia
Phasmophobia Gameplay
Phasmophobia sets you in the role of a paranormal investigator, investigating various haunted locations with your team. You will use a variety of tools to try and work out what type of ghost is haunting the location, and gather information until you have enough to get paid. If that all sounds too easy, that’s because it would be if the ghost in question didn’t have a fairly dim view about you being there. You’ll have to gather information without being murdered by the ghost in question.
What makes Phasmophobia so great is that it takes a fairly unique approach to a team based ghost game. You aren’t trying to defeat the ghost, and you can’t fight it; you are just here to get answers. It makes it both really valuable to have friends to help you with your investigation, but it also makes the scary side of this game, really damn scary. This game has become something of a cultural phenomena in the past year, and there’s a good reason for it. It really is a fantastic horror game.
2. Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood (Release Date: February 4th, 2021)
Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood is a very rare thing, a werewolf game. Think about it, how many have you ever seen? Werewolf: the Apocalypse - Earthblood is set in the popular World of Darkness TTRPG world. In it, you take on the role of Cahal, an eco-terrorist werewolf who has been exiled from his werewolf tribe. You will group up with other’s of your kind as you try to take down the Pentax Oil Corporation to stop their massive pollution of the environment.
What makes Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood so great, is that it not only centre’s the game on werewolves, which are almost never given the spotlight in gaming, but also does a lot to let you immerse yourself in the character, like giving your character a rage bar that gradually fills as Cahal discovers more about terrible things that the humans have done to the environment, and if your rage bar fills up you stop being able to really see the inference between enemies and innocents, and have to slaughter everything in your path to calm down. I like that, It lets you feel more like this angry creature, struggling to keep control.
1. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 (Release Date: Early 2021)
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 Gameplay
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is another game set in the World of Darkness TTRPG universe. In it, you play a human in Seattle, who is killed and revived as a “thin blood” vampire (a vampire with relatively weak abilities as compared to those of their kind that belong to a clan). You will eventually be able to join a vampire clan and gain more powerful abilities. How you approach the story will be largely up to you as you explore the large hub world and pursue the objectives and side quests that interest you the most.
What makes Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 so great, is that it let’s you really just really roleplay being a vampire. Not just a game that allows you to become one as a side quest or something, but an rpg that is built from the ground up with you being a vampire in mind. If it’s predecessor Bloodlines is anything to go on, this game is going to be amazing. Where it’s predecessor was a poorly funded and glitchy (yet beloved) mess this one has a budget and is already looking amazing. I have been following this one for years no, and I for one am insanely excited to sink my fangs into it.You may also be interested in:
