Best Horror Games 2021

If you’re looking for a horror game to scratch that spooky itch, we’ve got you covered with the best horror games of 2021.

Whether you’re a fan of survival horror, Lovecraftian horror, or creepy puzzle-platformers, these games are sure to make your skin crawl and keep you on the edge of your seat.

We’ve taken the liberty of including gameplay trailers where possible, along with info regarding platform exclusivity.

We’ll be updating this list in the future with new titles, so make sure to check back and let us know if we missed any games!

Related:Best Upcoming Zombie Games 2021 (And Beyond)Best Survival Horror Games 2021Best Upcoming Horror Games 2021 (And Beyond)

Little Nightmares II is the follow-up to Tarsier Studio’s atmospheric puzzle-platformer that doubles down on the suspense and story.

In it, you play as Mono, a young boy who finds himself trapped in a distorted world that’s being affected by a strange transmission from a distant signal tower.

Mono teams up with Six (the protagonist from the first game) in hopes of reaching the tower and unlocking its dark secrets.

Along the way, the pair will have to sneak, jump, and sometimes fight their way past demented dolls and disturbing adults.

It’s easy to write off RPG maker games for their lack of originality, but Omori proves the opposite can be true as well.

Heavily inspired by Earthbound and Mother 3, the game presents itself as a retro-style pixel art RPG centered on a depressed boy and his many adventures with friends and strangers.

Omori is constantly questioning the nature of his friendships and putting himself down while struggling to remember key parts of his mysterious past.

Over time, you come to realize things aren’t as they appear and must try to unravel all of Omori’s secrets through turn-based battles and by overworld exploration.

Equal parts survival horror and visual novel, The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters improves upon the gameplay and visuals of the original while introducing new environments and characters.

You play as Mina Park, a high school student who finds herself face to face with mysterious strangers, questionable allies, and terrifying creatures.

Forced to confront her worst fears, Mina must craft items ahead of time to avoid injury and keep herself alive long enough to find the cause behind her nightmare.

The addition of new enemy AI and stealth mechanics helps raise the stakes and make navigating Sehwa High School more harrowing than ever before.

World of Horror is a turn-based adventure RPG that draws inspiration from the works of H.P. Lovecraft and Junji Ito.

The game features a 1-bit black and white art style that adds to its retro charm and follows a rogue-lite structure that sees you encountering new cosmic horrors each playthrough.

The premise is as follows: the Old Gods have reawakened and are clawing their way back to the surface, casting the world into madness in the process.

There are currently 10 mysteries in World of Horror, five unique characters, and a wide variety of event cards that significantly affect each playthrough.

Every once in a while, an indie game manages to take the world by storm, even if the success ends up being relatively short-lived.

While that may or may not end up being the case for Phasmophobia, it’s still too early to tell which direction Kinetic Games plans to take the Early Access game in.

Presented as an online co-op ghost hunt, it sees you and your friends investigating haunted houses filled with various spirits, demons, and otherwordly monsters.

Each paranormal entity requires specific combinations of tools and techniques before they can be communicated with or removed, so you’ll have to strategize with your team.

Capcom’s updated version of Resident Evil 2 is nothing short of a survival horror masterpiece with completely new graphics that bring the 20-year-game up to modern standards.

In it, you control two playable characters: a rookie cop named Leon Kennedy who’s on his first night of duty, and a college student named Claire Redfield.

Both find themselves entangled in a science experiment gone wrong and must fight to survive and escape Raccoon City.

While the core experience is similar to the original, parts of the story are reworked to give supporting characters a bigger spotlight.

Apsulov: End of Gods is a Viking-themed horror game that blends Nordic mythology with futuristic technology.

The result is an epic, sci-fi first-person adventure game that sees you trying to decipher the secrets of Yggdrasil, a mythical land comprised of nine different realms.

Throughout the game, you acquire various artifacts that give your character new abilities you can use to interact with the world, solve puzzles, and defeat enemies.

Combat does a good job of keeping you engaged without making you feel too overpowered; with that said, the main appeal stems from Apsulov’s detailed environments and visuals.

A Plague Tale: Innocence is an action-adventure horror game set in France, 1348, about a pair of siblings who flee their countryside estate after its raided by the English army.

The game’s historical setting coincides with the existence of the Black Plague; so in addition to soldier enemies, you’ll have to work your way past hordes of plague-stricken rats.

Most of the story is spent controlling Amicia, the oldest sibling and sister to Hugo, who begins exhibiting mysterious symptoms at the start of the game.

If you want a horror game with a well-written story, challenging puzzles, and satisfying combat, give this one a shot.

Lakeview Valley casts you as a homeowner who moves to a new town and starts to notice their neighbors acting strangely.

Before you can even point a finger, the game clues you into the fact that you might be a murderer yourself, with your character frequently exhibiting dark desires.

Do you fight the urge to kill little Tommy from down the street, or embrace your newfound bloodlust?

Depending on your choices, the story will branch off in different directions; this encourages you to replay the game multiple times in order to see every outcome.

Prey is a first-person horror shooter that sees exploring the Talos 1 space station, which has become overrun by a species of violent aliens known as the Typhon.

The goal of the game is to gather as many resources and weapons as you can to stand a chance against the Typhon.

Among Prey’s best features is the Typhon themselves, which consist of various sub-species with unique and terrifying abilities.

Shapeshifting spider-like aliens called Mimics can easily take on the appearance of everyday objects and attack when you least expect it.

 Inside, a 2.5D puzzle platformer from Playdead, the same team that brought us Limbo.

Like Playdead’s previous titles, the game places a big emphasis on atmosphere, specifically creepy environments and characters.

In it, you play as a mysterious unnamed boy tasked with exploring a strange facility with multiple floors and areas that can only be reached by solving a series of platforming puzzles.

Each obstacle introduces a new mechanic that will force you to rethink your approach, sometimes on the fly, as there are a handful of chase sequences.

Stories Untold is a horror text-adventure game that’s broken up into four chapters that each tell a unique story about mysterious accidents, military experiments, and alien conspiracies.

A common theme in each tale is isolation, with the game often going out of its ways to make you feel like you’re all alone as you deal with a host of potential threats.

Despite being mostly text-based, Stories Untold manages to things interesting and throw new gameplay mechanics your way.

Visually, it draws inspiration from classic horror movies and features a distinctly 1980s retro aesthetic and soundtrack.