The mysterious future is always a wonder to many humans who envision what humanity, Earth, or the wider galaxy might look like given a few more decades or centuries might look like. This wonder exists in the minds of artists who create paintings, sculptures, stories, music, and even video games to give a glimpse at works inspired by these questions.
While a lot of these futuristic games are RPGs, focusing on colonization or technological advancements on planet Earth, there are some games that delve into horror instead. These games tell gritty sci-fi tales of terror that many players are thankful for being mere works of fiction that have no basis in reality.
16 Best Cyberpunk Games
The Cyberpunk genre never seems to get old as everyone loves the idea of looking into the future, and these are the best examples of it in video games
7 Get Even
Combining puzzles, shooting gameplay, and exploration, Get Even follows the story of Cole Black, a mercenary who is charged with piecing together memories under the orders of the mysterious Red while exploring a run-down asylum populated by inmates.
7 Scariest Hospitals In Gaming
Both horror and non-horror video games have seen some creepy hospitals. These examples are the scariest of the bunch.
Players will be encouraged to take a more stealthy approach while in memories, but are equipped with an array of futuristic gadgets to aid them in their goals, but there is nothing that will save them from the tense and suspenseful moments they experience while completing their goals. The run-down location and general feeling of abandonment and hopelessness permeating from the residents that seem to have been forgotten about it lends itself well to the cyberpunk theme.
6 Sense: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story
Inspired by games such as Clock Tower, this 2.5D title is set in futuristic Hong Kong following the tale of Mei-Lin Mak, a woman who investigates a century-old mystery and begins questioning her perception of reality as horror begins to permeate her life. Whether it is her sanity crumbling, her cybernetic eyes glitching, or the horror is real, that is up to the player and Mei-Lin to discover as they delve further into the mystery.
The setting and lore are rich in the dystopian future the genre is known for, from the neon lights of the city to the Cyberware its inhabitants are equipped with. But even all the futuristic tech won't be enough to save them from the horror found in this Cyberpunk Ghost Story.
5 Transient
Treated as a spiritual successor to Conarium, Transient perfectly weds together Lovecraftian horror and Cyberpunk together in one futuristic game that centers around the dredges of humanity now living in Citadels scattered across the globe, hiding from the inhospitable conditions outside the walls.
Players control Randolph Carter, a hacker extraordinaire who will discover great cosmic horrors tinged with dystopian cyberpunk elements that threaten to take his and the players' sanity. But with the fate of humanity hanging on Carter's success, players must help him succeed.
4 Signalis
In this retro-tech title, a Replika engineer called Elster searches a world of dystopian horror for her lost partner Ariane, experiencing terrifying encounters on the way, following a trail of breadcrumbs. Other Replikas can be encountered throughout the journey, their coding degenerating them into mindless beings that only have the thought to attack whatever intelligent life they see on sight.
With multiple endings, an engaging storyline, and surprisingly in-depth gameplay, Signalis is a fantastic cyberpunk horror game with great replay value that will keep players hooked until whatever ending they receive.
3 Ghostwire: Tokyo
Ghostwire: Tokyo
- Platform(s)
- PS5 , PC , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S
- Released
- March 25, 2022
- Developer(s)
- Tango Gameworks
- Genre(s)
- Action , Adventure
In this cyberpunk title, the population of humans in Tokyo has dwindled to nothing, and where there were once people, supernatural entities now prowl the streets. It is in the hands of the main character to quell the supernatural occupation and uncover the reasons exactly why the human populace vanished, making use of their arsenal of equipment and abilities.
Ghostwire: Tokyo is toted as karate meets magic in terms of combat, as even with the futuristic cyberpunk setting, players have supernatural abilities they can use to defeat the spirits that possess living bodies. The spirits that the player will encounter during their mission are nothing short of terrifying, and they will need nerves of steel to face them rather than just staring at the pause screen in dread.
2 Observer
Bloober teams foray into cyberpunk resulted in Observer, a game set in Poland 2048, following a digital plague that killed thousands, stoked the flames of war, and encouraged drug use. A megacorporation known as Chiron assumed control of Poland and sent Observers in to control the masses with the license to hack into their minds. Players control one of the titular agents, who is lured to a tenement building after receiving a call from his estranged son Adam.
10 Best Techno-Horror Games, Ranked
Most horror games focus on paranormal or survival themes, however, there are several games that focus on technological horrors.
Daniel Lazarki finds more than he bargained for in this building, finding many victims dead in the building and uncovering some truly horrifying visions as he hacks into their brains to try and piece together the mystery.
1 System Shock 2
System Shock 2
- Platform(s)
- PC
- Released
- August 11, 1999
- Developer(s)
- Irrational Games , Looking Glass Technologies , NightDive Studios
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG , FPS
Perhaps the most infamous cyberpunk horror game of all is System Shock 2. It follows the same plot of the original, which sees a nameless character waking up alone on a starship with cybernetic enhancements grafted into their body, and everyone else who was aboard slaughtered. The player must explore the abandoned ship to reveal the culprit behind the nightmare as a rogue AI taunts them.
As if a hostile AI intermittently mocking the character's attempts to survive isn't terrifying enough, the ship is now inhabited by hostiles who aren't quite human anymore, and the player must arm themselves to fend them off. To complicate matters further, there are very few resources around to aid the player's survival. With such a horrific atmosphere and setting, System Shock 2 might just be the most terrifying cyberpunk horror game.