Horror games have a bad reputation for being littered with cheap jumpscares that are meant to just get viral on the internet instead of actually making the player feel something akin to pure dread and unfiltered fear. It can be easy to write off these games as nothing more than forgettable experiences that exist purely for shock value, but the fact is that there are many horror games that actually do a great job of doing justice to this underrated genre.
In fact, some of the most effective examples of horror are in games that aren't necessarily just limited to this genre. It's this effective deconstruction of horror as a medium that makes these games so brilliant, with players feeling an impending sense of doom from the majority of these titles as opposed to the jumpscare-fest that many shallow titles try to incorporate to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
10 Undertale
Undertale takes on the guise of a simple cute game without revealing the core of what it's really about. The very idea of saving, gaining experience, and leveling up is twisted in a clever manner that really makes players dread the very idea of hurting the monsters in this game.
Of course, the true horror of this game absolutely pops out during the Genocide run, where the player themself become the monster that everyone runs from. This culminates in a brilliant set piece at the end where Frisk, the evil entity that tortured this entire world before the arrival of the player, appears and talks about the player's actions before scaring them in a way that will stick around long after this experience has finished, even after repeated playthroughs.
9 Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is one of the most imaginative horror games around, and it's a shame that this game didn't enjoy the success that it rightfully deserved. The game played around with a sanity mechanic that is truly incredible in its own way.
Not only did this sanity mechanic mess around with the character itself, but it broke the fourth wall to mess around with the player as well. From reducing the volume to deleting save files — the manner in which this game tried to mess around with the player's understanding of how video games work is what makes it such an effective piece of horror.
8 LSD: Dream Emulator
The idea of exploring weird dreams that range from pretty funny to deeply unsettling sounds like a really interesting way to spend time playing a video game. This is exactly what LSD: Dream Emulator employs to great effect.
The sheer nightmare fuel that some of the dreams in this game have is truly fear-inducing, especially since players have no idea what these dreams will contain when they start up a playthrough. It's the unique nature of LSD: Dream Emulator that makes it one of the most unique examples of how to incorporate horror in a video game.
7 Phasmophobia
Most people feel that a horror game automatically becomes less scary if it has co-op for players to interact with their friends. However, it's the unique spin that Phasmophobia adds to this concept that makes it such a successful multiplayer horror title.
Players enter a house as a group of ghost hunters, with their communications slowly breaking down the further away they get from the core group. The intense sense of solitude that players get once they're cut off from the others and are being haunted by a ghost makes this title intensely creepy and worth experiencing for any fan of clever horror games.
6 P.T.
It's somewhat inevitable that P.T. will find its way into any conversation about games that deconstruct the horror genre. Hideo Kojima is a master of crafting unique gaming experiences, after all, and this can be seen in the truly terrifying way that P.T. deals with horror tropes in gaming.
The infinite corridor instills a sense of claustrophobia, with the puzzles having pretty weird solutions that defy the logic used in most other puzzle-centric games. The fact that this game was nothing more than a playable teaser for a new Silent Hill game made for a great reveal, and it's a shame that Kojima was booted from the company before his vision could be translated for a full-length game in this legendary horror series.
5 Doki Doki Literature Club!
Doki Doki Literature Club is easily the cutest horror game that deconstructs the genre. A simple visual novel ends up veering into a really disturbing story in which video game characters either hate themselves, have deep insecurities, or end up becoming self-aware.
The manner in which the game encourages players to break the fourth wall to get the ending makes for a great time and shows why this game was such a massive phenomenon upon launch. Players who want to see just how much potential horror has in video games should give this innocuous-looking visual novel a shot.
4 Inside
Playdead's Limbo was a pretty great horror side-scroller with fun puzzles, and Inside built upon this formula to allow for something truly special. Most players won't really grasp the mysteries of this game even after playing it all the way to the very end.
The innocent-looking boy that players control in the game ends up being a part of something much bigger than most people assumed. The implications of the secret ending add to the mystery of this game and show just how ambiguity can have a major effect on the overall eeriness of a horror title.
3 Oxenfree
Oxenfree is a great narrative adventure title that deals with the idea of time loops and how they mess around with current realities. The mysterious nature of this title lends more weight to its horror aesthetics, which are used sparingly and become quite effective as a result.
Players need to go through the game a second time and tinker around with the radio to prevent Alex and the group from ever going to the island in the first place. This prevents the gang from unwittingly opening a portal to the other ghosts and prevents them from experiencing the harrowing events on the island.
2 Yume Nikki
Yume Nikki deals with the life of a hikinomori and the dreams she experiences. The dreams present in this game are fun to traverse, but there are times when players have to navigate through certain nightmares.
Some of the scariest scenes in the game have a very low chance of triggering, meaning that many people might go through this game without getting truly terrified. It's the unique nature of this amazing dream-walking title that makes Yume Nikki one of the most popular indie titles ever made despite being released around a time when such titles had a very low chance of breaking into the mainstream.
1 Pathologic
Pathologic is one of the oddest games to take a stab at deconstructing the genre, with this survival horror title housing an amazing mystery that takes repeated playthroughs with multiple characters to uncover. Each character has unique interactions of their own and makes the game quite engaging despite its slightly frustrating gameplay loop.
One of the endings straight up breaks the fourth wall, with characters addressing the player directly instead of the character they control. Pathologic is a unique horror experience unlike anything out there that fans of the horror genre should definitely experience firsthand.