Ikai is a psychological horror game developed by Endflame that was recently released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The game is inspired by Japanese folklore and immediately draws players in with its unsettlingly immersive first-person perspective.
The psychological horror genre has risen in prominence over the last couple of decades, largely thanks to the continued improvements in graphics and writing in the gaming industry that have allowed studios to create horrifying visuals and disturbing but gripping narratives. Consequently, there have been plenty of excellent psychological horror games released over the years that will certainly appeal to those who enjoyed Endflame's Ikai.
7 Detention
Detention was developed by Red Candle Games and was initially released in January 2017. The 2D side-scroller is set in 1960s Taiwan and draws inspiration from Taiwanese mythology. As the name suggests, Detention takes place in a high school, where the player must run and hide from disturbing creatures known as "lingered" while uncovering the school's unsettling history.
The game received a sequel in February 2019 titled Devotion, which drew headlines and was temporarily removed from Steam after an easter egg was found that mocked China's Xi Jinping.
6 Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Amnesia: The Dark Descent was released in September 2010 and is one of the most influential horror games of all time. At a time when horror games were becoming more action-centric to try and compete with the popularity of shooters like Call of Duty, Amnesia: The Dark Descent took the genre back to its roots with a pure horror experience that gave players no weapons to protect themselves with.
The psychological horror game also kickstarted a trend of YouTubers reacting to horror games, with many notable names like PewDiePie doing playthroughs of Frictional Games' modern classic.
5 Soma
Soma had a large weight of expectations on its shoulders leading up to its releases, as it was the first release from Frictional Games since their aforementioned Amnesia series.
Frictional Games stuck with the psychological horror subgenre for Soma but drastically changed the tone and narrative direction from Amnesia. 2015's Soma offers a bleak look at the potential dangers of futuristic technologies that will weave dark thoughts into the player's mind while and even after playing the game.
4 Silent Hill 2
Those seeking a classic psychological horror experience need to look no further than Silent Hill 2. The game was originally released in 2001 and is regarded as a pioneer of video games being considered an art form. This is largely due to the plethora of symbolism and metaphors in the game that are particularly evident in enemy designs.
Silent Hill 2 puts players in the shoes of James Sunderland, who has traveled to the town of Silent Hill to search for his thought-to-be deceased wife after seemingly receiving a message from her. The game features multiple endings depending on the player's choices, including a famous secret ending where James discovers that a dog has been the mastermind behind the game.
3 Doki Doki Literature Club!
Suppose someone were to come across Doki Doki Literature Club! without having any prior knowledge of the game, they would likely believe that it was simply an anime dating simulator. This is exactly how the game presents itself initially, though players will soon realize that all isn't as it seems.
Doki Doki Literature Club! does a great job of frightening players with the element of surprise and continuing to catch them off guard by utilizing fourth-wall-breaking tactics like messing with the player's files on PC.
2 Outlast
Outlast is one of the many modern horror games that has been heavily inspired by Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Like Amnesia, players have no weapons in Outlast, so they must use basic survival tactics like running and hiding to evade harm - as one might expect, this can lead to some incredibly tense moments.
Another similarity that Outlast has with Amnesia: The Dark Descent is that the game is very popular with YouTubers and streamers. In fact, even to this day, Outlast is one of the first games that people will recommend when a streamer says that they want to try a scary game.
1 Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice was developed by Ninja Theory and leaned very heavily into the psychological aspect of psychological horror. The 2017 release revolves around psychosis, and the game's development involved numerous experts in the field, including psychologist Professor Charles Fernyhough and neuroscientist Professor Paul Fletcher.
As for the gameplay, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice features a blend of puzzle-solving and melee combat. The gameplay struggled to impress some fans and critics, though most were happy to persist with the game to see how the gripping story would end. Hellblade received an excellent 88 critic score and 8.0 user score on review aggregator Metacritic and has a sequel planned for future release titled Senua's Saga: Hellblade II.
Ikai is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch