Horror is a thrilling genre, providing intense and adrenaline-pumping moments and frights to remain memorable. When playing a horror title, there’s nothing scarier than being placed in an unwinnable situation, where movement restricts players to the point of death. Luckily, there are some games where a keyboard and mouse won’t have the same restrictions as a controller, and there’s more freedom for these horror titles to provide a better experience.

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Using a keyboard and mouse can benefit these horror games in a variety of ways, whether it’s the immersion of the first-person perspective, the flick of a mouse to better see what’s behind the camera, or a press of a button to swap between inventory items. All these factors are essential to survival in the horror genre, making games better on a keyboard and mouse for a reason.

6 Lethal Company

Better Movement Against Enemies, Hotswap Gear & Terminal Typing

Scavenge loot found on abandoned moons to sell to the Company, avoiding dangerous terrain, weather, and monstrosities that lurk in the dark in Lethal Company. Terror and humor combine to make a hilarious horror experience in Lethal Company, where every situation could guarantee a laugh, a scream, or a death. Endless monsters are lurking in the procedurally generated facilities and mansion levels that players will venture to.

Players can use a keyboard and mouse for Lethal Company as the definitive way to play, as a controller will make many aspects of the title harder. Lethal Company requires quick use of buttons to switch between gear, open and close doors, and even move quickly to avoid death traps and monsters, which is made all the easier with a quick flick of the mouse rather than an analog stick.

5 Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Control The Environment Better With A Mouse

An absolute classic first-person survival horror, Amnesia: The Dark Descent will take players through an immersive nightmare, in which they must discover who they are, and how to escape the terrors that they find themselves trapped in. Amnesia: The Dark Descent is extremely interactive, so a keyboard and mouse benefit from the ability to drag, drop, and combine items.

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There’s a terrifying odyssey awaiting players who haven’t played the Amnesia games, and using a keyboard and mouse will definitely help players through this ghastly plight, where scares will catch them if they're not too careful.

4 Dead By Daylight

Manipulate Movement With A Mouse As Killer or Survivor

A 4v1 horror game where one player must hunt the other 4 as original and iconic serial killers, Dead by Daylight has so much to fear, and so much to enjoy for either team. Whether players want to be the killer or the survivor, there’s a lot to do, and both teams can benefit from a keyboard and mouse. One team must evade the killer and fix the generators, whilst the other, must hunt them down and sacrifice them for greater power and blood lust.

The reason a mouse is so useful for survivors is that it can flick their movement, allowing them to manipulate their running pattern and cause the killer to swing and miss. Quick movements are essential when being chased, as locating pallets and the killer will be necessary to survive. On the other hand, killers are in the first person, so having a mouse to quickly rotate around and search for prey is aided by the smooth movement of this device.

3 Phasmophobia

Utilise Mouse & Keyboard To Interact With The Environment

Become a paranormal activity investigator and hunt ghosts in Phasmophobia, an intense and immersive game where death is but a whisper away. Phasmophobia is great fun with friends, and equally scary. Players are tasked with venturing to dark locations, from familiar homes to abandoned asylums, bringing along some ghost hunting equipment to identify the ghost and get out of there before death takes more lives.

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Whilst Phasmophobia isn’t on consoles, playing with a keyboard and mouse is the better way to perform as a ghost hunter. Being able to switch equipment and easily click and drag items and doors could easily save a life, whereas a controller is more restrictive.

2 The Outlast Trials

Better Movement Controls Thanks To Responsive Keys

The Outlast games are known for their grotesque depiction of violence and horror, providing players with an immense layer of fright. Yet, there’s something different about The Outlast Trials, allowing players to embark on the frights together for the first time, providing a sense of teamwork in an intensive set of levels and trials, where not all of them will make it to the end. The graphics and fear factor are great for this early-access title.

The first-person camera helps aid in the immersion, and the quick movement thanks to a keyboard and mouse will help players evade others that seek their demise, and even assist in more puzzle-like aspects thanks to the easy control scheme not found on console controllers.

1 Five Nights At Freddy’s

Easily Click Cameras & Door Controls

Taking the role of a security guard in a pizzeria sounds simple enough, until the realization that the animatronics get a little quirky at night. In Five Nights at Freddy’s, players are tasked with watching the cameras in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza as a security guard, starting from 12 AM and reaching all the way to 6 AM without having the animatronics breach the security room and kill the player character. It’s pretty intense, and seeing them move and get far too close for comfort is a thrilling scare.

Players will find the game far easier on a keyboard and mouse, as this is much like a point-and-click adventure, so having that freedom of movement with a mouse is better than a controller. Players can freely switch between cameras, turn on the lights, and close doors, just be careful not to run out of power.

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