It will be no surprise to anyone who plays games that some pretty good horror games came out in 2019. The Resident Evil 2 remake was one of the best selling games of the franchise and one of the biggest releases of the year. Observer developer Blooper Team released multiple horror games this year, Blair Witch and Layers of Fear 2. The unfortunate pull of Taiwanese horror game Devotion from stores was one of the biggest bummers of the year, but now puts the game in the mythical lost horror games hall of fame with PT.
What may be a shock is just how many games in other genres incorporated horror elements to make for some of the most terrifying, existentially and otherwise, moments of the year. Adventure games with a focus on exploration like Death Stranding and Outer Wilds featured scarier moments than some of the best horror games of the 2019. Taking moments from games across genres quickly leads to a pretty impressive list of 10 of the scariest video game moments of 2019.
Mr. X (Resident Evil 2)
Perhaps the most iconic horror villain of the year is Resident Evil 2's Mr X. He is one of the biggest changes to the remake, aside from maybe the new third person perspective, and he is also just big, stalking Leon and Claire throughout the police station and beyond. This virtually invincible foe brought layers of tension to the game, aided by the terrific sound design that accompanied his footsteps. When players hear him getting close, they run, but perhaps the scariest moment is the first time he busts through the walls.
Mr. X was terrifying, but was also the inspiration for some of the funniest mods of the year. And it's hard to talk about Resident Evil 2 without also mentioning the terrifying reimagined versions of Lickers, some of the scariest enemies in the entire franchise.
Feet Easter Egg (Death Stranding)
The first time players are pitted up against a BT is scary, for sure, but throughout the dozens of hours of Death Stranding, those encounters become routine. One of the most genuinely surprising scares of the year is an Easter egg. If players zoom in on Sam's feet when they are in his private room, they trigger this creepy scene. Black tar bubbles up from the ground and a humanoid creature grabs Sam's ankles, resulting in a terrified Norman Reedus. It's a shocking moment when players don't know what is coming, and while it might not be Kojima's Silent Hills, Death Stranding ended up being a game with its fair share of scary moments
The Tongue Scene (Devotion)
CONTENT WARNING: This terrifying moments contains self-mutilation. A video capturing this scene can be found here.Â
Devotion is a Taiwanese horror game that remains one of the scariest and most intense horror game experience to come around in a long time. Not long after release, though, it was removed from Steam due to an easter egg poking fun at the President of China that didn't sit well with the Chinese government. The game is a terrifying story of sacrifice and family over the years.
The final section of Devotion requires a lot of self sacrifice and first-person mutilation. The most horrifying of these body horrors involves the player removing their tongue in a short segment that manages to feel long and agonizing, while the sounds and visuals come together to create the most viscerally off-putting game moment of 2019.
The Great Serpent (Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice)
The first time players encounter the Great Serpent in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the monster completely comes out of nowhere. It is an utterly terrifying and tense sequence in a game mostly focused on frenetic action and boss fights, yet this encounter requires players to keep their cool and be stealthy. When they figure this out, the pay off is immensely satisfying, but it's not the end of the Serpent. Coming back later in the game to kill this snake for good is only required for the most complex ending, but is one of the year's finest gaming moments of redemption.
Dark Bramble (Outer Wilds)
There was maybe nothing more terrifying in 2019 than flying the Outer Wilds ship into Dark Bramble before having the proper information. Most players will try and explore here before knowing the trick to navigating the planet, and then they will get eaten by a giant Anglerfish. Outer Wilds is a beautiful game full of moments of wonder and terror, and Dark Bramble highlights just how scary the unknown can be. Like in Sekiro, the scary moments in Outer Wilds exist to be conquered later and make the player feel a sense of accomplishment by using skills and knowledge to move past their fears.
The Witch's House (Blair Witch)
Like the 1999 original film, the Blair Witch game saves its scariest moments for the very end. It lets all that tension build up throughout the story. The finale in the Witch's House, where all good Blair Witch stories should end, features the most hallucinatory freaky moments of the game and reveals all the end game twists. The sequence includes a creepy homage to the final minutes of The Blair Witch Project, which is not nearly as scary as the film but is one of the best video game moments of 2019 for horror die hards.
The Nightmarionne (Five Nights At Freddy's VR: Help Wanted)
Bringing Five Nights at Freddy's to the VR space is one way to make an old franchise fresh. There's some pretty creepy scenarios but the most genuinely frightening moment recalls the feeling of being a child and fearing what lurks underneath the bed. The countless legs of the creepy Nightmarionne in Help Wanted is just an absolute freight in VR, but the entire scenario also has more nostalgic and emotional weight than the other creepy parts of this VR experience.
The Head Jump Scare (The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan)
Supermassive Games makes horror games that are often more focused on the sillier aspects of the genre. Until Dawn is a fun take on the teen horror genre, full of purposefully unbearable characters and the option to role play as a truly terrible teen. Man of Medan is its first entry in a new anthology series and it's got some pretty good jump scares. The best is in the midst of a tense scene the player, as Alex, opens a curtain to find just a cute rat...until a severed head falls from out of nowhere, causing players and streamers to shriek and jump in terror. It's a great scare in a game full of startling moments.
The Formless Chase (Layers of Fear 2)
Another scary moment from Blair Witch developer Blooper Team came in its other 2019 release, Layers of Fear 2. There is a formless creature/man/one that stalks the player, and many times the game requires the player to run from the formless mass. Perhaps the scariest is the very first encounter, as it as high energy scares, requiring the player to run, hide, and close doors around every corner. Like most good horror the sound design in this sequence make it a stand out among the scary sequences of 2019.
The Lake Creatures (Metro Exodus)
The Metro series takes a lot of inspiration from the creepy, barren world of Tarkovsky's Stalker, and they have always had a unique mix of atmospheric creature horror and post-apocalyptic societal world building. Metro Exodus is certainly not without its scary moments. The biggest jump in the game comes in the first open area. Finally able to explore, the players find themselves rowing a boat across a lake that is home to deadly crab monsters and a mysterious fish creature that will wreck Artyom any chance it gets. Luckily, there's a friend there to save him... at least the first time.