Put your diaper on
Gone are the days where you’d have a hard time finding a horror game that could genuinely scare you out of your pants. These days, horror games are a dime-a-dozen.
That’s both a blessing and a curse. The former, because, more competition is always good. The latter, because, well, horror games tend to lose their magic after you’ve played through basically the same thing before, which is very common in a genre where games tend to copy each other.
Still, even though most horror games are similar to each other, there are a couple that are quite different as well.
Below, you’ll find a wide slew of unique if not obscure horror games that, for one reason or another, did not gain as much mainstream attention that they rightfully deserve but are well worth checking for their unique take on the genre, among other things.
Obscure (2005) – PS2 / Xbox / Windows
Released way back in 2005, Obscure is a survival horror video game that truly lives up to its name – most people have never heard of this game let alone played it.
Make no mistake. The fact that you haven’t heard of this game does not mean it’s not worth checking out.
In Obscure, five teenagers find themselves locked inside their high school building while searching for their missing friend. But, what starts off as a search ends up with all five of them fighting to survive the night as dangerous and harmful light-sensitive creatures lurk about.
What makes Obscure unique is both its permanent death mechanic and the two-player cooperative mode.
The former wasn’t really a popular mechanic in horror games for years until the release of Until Dawn for PlayStation 4, and even then, most modern horror games refuse to use it. Meanwhile, the latter makes Obscure quite entertaining as you can work together with a friend or a family member to try and survive the night together. Not to mention, because each character has its own set of abilities and talents, utmost cooperation is necessary for you to be able to hopefully guide all five teenagers to survive the night.
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School (2001) — PC
In case anyone thinks that Korean game devs don’t know how to make truly terrifying horror games, we refer people to White Day: A Labyrinth Named School.
This atmospheric horror game is pretty much like Amnesia, except it was done in 2001. In some ways, it’s actually better than the 2010 fan favorite, especially when you consider what it was able to achieve at a time when horror games were arguably still in its infancy.
Set in a school, with an incredibly tense storyline and a wildly unexpected ending, White Day: A Labyrinth Named School manages to accomplish something very few games have since managed to do — make you feel genuinely scared, even if it’s the nth time that you’ve played the game.
Everything from the atmosphere down to the music, as well as the art style, seems built to make you feel like you’re being haunted during and after playing White Day: A Labyrinth Named School.
Unfortunately, White Day: A Labyrinth Named School does show its age more than you’d like. It’s also quite buggy, with more than its fair share of technical issues and glitches. But, if you can slog through the trouble and focus on the what’s important, the game is still well worth playing today.
If it can’t be helped though, a remake has since been released on modern platforms, including mobile. However, the 2015 remake is not as well-received, mostly because of how it fails to improve on the original while being a step back in certain areas, in particular, in its over-reliance on jump scares, unlike the original.
Layers of Fear (2015) — PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
At first glance, Layers of Fear isn’t that unique.
Released at a time when the go-to gameplay trope for horror games was a throwback to the old times when players had little to no power against the nightmarish creatures haunting them, Layers of Fear did not even attempt to subvert the gameplay formula. But, it didn’t need to. Instead, while the gameplay is familiar, the world and setting is anything but.
With a single Victorian-era family home as its setting, Layers of Fear accomplishes more than what its contemporaries with much larger in-game worlds have.
Layers of Fear puts you in the shoes of an unnamed protagonist as he forces himself to work on his life’s greatest art piece while also slowly losing his mind to madness. In the game, your enemy isn’t a literal creature of the night or a nightmarish fiend — it’s your mind.
Unable to discern what’s real from what’s not, Layers of Fear captures perfectly what it would be like to descend into madness.
Stasis (2015) — PC
How often do you find horror games in point-and-click form?
Not often. In fact, Stasis is probably one of the only ones worth mentioning, but it’s not just good because it’s one of the few point-and-click horror games that are actually decent. Rather, it’s just a really good game with exceptional writing and atmosphere that will grip you right from the get-go.
A clear homage to the literary classics of the horror genre, including Alien and I Must Scream, Stasis scares you with a compelling storyline that will most likely stick with you for a very long time. The isolation atmosphere as well poorly lit corridors keeps you in check so that you don’t power through the game with confidence. Always be afraid.
Alien Isolation (2014) — PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Being chased around by a big scary monster has been a common and recurring theme in horror games since The Nemesis started stalking Jill Valentine and company in Resident Evil 3 decades ago. However, none have managed to do it quite as Alien Isolation did back in 2014.
Considered one of the best games of its generation, Alien Isolation combines excellent level design with an alien creature whose AI makes it way more terrifying than it should be.
In a way, Alien Isolation is just hide-and-seek in space.
Powerless against a near-omnipresent hulking xenomorph alien that can and will appear at any given moment with zero prompts, Alien Isolation is unique in that it takes a common trope, dials things up to 11, and succeeds in doing so. Avoid opened air vents.
Darkwood (2017) — PS4, Xbox One, Switch, SteamOS, PC
Anyone who believes that horror games need horrific creatures to scare players needs to spend time playing Darkwood.
Darkwood’s gameplay revolves around you trying to survive in a plague-infested forest. During the day, you can go out, forage, hunt, and kill rabid dogs as you try to piece everything together. But, at night, the entire forest changes, as everything seems hell-bent on killing you.
Your only way to defend yourself is to hunker down, set traps, and pray to god that the horrors of the night are feeling a bit more forgiving.
Arguably the best in-game use of sounds, this top-down horror game has the unique ability to keep you on your toes and make you feel scared out of your wits, all without showing you anything outside of making you hear a few rustling sounds and simple scratching noise.
Be prepared to walk away from your computer from time to time.
Cube Escape: Paradox (2018) — PC / Android
When it comes to putting a unique twist on the horror genre, the Cube Escape and Rusty Lake games are kings. The latest game in the series, Cube Escape: Paradox, is, therefore, not an exception.
Coming with a 20-minute short film set in the same universe, Cube Escape: Paradox is a game that only gets creepier, and weirder by the minute. The cartoonish aesthetic also doesn’t help make things any better at all.
The only problem with Cube Escape: Paradox is that it’s a little short, with a run-time of somewhere around 2-3 hours. Then again, since it’s a free-to-play, that’s 3 hours of your life that you will never regret wasting.
And, there you have it.
We’re now finally done rounding up 7 of arguably the best and most unique horror games out there on the market. So, whenever you’re done hiding from whatever piece of furniture you thought best would protect you, feel free to come back to your gaming device, only to find yourself hiding again soon enough.