Labyrinths and Terrors and Fazbears, Oh My!
No, sadly, Five Nights at Freddie’s was just shy of making this list ranking just outside at the number 11 spot. That said, welcome to the final horror games ranking list of the past three decades. We’ve now covered the best horror games of the 90s and 2000s, and so this will be our final lists for the 2010s. Each title listed is well researched and ranked accordingly, but is also adjusted slightly for historical impact in gaming history. And though these games are not ranked in scariest order by any means (as one of these games I believe 100% should be at #1), they are listed by top overall Metacritic score. So are you ready for the grand finale? Here are top horror video games from the 2010s.
10. Outlast
A first-person survival horror featuring stealth-based mechanics, Outlast is the story about investigative journalism gone awry. It takes place at an Insane Asylum during an inmate revolt against the corporate scientists that experimented upon them. A terrifying experience filled with jump scares and very little lighting, there is no health bar in this game or any ways to attack evil enemies. Instead, players must run, duck, and hide whenever possible, all while utilizing their battery-powered night vision camcorder to see in the dark. All for an original take on the camcorder horror experience.
9. Alien Isolation
To be honest, I’m surprised it took over thirty years to make a decent survival horror game about the Alien franchise. In this one, you play as Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley, who embarks on a path of closure by personally investigating the fate of the Nostromo. Of course, just like her mother before her, this inevitably leads Amanda to a survival encounter against the alien Xenomorphs. All for what’s a beautifully designed game that pays a lot of attention to both sound and visual design details.
8. P.T.
In terms of scariness, this is hands down #1 on the list, but because it was unfinished, I placed it here at #8. From the crazy mind of Hideo Kojima who collaborated with director Guerillmo Del Toro, comes P.T. A game so terrifying, that despite it being only a playable teaser (hence the name P.T.) for Silent Hills, it’s still regarded as one of the scariest gaming experiences ever created. In P.T., a Norman Reedus looking character awakens in a haunted house. As he explores, he hears voices and talks about familicide. He also has bizarre hallucinations of grotesque things that aren’t there. To escape this hell, his only option is to move forward and solve puzzles throughout different rooms of the house before it all loops back to the inner corridor. There is, however, one ridiculously scary catch: you’re not alone. Because roaming the game’s narrow corridors is a horrifying ghost named Lisa. A stalking spirit capable of triggering a jump scare at any moment in time. If that isn’t terrifying enough, a recent data mine of the game reveals that Lisa is actually always right behind you, and whether you can see her or not, she is ever ready to attack.
