The best horror games that play on your fear of the dark

Key points

• The best horror games exploit primal fears like darkness and helplessness for a truly terrifying experience.
• Little Nightmares, Alien: Isolation, Outlast, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent excel at using darkness effectively.
• Devour and Fatal Frame also show how darkness can enhance atmosphere, isolation, and fear in horror games.

Horror games are among some of the most enduring titles in the video game industry. No matter what the theme, whether it's freezing, desolate survival horror games or psychological thrillers, many of the best horror titles have been around for years, if not decades, and are still seen as examples of the genre and what it's capable of.

But what do the best horror games have in common? What unites surreal horror JRPGs with disturbing classics? Resident Evil OR silent Hill? The answer is how every horror game plays on humans' primal fear and instinct. Confined spaces, weakness, helplessness: these are all concepts commonly used in horror games to evoke fear. Few things, however, have frightened humans more than the dark. These horror games know how to effectively use one of humanity's oldest fears and create truly terrifying experiences.

1 Little nightmares

The darkness takes this unnerving game into terrifying territory

Few games manage to elicit the same disconcerting, spine-tingling horror Little nightmares ago. This game's fixed perspective and bleak use of shadow mean that the darkness always feels oppressive and omnipresent in any level of the game.

Notably, however, the infamous leech room is nearly dark, save for the player's light source and the slimy, greasy glint of hungry leeches in the darkness, making their way towards the protagonist.

2 Alien: isolation

A terrifying experience worthy of the classic film

This might be a bit of a hot joke, but the Alien the series is at its best when the threat is a single xenomorph, a relentless and ever-adaptable natural killing machine against the wits, and perhaps flamethrowers, of a human.

This defunct spaceship is inside Alien: isolation it has many corridors without light and dark floors where the xenomorph can blend in perfectly. Players who don't make good use of their tools in the darkness will be quickly and decisively scolded by the xenomorph.

3 Survive

The atmosphere and intensity only grow in the dark

While both Survive titles make good use of darkness, there's something about the suffocating, narrow confines of the first game's setting, Mount Massive Asylum, that really makes the darkness feel like the player's enemy.

Having to rely on the limited battery of a night vision camera is a brilliant way to make the darkness all-encompassing and a real threat, but still navigable for the player. Especially to get context for a movie set rumored to be in production, now is as good a time as any to delve into the darkness and play this game.

4 Amnesia: The Dark Descent

A horror classic with an emphasis on darkness

Amnesia: The Dark Descent may have gained its popularity in part thanks to the explosive rise of YouTubers around the time of its release, but the game stands on its own as one of the best and most atmospheric horror titles of all time, largely thanks to its fantastic use of darkness and atmosphere.

Using a gas lantern that can at times be both the player's ally and enemy, players must balance using light to navigate the dark halls of the castle while strategically turning it off to avoid enemy detection. However, if players remain in the dark for too long, they will find their sanity slipping away.

5 Lethal company

The darkness worsens during the day

Among the most evocative games available to date, Lethal company players explore abandoned industrial moons in search of scrap metal. While it is often daytime, or at least well-lit, in the outer environments of these moons, the factories are dark, cramped spaces.

These factories are home to the brunt of fearsome monsters who work against the player and actively use the darkness to prey on workers in unique ways. Having to voluntarily enter these dark factories makes the experience of walking through them even more frightening.

6 Devour

Classic multiplayer horror in the dark

Devour is a terrifying cooperative game where players coordinate with each other to prevent demonic rituals across a variety of different maps. Using proximity chat along with heavy darkness on each map is a great way to make players feel isolated and alone.

Isolation is the biggest enemy in this title, along with darkness and, well, terrifying demonic entities. Monsters will wander in the darkness trying to pick off individual players one by one.

7 Fatal frame

An incredibly new survival horror title

This classic gem of a title was undersold at launch, but it's a masterful horror game in its own right with a unique twist on Japan's rich history of ghosts and paranormal lore. Darkness isn't just used to create atmosphere Fatal frameit is an oppressive force working against the player.

The darkroom's flash is used to capture hostile ghosts, but is also occasionally the only light source available to players, forcing them to use fleeting glimpses of their environment to explore the setting while avoiding the slew of hostile spirits lurking in the 'shadow.