The most memorable horror game settings of all time

Key points

• Iconic horror game locations, like the Willamette Parkview Mall, are key to creating the right atmosphere.
• Memorable settings, such as Derceto Manor and Mount Massive Asylum, immerse players and heighten the terror of survival horror games.
• Rapture, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, and Silent Hill stand out as some of the most chilling and disturbing video game locations ever created.

The best horror games would be nothing without their atmospheric locations that make you feel a certain sense of unease, and most locations become characters of their own in the story. Aside from the creatures and gameplay moments, what you often remember most about a particularly influential horror game is where it's set.

Throughout the history of survival horror games, there have been plenty of memorable and unique settings where the developers wanted to leave a lasting impression on you. From oil rigs to pizzerias, fog-filled ghost towns, zombie-infested shopping malls and mansions, castles and asylums, these are the scariest and most iconic!

11 The Beira D oil platform

It still awakens the depths

Although a newer horror game setting, Still Wakes the Deep's Beira D oil rig is worthy of taking its place as an iconic horror game location. Developer The Chinese Room has done a great job with this setting, allowing you to feel claustrophobic and in constant danger in every detailed part of the rig you're in, especially when you're on the run from Lovecraftian monsters.

Beira D is a Scottish oil platform in the North Sea. He came across something otherworldly that caused infections among the crew that transformed them into terrifying creatures. The layout and level design around the oil rig is super intricate and realistic, especially considering that the engine is Unreal 5. It also includes a suspenseful underwater section that is so immersive that you may feel like you are drowning with your character.

10 Willamette Parkview Shopping Center

Dead Rising and Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster

With the Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster launching in 2024, this site of zombie carnage from the Dead Rising series has never been more iconic and relevant. The Willamette Parkview Mall is the setting of the original Dead Rising game, where you follow photojournalist Frank West as he mows down zombies from floor to floor and store to store.

The idea of ​​a zombie-infested mall that Capcom decided to adopt undoubtedly draws inspiration from Dawn of the Dead, and there really isn't a better setting to encounter hordes upon endless hordes of zombies. Interacting with all the objects in each shop and room, whether it's a weapon or a piece of clothing, is a lot of fun.

9 Derceto Manor

Alone in the Dark and Alone in the Dark (2024)

Alone in the Dark is a classic survival horror game series that predates Resident Evil and Silent Hill, and its haunting location, Derceto Manor, is where the original installment takes place. Derceto is an evocative Gothic mansion in 1920s Louisiana with a darker Lovecraftian history behind it, which protagonists Emily Hartwood and private investigator Edward Carnby will investigate while encountering arcane terrors.

It's one of the first “haunted house” style horror games, and the puzzles, creatures, and rooms within Derceto Manor can bring back nostalgic memories. Likewise, Pieces Interactive's 2024 remake of Alone in the Dark does justice to the story and setting to bring it to a modern audience, even if the gameplay falters in some parts.

8 Monte Massive Asylum

Outlast and Outlast: Informer

Outlast is a game where it's just you and your camera trying to document evidence for a journalistic assignment. The only problem? The area you're investigating is Mount Massive Asylum, where some truly disturbing things happen to patients. And you have no defenses other than running and hiding from enemies, making it one of the most terrifying gaming experiences.

Old, decrepit hospitals are often featured in horror games, but none capture the atmosphere quite the same way as Outlast with its first-person cinematic and non-combat formula. You certainly won't soon forget your harrowing journey into Mount Massive, with the Outlast: Whistleblower DLC further showcasing a new character's perspective in Mount Massive Asylum.

7 Brennenburg Castle

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

While 2023's Amnesia: The Bunker may give you a good bang for your buck, the original Amnesia game, Dark Descent, will always be the best in the series and have the most iconic location. Brennenburg Castle, located in East Prussia and cursed by the otherworldly forces acting upon it, is home to many puzzles and relentless monsters that stalk you until your sanity is compromised.

It's the perfect place for a horror game, especially one that's first-person and relies on you keeping the lantern lit. Wandering the mysterious halls of the castle as Daniel, the environments, creatures and lore will leave you as unsettled as your protagonist.

6 Bright Falls, Cauldron Lake and the Dark Place

Alan Wake series

Remedy's Alan Wake is an iconic Lynchian and Twin Peaks-inspired series, and that's mostly due to its setting and eccentric cast of characters. The Pacific Northwest town of Bright Falls, Washington is one of the main locations of Alan Wake and its 2023 sequel. It is where the Oh Deer Diner, the Bright Falls Sheriff's Station, the Elderwood are located Palace Lodge, the Valhalla nursing home, Pat Maine's radio station and, of course, nearby Cauldron Lake.

Alan Wake 2 introduces FBI agent Saga Anderson into the plot, and she gets to live out her experiences fighting the corrupt and meeting the locals in Bright Falls as Deerfest approaches. Meanwhile, Alan spends his chapters guided by his wife Alice in escaping from the Dark Place. Thus, The Dark Place now becomes an essential place, a darker version of New York that is home to the Oceanview Hotel, the Parliament Tower, the subway tunnels, the Poet's Cinema and the talk show In Between with Mr. Door.

5 USG Ishimura

Dead space

In Dead Space, you're an engineer in a badass, minimal HUD suit who wields weapons meant to dismember the razor-sharp limbs of Necromorph enemies through brutal combat. And it's all happening on the USG Ishimura spaceship. Space horror games really don't get more iconic than Dead Space, perhaps one of the best EA games of all time.

From the moment you arrive in the ship's docking bay and have your first encounter with the Necromorphs in the Flight Lounge, to using the ship's upgrade benches, exploring all of the haunting environmental narratives and lore of Unitology, and knowledge of the masterful sound design and lighting, I don't want to be anywhere else, despite all the unnerving horror.

4 Kidnapping

BioShock series

The award for most surprising world reveal in a video game still goes to the original BioShock. The underwater civilization of Rapture and all its architectural wonders will always feel surreal to admire, no matter how many times you enter the lighthouse and enter the bathysphere at the start.

Rapture was conceived as an underwater utopia by Andrew Ryan to free himself from existential threats during the Cold War, and maybe he had the right idea, but things quickly went downhill. ADAM was what ultimately led to his downfall, a gene-altering substance that led to the creation of former Rapture citizens turned enemies called Splicers.

3 Freddy Fazbear's Pizza

Five Nights at Freddy's series

Game designer Scott Cawthon hits the mark with his brilliant use of camera shots and jumpscares within the creepy Chuck E. Cheese-style horror setting of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Five Nights at Freddy's kicked off a phenomenon of endless sequels, spin-offs, tie-in novels, and even a live-action adaptation from Blumhouse, with 2024's Into the Pit bringing you a new 2D pixel art iteration of the pizzeria.

Freddy, Chica, Foxy, Bonnie, Spring Bonnie and many other animatronics are all waiting to have fun scaring you away from your security guard post during each suspenseful episode. And when you discover the dark and disturbing lore behind Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, let's just say you definitely won't want pizza anytime soon, or any food for that matter.

2 Spencer Mansion and Racoon City Police Department (RPD)

Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2

Before the Resident Evil series transformed into a globetrotting action-adventure series that takes you to parts of Europe and other virus-plagued nations, the first three Resident Evil games are set in Raccoon City and its suburbs and remain faithful to the “resident” of Resident Evil. Bad. However, it is the Spencer Mansion from the first game and the Raccoon City Police Department from Resident Evil 2 that are the most iconic.

Derceto Manor from Alone in the Dark walked so that Spencer Mansion from Resident Evil could work. The location, with all its puzzles, zombie enemies, expansive rooms, and Umbrella experiments and lore, solidified Resident Evil's place in the history of survival horror games. Then, in the sequel, rookie officer Leon Kennedy, along with Claire Redfield, is chased throughout the RPD by Mr.

1 silent Hill

Silent Hill series

Silent Hill, the town that transforms your protagonist's demons into manifestations of real demons, is the best video game location ever created for a horror game, period. It's still unmatched after all these decades, and no modern video game comes close to capturing a psychological horror atmosphere as effectively as that offered by Silent Hill.

The nightmarish fog, the Otherworld, the Order and their churches, the Brookhaven hospital, the Wood Side apartments and monsters such as nurses, mannequins and the infamous Pyramid Head are the iconic features of Silent Hill. Each game makes excellent use of the setting and characters (aside from a few spin-offs), and Bloober Team's remake of Silent Hill 2 will mark the most visually stunning return.