Steam is home to many PC games that you can simply purchase, download, and start playing. With so many genres to choose from, you can play even the most obscure games on your personal computer.
Speaking of obscure games, the horror genre of video games tends to be overlooked by many due to its scary nature and the facts that also contain have adult themes.
However, there are many scary PC games on Steam that are scary and provide a lot of entertainment for different age groups. In this article, we list the top 11 Scary PC Games found on Steam.
11. Amnesia: Rebirth
Amnesia: Rebirth is a survival horror video game released for PC on Steam in October 2020. Developed by Frictional Games, the game follows our heroine Tasi Trianon who finds herself embroiled in a mystery after surviving a horrible crash in the middle of the desert.
She soon possesses the Traveler's Amulet, which allows her to travel across worlds and, with it, mysterious figures that turn into terrifying creatures. The first-person perspective of the game allows players to see from the character's view. This ultimately leads to an exhilarating yet horrifying experience whenever you encounter creatures.
Several factors in the game, such as managing your light sources, will keep your character's fear in check as well as hiding from monsters and solving puzzles makes for a great gaming experience. The game does not have a unique combat system which makes it even more terrifying as there is no way to beat the monsters instead of outwitting them, running away, or hiding.
10. GTFO
GTFO is a multiplayer action-horror survival game developed by 10 Chambers and can be downloaded through Steam for PC. The game follows four players. They are tasked to scavenge a complex built on top of an asteroid crash site and encounter different creatures while also trying to survive, plan and work together to complete the mission sent by a mysterious entity called The Warden.
Eerie and atmospheric, GTFO is a great reminder of classic sci-fi horror survival games and what it has become. Each creature is grotesque, and every corner can be your last if you are not careful enough. Dark and menacing, the entire game will keep you on your toes, especially when you are in a hallway under a blinking light and you hear strange growling from beyond.
GTFO features a multiplayer platform where you can play with your friends as you explore an underground complex filled with sleeping monsters. Each player must work hand in hand to complete certain tasks while also strategizing and planning their way across certain areas in the game with monsters that can overwhelm the players.
9. The Forest
The Forest is a first-person survival horror video game where you play a stranded survivor searching for his son. You begin to explore the vast forest and encounter different creatures across an open world, including a cannibalistic tribe of mutants. Most of these mutants become aggressive during the night, making it even more horrifying as you try to build your shelter to protect yourself.
The Forest lets you question whether you are the protagonist as you try to survive this new and horrifying world or the antagonist encroaching on the safe space of these woodland creatures, including the mutants. The game features two different endings and each one will depend on the decisions you make throughout the entire game.
What truly makes The Forest unique in the horror survival genre is that it does not have any end game. With so many things to do, including exploration, gathering of resources, fending off the cannibalistic mutants, and building shelter, The Forest lets players take on their destiny in the game.
8. The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan
Imagine playing a horror video game where you get to control the character's morals and apply them to their decision-making. The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan is a game where you play five different characters where you make decisions based on logic or emotion and sometimes, choose not to do anything with the information you are given.
Whether they will help you or harm you, in the end, is up for debate as the narrative changes depending on your choice. Set in what is supposed to be a holiday trip, the game takes a dark turn as players journey aboard a ghost ship.
Every character you play can die or survive, depending on the choices you make. Experience the game together with your friends as you work through the mystery of the ghost ship or be terrified playing alone.
7. Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead 2 is a survival multiplayer horror game where you and your friends can team up and control a character as you explore different scenarios in the game. Developed by Valve, Left 4 Dead 2 is a direct sequel to the widely successful Left 4 Dead game in 2008.
The game comprises four characters with a heavy focus on cooperative gameplay and must survive each campaign to reach different safehouses or checkpoints. You move around a zombie-infested landscape, trying to survive an onslaught of the undead and other creatures that want to tear you apart.
In this game, you and your friends will have to work together to explore the map and perform different tasks while you fend off hordes of zombies along the way. A fun yet terrifying way to spend a night with friends, Left 4 Dead 2 is a massive upgrade from its predecessor that is still being played up to this very day.
6. Little Nightmares II
Little Nightmares II is a platformer horror adventure game by Tarsier Studios and a sequel to Little Nightmares. Published by Bandai Namco and released in February 2021 on Steam, Little Nightmares II follows a little boy named Mono alongside Six, the first game protagonist, as they unravel the dark and horrifying secrets of Pale City.
The game heavily follows the same format as the original game with its 2.5D world. Players must manage to traverse through different platforms while also trying to avoid monstrous images of adults like the Teacher and the Doctor.
In this game, players can grab different items and use them to break different objects or create a makeshift platform to pass through an obstacle. Little Nightmares II is mostly played like a puzzle game; however, its grotesque art and disturbing design make Little Nightmares II an entertaining yet horrifying game to play.
5. Resident Evil 3
Resident Evil 3 is a remake of the widely popular and successful original Resident Evil 3: Nemesis game from the first PlayStation console. Set in the events after the first Resident Evil game, RE3 follows STARS agent Jill Valentine. She tries to survive the infection happening all over Raccoon City while also being hunted down by a monstrous creature known as Nemesis.
Reimagined with better graphics and more action-oriented, Resident Evil 3 offers more gameplay mechanics than the original, including customizing weapons and rolling to avoid getting grabbed by zombies.
The enhanced graphics make for a brooding atmosphere, especially when exploring the ruined streets of Raccoon City or the dark hallways of the Raccoon City Police Department. Resident Evil 3 takes action and the zombie horror fun to the next level.
4. Phasmophobia
Finally, a game where you get to play ghost hunters where you investigate and uncover different types of ghosts along with your friends. Phasmophobia is a perfect game to play together with your friends as you search for clues and gain enough information to identify the type of ghosts you're investigating.
Players get to use thermometers, EMF readers, UV flashlights to communicate, summon, investigate, and protect themselves from the ghost. Released in March of 2020, the game has reached popularity around September and became one of the most streamed games on Twitch and YouTube.
The game's take on paranormal investigation creates a sense of cooperative gameplay for players allowing for a fun, exciting, yet scary experience.
3. Dead by Daylight
Ever fancy becoming a serial killer and go on a killing rampage inside a game? Dead by Daylight is the perfect game to take on a role of a savage killer as you hunt down four other players in the game.
The game is a multiplayer survival horror game where players must avoid the Killer at all costs to succeed in the game, while the Killer must hunt down each survivor to claim victory. Played in a third-person perspective, survivors get to experience the horrors of getting hunted down by either an evil clown creature or a masked assailant based on different horror movie franchises.
Each game has different objectives, but the ultimate goal is to survive. Whether your band together with other players and work as a team or go on your own, it all depends on how you want to stay alive.
2. Resident Evil 2
When it was announced in 2015 that Resident Evil 2 would be remade for the new generation, everyone was excited with Capcom's vision of the game. Resident Evil 2 was released in 2019 and was met with resounding applause from fans of the horror survival game.
Praised for its similarity with the original game but with key enhancements to the gameplay and the environment, Resident Evil 2 became a massive success. The game follows Leon Kennedy, a rookie cop assigned to help a major incident in Raccoon City where he meets Claire Redfield as she searches for his lost brother, Chris.
They soon get separated and both begin their quest to unravel what has happened to the city and its ties to the mysterious Umbrella Corporation. A masterful reimagining of a classic game, Resident Evil 2 is highly praised for its around-the-corner scares as well as terrifying encounters within a beautifully crafted universe.
1. Resident Evil Biohazard
Words cannot describe the experience you get when playing Resident Evil Biohazard. Set in modern rural America where everything is supposed to be normal and boring, you are thrust into a world of terror as you soon find yourself having to search for your missing wife in an empty and derelict plantation occupied by inbreds and other menacing creatures.
The game uses a first-person perspective to amplify the game's horror elements as you try to survive being hunted down by the Baker Family. Resident Evil Biohazard takes a lot of inspiration from the Evil Dead and other horror movie classics.
The nightmare-inducing scene where you spend your dinner with the Baker Family is reminiscent of the classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Resident Evil Biohazard ultimately saved an ailing horror franchise when it decided to go back to its slower-paced survival horror roots instead of going forward with the action-oriented gameplay.
Conclusion
Horror games can be terrifying to play alone, so many of these games often feature a multiplayer mode. Whether you like playing alone or together with your friends, horror games will always be one of the most entertaining types of games that you can play on your PC.
