How brave are you?
Got a need for horror year round? In need for a new hidden gem amongst the sea of indie horror out there? Whether you like your horror games soaked in blood or want your chills from something more psychological, you've come to the right place.
Take a look at some of the most obscure and terror inducing indie horror games that you probably never heard of.
10. Organ Trail: Director's Cut
It must be a tight squeeze in the car
In grade school I'd be sat in front of a computer for computer class with a copy of Oregon Trail and attempt to make a noble journey out West. Did eight year old me know what she was doing? Did eight year old me kill everyone within minuets? Eight year old me shouldn't have been trusted with the lives of my virtual family. But twenty year old me has a chance for redemption with Organ Trail.
Organ Trail plays as the Oregon Trail with a zombie twist. Players will be tasked with attempting to drive out west in a station wagon to reach the Sanctuary, a city free of zombies. The game plays as a retro zombie survival game where players need to manage food, ammo, fuel, medkits, and other supplies in order to survive.
It is highly suggested that players name their in game companions after real life friends for an added level of excitement for when an infected party member needs to be shot down.
9. Will Love Tear Us Apart
That's my favorite part of the song
"Will love snare you, heal you, or tear you apart?"
Will Love Tear Us Apart thrusts players back into the sensation of dread that comes with crumbling relationships. Inspired by Joy Division's song "Love Will Tear Us Apart," the game shows the dark and frustrating aspect of love and dating. Each level represents a verse of the song as each part reflects the pain that comes with miscommunication, emotional stalemates, and the heartache of separation. Players progress through a crumbling relationship stylized in disturbing black and white images that will leave them with a sensation of dread from former relationships.
8. Eversion
Zee Tee will haunt your dreams
Enter into the world of the Flower Kingdom where our hero Zee Tee must rescue the Princess from the dastardly Ghulibas. Players will adore the wonderfully unassuming and hand-drawn pixel art of the game. However, not everything is as it appears to be, players will soon discover the hidden lands and secrets of the Flower Kingdom.
What appears to be a charming and childlike Super Mario platforming knock off is just a deception, this is a horror game. Everything slowly changes from cute to gradually horrifying as players progress through the levels. Players will have to see for themselves what horrors await for them and uncover the truth of the Flower Kingdom.
7. Home
Be the pixelated sleuth you always dreamed of
For those who spent their childhoods within Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries it is time to embark on a horrific murder mystery adventure with Home. The game plays as a point and click mystery novel with a dark atmosphere that instills a creeping sense of tension in the player. While players collect clues and make decisions, subtle changes occur. Don't expect to be spoon fed answers, the game leaves a great deal of interpretation up to the players. Home and its story is subjective to each player, as each person strings together their own clues and theories. Players will be kept speculating long after the game is over.
6. Year Walk
Spooky goat-man is ready for a stare down
Players enter into rich folk lore as they play Year Walk. This is a beautifully crafted point and click game is set in 19th century Sweden. Year Walking is an ancient Swedish tradition where men go into the forest at midnight on New Year's Eve in an attempt to see their future. In this game players take control a man on his Year Walk. Players encounter the darker side of folk heritage as they encounter nightmarish creatures and cryptic puzzles. The game encourages and rewards players for checking the in-game encyclopedia to learn about the folklore creatures.
The game features an atmosphere that is both beautiful and creepy. The art is ethereal, working seamlessly with the game's soft and haunting music. Year Walk generates a great deal of fear and suspense in players as the game's tension ranges from a sense of unease to genuine horror. This gorgeously terrifying game will haunt players in the best possible way.
5. DreadOut
We learn that the Smartphone is the most powerful weapon of all
For any Asian horror junkie and lover of lore DeadOut ought to their next greatest scare.
DeadOut is a third person supernatural horror game that follows Linda, a high school student trapped in an old abandoned town. As she and her classmates get separated, Linda discovers that she can sense and see supernatural beings. Equipped with her smart-phone, Linda faces off against terrifying entities and solves puzzles that will determine her fate. Similarly to the Fatal Frame series, picture taking is essential to survival. Her phone camera is used to defeat ghosts, solve puzzles, and uncover hidden passages. Damage is dealt by how well players can take a pictures of ghosts, luckly their weak points can be found through looking into the camera screen.
Every supernatural entity is from Indonesian lore, such as the Babi Ngepet who is someone that gained wealth through black magic at the sacrifice of their humanity and transformed into a bore. In game this creature looks like a normal bore, but when seen through the camera, it has a bloody human face.
When will the rest of us get a ghost hunting app?
4. Lakeview Cabin Collection
When in doubt, drive headfirst into blood soaked murders
Take binge watching horror movies to the next level in Lakeview Cabin Collection. This game is an episodic horror comedy that plays as an exploration of cult horror movies. Players take control of four teenage friends in a summer camp that's been invaded by killers and must survive the horrors of each chapter. Lakeview Cabin Collection plays like a sandbox game where nearly anything is possible.
The game offers tons of replay value as players are given the freedom to do whatever they want, creating unique stories in each session. Feel like getting drunk, naked, participating in foursomes, and sliding down a zip-line while covered in blood? That's all fine and dandy until classic slasher baddies come to chop players down. Planning is key to survival, players need to prepare by setting up traps and weapons around the camp before an ax welding fiend chops everyone up. Or just get hammered and run around camp naked with a woodchipper.
3. Dark Echo
Red lines will scar players post gameplay
Scared of the dark? What if you were trapped in darkness?
In Dark Echo players take control of a blind character who is able to navigate their surroundings through the use of visualized sound. The game is minimalistic and creative as players maneuver through each of the game's 80 levels as each sound created gives a limited visual to the player. Sound bounces off the environment and is represented through lines. The character's footfalls and claps are shown with white lines while red means danger and certain death.
Players must explore, solve puzzles, and try to stay alive as they navigate through the darkness. The game is built around sound design and each sound aids in the players visitation of each level. The sound of buzzing flies, creaking floorboards, and the growl of monsters will keep players on edge, reminding us that the scariest thing may be the unknown.
2. The Forest
Decoration at its finest
Some people dream of having an island to themselves where they can live within nature at their leisure, but these day dreams don't usually come with mutant cannibals.
The Forest is a gorgeously crafted survival horror simulator that follows the sole survivor of a plane crash. The character is lost in a strange forest and battling to stay alive against cannibalistic mutants who are agile, muscular, and intelligent. Gameplay is gripping and engaging as players need to constantly adapt to their surroundings or they will die. The game tells players that they must explore, hunt, gather, build, and defend to survive, then allows players to pursue the game how they wish. The Forest features stunning environments that will captivate players while making players worry about might be hiding out of view.
Players have a great amount of freedom for how they want to tackle the game and as the game is currently an early access title many more features are on the way.
1. Lone Survivor
The strangest thing in the room might be the huge scissors
What is it like to see the world crumbling around you as civilization flickers to an end and monsters roam the land? In Lone Survivor the player controls "You," the masked protagonist trapped in a city ravaged by a disease and monsters. Players follow the protagonist who is falling deeply into depression and has all but given up on survival. He just doesn't want to die alone.
As the player explores the city they'll encounter monsters who they can either kill or hide from as well as other bizarre humans who they can help or ignore. These choices will factor into the protagonist's behavior. The most important thing is keeping your sanity which grows harder as the player and character question what's even real. Every monster killed, human helped, and amount of care for the character, will result in different endings for players. Lone Survivor will leave players with a constant feeling of oppression and dread.
Ready for your next horror gaming session? Or where you already an indie horror expert and fought your way through these games? Got any hidden horror gems you want to share with the rest of us? Let us know in the comments!
