When it comes to new horror games, there are times of feast and famine, and this past year we binged until our stomachs exploded and our mouths dripped with horror grease. In 2024, we found a rich spread of dark experiences from solo creators, indie teams, AA developers and AAA studios in a huge range of visual genres and styles. There was fun Silent Hill 2 rework and have updates of contemporary classics such as Phasmophobia, Alan Wake 2 again Extreme Trialsand there has also been a strong surge in brand new horror franchises that are expanding the genre in unexpected ways.
First, let’s take a moment to celebrate a sampling of the new horror universes of the year. In 2024, we got the following new titles:
This isn’t an exhaustive list of new horror franchises in 2024, but it’s a fair demonstration of how big and varied the offerings were this year. Indie studios lead the way when it comes to new ideas and original engineering, of course, but there are also many references to early 2000s graphics and PS1- or PS2-era survival horror in this list. The combination of creativity and nostalgia is especially powerful in topics like Afraid of the Spotlight, Crow Country, Mouthwash again Hollowbody. The games infuse blocky 3D worlds with a modern feel and smooth animations, resulting in an experience that evokes strong memories of Resident Evil again Silent Hill which are listening to us in our heads. This is how we wanted those games to feel, fixed camera angles be damned – or, if Hollowbodythey embrace each other with love.
It should also be noted that Afraid of the Spotlight marks acclaimed horror filmmaker Blumhouse’s debut as a video game publisher. Afraid of the Spotlight the first release in the Blumhouse line-up – which includes future titles from EYES OUT, Half Mermaid, Perfect Garbage, Playmestudio and Vermila Studios – and is an excellent exploration of low-key teen drama and horror. The horror game revolution is upon us and Blumhouse is going to grab a piece.
A little game like the most scary in the list above can be Kunitsu-Gami: The Way of the Goddessand it is also the only title from the AAA studio. I included it because, as a devoted fan of horror games, I think Kunitsu-Gami checks a lot of boxes: It features giant, hideous demons and a deadly disease that engulfs entire cities in a skeletal yet incredibly juicy form. Its monster designs include colorful displays of lechery and body horror, and there’s a luxury to be found in its intense strategy-action gameplay loop. Kunitsu-Gami it wasn’t marketed as horror, and it certainly contains as many scenes of gore as it does grotesquerie, but I recommend it wholeheartedly to any horror fan. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
INDICA some entries stick to the horror, camp and religious satire genres, but include a few scenes of soul-crushing horror. Also, the real devil is your friendly companion throughout the game, and that has to count for something. Amid scenes of misery, cruelty and destruction, INDICA is a laugh riot, and is a prime example of mature themes handled well in video game form. Another highlight is the added bend from the 2024 Simogo Lorelei and Laser Eyes. It contains surprisingly satisfying logical puzzles in a hotel made of mysteries – but phantoms haunt the corridors, there’s a corpse in the back garden and every scene drips with tangible relief. Lorelei and Laser Eyes is one of the best and least favorite games of the year, period.
He still awakens Ujulaon the other hand, it offers a familiar and beautiful kind of monster-stalking horror on an oil rig in the middle of a raging North Sea. A must-play game for any horror fan, it serves as a vehicle for The Chinese Room to showcase its skills in creating authentic worlds and cultivating an enduring tension with a paranormal edge. Also, one of the best looking games I’ve played on PS5 all year. Slitterhead is one of the best horror games out there, presenting a supernatural mystery in a Hong Kong version haunted by body-snapping demons, featuring buckets of blood and intense close-quarters combat.
The year started with the release of Home Safety Hotlinea 1990s call center simulation where players help diagnose and treat household pests, including earthly threats such as Bed Teeth, Fae Flu, The Horde, Laundry Gnome, Mirror Nymph, Toilet Hobb, Unicorn Fungi and more. Home Safety Hotline it was actually a funny bouche of a 2024 horror game – again Mouthwash dessert.
All the scary kids today are playing MouthwashA polygonal first person wanders a stranded spaceship full of doomed crew members slowly losing their minds, guided by a crippled captain with a bandaged smiling lunatic. Mouthwash it’s weird and claustrophobic, and it’s a great way to end the year with horror games.
But we haven’t talked about existing franchises yet. I Silent Hill 2 remake from Bloober Team, the Polish studio behind Layers of Fear and Blair Witchit was a resounding success, even against the strict standards of longtime fans of the series. The remake looks and feels like the game players remember, only shinier and smoother, too Silent Hill 2 it remains as threatening in 2024 as it was at the beginning in 2001. Maybe even more. The Bloober Team had a lot to prove with this one, and they made us proud of the awesome Millennial players.
Alan Wake 2 was one of the best games of 2023, horror or otherwise, and received two significant DLC packs this year: Night Springs it came in june again Lake Houses It went into effect in October. Each piece of content not only keeps the hellish world of Alan Wake alive, but adds depth to the diverse landscape that Remedy creates between Control and Alan Wake. Personally I always want more Alan Wake, and in that regard, 2024 did not disappoint.
Two live indie games, Extreme Trials again Phasmophobiaand has seen major updates in the past 12 months. After early entry in May 2023, Extreme Trials Studio Red Barrels has been working to establish a steady cadence of new content drops, and this year they really hit the groove. Extreme Trials was fully launched in March 2024 and has received many updates since then, introducing new enemies, maps, game modes and limited-time events for players trapped in the Murkoff Corporation’s secret Sinyala Facility. The amount of work Red Barrels puts into it Extreme Trials is endlessly impressive, especially considering there are only about 65 engineers at the studio.
Phasmophobia it has a smaller team than Red Barrels, but they are making big moves. The staff at UK studio Kinetic Games have kept up Phasmophobia has been alive since its launch on Steam in September 2020, and this year, they finally brought a ghost hunting game to console. Phasmophobia hit PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on October 29, and also came to PS VR2. Kinetic Games has great plans for continued support and expansion Phasmophobia 2025 and beyond, so even if the console’s release happens four years after launch, this is just the beginning.
Here it is – our low order to horror games in 2024. It’s been twelve months of indie innovation and a fantastic year, with a side dish of great changes and major updates. Some new horror games challenge genre boundaries, expanding our ideas of what is scary and why, while others find new ways to dissect classic tropes. It’s a matter of modern cuisine versus comfort food, and on my plate, there’s plenty of room for both.
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