The PC is home to games of all stripes, ranging from platformers and action games to point-and-click adventures and simulations. It’s also home to some of the scariest, and most terrifying games of all time.
It may not have given rise to either Resident Evil or Silent Hill, but the PC offers a lion’s share of horror games that are every bit as scary as their counterparts on the console, and remain timeless classics. It goes without saying that these titles are no less capable of inspiring fear in the hearts of gamers.
Here are 25 of the scariest games on the PC of all time—and some of them weren’t even designed to be horror games.
Notable Upcoming Horror Games – Amnesia: Machine for Pigs
#25 Slender
We love to be scared, and Slender manages to offer us just the right amount of fear to fit on this list.
Many would say that Slender isn’t so much of a game as it is a short, interactive experience that’s built right into the browser—but we think otherwise. If you love scares, do yourself a favor and play this one with the lights off and the headphones on.
Slender is played entirely in the browser, but that don’t let that stop you from thinking it isn’t anything but a real game.
#24 Doom 3
More notable for its cheap thrills instead of genuine horror, Doom 3 relied on gimmicks like monster closets and a separate flashlight that rendered you defenseless. It is nonetheless one of the scariest games the platform has to offer.
#23 Metro 2033
Metro 2033 is a first person shooter that takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where much of the world has been devastated by nuclear war. Set in Moscow, survivors have found refuge within the city’s underground railway. Unfortunately for the survivors, they aren’t the only ones living beneath the surface. The player must venture out into the open and find a way to destroy the monsters at their source before they make humanity extinct.
#22 Fallout 3
In this post-apocalyptic future of Washington D.C., one man attempts to bring life back to the Capitol Wasteland with the use of pre-war technology. Taking the role of that man’s only child, you are exiled from the Vault—the only place you have ever known—and venture out into the desolate wasteland to find your father, and finish what he started. Unfortunately for you, the wasteland is full of horrors they never told you about in the safety of the Vault.
#21 Aliens vs Predator 2
Fewer things are creepier than having an Alien Facehugger latch onto the back of your head the moment you turn your back to the darkness. Such is the short life of a Colonial Marine in this intense first person shooter, where players can take on the role of a Marine, an Alien or a Predator in three distinct campaigns.
#20 Silent Hill 3
Silent Hill 3 is one of the scarier games in the series to make its way onto the PC from the console. As a port the game played fairly well and managed to preserve everything about it that made it terrifically scary.
Closely resembling the gameplay of the first two games, players take on the role of the mentally troubled Heather, who like the previous protagonists finds herself drawn to the haunted town. She discovers that a cult plans to use her to birth their god.
It may be a port from the console, but don’t let that turn you away from playing one of the best—and scariest—titles the series has to offer.
#19 Clive Barker’s Undying
Written by horror novelist Clive Barker, the story of Undying begins in 1923. War veteran Patrick Galloway receives an urgent letter from his friend, which sends him to the strange and secluded Covenant estate in Ireland, where he must exorcise a house haunted by the spirits of his dying friend’s deceased family.
#18 SCP: Containment Breach
SCP: Containment Breach is a game based upon the SCP Foundation mythos—SCP-870 to be exact. For those not in the know, the SCP Foundation’s an archive of horror stories that’s not unlike something you might see on the X-Files or Fringe.
The game in particular is about a still object—a hideous man-sized doll that needs to be constantly monitored by live humans. If all of those monitoring him blink their eyes for just a second, it’ll go on a murderous rampage amidst the absence of observation.
#17 F.E.A.R.
F.E.A.R. is a first person shooter with strong elements of horror. The protagonist, known only as the “Point Man,” must battle with his sanity while tracking down a psychic soldier gone rogue.
#16 Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason
Cryostasis takes place in an Arktika class nuclear icebreaker called the North Wind, which has become trapped within the ice in the arctic circle. Much like Dan Simmons' horror novel about the ill-fated Franklin Expedition in "The Terror", survivors aboard the North Wind discover that they aren't trapped alone in the ice when members of the crew start to go missing, or worse—insane. The player must attempt to enter the minds of the crewmen he or she encounters through a unique system called Mental Echo, and alter their actions in their memory, thereby changing the course of history. It's like "Source Code" meets "The Terror."
#15 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a first person shooter with elements of horror. In the game, players take on the role of a Stalker who has lost all memory of himself and the events that brought him to Chernobyl’s Zone of Alienation. With only a note in his pocket containing the name of a target, and a gun in his hands, he has to discover his true identity while braving the horrors of the wasteland.
#14 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
Clear Sky is set as a prequel to Shadow of Chernobyl, with players assuming the role of veteran Stalker Scar. While guiding a group of scientists into the Zone of Alienation, a sudden burst of radiation kills the entire group, with the exception of Scar, who is then rescued by an independent organization called Clear Sky. Together with the group, Scar endeavors to discover the secrets of Chernobyl.
#13 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
Set as the sequel to Shadow of Chernobyl, Call of Pripyat takes place soon after the events of the first game. Players take on the role of Degtayev, a special forces soldier sent in by the military to investigate the strange events within the Zone of Alienation.
#12 Condemned: Criminal Origins
Condemned puts players in the shoes of Ethan Thomas, an SCU agent falsely accused of murder. He must attempt to clear his own name while searching for evidence and hunting the real killer in the condemned sections of a fictional American city.
#11 Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
Vampires haven’t been this cool since Bram Stoker wrote Dracula. Playing the role of a newly sired vampire in the domain of Los Angeles, the player must undertake missions provided by the local governors in a plot to recover an ancient archaeological artifact called the Ankaran Sarcophagus. In Los Angeles, the player will venture through a variety of haunted locales, each of them scarier than the last.
#10 BioShock
The only survivor to a horrific plane crash in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the player awakes to find refuge in the underwater city of Rapture. Once a city of dreams and ambitions, the city’s inhabitants have been driven mad by their addiction for a strange substance known as Adam and fight over Rapture’s remains. As the player seeks a way to escape, he is plunged deeper and deeper into the nightmare world beneath the waves.
#9 Thief: Deadly Shadows
In the steampunk setting of The City, players take on the role of Garrett, master thief. Garrett finds himself embroiled in the machinations of The City’s various organizations and finds himself trapped in places that would leave most souls haunted.
#8 Dead Space
Dead Space puts players in the role of Isaac Clarke, an engineer sent to investigate the USG Ishimura, a large mining starship which unearthed a mysterious alien artifact. His ship is damaged upon landing, and he finds himself under assault by undead ‘necromorphs’ made up of the bodies of the ship’s formerly living crew. He must find a way to get off the ship, but not before returning the alien artifact to the planet from which it was excavated.
#7 Dead Space 2
Dead Space 2 takes place two years after the events of the first game, with Isaac Clarke incarcerated aboard Titan Station. Wanted not only for questioning but also for scientific research, Clarke must find his way off the station when all hell breaks loose, all the while battling to save his sanity.
#6 Penumbra: Overture
A first person adventure blending the elements of survival horror, first person shooter and adventure, Penumbra: Overture takes place in a cave deep within the frosts of Greenland. Phillip, the game’s protagonist, is buried alive and must find his way out of the depths of the earth.
#5 Penumbra: Black Plague
Sequel to Penumbra: Overture, Black Plague begins from where the previous game left off, with Phillip waking up from a deep slumber after being knocked out by forces unseen at the end of the first game.
#4 Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
Ripped right out of the pages of H.P. Lovecraft’s tales of suspense and horror, Dark Corners of the Earth puts players in the role of a private investigator who makes his way to Innsmouth, where he uncovers the terrible secrets they hide, all the while battling with his inner demons to preserve his own sanity.
#3 Pathologic
Pathologic puts the player in the role one of three characters, each of whom attempts to uncover the source of a lethal sickness plaguing a small town. As the story takes place across a limited number of days, the player must uncover the mystery by solving various quests before the entire town is dead.
#2 System Shock 2
System Shock 2 is a first person shooter with RPG and survival horror elements. The player wakes up aboard a derelict spaceship, where most of its crew has been killed and turned into undead creatures. The player must find out what happened to the ship’s inhabitants and, if possible, find a way off.
#1 Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Trapped in a strange castle with no recollection of how he got there, Daniel has to find his way out while simultaneously delving deeper into the recesses of his mind. Amnesia is a first person adventure game that offers terror like no other.
