17 BEST Psychological Horror Games of 2022

Gamers have a lot to look forward to in 2022, with one genre getting a fair few titles: the horror type. Fans of being scared out of their skin are in for many weird and wonderful treats this year, that’s for sure. Alternating realities, surrealist nightmares, all the way to fever dream monstrosities trying to tear us limb from limb.

No one is safe in either first or third person, with so many differing spooky offerings to come. There’s some terrifying remakes to remind us how good they were the first time around, as well as new slices of spook from recently founded studios. Homages to older works, throwbacks to the groundbreaking games that paved the well, as well as genre veterans promising to scare the crap out of us with new titles.

With loads of games on the horizon, here are just fifteen new and upcoming psychological horror titles to get excited about.

Disclaimer: Dead Space, Dark Fracture, Stray Souls, Aftermath, The Outlast Trials and Slitterhead was removed as the games are no longer expected in 2022.

#17 Faith: The Unholy Trinity

Developers: Airdorf Games
Publishers: New Blood Interactive
Platforms: PC
Release date: October 21, 2022

Faith: The Unholy Trinity takes inspiration from the classic 8-bit style gameplay and delivers a new terrifying horror experience. In the game, players take the role of a young priest who is called to investigate a demonic possession. As you venture into the home, you uncover satanic works that will test your limits. Fight back against the demons and cultists as you seek to rid this home of Satan’s grips. This is one indie horror game that will keep you pulled in until the end. With the campaign essentially broken up into three chapters, you’ll find that players can finish the entire gameplay experience in just over five hours.

#16 Signalis

Developers: rose-engine
Publishers: Humble Games
Platforms: PC PS4 Xbox One Switch
Release date: October 27, 2022

Signalis is a third-person survival horror game set in the distant future. Humanity has expanded across the universe with the aid of android humanoids called Replika’s. It’s here that players take the role of Elster, a technician replika that crashes down on an unknown planet. Waking up to find her partner is missing, Elster ventures to the planet’s surface, hoping to find them. However, Elster soon learns that there is something far more sinister awaiting that will make it an uphill battle in search of answers. If you enjoy those earlier Resident Evil or Silent Hill games, this might be a title worth investing some time in. For instance, players will find that the game will have limited inventory slots, a narrative well connected to the gameplay, and limited resources. 

#15 The Past Within

Developers: Rusty Lake
Publishers: Rusty Lake
Platforms: PC
Release date: November 02, 2022

When Albert Vanderboom had taken his last breath, it was up to you, his daughter, to resurrect him. Using a series of tasks that require players to collect DNA, players are forced to venture into the past to obtain them. If you enjoy puzzle games, then this might be appealing. But what makes the game a bit different is the fact that you need two players to progress through the game. Players are tossed into a different period, one in the past while the other remains in the future. It’s all about communication as you attempt to solve environmental puzzles that will affect each other’s timelines. Those of you with a knack for solving escape room puzzles will definitely want to give this one a shot. Just remember, two players are required, which means having two copies of the game.

#14 The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil In Me

Developers: Supermassive Games
Publishers: Bandai Namco Entertainment
Platforms: PC PS4 PS5 Xbox One XSX|S
Release date: November 18, 2022

The Dark Pictures Anthology has proven to be quite the hit series, and the first season concluded in 2022. The last game to hit the season was The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me, which plays out similarly to the previous installments. In this particular installment, players follow a group of documentary filmmakers who are invited to the replica Murder Castle of serial killer H.H. Holmes. However, upon arriving at the home, our group suddenly finds themselves having to fight for their lives as a new crazed killer slowly looks to take each character out. Again, the gameplay is similar to the previous installments of The Dark Pictures Anthology, as players are forced to make a series of choices that may prove to be fatal for the group of characters.

#13 CaseCracker

Developers: BlackRobe
Publishers: IndieArk
Platforms: PC
Release date: December 19, 2022

CaseCracker is a text-based detective game. Players are taking the role of a detective working with a new system to solve crimes. In the game, players use the new software to pinpoint clues and match them with suspects. Of course, with the game being text-based, it’s up to players to pay close attention to everything or seek new clues via search warrants along with decoding encrypted content. Each case will also connect, meaning you may have to venture back and look at your past work. Overall, the game has had quite a bit of positive reception, with players typically finding the in-game help system lacking. As a result, there’s a ton of focus here on being incredibly observant. 

#12 Inside the Backrooms

• Developer: MrFatcat
• Release date: June 20, 2022 Early Access
• Platform: Microsoft Windows
• Publishers: MrFatcat, Dropsiick

Inside the Backrooms looks to be scratching an itch for horror game fans who want to feel more mentally tortured. It’s a multiplayer title in which players explore environments and try to escape by solving various puzzles with unique mechanics. As you progress, you’ll need to identify the horrific creatures that await so that you can know how to avoid them. A variety of collectible items are essential to survival, and the game can even be played in VR if you’re feeling extra brave. More levels, puzzles, and entities are also in development, so there’s plenty to look forward to.

#11 Deadly Broadcast

• Developer: Apphic Games
• Publisher: Apphic Games
• Platform: PC
• Release: 9th May 2022

Kicking off this list is the “camcorder game” variant of game. Made popular by Outlast in 2014, the sub-genre of horror saw a massive popularity spike with Phasmophobia. Deadly Broadcast looks to capture that essence, offering a co-op focused first person horror with a twist.

Players are live-streaming from an old mental hospital, the most cliche of cliche’s, whilst streaming to an audience. With clues from the stream, up to four players will have to work together to escape the horror experiments lying within.

As mentioned later, multiplayer and horror don’t usually have the scary effect, but add an audience element to it and anything is possible.

#10 Mirror Forge

• Developer: MystiveDev
• Publisher: MystiveDev
• Platform: PC
• Release: 29th April 2022

Another first person fright-fest, Mirror Forge puts players through hell via a variety of alternate realities. Eschewing heavy action, this game looks to favour logic and deduction, as well as hiding from whatever lurks in the dark.

Time-travel/parallel dimension horror is still a relatively untapped market, so Mirror Forge has the chance to strike oil here. Logic puzzles across different periods of time, making use of past and future elements whilst trying not to be caught is surely to engage the cerebellum.

#9 Ikai

• Developer: Endflame
• Publisher: PM Studios
• Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch
• Release: 29th March 2022

It’s been a while since we’ve had a decent Japanese psychological horror, outside of the likes of Project Zero. Ikai, then, looks to bring some prominence back to the J-horror game genre.

Focusing on more traditional aspects of yokai horror and folklore, Ikai puts players through a first person fright into the past. There seems to be a very literal hands-on theme throughout, putting players in tense, claustrophobic environments.

It lacks the polish of big budget games, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be terrifying. Graphics don’t need to be AAA budget when they’re small, tight spaces.

#8 MADiSON

• Developer: BLOODIOUS GAMES
• Publisher: BLOODIOUS GAMES
• Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X
• Release: 2021

Another camera-based game now, MADiSON puts a slight twist on the formula. This time around, you are the one committing the atrocities. Protagonist Luca is the unlucky victim of a demon, possessing him to complete a ritual started long before his time.

Much like the framing of Indigo Prophecy, MADiSON sees players either try and escape the madness they’re being subjected to… or delve further into it. Every character you meet along the was has a motive, or sinister past, and it’s up to Luca to find out what that is. Then, of course, it’s up to the player to decide their fate.

#7 FOBIA – St. Dinfna Hotel

• Developer: Maximum Games
• Publisher: Pulsatrix Studios
• Platform: PS4, PS5,
• Release: TBC

As the name suggests, FOBIA sets players loose in a hotel brimming with monsters. Armed with weapons and logic, they’ll be tasked with finding out what’s going on in the not-so-abandoned attraction. Survival and puzzles are on the cards here.

Looking to crib off the reinvented angle that Resident Evil VII took, FOBIA goes one further with a technological bent too. The game promises “genetic modifications and parallel realities”, adding some techno-horror to up the ante.

It looks promising, let’s just hope it maintains the horror aspect instead of devolving into a mindless shooter towards the final act… like Resident Evil VII did.

#6 Choo-Choo Charles

• Developer: Two Star Games
• Publisher: Two Star Games
• Platform: PC
• Release: Spring 2022

As many would agree, spiders and clowns are terrifying. Combine the two and it’s already a scary thought, but trains? They’re not scary, normally, unless it’s a spider clown train. A horrifying concept, Choo-Choo Charles tasks you with taking out the titular train terror.

Players can customise their own train, plan missions ahead and figure out the best way to keep the menace at bay. The spider-train can strike at any time, keeping players on their toes and tracks throughout.

Featuring both literal on-rails and exploratory elements, Choo-Choo Charles look to evoke that Slenderman/FNAF creepiness with its terrifying mascot. I don’t even like looking at.

#5 Martha Is Dead

• Developer: LKA
• Publisher: Wired Productions
• Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X
• Release: February 2022

A game set towards the end of World War II, Martha Is Dead deals with a completely different element of horror. Whilst the war is mentioned, it plays backdrop to a broken family, told through the eyes of Giulia, who’s twin sister Martha is… well, dead. As the name suggests.

Yet unlike the simple naming convention, the story is anything but. Leading players through shocking revelations, these are echoed in some truly disturbing moments throughout. Edited for the PlayStation version, yet remaining in all others, Martha Is Dead touted the “no press is bad press” angle when streamers and critics got hold of it.

Stomach your way through, however, and there’s an engrossing story to be told. A few technical issues don’t hinder the overall look of the game, and the shocks will have you sat on the edge of your seat.

#4 The Chant

• Developer: Brass Token
• Publisher: Prime Matter, Koch Media
• Platforms: PC, PS5, PS4, XBO, X/S
• Release: November 3, 2022

The Chant is a single-player, third-person psychological horror game set for release towards the end of this year and another game that emphasizes the need for survival. It is set on a remote spiritual island retreat where players must survive by crafting all kinds of different things, fighting whatever comes their way, while escaping the plethora of psychedelic horrors that have been let loose. These terrors are due to a spiritual ritual that went wrong and somehow awoke a dimension of cosmic terror. The early whispers surrounding this game are positive, so be sure to keep an eye on it when it drops.

#3 The Quarry

• Release date: June 10, 2022
• Developer: Supermassive Games
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows
• Publishers: 2K Sports, 2K Games

Horror games in the genre are not exactly what people picture at times. Mainly in that they try REALLY hard to go for scares and sometimes it fails. Also, the narrative is usually pretty fantastical. But in The Quarry, a more narrative-focused and low-key approach is taken for the most part.

You play as a set of teenagers who are camp counselors at a camp that they stay a bit too long at. This leads to a series of events that you help dictate and will feel the consequences of. Everything you do could have a life or death choice down the road. Who lives and who dies will be chosen by you whether you realize it or not.

But fear not, you can try and “undo” those deaths…if you do the right things of course.

#2 The Callisto Protocol

• Developer: Striking Distance Studios
• Publisher: KRAFTON
• Platform: PC, PS5, Xbox Series S|X
• Release: TBC 2022

Much like Slitterhead, there’s a pedigree behind The Callisto Protocol. It’s from the mind of Glen Schofield, co-creator of Dead Space. So whilst it is over-the-shoulder, and those familiar with EA’s horror title (more on that later) will recognise elements, it promises to be an entirely new game.

It’s also got Call of Duty veterans on board, so fans should expect solid action, or at the very least, finely tuned gunplay. Schofield assures that the team are “passionate developers”, so hopefully that spark that Dead Space generated will be ignited later this year when The Callisto Protocol arrives.

#1 Scorn

• Developer: Ebb Software
• Publisher: Ebb Software
• Platform: PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X
• Release: October 2022

The works of surrealist H. R. Geiger have influenced many works over the years, most notably the Alien franchise. Whilst others have taken inspiration, Scorn looks to pay heavier tribute than most.

A first person affair, Scorn looks like a trip through Geiger’s mind, directed by David Cronenberg. Weird, fleshy weapons against a surreal, sci-fi backdrop make for an already disturbing looking game.

Presented as non-linear, emphasis will be based on player control to piece together what’s happened in this nightmare-ish world. Expect gruesome monstrosities and body horror aplenty as you discover the truth.