18 BEST Survival Horror Games of 2022

The scares won’t stop in 2022. Get ready to hack and slash through the undead, run from a demonic train, and hide from a horrifying nun in these survival horror titles expected this year.

Disclaimer: Dead Space, Sons of the Forest, The Invincible, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, Derelicts, No More Room in Hell 2, Unholy, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dark Moonlight, Instinction, Stray Souls, The Outlast Trials, Aftermath was removed as the games are now slated for 2023.

#18 Saturnalia

Developer: Santa Ragione
Publisher: Santa Ragione
Platforms: PC PS4 Xbox One PS5 XSX|S Switch
Release: October 27, 2022

In most gaming titles, the point of the game is to make it through a carefully crafted world to reach a certain result. But that’s not easy to do when the game continually shifts the world and makes you start from scratch upon every death.

That’s the gameplay loop of Saturnalia that you’ll need to get used to. The title focuses on the lore of a town in Italy, where four characters must search through a village to learn the truth about a great darkness approaching.

#17 Signalis

Developer: rose-engine
Publisher: Humble Games
Platforms: PC PS4 Xbox One Switch
Release: October 27, 2022

If you’re looking for a more sci-fi spin on the horror genre while also having some interesting action elements, get Signalis.

In the title, humanity has embraced its solar system and colonized it. There are androids that serve the human populace known as Replikas. You are Elster, a Replika who has awoken on a cold world in a destroyed facility without knowing how they got there. They search for their partner in a world where dangers are abundant.

Find resources to survive, and use what you can to solve the puzzles you encounter so you can learn the truth about yourself!

#16 Bendy and the Dark Revival

Developer: Joey Drew Studios / Kindly Beast
Publisher: Joey Drew Studios / Kindly Beast
Platforms: PC
Release: November 15, 2022

You might think that a game based on an old-school animation character wouldn’t be that scary. But if you try Bendy and the Dark Revival, you’ll get a different opinion on that.

In the title, you’ll play someone who is trapped inside an old animation study—one where they seem to worship an ink-based character as a kind of god. Now, you must escape this place, but it won’t be easy when there could be danger around every corner!

Explore the animation studio, find allies who can help you, and beware of the terror that is always lurking. Do you think you can make it back home?

#15 Ghost Watchers 

• Developer: Renderise
• Publisher: Renderise
• Platforms: PC
• Release: 28 July 2022

Ghost Watchers is a co-op online game where you and your friends can be ghost hunters together. With plenty of haunted houses to choose from, your goal is to start looking for ghosts and gathering clues about them. In an interesting twist, you have to find one of eight unique ghost types and then figure out how old they are. Not all of the ghost types are former humans either. You may come across several different ghosts of creatures and demons. Once you know what it is, how old it is, and, funny enough, what kind of mood it’s in, you have to capture it! At your disposal you can choose from 20 different tools for hunting and capturing. The view is creepy, but at least you don’t have to play alone.

#14 Inside the Backrooms

• Developer: MrFatCat 
• Publisher: MrFatCat, Dropsiick
• Platforms: PC, Oculus Quest
• Release: 20 July 2022

Based on the imaginings of creepypasta, Inside the Backrooms is a creeptastic co-op online game. In teams of up to four players, explore a setting that the developers considered dread inducing: dimly lit buildings with yellowed wallpaper and old carpeting. Currently, there are four levels, with each being more difficult than the last. The main objective of the game is to solve a series of puzzles, some more difficult than others, while also avoiding the six types of entities that may appear around every corner. The entities are based off of the original creepypasta and learning all about them is the best way to survive an encounter. If puzzles and monsters aren’t enough stress, you also have to manage yourself by finding and collecting things like flashlights and pills for your anxiety. It’s a good time! And it is VR capable on the Oculus Quest, but that might not be for the faint of heart.

#13 Video Horror Society 

• Developer: Hellbent Games
• Publisher: Hellbent Games
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows
• Release: 18 July 2022

Video Horror Society, which can hilariously be shortened to VHS, is a fantastic throwback to the golden age of horror: the 1980s. Inside a VHS rental store, the creature films and horror flicks have suddenly escaped their cassette prisons. Now their mission is to scare the life out of any of the small-town teens that they can get their hands on. In this 4v1 game, as a teen, you will have to outrun and fight a variety of classic movie monsters using classic horror movie techniques. Use fire to burn the monster away, or purify them with a cross. While running through the labyrinth-like environment, teamwork and quick thinking may be the only way to survive this trip to the movies.

#12 Gloomwood 

• Developer: New Blood Interactive
• Publisher: New Blood Interactive
• Platforms: PC
• Release: Early Access 6 September 2022

Gloomwood is an artfully crafted stealth and survivor game that allows players to take control of their adventure. In a dangerous city full of terrifying creatures, explore the intricately detailed city in search of weapons and more. Scurry over roofs and shimmy through underground tunnels because no room in this game is locked to you. Just do it quietly. The stealth and sound system in the game will even monitor your steps for being too noisy. You may accidentally attract one of the monsters with sharp senses and have to fight back! You can also collect unique, steampunk weapons to use in your fight. Some of the more unique abilities are little things such as peaking through cracks to spy and leaning in to eavesdrop. It takes stealth to a new level.

#11 Martha is Dead

• Release date: February 24, 2022
• Developer: LKA
• Publisher: Wired Productions
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 5

Martha is Dead is a survival horror game set in the closing years of World War II in German-occupied Italy. Released in February 2022, the game is arguably most famous at this point for being censored on PlayStation consoles. Some of the more graphic content was removed from that version of the game. The game remains censor-free on Xbox and PC. Censoring the game naturally caused a Streisand effect and now more people know about it than probably ever would have. Besides the censored (or un-censored on Xbox and PC) content, Martha is Dead is a truly horrifying (in the best way) experience.

#10 Choo-Choo Charles 

What are the things nightmares are made of? It depends on what you are afraid of, and some people are afraid of things you wouldn’t expect. For example, some people are afraid of trains. If you are one of those people, you’ll want to stay away from Choo-Choo Charles.

The game is a demented spin on the concept of Thomas the Tank Engine, where a demented monster of a train haunts an area of train tracks, and it’s up to you to stop it.

The problem is your train isn’t ready for combat yet. So you’ll wander the tracks looking for materials and completing missions so you can build up your trains’ power, speed, and endurance. Then, when it’s ready, take out Charles!

#9 DYING:1983 

• Developer: NEKCOM
• Publisher: 2P Games
• Platform: PC, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch
• Release: 2022 (Released in Japan on February 17, 2022)

Horror-themed first-person exploration puzzle game DYING:1983 has already hit the PlayStation 5 in Japan, with a western release planned for later in 2022. Players will explore highly-detailed 3D environments, using a variety of props to solve mystery after mystery and discover the hidden truth behind the scenes. (And yes, the iconic DYING franchise character Fishhead is back).

#8 Scorn 

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

Serbian developer Ebb Software developed Scorn with the idea of “being thrown into the world” in mind, and as such, players will get very little context as they begin their adventure in this unsettling environment. Playing as a skinless humanoid lost on an alien planet filled with creatures made of steel, flesh, and bone, you’ll have to use your shotgun to get out alive.

#7 Evil Nun: The Broken Mask 

• Developer: Glowstick Entertainment
• Publisher: Keplerians, Glowstick Entertainment
• Platform: PC
• Release: 2022

What better way to make friends and enjoy your summer vacation than attending a religious summer camp? As it turns out, this is all a hoax, and players will need to find a way to escape from Sister Madeline, a nun who punishes naughty children with her giant hammer. Keep in mind: she can pop up anywhere.

#6 MADiSON

• Developer: BLOODIOUS GAMES
• Publisher: BLOODIOUS GAMES
• Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
• Release: 2022

The Steam page for MADiSON asks one terrifying question: “What would you do if you woke up locked in a dark room, with your hands covered in blood?” Playing as Luca, the game will demand players endure the torture of the demon MADiSON. Will you be able to commit abominable acts in order to free yourself from her clutches?

#5 Fobia St. Dinfna Hotel 

• Developer: Pulsatrix Studio
• Publisher: Maximum Games
• Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
• Release: 2022 (Demo Available Now)

Fobia St. Dinfna Hotel is an intense psychological horror title. Taking place in a fancy hotel controlled by a technologically advanced sect, players soon realize that human experimentation is taking place by members of this strange religion. You’ll need to fight back against these monstrous creatures to make it out alive.

#4 Nemesis: Distress 

• Developer: Ovid Works, Awaken Realms Digital
• Publisher: TBA
• Platform: PC
• Release: 2022

Indie developers Ovid Works and Awaken Realms Digital are ready to bring fans a first-person horror multiplayer adaptation of the Nemesis board game in 2022. Taking place on a ship that has been infiltrated by a deadly alien species, each player will receive an objective unknown to the rest of the participants and will have 40 minutes to complete it. Sure, sounds suspiciously familiar, but the horror aspect plays a major part.

#3 Evil Dead: The Game 

• Developer: Saber Interactive
• Publisher: Boss Team Games
• Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
• Release: May 13, 2022

Saber Interactive is paying homage to the Evil Dead franchise in the best way. Evil Dead: The Game will feature co-op and PvP gameplay, over 25 weapons (including Ash’s chainsaw), and multiple maps, including the cabin in the woods from the Evil Dead film series.

#2 The Quarry 

• Developer: Supermassive Games
• Publisher: 2K
• Platforms: Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
• Released: 10 June 2022

The Quarry is a fast-paced, terrifying adventure, but the best part is, you decide how it ends. The story begins with two newly hired camp counselors driving to Hackett’s Quarry late at night. When something flashes in front of them and drives them off the road, the local Sheriff appears to warn them off. Flash forward two months later, seven more camp counselors are finished with the summer’s festivities. Left with one last night together, they shirk a warning to stay indoors and decide to throw a party. They will quickly realize that they are not alone in the Quarry, but it won’t be easy to make it to sunrise.

In this narrative-driven game, you play each of the nine camp counselors by the end of the ten chapters. A series of decisions will be yours to make throughout the game. Some will be small, but others will be game changing. Based on all of your decisions and a few fast-action sequences, there are186 different endings to the game! Which characters live or die is in your hands as you make your choices to build character and run from the monsters that are trying to bite you.

#1 The Callisto Protocol 

• Developer: Striking Distance Studios, Inc., Skybound Entertainment
• Publisher: KRAFTON
• Platform: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
• Release: 2022

From Glen Schofield’s studio Striking Distance comes The Callisto Protocol. Set in the same narrative universe as PUBG, though set several centuries in the future, the game takes place at a prison colony on Jupiter’s moon Callisto. Players will find themselves in the shoes of a prisoner in the midst of an alien invasion engineered by the prison’s warden. Given that Schofield co-created the Dead Space series, this will be a good one.