24 Best PC Psychological Horror Games That You Should Be Playing

There are plenty of awesome games but if you are looking for a thrill and some unsettlement look no further. We’ve prepared a list of the best psychological horror games available on PC, but some of them can also be played on other platforms. Check out these amazing games if you are on the hunt for the most thrilling and scary experience! You will need nerves of steel before playing some of these games. Chills, literal chills.

#24 Silent Hill 2

Platforms: PC, PS5
Release Date: October 8, 2024

Steam | PlayStation

Who doesn’t love a good survival horror game? So many iconic franchises have thrived in this genre, but most would point to a few notable games that stand out among the rest. Among that list is definitely Silent Hill 2. This is such a cherished installment to the franchise as you watch a man named James head into the desolate, foggy town of Silent Hill in hopes his deceased wife is somehow still alive. The twists and turns that come will take you for quite a ride. So move carefully, study the environments, gather those scarce resources, and prepare to give your mind a workout from the slew of puzzles that lay ahead. 

#23 Demonologist

Platform: PC
Release Date: September 25, 2023

Steam

Is there anything more psychological than going into a place that you KNOW is haunted…but you aren’t sure what exactly is haunting it? In Demonologist, you’ll have the choice to go into haunted locations by yourself or with allies and use your various equipment to try and figure out what roams around.

Not everything is simply a ghost, so you’ll need to be mindful of what you do, and then when you locate the entity, you’ll need to exorcise it! Your voice will add to the horror as the spirits and houses will react to your words.

So whatever you choose to do, be careful.

#22 Dredge

Platform: PC PS4 Xbox One PS5 XSX|S Switch 
Release Date: March 30, 2023

Steam | Playstation | Xbox | Nintendo

For ages, sailors would tell tales of the high seas and the dangers that lurked beneath the waves. But many of these tales were far-fetched, exaggerated, or simply not true. However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t monsters of the deep, and in Dredge, you will get up close and personal with many of them.

Your journey will start as a simple fisherman trying to make their way and learn the truth about the islands they fish within. But once you dare to brave the darkened waters at night, you’ll see just how many “bigger fish” there are out there and how small your boat feels in comparison.

So you best start believing in monster fish stories. You’re in one.

#21 The Outlast Trials

Platform: PC
Release Date: May 18, 2023

Steam

If you’re a fan of horror games, then you’ve likely either played or at least know about The Outlast franchise. Two mainline installments have been released, and before we get The Outlast 3, we’re getting a multiplayer-focused horror experience. Set well before the events of the first two games, and players will find that The Outlast Trials is set during the Cold War. You will soon find yourself being nothing more than a test subject locked behind the cruel imprisonment of the Murkoff Corporation. You are used to test brainwashing and other unethical experiments further. To get out, you’ll need to complete a series of tests. But much like the other games, you’ll find a slew of enemies looking for you to meet your demise. Within the game, you’re sent off to complete a series of tasks, and again, just like the previous two games, you’re best to avoid enemies when possible, which means running for your life or finding a quick hiding spot. Fortunately, you can either play this as a solo experience or seek some help with friends through online cooperative multiplayer.

#20 Devotion

• Developer: Red Candle Games
• Publisher: Winking Entertainment
• Platforms: PC
• Release Date: February 19, 2019

Devotion is a psychological first-person survival horror game. The action of game takes place in the 1980s in Taiwan. It is a surrealistic horror where most of the game is shown in first person view with some platforming elements shown in the third person. The story is about our main protagonist watching TV and after a while everything becomes weird and our hero feels worse and worse until he loses contact with reality. When he recovers everything seems different. What happened? You need to find out!

#19 Detention

• Developer: Red Candle Games
• Publisher: Coconut Games
• Platforms: PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: January 12, 2017

Detention is a side-scrolling adventure game with survival horror elements. It is the first game of the studio responsible for the abovementioned Devotion game. It is also set in Taiwan but about twenty years before the other game. The game takes place during times of war in Taiwan, and the story revolves around Greenwood highschool. Students discover some weird surrealistic events that are happening all around their school where monsters from legends come alive.

#18 Get Even

• Developer: The Farm 51
• Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
• Platforms: PC, PS4, XBO
• Release Date: June 23, 2017

Get Even is a weird hybrid game combining a lot of different directions because it is an adventure psychological horror but it involves a lot of shooting and walking around. It is the first attempt of Farm 51 at a horror game with previous action-packed games like Painkiller Hell & Damnation for example. In the game, you play as Cole Black who is a P.I. and you need to rescue a young girl that went missing near a psychiatric building. You do not remember anything, what’s going on?

#17 Doki Doki Literature Club!

• Developer: Team Salvato
• Publisher: Team Salvato
• Platforms: PC
• Release Date: September 22, 2017

Doki Doki Literature Club is a weird visual novel where you play as a boy who is a member of a literary club in the school. You meet some girls and the game starts but not everything is as it seems. These girls are Sayori, Natsuki, Yuri, and Monika. It all starts like a romantic comedy but it becomes really weird and horror-ish really quickly. It is an unlikely combination that just works, the game is also free to play.

#16 Observer

• Developer: Bloober Team
• Publisher: Aspyr Media, Inc.
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, XBO, X/S, Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: August 15, 2017

Observer is a futuristic first-person psychological thriller. You play a detective that gets called up to a weird and poor hotel. Most of the game will have you exploring crime scenes, and corridors of the hotel and traversing through cyberpunk buildings and rooms. There are a lot of mysteries hidden between these walls, and you need to solve them. There is not much combat in the game, but dialogues and all of the unknown will keep you on the edge of your seat.

#15 Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water

• Developer: Koei Tecmo
• Publisher: Koei Tecmo
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, XBO, X/S, Nintendo Switch, WiiU
• Release Date:

Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is the fifth game in the series that started way back on the PS2 console. You play as three separate characters. The whole story of the game is all about Hikayama mountain, a mysterious place where people are going towards death itself. You will follow the journey of three characters Yuuri Kozukata, Miu Hinasaki, and Ren Hojo. Every hero has their own motivation and reason to go for that adventure.

#14 Outlast Series

• Developer: Red Barrels
• Publisher: Red Barrels
• Platforms: PC, PS4, XBO, Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: 2013 – first game in the series

The whole Outlast series started almost ten years ago and it is a series of adventure survival horror games. In these titles, you mostly explore, hide and run away. The games take you to different places and have you relive some gruesome sightings. The games are really scary, with lots of atmosphere build-up by the camera and green-ish lighting. There is also another title coming next year to the franchise called The Outlast Trials.

#13 Visage

• Developer: SadSquare Studio
• Publisher: SadSquare Studio
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, XBO, X/S
• Release Date: October 30, 2020

Visage is a first-person psychological horror game. It is all centered around a house that is in the middle of horrible things that are happening inside for a long time. Families that were living there in the past either were murdered or committed suicide. The whole action takes place inside this house and revolves around the exploration of various rooms and places in order to discover the secrets that hide within the walls.

#12 Fran Bow

• Developer: Killmonday Games
• Publisher: Killmonday Games
• Platforms: PC
• Release Date: August 27, 2015

Fran Bow is a 2D adventure game with the classic point-and-click style that tells a story of a small girl that has some real mental issues going around. It is the first game of the studio and what a debut that was. You are accompanied by your only friend, a cat named Mr. Midnight. The whole game is about exploitation, solving puzzles, and managing your equipment. You will need to use medication for example and other items you find along the way.

#11 The Evil Within Series

• Developer: Tango Gameworks
• Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
• Platforms: PC, PS4, XBO
• Release Date: 2014 – first game in the series

There are two games in a series, both third-person survival horror games that follow the story of one detective named Sebastian Castellanos and his mental adventures. There is a lot of fighting weird inhumane enemies as well as running away from powerful monsters that are trying to get you. It is a typical linear game, where you mostly run around shoot, hide and occasionally solve a puzzle or two.

#10 Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

• Developer: Ninja Theory
• Publisher: Ninja Theory
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, XBO, X/S, Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: August 8, 2017

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a third-person game set in a fantasy world inspired by Norse mythology. It is the first game in the series with the second one on the horizon. You play as Senua, a Celtic warrior who goes on an adventure into a Viking hell to fight for the soul of her fallen lover. You need to face creatures living there, monsters, and other life-threatening dangers. Most of the game’s world is things that Senua herself imagines. It is a representation of real-life schizophrenia.

#9 Layers of Fear

• Developer: Bloober Team
• Publisher: Bloober Team
• Platforms: PC, PS4, XBO, Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: February 16, 2016

Layers of Fear is a polish horror game inspired by XIX-century painters and paintings but portrayed in a very scary manner. It is a first-person horror game where you play as a painter and you want to finish your art, however, the protagonist struggles with psychological problems and traumas which results in a game that we are able to see. It is all about exploration of the mansion of the painter and discovering new items and interacting with the environment.

#8 Deadly Premonition

• Developer: Access Games
• Publisher: Rising Star Games
• Platforms: PC, PS3, X360, Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: February 23, 2010

The game itself is not quite new and it does not look amazing to the eye, but do not get fooled by what you see at first sight, because Deadly Premonition is a great adventure game with survival-horror and RPG elements. You play as an FBI agent who needs to solve some mysterious murders that are happening in a small, American city.

#7 The Medium

• Developer: Bloober Team
• Publisher: Bloober Team
• Platforms: PC, PS5, X/S
• Release Date: January 28, 2021

The Medium is the newest game by the polish Bloober TEam who specializes in psychological horror. In this title, you play as a woman who can see two worlds at once and travel between them. Your goal is to solve a murder of a kid. The action takes place in an abandoned hotel Niwa, and you, playing as Marianne, are exploring both worlds. The camera is fixed, similar to the old Resident Evil or Silent Hill games it was inspired by.

#6 Alan Wake

• Developer: Remedy Entertainment
• Publisher: THQ Nordic
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, XBO, X/S, Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: May 14, 2010

Alan Wake came out over a decade ago but in 2021 we got a remastered version of the game so it is available on all modern platforms. Alan Wake is one of the best survival-horror games ever made. It follows a story of a writer named as Alan Wake of course. You are suffering from a burn-out and your wife takes you on a vacation. However, she disappears and you need to find her. It turns out that Bright Falls is a place full of dark forces and you need to face them in this TPP game.

#5 Amnesia Series

• Developer: Frictional Games
• Publisher: Frictional Games
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, XBO, X/S, Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: September 8, 2010 – first game in the series

Amnesia is a survival horror series with a few games, but the first two are one of the best games ever made. It includes Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. The games take place in different time periods but are all inspired by H.P. Lovecraft and some other grim fantasy horror books. The atmosphere is creepy, and the games are mostly about that, creating that feeling of being scared and uncertain of what happens next. You need to run away from the monsters and somehow survive!

#4 Silent Hill 4: The Room

• Developer: Konami
• Publisher: Konami
• Platforms: PC, PS2, XBOX
• Release Date: September 7, 2014

One of the oldest games on the list, having almost 20 years, but definitely one of the best. The fourth main entry in the series is also a psychological survival horror game. You play as Henry Townshend, who woke up from a nightmare. You need to escape your flat and discover all the secrets that are yet to come. Along the way you will meet a woman, that convinces you that you both are inside her dream. The whole game is quite weird and you need to have nerves of steel but it is a must-play for any horror fan.

#3 F.E.A.R. Series

• Developer: Monolith Productions
• Publisher: Sierra
• Platforms: PC, X360, PS3
• Release Date: October 18, 2005 – first game in the series

F.E.A.R. is a very specific game that is a 50/50 hybrid of a great first-person shooter and a survival horror game. It is one of the scariest games you will be able to play, but at the same time you are going to shoot A LOT of enemies in the face, so it is a great combination of fear and action. The first game has to be the scariest one in the series, but there were three main entries in the series all worth playing!

#2 The Quarry

• Developer: Supermassive Games
• Publisher: 2K Games
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, XBO, X/S
• Release Date: June 10, 2022

The Quarry is one of the newest games from the great minds of people at Supermassive Games. They create movie-like games that are all about the story and the horror. Once again we are presented with a couple of teenagers. You will follow their adventures while making choices that will impact the story. The games have various endings and you are able to kill every character you play as. All is in your hands, good luck, you will need it.

#1 Dead Space Series

• Developer: Visceral Games
• Publisher: Electronic Arts
• Platforms: PC, PS3, X360
• Release Date: October 14, 2008 – first game in the series

Dead Space has to be THE survival-horror franchise of modern times. The first game came out over 14 years ago, with more to follow and it will get a remake very soon in January 2023. This series is a trilogy of games set in space, a real space-horror game. You play as Isaac Clarke and discover that after arriving at the space station all the crew was murdered, and then it all begins. Aliens, scares, shooting, and that alone-in-space atmosphere. Just brilliant.