When it comes to new horror games, it’s sometimes feast and sometimes famine, and last year we ate until our bellies bloated and our mouths were dripping with gory fat. In 2024, we got a rich spread of dark experiences across a variety of genres and visual styles from solo creators, indie teams, AA developers, and AAA studios.
There was the brilliant Silent Hill 2 remake and fantastic updates to contemporary classics like Phasmophobia, Alan Wake 2, and The Outlast Trials, and also, a steady cadence of brand new horror franchises pushing the genre forward in unexpected ways.
First, let’s take a moment to celebrate a sampling of the year’s new horror universes.
This isn’t a comprehensive list of new horror franchises in 2024, but it’s an apt demonstration of just how vast and diverse the offerings were this year. Indie studios are certainly at the forefront when it comes to new ideas and original mechanics, but this list also has plenty of references to early-2000s graphics and PS1- or PS2-era survival horror.
The combination of innovation and nostalgia is particularly powerful in titles like Fear the Spotlight, Crow Country, Mouthwashing, and Hollowbody.
These games combine blocky 3D worlds with modern sensibilities and smooth animations, resulting in experiences that evoke the static memories of Resident Evil and Silent Hill hidden in our minds. We wanted these games to be like that, fixed camera angles be damned — or, in the case of Hollowbody, lovingly embraced.
It should also be noted that Fear the Spotlight is acclaimed horror-movie producer Blumhouse’s debut as a video game publisher. Fear the Spotlight is the first release in Blumhouse’s lineup – which includes EYES OUT, Half Mermaid, Perfect Garbage, future titles from Playmestudio and Vermila Studios – and it’s a brilliant exploration of lo-fi teenage drama and dread. The horror-game revolution is upon us and Blumhouse is certainly going to grab a piece of it.
The least horror-like game on the above list might be Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, and it’s also the only title from a AAA studio.
I’ve included it because, as a devoted fan of horror games, I think Kunitsu-Gami ticks several boxes: it has giant, disgusting monsters and a deadly plague that covers entire cities in skeletal but oddly juicy organic matter.
There are colorful displays of sexuality and body horror in its monster designs, and there’s a relaxing twist to its tense strategy-action gameplay loop.
Kunitsu-gami wasn’t marketed as a horror experience, and it certainly has just as many scenes of stunning beauty as those of weirdness, but I’d heartily recommend it to any horror fan. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
INDIKA is another entry that combines the genres of horror, camp and religious satire, but it definitely has some scenes of soul-ripping terror. Plus, the literal devil is your friendly companion throughout the game, and that must count for something.
In between scenes of misery, inhumanity and mayhem, INDIKA is a laugh riot, and it’s an excellent example of mature themes handled well in video game form.
An additional genre-bending standout from 2024 is Simogo’s Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. It features incredibly satisfying logic puzzles in a hotel built of secrets – but phantoms wander the hallways, there’s a corpse in the back garden and there’s palpable uneasiness in every scene. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is one of the best and most disturbing games of the year.
Meanwhile, Still Wakes the Deep offers a familiar and beautiful brand of monster-chasing horror set on an oil rig in the middle of the angry North Sea. It’s a must-have game for any horror fan, acting as a vessel for The Chinese Room, showing off its skill at creating authentic worlds and sustained tension with a paranormal edge.
Plus, it’s one of the best-looking games I’ve played on the PS5 all year. Slitherhead is another game for action-horror players, offering supernatural mysteries in a version of Hong Kong populated by body-snatching monsters, including buckets of blood and frantic close-quarters combat.