The 2010s was a notable decade in the horror genre not only because many large well-established franchises released some great entries, but also because the indie scene was starting to produce some very unique experiences that you wouldn’t typically find in triple-A releases.
The advent of streaming through Twitch also helped in raising the popularity of horror games. Because of this and the horror genre’s already immense popularity, the decade saw many games in the genre release, spanning a diverse set of genres.
To look back at the decade that brought many great indies and triple-A games in the genre, here are the top 10 best horror games from the 2010s.
10 Layers of Fear
Layers of Fear is a walking simulator indie game that has you exploring a large abandoned Victorian mansion uncovering different clues to find out the great mystery of the game. Each room you enter has some trippy way of scaring you like the paintings moving or the entire room shifting.
Each level in the game takes place in a different part of the mansion and slowly reveals more of the mystery. By the end of the game, there is a large twist that shows the sinister origins of the paintings you have found throughout the mansion.
9 Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Amnesia: The Dark Descent was one of the earliest horror-based walking simulators and takes a lot of its inspiration from the works of H.P. Lovecraft. You are exploring a dark castle with many abominations that you must avoid or risk losing your mind. There is no method of attack in Amnesia: The Dark Descent instead, you must run and hide from enemies. There are puzzles strewn throughout the game that are usually physics-based. While there are enemies in the game that must be avoided, the main enemy of the game is darkness itself which must be avoided to keep your sanity.
8 Alien Isolation
Alien Isolation is a very dark atmospheric horror game set in the Alien universe. Where many other games based on the Alien franchise would have you fight the Xenomorphs head-on, in Alien Isolation you must avoid them at all cost.
You have a radar that will detect if there is a Xenomorph in your vicinity, if there is, you must get away as quickly as possible or attempt to hide as they will kill you almost instantly. The game is set 15 years after the original Alien movie and has you playing as Amanda Ripley, the daughter of the main character from the original movie.
7 Dead Space 2
Dead Space 2 takes place directly after the first game and sees Issac Clark deal with the mental scarring caused by the events of the first game. He is now haunted by the ghost or possibly just the memory of his girlfriend Nicole who died before the events of the first game.
Issac Clark is now given a voice and the story plays out with many more characters than the first game. Many new weapons and armor types are added to the game, however, the experience feels a lot less horror-based than the experience found in the first game.
6 Alan Wake
The story in Alan Wake takes a lot of inspiration from both Stephen King and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. Alan Wake is a writer who moved away from the city so that he could better focus on writing. He moves to a small town where strange things begin to occur. As he makes his way deeper into the mystery, it becomes obvious that the events that are unfolding are playing out exactly like the book he is writing. Before long, your wife is kidnapped and you must set out to save her and uncover the mystery.
5 The Last of Us
The Last of Us‘ story is centered around a post-apocalyptic world that is overrun by tickers, slow walking creatures that are totally not zombies. You play as Joel who must protect Ellie as she is immune to the viral outbreak.
The game is a cover-based shooter mixed with survival horror. You will be scavenging for resources and trying to improve your weapons. When battles play out, there are two ways to approach combat, you can go to stealthy or go in guns blazing and duck in and out of cover.
4 Resident Evil 2 Remake
Resident Evil 2 is a remake of the original PlayStation 1 and Nintendo 64 game that was released in 1998. Rather than having fixed camera angles like in the original, instead, Resident Evil 2’s has a behind the shoulder third-person-shooter view that was made popular by Resident Evil 4.
Resident Evil 2 follows Leon Kennedy, a cop on his first day on the job, and Clair Redfield, Chris Redfield’s sister. There are two separate campaigns that play out rather similarly but each character will have slightly different cutscenes and will run into different people.
3 Inside
Inside is the spiritual successor to Limbo. Inside is a puzzle-platformer that has you going through a dystopian world where everyone is faceless and wants to kill you. The game has a strong emphasis on the water with one section having you navigate a massive underwater area in a submarine. Before long, you are given the ability to hold your breath and swim as deep as you want where you find that half of the city lives beneath the waves, destroyed and abandoned. The story of Inside is cryptic but is also profound and will have you thinking of the game long after you’ve finished it.
2 Bloodborne
Bloodborne is the spiritual successor to the Dark Souls games. All of the bosses, enemies, and story borrow heavily from the works of H.P. Lovecraft, something that becomes immediately apparent when you see all of the tentacles and eyes bosses and enemies have. Also, a key trait taken from the works of Lovecraft is societies worshiping ancient beings which have driven them all insane.
The combat in Bloodborne is much faster and aggressive based than the gameplay found in the Dark Souls games which helps give it its own personality.
1 P.T.
Though P.T. or Playable Trailer was just a demo, it invigorated the genre and did some of the most creative things in not only horror games but video games as a whole. The demo takes place within a single hallway that keeps looping. Each time you pass, more mysterious things occur and it becomes clear that you are being watched. The demo itself was packed with the same amount of secrets and mysteries that would be found in a full-fledged game and because of that, it deserves this spot on the list.
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