10 Best Horror Games Of 2025 (So Far)

This year has already proven to be a stellar year for video games, with big titles like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and Split Fiction already dominating the market. But with so many RPGs and open-world games hogging the spotlight, little attention is being given to all the horror experiences creeping out of the woodwork.

Whether you’re into dread-inducing walking sims that get under your skin or action-heavy thrillers where you never run out of bullets, this year’s lineup of horror games hasn’t disappointed in the slightest.

This list highlights the best horror games of 2025 so far, covering both breakout hits and hidden gems you might have missed. So, whether you’re a seasoned thrill-seeker or are just dipping your toes into the horror genre, these are the titles that have managed to stand out in a year already brimming with knockouts.

10 Post Trauma

Oh, There’s Trauma Alright

They really couldn’t have picked a better title with this one. This game will reawaken old traumas and give you entirely new ones to deal with; after playing this, you’ll need a whole team of psychiatrists to sort you out.

In this game, you play as an old man named Roman, who awakens in a strange and foggy world following an intense panic attack. Surrounded by nightmarish creatures and twisting buildings that seem to have a mind of their own, finding a way out will seem like the least of your worries; just surviving the first five minutes will feel like a major accomplishment.

Armed only with an unreliable flashlight and your impeccable sense of resourcefulness, you’ll have to navigate a series of disconnected environments that all feel like they were made by a drunk escape room committee. During all this, of course, you’ll be hunted by a variety of nightmare creatures that all want to turn your skin inside out.

You could try to fight the monsters head-on, sure, but you could also run, scream, and pray they don’t follow you, which honestly sounds like the more realistic option for most of us.

Seriously, though, the messed-up monsters that this game will throw at you will make your sleep-paralysis demons look like Sunday School teachers. If you’ve got a weak stomach, then you may not want to invest in this one. If I had to describe the game as a whole, I’d probably say it’s like if Silent Hill had a younger, slightly more unhinged cousin.

9 The Mute House

Spoiler Alert: It’s Not Mute

According to its developers, The Mute House is modeled after classic survival horror games, which feels pretty spot-on when you load it up. It specifically reminded me of old-school Resident Evil, so if you loved getting heart palpitations from gaming’s most iconic zombie franchise, then you’re probably going to love this game.

In The Mute House, you play as a young woman whose sister has mysteriously gone missing. Rather than waiting for the authorities to do their jobs, you, in classic horror protagonist fashion, decide that the best course of action is to explore a decaying mansion straight out of a Victorian panic attack.

There’s very little in terms of trauma that this game won’t throw at you. While trudging through an already-stressful mansion that definitely hasn’t passed a health check in decades, you’ll also have to juggle wildly inconsistent inventory management, puzzles that’ll have you calling your old homeroom teacher in tears, and undead creatures that’ll make you wish you had a second therapist.

They say misery loves company, and this game loves to remind you that you’re never truly alone with every chance it gets—because psychological trauma is just more fun with friends, even if they’re technically undead.

8 Dread Flats

CRPG Horror At Its Finest

Dread Flats is a somewhat unique title on this list, as it’s one of the few first-person Chinese horror games that have become popular among Western audiences. I hadn’t had any experience with the Chinese horror genre before, but after playing it, I can safely say that I’m going to be leaving all my lights on at night for the foreseeable future.

In Dread Flats, you’re transported into a 1990s Chinese apartment building, one that just so happens to have been affiliated with numerous disappearances and unsolved murders. The building is old, dilapidated, and probably full of black mold, but health risks are frankly the least of your worries; as it turns out, the building’s residents really ​​​​​​don’t like that you’re there.

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Solving decades-old murder mysteries while running for your life in a crumbling apartment building is definitely not an experience for the weak.

If you hate feeling unsafe and love torturing yourself, then you should definitely invest in this digital nightmare. You definitely won’t thank yourself, you’ll gain nothing but pain and suffering from it, and it will literally give you a heart condition for your trouble. But hey, that’s what makes it fun, right?

7 Dead of Darkness

Enjoy Your Complimentary Trauma

Dead of Darkness is like if Silent Hill had a baby with Dead Island and then abandoned it on Resident Evil‘s doorstep.

In Dead of Darkness, you’re dumped onto a mysterious, cursed island, where your only real objective is to investigate the underlying mystery without dying too quickly (which is a lot easier said than done). You’ll be forced to juggle bloodthirsty, grotesque monsters, dodge sadistic traps, and solve complex puzzles that’ll have you questioning both your IQ and your will to live.

This game leans hard into its classic, early 2000s vibe, so if you loved the mildly traumatizing horror games of your childhood played on your family computer, then you’re going to love this one.

Regardless, if you’re a fan of horror, then Dead of Darkness should definitely be on your radar. Just… maybe don’t play it in the dark. Or alone. Or at all, if you’ve got a weak stomach.

6 Killing Floor 3

Nothing Beats a Classic

The Killing Floor game series began in 2009 with the original game’s release, and was continued in 2016 with the release of Killing Floor 2. Now, it continues its legacy with Killing Floor 3.

Set in 2091, Killing Floor 3 drops you into a world where Horzine, a megacorp with fewer morals than money, has created a horde of bioengineered killing machines called zeds. And as horrifying as that prospect already is, zeds aren’t your average brain-hungry, shambling zombies, either. They’re fast, aggressive, and deeply upsetting to look at, like someone spliced human DNA with kitchen appliances and misdirected rage.

Each round is a pressure cooker of blood-soaked chaos, with the dread-inducing tension rising exponentially as the waves keep hitting you. And the bosses? Yeah, good luck sleeping after seeing what crawls out of the final round.

The only ones brave (or stupid) enough to stand against the horde are you and your teammates, though the odds aren’t exactly in your favor. Sure, you’ve got more guns and ammo than you know what to do with, but against thousands of bloodthirsty abominations? Well, let’s just say good luck.

Killing Floor 3 may be a co-op FPS on paper, but make no mistake—this is full-blown horror with a body count in the thousands. The abominations hunting you down look like something pulled straight out of a Silent Hill nightmare on cough syrup.

5 Aneurism IV

Can Villains be Created?

There’s always been some sort of horror element to the dystopia genre, but Aneurism IV really laid it on thick. This is a game where hope goes to die, bureaucracy thrives like mold in a damp basement, and even just doing your job can have devastating consequences.

You’re dropped into a metropolis on the brink of collapse and given absolute freedom, which sounds great until you realize that those rules apply to everyone else, too. Think Purge, but every single day of the year.

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You can try in vain to protect your home from ruin, hasten its downfall, or just stick to your 9-5 and pray that you never become someone else’s target. With no goals, rules, or laws protecting you, every single action you take will have devastating consequences that I don’t think anyone ​​​​​​would be prepared for.

This game gets messed up fast. It might not be your average horror game, but that doesn’t mean it’s pulling any punches when it comes to messing with your head. No matter what you do in this game, nothing feels like the right answer, and everything you do just makes everything more horrible in the end for everyone.

The true horror of this game doesn’t come in the form of jump scares or cheap gore; it’s through showing you the very worst, most depraved sides of humanity, and then handing you a mirror.

4 Luto

An Agoraphobic’s Dream

If you’ve ever had a minor panic attack while trying to find the bathroom in a stranger’s house, then Luto is about to give you PTSD flashbacks.

In Luto, you play as someone who is physically unable to leave their home, and while that might sound like a cozy Friday night to some of us (guilty as charged), this place is less a “weekend staycation” and more of a haunted prison straight out of a horror movie.

This game is the embodiment of psychological horror done right: long, disorienting hallways, ghostly apparitions always lurking in your peripheral vision, and an oppressive sense of dread that’ll make you wish you’d made far different real estate investments.

It’s eerie, it’s sinister, and yes, it’ll probably make you pee yourself at least once. Or twice. At the very least, you won’t ever be able to confidently go to the bathroom in the middle of the night again; don’t say we didn’t warn you.

3 Last Report

The Great (and Scary) Outdoors

If you’re a fan of camping and don’t feel like ruining it for yourself, then you might want to pass on Last Report. Not only will this game make you terrified of your own backyard, but you’ll also probably never want to set foot in a Dick’s Sporting Goods ever again.

In Last Report, you play as a park ranger pulling yet another late-night shift, monitoring camera feeds and generally just minding your own business—until strange things start happening that can’t be explained. We’re talking unknown noises, shadows where there shouldn’t be shadows, and deer that definitely ​​​​​​don’t look like deer.

All of these strange happenings, combined with the mysterious disappearances that have been reported in the area, don’t paint a very pretty picture. Despite this, you’re a trained park ranger, trusted enough to handle countless night shifts entirely on your own; surely, there’s nothing out there that can hurt you, right? (wrong)

The dread builds with every unexplained flicker that runs across your screen, every inhuman scream that pierces your eardrums halfway through your shift. Before long, you’ll have abandoned every ounce of ranger-training you might have had and booked it for the hills, never daring to look back.

This game is pixelated slow-burn horror at its finest. You’re not out there on the front lines, running around blasting monsters and never running out of bullets. Nope, you’re sitting in a chair, watching security footage, and slowly realizing that something out there knows you’re watching.

This game understands that sometimes, the scariest thing in horror games isn’t what jumps out at you, it’s whatever’s lurking in the background.

2 Blood Typers

Battle the Undead, Learn to Type

Blood Typers is probably the most unique horror game on this list. Sure, it’s a gore-filled blood-fest just like many of the others, but it’s also an educational experience that helps you learn how to type faster. Weird, right?

Despite its odd premise, this game is actually wildly popular and is well-deserving of a spot on this list. You might not think that an educational game could possibly excel in the horror genre, but you’d be dead wrong (pun intended).

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Too terrified to move forward, yet you have to anyway.

Blood Typers is a unique horror game where your keyboard is both your greatest weapon and your biggest liability. You type the words on the screen to kill your enemies and give yourself power boosts, but one typo, and it’s game over.

You and your trembling fingers are dropped into a cursed film studio where the horror movies aren’t just on the screen anymore; they’re everywhere, leaking into reality like some kind of unholy director’s cut from hell. Words, phrases, and even sentences will appear on the screen, and you’ll need to type them as quickly and accurately as possible if you want to survive.

The gameplay is fast, intense, and genuinely stressful in the best way possible. Forget aiming and reloading; in this game, your survival depends on your typing speed, your accuracy, and your ability to spell while being actively hunted. Which, let’s be honest, is way worse.

1 Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic

You Just Can’t Beat the King

The Five Nights at Freddy’s legacy began in 2014, and it’s only gotten more and more terrifying from there. With every new game comes a new lot of lore to pick through, and brand-new animatronics to keep us awake at night. Secret of the Mimic continues that terrifying pattern in 2025.

Secret of the Mimic drops you into an all-new environment, an abandoned costume workshop harboring evils that you wouldn’t even see in your worst nightmares. Set in the eerie remains of Murray’s Costume Manor, you’re tasked with uncovering the mystery of a reclusive inventor and recovering the nightmare fuel he left behind.

This entry brings the classic FNAF dread we all know and love, but dials it up to a thousand. The stakes are higher, the animatronics are scarier, and even the building itself seems like it’s out to get you. You won’t find any friends in Secrets of the Mimic, though they likely wouldn’t be much help even if you did.

As its title might suggest, The Mimic is the star of the show here, and true to its name, it’s all about deception, unpredictability, and psychological warfare. This freak of nature is a prototype endoskeleton that can adapt to any costume and take on any role, including those of your worst fears.

Being able to decipher what’s real and what’s not will become a thing of the past. Hell, when this game is through with you, you’ll barely even know which way is up. Just make sure you keep your lights on when playing, you’ll need them.

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