When it comes to new horror games, there are times of feast and famine, and last year we gorged until our stomachs bloated and our mouths dripped with gruesome grease. In 2024, we welcome a rich variety of dark experiences from solo creators, indie teams, AA developers, and AAA studios across a wide range of genres and visual styles. There was a fantastic silent hill 2 Robust remakes and updates of contemporary classics like Phasmophobia, Alan Wake 2 and The latest testsand there was also a constant cadence of new horror franchises that expanded the genre in unexpected ways.
First, let's take a moment to celebrate a sampling of the year's new horror universes. In 2024, we obtained the following new titles:
This isn't a complete list of new horror franchises in 2024, but it's a fitting demonstration of how broad and varied the offerings were this year. Indie studios are leading the charge when it comes to new ideas and original mechanics, of course, but there are also plenty of references to early 2000s graphics and PS1 or PS2 era survival horror on this list. The combination of innovation and nostalgia is particularly powerful in titles like Fear the spotlight, crow country, mouthwash and hollow body. These games infuse blocky 3D worlds with modern sensibilities and fluid animations, resulting in experiences that illuminate the static memories of resident Evil and silent hill that lurk in our heads. That's how we wanted those games to feel, to hell with fixed camera angles or, in the case of hollow bodyhugged with affection.
It is also worth noting that Fear the spotlight It marks the debut of acclaimed horror film producer Blumhouse as a video game publisher. Fear the spotlight is the first release from Blumhouse's lineup, which includes future titles from EYES OUT, Half Mermaid, Perfect Garbage, Playmestudio, and Vermila Studios, and is an excellent exploration of lo-fi teen drama and horror. The horror gaming revolution is upon us and Blumhouse is sure to take a piece.
The least scary game on the list above may be Kunitsu-Gami: The Path of the Goddessand it also happens to be the only title from a AAA studio. I've included it because, as a fan of horror games, I think Kunitshu-Gami checks a lot of boxes: featuring huge, nasty demons and a deadly plague that envelops entire cities in skeletal but strangely juicy organic material. Its monster designs feature colorful displays of lust and body horror, and solace can be found in its tense action-strategy gameplay loop. Kunitshu-Gami It wasn't marketed as a horror experience, and it certainly contains as many scenes of stunning beauty as it does grotesqueries, but I heartily recommend it to any horror fan. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
INDICATE is another entry that straddles the genres of horror, camp, and religious satire, but definitely features some scenes of gut-wrenching horror. Plus, the literal devil is your friendly companion throughout the game, and that has to count for something. Among scenes of pain, inhumanity and devastation, INDICATE is a riot of laughs and is a preeminent example of mature themes well handled in video game form. Another genre-bending 2024 standout is Simogo. Lorelei and laser eyes. It contains incredibly satisfying logic puzzles in a hotel made of mysteries, but ghosts haunt the halls, there's a dead body in the back garden, and every scene oozes palpable unease. Lorelei and laser eyes It's one of the best and most disturbing games of the year, period.
Still awakens the deepMeanwhile, it offers a familiar and beautiful brand of monster-stalking horror on an oil rig in the middle of the raging North Sea. It's a must-play for any horror fan, acting as a vessel for The Chinese Room to showcase its abilities at building authentic worlds and cultivating relentless tension with a paranormal twist. Plus, it's one of the most engaging games I've played on PS5 all year. severed head is another one for action-horror gamers, featuring a supernatural mystery in a version of Hong Kong that's been infested by body-snatching demons, complete with buckets of blood and frantic close-range combat.
The year began with the launch of Home Safety Hotlinea 1990s call center simulation where players help diagnose and treat household pests, including otherworldly threats such as Bed Teeth, Fae Flu, The Horde, Laundry Gnome, Mirror Nymph, Toilet Hobb, Unicorn Fungi and others. Home Safety Hotline It really was the appetizer of the 2024 line of horror games, and mouthwash It's dessert.
All the children of terror today they are playing mouthwasha first-person polygonal game through a stranded spaceship full of doomed crew members constantly losing their minds, overseen by a mutilated captain with a bandaged, manic smile. mouthwash It's strange and claustrophobic, and it's a great way to end the year in horror games.
But we haven't even talked about existing franchises yet. He silent hill 2 remake by Bloober Team, the Polish studio behind Layers of Fear and Blair Witchwas a brilliant success, even against the exacting standards of the series' long-time fans. The remake looks and feels like the game players remember, only glossier and smoother, and silent hill 2 It's still as scary in 2024 as it originally was in 2001. Maybe even more so. Bloober Team had a lot to prove with this one, and they did us older Millennial horror gamers proud.
Alan Wake 2 was one of the best games of 2023, horror or not, and received two major batches of DLC this year: night springs landed in June and The lake house It went into operation in October. Each piece of content not only keeps the hellish world of Alan Wake alive, but also adds depth to the cross-franchise universe that Remedy is building between Control and Alan Wake. Personally, I always want more Alan Wake and, in that sense, 2024 did not disappoint.
Two independent live service games, The latest tests and phasmophobiahas also undergone major updates in the past 12 months. After entering early access in May 2023, The latest tests Studio Red Barrels has been working to establish a solid cadence of new content releases, and this year they really got to work. The latest tests was released in full in March 2024 and has received multiple updates since then, introducing new enemies, maps, game modes, and limited-time events for players trapped in the Murkoff Corporation's secret Sinyala facility. The amount of work Red Barrels puts in The latest tests It's endlessly impressive, especially considering there are only about 65 developers at the studio.
phasmophobia They have an even smaller team than Red Barrels, but they are making big moves. The team at the British studio Kinetic Games has maintained phasmophobia Vivo has since launched on Steam in September 2020, and this year they finally brought the ghost hunting game to consoles. phasmophobia It arrived on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series x/S on October 29, and also arrived on PS VR2. Kinetic Games has big plans to continue supporting and expanding phasmophobia in 2025 and beyond, so although the console's launch came four years after launch, this is just the beginning.
There it is: our humble ode to horror games in 2024. It's been a dozen months of indie innovation and magnificent gore, with a side order of fabulous remakes and considerable updates. Some new horror games push the boundaries of the genre, expanding our ideas about what's scary and why, while others find new ways to dissect classic tropes. It's a case of modern cuisine versus comfort food, and there's plenty of room on my plate for both.
