Have you ever finished playing a horror video game that’s stuck with you for a long time? Scary, right?
If you are a fan of horror games, then you’re probably familiar with the sub genre of psychological horror games. These games don’t rely on jumpscares or loud noises with ominous atmospheres to make them thrilling. But instead, they delve deep into the human psyche, leaving you feeling disturbed and unsettled for days after. In this list, here are the best physiological horror games that you should definitely try if you’re looking for a unique experience:
(Note: these games are 17+. Play them at your own risk.)
Omori (Studio Omocat, on Steam/consoles) is a deceptively charming indie game with pixelated visuals. It is a story about a young boy named Sunny who finds himself lost in a world of depression and isolation after a tragic loss in
his life. He struggles to fight his grief as he journeys through the colorless and meaningless existence, confronting his dark secrets as well as the hidden truths that lurk within his own mind. At first glance, the game appears to be a cute and colorful RPG by going on some adventures and quests along with your friends across magical lands while fighting Pokémon ahh looking enemies. As a player, the game challenges us not only to navigate through mysterious realms, but also to overcome and confront the harsh realities of psychological pain. Try not to throw your device over the stairs afterwards.
Doki Doki Literature Club (Team Salvato, on official website/consoles) is not your typical
dating simulator visual novel. It takes you into an emotional rollercoaster with a chilling experience where fiction blurs with reality. The game starts with you as a guy in a high school whose cheerful childhood best friend invites you into a literature club. You seem reluctant at first, but she insists on you to join the club. The moment you arrive there, you are greeted by three other members with supposedly stereotypical personalities
at first sight: an intelligent and reserved leader, a book nerd who’s shy, and a Tsundere (someone who hides their soft feelings by acting fussy and harsh). You realize that they are all girls who share a passion for poetry, making you the only guy among them. Soon he interacts with each member through presented choices that influence his relationship with them. Witnessing different dialogues or flashing glitches? Are you going to be deceived by all these cutesy soundtracks and characters- WHAT’S GOING ON- J̷̼̄ü̷̱s̷̝͛t̸̺̚ ̴̡̄M̸̨̃o̷̥̚
n̸̬̐ȉ̶̢k̶͕͊ả̴̯–
Sally Face (Portable Moose, on Steam/Nintendo) is an adventure five episodes series game with a 90’s cartoon art style and motion animations. It follows the story of a boy named Sally, who hides his disfigured face through wearing a prosthetic mask after a horrific incident. Later on, he moves with his dad to start a new life in Addison apartments, in a mysterious town. However, after weird incidents of ghosts and murder cases begin to occur, Sally forms an attack team: a metalhead, a supernatural nerd, and his crush.
Together, they uncover some hidden and dark secrets. Exploring deeper throughout a supernatural filled complex story, and oh boy there happens to be a demonic temple beneath the apartments that’s connected to some sort of church…from there, you solve more puzzles to uncover twisting events through journals and codes surrounding it. This game will leave you talking to your therapist about it’s ending the entire session.
Cry Of Fear
(Team Psykskallar, on steam) is a terrifying survival game mixed with a twisted story. It starts with our main depressed young man who navigates his way through a night in the city of Stockholm, witnessing a person crawling on the sidewalk in need of assistance after a car accident. Later, he wakes up in an abandoned alley where he is only equipped with a pocket knife, a notebook, and a cellphone. However, this wasn’t the same city as he remembers.
Monsters start to appear, from faceless crawlers to a stalking doctor. During the play through, you’ll start to unravel the main character’s past and attempt to understand what is exactly happening. Who’s going crazy here and how is he going back home? Why is the city suddenly a different version after that accident?
SOMA (Frictional Games, on steam/consoles) is yet another realistic survival masterpiece of horror coming from many aspects of the future that can even be t
ied to theories in the real world after a fatal car crash. You wake up as Simon Jarret in a world that is far from the one you know. You’re not who you used to be, and you’re not where you used to be. You’re in PATHOS-II, an underwater research facility set in the blank of a deserted future. There are no living humans around, only a few robots struggling to cling on to their humanity, convinced they are humans. The facility is
being consumed by a mysterious black substance, and there seems to be no hope left until you meet a scientist who is also trapped in a robotic body. She asks you to help her achieve her life’s goal…but what is it? You know the path for that to succeed is filled with difficult choices. You’ll face a woman, the last living human who’s clinging on to her life in a dark room. What choice will you make when faced with her suffering? sacrifice humanity or have terrifying AI in complete control? It’s a very unsettling, thought provoking game with multiple twists making you question your moral dilemma, identity, and consciousness. It challenges the player’s perceptions of what it means to be human.
