Silent Hill

If you've never played a Silent Hill game before, then today might be the day to change that. The series made a stellar comeback, with 2024 seeing the release of the near perfect Silent Hill 2 Remake, and 2025 giving us the disturbing Silent Hill f. The original, of course, is an entirely different monstrosity. Wrapped in a cult centric storyline, the original sees Harry Mason searching for his daughter in the titular town. Thick with fog and an oppressive atmosphere, Silent Hill will have you on edge throughout, despite its advancing years.

Clock Tower

Creepy mansion. Check. A short goblin-like man with a ridiculously large pair of scissors...check. A unique entry on this list, Clock Tower is actually a good old fashioned point and click adventure.Does this make it less scary? Certainly not. The Clock Tower is incredibly unsettling. If wandering the many dread-inducing rooms doesn't frighten you, perhaps Scissorman will. He'll pop up at various times, chase you down, and attempt to kill our protagonist Jennifer. You can hide, use certain items to temporarily get away, but there's also a sense of dread that he could pop up anywhere. While not as expansive as a Broken Sword type game, Clock Tower is a wonderfully scary and somewhat unique entry in the horror genre.

Dino Crisis

Critics would say that it's merely 'Resident Evil but with Dinosaurs', but since its release in 1999, calls for reboots and remakes have been growing louder with every passing month. While it does feature similar gameplay, controls and atmosphere, Dino Crisis feels both familiar and fresh. Dodging and running from the majority of the dinos is a smarter move than simply gunning them down as ammo is scarce and each dinosaur takes a hefty amount of bullets to drop - though darts can be used to put your foes to sleep. Resident Evil's zombies, lickers, and spiders are most definitely scary, but there's something about being chased by a T-Rex that sends shivers down my spine.

Parasite Eve

Released in 1998, Parasite Eve takes a more RPG-like stab at horror. That shouldn't be a surprise since it was developed by legendary Final Fantasy creators SquareSoft. You won't be surprised to hear then that the game features random encounters, a smaller scale world map type map, and a level up system. Also, in combat, actions are dictated by a sort of ATB system. Aye must wait to perform various attacks; She can fire one of her many weapons, use items, or use parasite energy to cast an array of spell like abilities, abilities which can deal damage, heal, or fortify various stats. It's a combat system that has seen a bit of a comeback recently, with games like Wicked Seed going down the rpg-horror route.

Resident Evil: Director's Cut

You could quite easily pick Resident Evil 2 or Resident Evil 3: Nemesis over this entry, especially with their improvements in gameplay and introduction of new mechanics, but there's something about the original that is still both terrifying and...comforting. Taking place in the iconic Spencer Mansion on the outskirts of Raccoon City, the original lets you pick between two characters: Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. Navigating the zombie infested halls of the mansion, dispatching gargantuan bio weapons, solving puzzles, and uncovering the secrets of the shady Umbrella corporation is what the series so iconic. That and some of the best and cheesiest voice acting in all of videogames. The controls may put some people off, but it's a game that still packs plenty of charm and is worth revisiting in 2026. Oh, and that intro FMV...oh my!