What Is a Horror Game? Survival, Psychological, and Action Horror
Horror games explained: why fear is fun, subgenres from survival and psychological horror to jump scares, and a history from Sweet Home to indie hits.
From the end of a dark hallway comes the sound of something being dragged. You have three bullets left, and you don't know where the next save point is. Horror games are a genre that deliberately makes the player uneasy like this. Some people ask why anyone would pay to be scared, but experiencing and overcoming fear from a safe place offers a powerful immersion different from that of films or novels.
Horror games are classified differently from other genres from the start. Most game genres are divided by "what you do," but horror is almost the only genre grouped by "what emotion it gives you."
In this post, we cover the definition and core appeal of horror games, their subgenres, landmark titles through history, design characteristics, who they suit, and today's trends.
Definition and Core Appeal
English Wikipedia describes horror games as a video game genre based on horror fiction and film, usually designed to frighten the player. It adds that, unlike other genres classified by gameplay, horror games are almost always classified by narrative and visual presentation and use a wide variety of gameplay styles.
So there are horror shooters, horror adventures, horror puzzles, and horror RPGs. What they share is that they deliberately take away the player's sense of control. Wikipedia explains that the appeal of horror games comes both from the fear generated by the story and from game rules that reduce the sense of control.
The fun of horror games comes from:
- Tension and release: The tension of holding your breath as you move into the next room and the relief of safely reaching a save point repeat over and over.
- Surviving as a weak protagonist: Rather than being a hero who defeats every enemy, you endure by avoiding, hiding, and using your head.
- Mystery: There is great enjoyment in gradually learning what happened in a place through documents and audio logs.
- Being scared together: Playing with friends, or watching other people's reactions on streams, has also become an important way to enjoy horror games.
Subgenres
Wikipedia explains that because horror is a broad category based on narrative, the boundaries between its subgenres are not very clear-cut. Still, the commonly used branches are as follows.
| Subgenre | Characteristics | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Survival horror | Scarce ammo and health, item management, puzzles, isolated locations | Resident Evil, Alone in the Dark, Fatal Frame |
| Psychological horror | Mental unease over monsters, unreliable perspective | Silent Hill, Amnesia, P.T. |
| Action horror | Larger share of shooting and action, faster pace | Resident Evil 4, Dead Space, Left 4 Dead |
| Jump scare horror | Centered on sudden scares at unexpected moments | Five Nights at Freddy's, Outlast |
| Reverse horror | The player becomes the one doing the scaring (the monster) | Carrion, the killer role in Dead by Daylight |
| Co-op horror | Several players carry out missions together amid terror | Lethal Company |
Meanwhile, many games such as Castlevania use monsters and horror themes but are classified as platformers. In such cases, horror is seen as an atmosphere and theme rather than a genre.
Landmark Titles Through History
| Year | Game | Developer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Mystery House | On-Line Systems | The first graphic adventure and an early horror game |
| 1981 | Nostromo | ASCII | Inspired by the film Alien, escape from an invisible alien |
| 1989 | Sweet Home | Capcom (Tokuro Fujiwara) | RPG made alongside the horror film of the same name, roots of Resident Evil |
| 1992 | Alone in the Dark | Infogrames (Frédérick Raynal) | 3D characters over 2D backgrounds, fixed cameras |
| 1996 | Resident Evil (Biohazard) | Capcom | First to use the term "survival horror" |
| 1999 | Silent Hill | Konami (Team Silent) | Defined and popularized psychological horror |
| 2001 | Fatal Frame | Tecmo | Unique system of defeating ghosts by photographing them with a camera |
| 2005 | Resident Evil 4 | Capcom | Greatly increased action, opening the action horror trend |
| 2008 | Dead Space | EA Redwood Shores | Third-person horror set on a spaceship |
| 2010 | Amnesia: The Dark Descent | Frictional Games | A protagonist who can't fight, indie horror revival |
| 2014 | Five Nights at Freddy's | Scott Cawthon | Jump scare horror that spread widely through streamers' reactions |
| 2014 | P.T. | Kojima Productions | Playable teaser for the canceled Silent Hills, a repeating hallway |
| 2023 | Lethal Company | Zeekerss | Co-op horror released in early access, popular on Steam |
Up to the 1990s, horror games were heavily influenced by horror films, but in the 2000s they in turn influenced films. Wikipedia explains that the success of Resident Evil and The House of the Dead influenced the revival of zombie films in the 2000s and changes such as "fast-running zombies."
P.T. in 2014 is an example of how much impact a single short teaser can have on a genre. Made by Hideo Kojima together with film director Guillermo del Toro, it was distributed free on the PlayStation 4 and created fear through gradual changes as you walk the same hallway again and again. It was taken down after the main game, Silent Hills, was canceled, but Wikipedia reports that horror games such as Layers of Fear and Visage drew heavy inspiration from P.T.
Design Characteristics
Wikipedia's survival horror article lays out the genre's design quite specifically.
- Deliberately unfavorable combat: Weapons and ammo are scarce, and some enemies can't be killed. Powerful weapons are rare. As a result, players learn to avoid enemies or use the environment rather than fight.
- A weak protagonist and isolation: The protagonist is made weaker than a typical action hero, and there are few characters. Much of the story is conveyed indirectly through journals, documents, and audio logs.
- Limited vision and dark spaces: Dim lighting, camera angles that obstruct the view, and maze-like layouts create tension. The fixed cameras of early titles let enemies hide off-screen, much like horror film cinematography.
- Audio cues: Sounds and warning signals heard from off-screen are information about danger while also heightening anxiety.
- Unexpected appearances: Scripted scenes, like enemies dropping from the ceiling or crashing through windows, deliver surprises. But if jump scares are too frequent, players become numb to them.
- Saves and resource management: Limiting save opportunities or keeping inventory space tight gives weight to every choice.
Who It's For
- People who love horror films and ghost stories and want to step inside one themselves
- People who enjoy winning by hiding, evading, and gathering clues rather than fighting
- People looking for co-op games to scream through with friends
- People who want a short, intense story
On the other hand, if startling moments or gory scenes are hard for you, it's best to start with mystery adventures that have little blood or atmosphere-focused games. Horror games often carry high age ratings, so be sure to check the rating as well.
Horror Games Today
In the early 2010s, when big companies were avoiding horror apart from large series like Resident Evil, indie games led the genre. Frictional Games' Amnesia, Red Barrels' Outlast, and Slender: The Eight Pages, based on the Slender Man legend, as well as Five Nights at Freddy's, spread widely through internet streamers' reaction videos. In the 2020s, there has also been a rise in retro-style indie horror that deliberately mimics the angular 3D of the original PlayStation era or pixel art.
On the big-series side, remakes changed the trend. According to Wikipedia, the 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake sold over 4 million copies in its first month and 15.8 million by April 2025, and as remakes of Resident Evil 3 and 4, Dead Space, Silent Hill 2, and others followed, gaming media have called this period a "renaissance" of survival horror.