Best Horror Game From Every Year In The 2010s

Highlights

• The 2010s saw the rise of horror gaming, with indie hits like
  Amnesia: The Dark Descent
  and viral streaming platform Twitch growing in popularity.
• Dead Space 2
  expanded on the success of its predecessor, further establishing the franchise as a horror heavyweight with intense action sequences.
• Telltale’s The Walking Dead
  , released in 2012, was a breakout hit that set the stage for the company’s narrative-based adventure games and major franchise adaptations.

The 2010s were an exceptional decade for gaming. With technological advances and the PS4 and Xbox One released in 2013, the gaming landscape evolved. Out of all the big gaming releases during this time, horror would often take center stage. The early decade saw indie gems becoming viral hits, helping the burgeoning streaming platform Twitch grow in popularity.

Meanwhile, the latter end saw the revival of a classic franchise that continues to redefine itself and scare players worldwide. Horror gaming achieved new levels of interactive terror in the 2010s, with many of the decade’s hit games becoming instant classics and starting highly successful franchises.

10 Amnesia: The Dark Descent

2010

The start of the decade saw the release of a genre-defining title. Amnesia: Dark Descent is a pure survival horror experience, where the setting is as scary as the monsters who inhabit it. In the game, darkness is an enemy and players have limited resources to survive.

With only a lamp to light their way and a few matches scattered around the map, choosing which candles to light can mean life or death, particularly as the main characters sanity starts to deteriorate in the dark. Players don’t have weapons in Amnesia, it is all about knowing when to run or when to hide. Amnesia was a breakout success that became a hit on YouTube and Twitch and set the standard for the decade to come.

9 Dead Space 2

2011

The original Dead Space game was a groundbreaking horror release that blended the blood and guts of Resident Evil with the claustrophobic atmosphere of Alien. Its sequel, Dead Space 2, took everything great about the first game and expanded on it. With heart-pounding action sequences and improved mechanics, Dead Space 2 cemented the series as a horror heavyweight.

Set three years after Dead Space, the game sees protagonist Isaac Clarke recovering on a large space station on Titan. Pretty quickly, things take a turn for the worse when the same outbreak of Necromorphs starts killing everyone around him. Once again, Isaac must survive the horror and stop it from spreading. Dead Space 2 is an immersive and brutal game that fans of sci-fi horror will love.

8 Telltale’s The Walking Dead

2012

2012 saw the release of Telltale’sThe Walking Dead, an episodic adventure game based on the cult comic book and hit TV series. The story features unique characters who struggle to survive a zombie outbreak around Georgia. Set over 5 episodes, and released between April and December 2012, the game was a breakout hit that appealed to fans of the TV show that had already grown in popularity.

The Walking Dead was the first in a long series of Telltale games that expanded on the narrative-based adventure game and included major franchises such as Batman and Guardians of the Galaxy. The company struggled to survive the decade, with The Walking Deadremaining their standout release, until the company relaunched in 2019.

7 The Last Of Us

2013

Considered one of the greatest games ever released, developer Naughty Dog scored a massive hit with their classic survival action game The Last of Us. The game follows Joel and Ellie as they travel across the apocalyptic American landscape searching for a cure to the deadly infection that turns people into violent monsters.

The Last of Us hits on all cylinders, with a complex and emotional narrative, high-level performances, stunning landscapes, fluid mechanics, and heart-stopping sequences that are genuinely nerve-racking. A successful sequel would follow in 2020, as well as a hit TV show in 2023.

6 Alien: Isolation

2014

Of the many games based on the Alien franchise, Alien: Isolation may be the truest to the original movie. Taking all the music, sound effects, and lo-fi retro style of the 1979 Ridley Scott film, the game offers a survival horror experience like no other. In Alien: Isolation, an unstoppable xenomorph actively hunts the player through a large and complex space station.

Successfully beating the game requires the use of stealth, patience, and cunning to outwit the creature that reacts to sound and fast movement. Alien: Isolation stands as one of the best survival horror games on the market and still holds up today.

5 SOMA

2015

The start of the decade saw the release of Frictional Game’s masterpiece Amnesia. Midway through the decade, it saw another landmark release from the indie developer. SOMA is a psychological survival horror game that takes players to a deep ocean facility where strange mechanical monsters stalk the deserted ruins.

Much like Amnesia, players can only rely on stealth and evasion to survive the horrors of the game and must solve various puzzles to progress. The game’s narrative is as deep as the setting, dealing with philosophical ideas such as mortality and the nature of self. On top of this, Soma has some of the best horror set pieces in gaming and is a bonafide classic of the genre.

4 Layers Of Fear

2016

The psychological horror game Layers of Fear takes players into the crumbling mind of a tortured artist as they attempt to create their next masterpiece. The game falls into the classic haunted house trope, with plenty of jump scares and creepy hallways to explore, taking influence from the horror classic P.T.

Players need to solve various puzzles to progress, as the house changes around them and secrets are uncovered. Layers of Fear may not have the big horror spectacle of games such as Soma or Alien: Isolation, but it does offer a terrifying and atmospheric experience that will chill players to the core.

3 Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

2017

The second half of the decade saw the revival of the definitive survival horror franchise Resident Evil, which redefined itself once again with its seventh release. Biohazard changed the series by turning the traditional third-person game into an FPS experience, bringing players face-to-face with the horrors of the game.

Taking a lot of influence from films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Resident Evil 7 brought the series back to its survival horror roots, following its new protagonist Ethan Winters. Set in and around a large house in the backwoods of Louisiana, the game stands as one of the best Resident Evil entries in the series’ history.

2 Call Of Cthulhu

2018

This underrated horror role-playing game is based on the works of legendary horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. It follows private investigator Edward Pierce as he attempts to undercover the mystery of the Hawkins family, who died in a terrible fire. The game has various puzzles for the player to discover, as well as tense stealth sequences to avoid enemies.

Call of Cthulhu is mainly narrative-driven and falls into the cosmic horror genre, where unspeakable creatures lurk in other realms. Players will follow the main character as he slowly loses his sanity after uncovering the truth about the events. The game is a little-known gem that fans of Lovecraftian horror will love.

1 Resident Evil 2 Remake

2019

The end of the decade saw the release of Resident Evil 2 Remake and the further revival of the Resident Evil series as a whole. Capcom didn’t just remaster their zombie classic, they remade it from the ground up, recreating the classic locations and iconic enemies, such as the Lickers and Mr. X.

Resident Evil 2 Remake stands as a benchmark for developers looking to bring back older games. The release improves the original’s gameplay and mechanics while staying faithful to the classic game’s concept. The game became the best-selling entry in the entire franchise and won multiple awards, further proving the series’ longevity and status as a leader in the genre.