10: Resident Evil VII: Biohazard
CAPCOM has successfully blended tropes of modern survival horror while cleverly injecting
their own formula in an outbreak so appealing, it brought back the franchise from the dead.
We’ll have to thank The Bakers for that, then?
Welcome yourself to the Baker Family and experience horror like never before.
This is the first Resident Evil game to deviate from their regular Third-Person perspective.
This time, it evolves into a terrifying and visceral first-person approach.
Control Ethan Winters, your regular man who stumbles himself in Dulvey, Louisiana to find
his missing wife.
But this one-stop visit isn’t going to end well.
Explore dilapidated hallways, creepy mansions, and watch the potential of Umbrella’s Legacy.
Conserve ammo, solve door puzzles, micromanage your inventory and experience Resident Evil
return from its original roots.
Say hi to Grandma for me.
It has a PlayScore of 8.43
9: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
Let’s take a trip back to 2007.
This first-person shooter takes you back to the horrors of the Chernobyl Explosion.
And no, you don’t get to witness it the first time.
The game is set in the near future where another explosion destroys the place once again.
Jeez, can’t Chernobyl catch a break?
Face off mutated creatures in a game so non-linear, the player is left to choose what to do next.
It’s role-playing elements make it similar to another gapopular me that’s also set
in a futuristic, hellish and irradiated world.
Assume the role of a “Stalker” exploring the lay of the land.
The game excels with its multiple paths.
Players can unlock multiple endings depending on their choices.
Critics have lauded the STALKER for its gloomy atmosphere but the franchise has also suffered
from mixed receptions.
It has a PlayScore of 8.45
8: Amnesia: The Dark Descent
A game that boosted YouTube’s gaming genre to its maximum potential.
With the amount of Let’s Plays and parody videos that this game generated, it can be
considered at least one of the stepping stone for the birth of YouTube Gaming.
As the title implies, the players control a man trapped in a creepy castle with nothing
but a lantern in hand.
His memory was completely erased and he has no recollection of basically everything that
happened before he woke up.
As soon as the bizarre creatures show up, things go ape shit.
With no weapon in hand and no means of fighting back, the players are left to hide or run
away.
It’s one of Frictional Games’ most successful entries yet, and it really defined modern
survival-horror.
It has a PlayScore of 8.48
7: The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series
Robert Kirkman’s creation was a godsend for Zombie fans.
The TV Show did a lot of justice towards the viewers and for the fans of his comics.
Now, Telltale Games takes a step forward into their episodic formula and brings you a whole
new experience of survival-horror.
Although it’s not technically centered around survival-horror, it’s mostly about choice-driven
scenarios.
But the gripping feeling of living in a world torn apart by a zombie pandemic?
That’s scary.
Control a man named Lee Everett as he plunges himself into a mess that he didn’t ask for.
He meets Clementine along the way and together they team up to survive a slowly-decaying
world.
This episodic franchise brings out 5 episodes worth of careful storytelling and important
decision-making moments.
If you’re a fan of The Walking Dead, you might need to check this out because it has
a PlayScore of 8.54
6: F.E.A.R.
Think of this game as…
Badass Ghostbusters.
But with more blood, mature paranormal content and insane superhuman reflexes.
Play as the Point Man of the deadly F.E.A.R.
squad and uncover a mystery that involves a little girl.
The game is more about conquering fear rather than survival, but the elements it presents
gives off a creepy vibe.
Especially the game’s main antagonist: Alma.
It’s spooky, and it haunts players in ways they can’t imagine.
But don’t worry, being the badass that your character is, engage in a hardcore shootfest
with these paranormal presence using your insane John Woo skills.
Slow down time, and unleash hell on earth with your superhuman reflexes.
This game was highly praised due to its fun shooting mechanics and interesting story.
It has multiple expansions and successfully created sequels amidst all the game’s acronyms.
It has a PlayScore of 8.58
5: Outlast
Red Barrels’ introduced a new form of horror.
Step into the shoes of a regular journalist who wants to uncover the secret beneath an
abandoned asylum.
Sounds brave, right?
Apparently, that’s the main character’s biggest mistake.
The moment he enters the window, that’s when you know the game is not fucking around.
As mentioned earlier, Outlast introduced a new form of horror with its camera-reliant
first-person perspective.
The game fiddles with darkness and players need to use the protagonist’s camera to
explore the asylum’s rooms and hallways.
Conserve battery, or run away from the unknown creatures that inhabit it.
The game was a success.
Critics loved the dreadful atmosphere and a thought-provoking story about the ethics
of human experimentation.
With this achievement, they released a scary new expansion called Whistleblower.
We can’t wait for the sequel.
It has a PlayScore of 8.59
4: SOMA
Another survival-horror entry from Frictional Games.
After the success of Amnesia and it's disappointing sequel, they decided to take horror to a different
path: Science fiction.
What Amnesia lacked in story, SOMA provided.
Step inside a mind-blowing experience in Simon Jarret’s life.
Upon suffering from a mild brain damage, he finds himself in a spiral of confusing narrative.
He gets transported into a terrifying world under water.
He’s set to uncover the deep mysteries of the peculiar world he’s trapped in.
Is any of this real or not?
The game takes Amnesia’s gameplay designs such as monster evading and puzzle solving
mechanics.
However, the presence of a good story and a more immersive world can bring players at
the edge of their seats.
I swear, this game just toys with your existence.
I played to give me the creeps, not existential crises!!
It has a PlayScore of 8.61
3: Dead Space 2
A game that takes space survival-horror to a terrifyingly isolating scale.
The first Dead Space was a nightmare-inducing entry from Visceral Games, but with this Sequel?
Say hello to more Necromorphs and watch Isaac Clarke descend into madness.
Strap yourselves onto Saturn’s largest moon because no one can really hear you scream
in space.
Like the first game, it’s an over-the-shoulder third-person-shooter that lets players control
their favorite Space Engineer, Isaac.
Use his powerful plasma guns and eviscerate necromorphs limb per limb.
Many critics have praised the game due to its huge improvement.
Calling it a ‘monster of a sequel’ as it exceeded everyone’s expectations in terms
of sheer terror and action.
I’m gonna say this for the last time, can’t Isaac catch a break?
Poor guy.
Dead Space 2 has a PlayScore of 8.65
2: Doom
Get ready for an adrenaline-pumping shootfest with Id Software’s revival of the classic
Doom.
No longer pixelated, but more badass than ever.
Take control of Doomguy and witness him wreak carnage and perform gory kills to these pathetic
creatures.
It’s the most beautiful looking Doom game ever (Duh) and it’s by far the smoothest.
Use your wide array of futuristic weapons and watch his enemies squeal in terror as
you tear them apart with your glory kills.
It’s single player campaign brought life to this franchise.
The game’s multiplayer, on the other hand, is subject for debate.
Survival-horror?
Psssh.
Doomguy isn’t afraid of these hellish hordes on Mars.
It has a PlayScore of 8.68
And here are the Runners-Up before we reveal the number one:
11: Alien: Isolation.
Be afraid of the Xenomorph and witness the best Alien game to date.
The game has a responsively smart UI, frightening atmosphere and a story to fit the Alien lore.
It has a PlayScore of 8.43 12.
Killing Floor 2.
Tripwire Interactive gives you a game to test out your monster-slaying capabilities.
Survive with or without your friends in a deadly outbreak of ugly creatures.
Bring out the mods!
It has a PlayScore of 8.43 13.
Penumbra: Black Plague.
The sequel to Frictional Games’ Penumbra series.
The game follows the events after Overture but with a better gameplay mode, and a haunting
expansion to deliver.
It has a PlayScore of 8.28 14.
Dead Rising.
A game that’s much more of a playground than survival-horror.
Take control of Frank as he terrorizes a bloodthirsty horde of zombies in humorous fashion.
It has a PlayScore of 8.16 15.
Dying Light.
An open-world zombie game that mixes parkour and horror.
Survive an epidemic in a quarantined area and stop the men responsible for it.
It has a PlayScore of 8.14
1: Left for Dead 2
Valve’s sequel to the award winning zombie game brings out a new batch of survivors to
escape and fight against the swarming infected.
Team up with your friends and enjoy the game’s rich new story and a fun multiplayer mode.
Face the ghastly infected in numerous ways and take them down with over 20 unique weapons.
Want to smash them in the head?
Use a baseball bat.
Want to blow them into pieces?
Use a grenade launcher.
But be careful, these special type of infected come in various shape and sizes.
Just like every Valve game, it’s a success.
It was praised for its brilliant co-op mode, good story, new campaigns and an improved
AI Director 2.0.
Which lets players customize world designs as they see fit.
A classic masterpiece and it has
a PlayScore of 9.02