Surprisingly Cozy Horror Games

Key Takeaways

• Horror games don’t need constant scares; cozy moments can offer relief.
• Titles like
  Night In The Woods
  and
  Oxenfree
  blend horror with calming vibes.
• Ambiance in games like
  Limbo
  can be eerie yet surprisingly comforting.

There are tons of video games that don’t exactly fit only one kind of genre; there are adventure-puzzle games, platformer first-person shooters, and even strategy RPGs. However, “horror” and “cozy” aren’t types of games that usually work well together, but when they do, the outcome is something beautifully eerie, yet calming.

Not all horror games are survival-based; some are about the relationships characters make with one another along the way, or players taking their time to inspect each puzzle. Horror doesn’t need to be all scares all the time, and there are always brief moments of relief and respite. Oftentimes, those dark, eerie atmospheres in horror games would be rather quaint when there aren’t terrifying monsters around. Here are a few horror titles that surprisingly give off cozy vibes.

8 Night In The Woods

A String Of Kidnappings In A Cute Cartoon Town

Night in the Woods may not be a conventional horror game, but it still explores the idea of fear. Not only does the game follow the events of a mysterious kidnapping, but it also focuses on much darker themes such as mental illness and depression, as well as the stuffy, unfulfilling feeling of living in a small town.

The game follows Margaret “Mae” Borowski as she returns to her hometown after dropping out of college. It is after her return that she witnesses the kidnapping of a teenager during the town’s “Harfest” festival. It is up to Mae to work through her harrowing mental struggles and find out the mystery behind the small town of Possum Springs kidnappings.

7 Strange Horticulture

Providing Herbal Cures To Supernatural Problems

While Strange Horticulture may at first seem like just another farming-type simulator, it is within its occult theme that its spooky elements truly lie. The player character inherits their late uncle’s shop, called Strange Horticulture, after his passing. The player then deals with customers, with each new client coming to the shop with their own mysterious issue they need a specific plant to remedy.

It is then up to the player to find and correctly identify each plant and its magical properties, assigning them to each client to suit their needs. While the spooky atmosphere and ghost stories may be scary, the act of going through the encyclopedia and identifying new plants on the game’s vast fantasy map can be a cozy time.

6 Cult Of The Lamb

Furry Friends And Dreadful Ends

Cult Of The Lamb is a spooky Roguelike game where the player takes on the role of The Lamb. After dying and being resurrected, The Lamb is summoned by The One Who Waits, an other-worldly god who that has gifted The Lamb a crown, tasking him to make a cult in his name.

While the premise sounds rather dark and violent, the adorable art style does a fantastic job of softening the edges. Cult of the Lamb works with the juxtaposition between a cutesy cast of animal friends and demonic themes, and turns it into a game that’s great for gamers to sit down and unwind with.

5 Oxenfree

Investigate An Alien Signal And Make Friends Along The Way

Oxenfree is a unique graphic adventure game that features 3D characters in 2D environments. The story follows Alex, a young teen heading to the fictional Edwards Island with her friend Ren and stepbrother, Jonas. After settling in on the island for the weekend, Alex and her friends explore the caves at night. These caves were said to have radio frequencies that cause paranormal activity and sightings. It is during their caving adventure that Alex then tunes her radio, accidentally causing a dimensional rift.

Despite the game heavily featuring haunting paranormal events, it can be easy to get lost in the carefree banter Alex and her friends share time and time again. Oxenfree is about the paranormal, but it s also a coming-of-age title and ensures that the player’s dialogue choices are just as important as the overarching story of Edwards Island.

4 That’s Not My Neighbor

Spot The Doppelgängers And Keep Them From Entering An Apartment Building

That’s Not My Neighbor isn’t just any job simulator, it’s a horrific one. This game puts players in the shoes of an apartment doorman in 1955. While the job may seem simple in our world, in the world of That’s Not My Neighbor, things aren’t nearly as easy. In this world, there are doppelgängers. The doorman’s job is to ensure that each tenant who enters the building is the real tenant and not a doppelgänger in disguise, ready to kill all the other unsuspecting tenants.

While some doppelgängers are realistic and resemble their counterparts closely, others aren’t as good at copying their target and are instead terrifying, grotesque creatures.

3 Limbo

Help A Little Boy Solve Terrifying Physics Puzzles

Despite its (literally) dark atmosphere and eerie art style, the world of Limbo can become a surprisingly comforting one. The lack of music in the game puts a spotlight on the white noise and hones in on the ambient sounds of the environment.

As the game takes the player through a gloomy forest, an industrial city, and other levels, the silent atmosphere can slowly become more cozy than terrifying. That is, until the next monster shows up, of course.

2 Death And Taxes

Take Over The Bureaucratic Duties Of A Grim Reaper

• Platform: Android, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Linux, macOS
• Release Date: February 20, 2020
• Developer: Placeholder Gameworks, Pineapple Works
• Genre: Job Simulator

Death and Taxes puts the player in the shoes of the Grim Reaper, a newly appointed one, overseeing Cosmopolis City subdivision #4. While it may seem like a bit of a high-pressure, high-stakes job, choosing which humans live or die as the new Grim Reaper in Death and Taxes somehow makes the task calming.

Each workday, the player must go through multiple rounds of paperwork, picking and choosing which humans deserve to live and which ones should perish. Although the game gives the player a few difficult choices to make, the predictability and busywork of the everyday paperwork can be relaxing (when it’s not guilt-inducing).

1 Dredge

Casually Fish For Eldritch Abominations

Dredge allows players to explore the horrors of the unknown in the deep ocean. This is a fishing horror game that operates on a day-night cycle. As if the dangers of the sea weren’t enough to make Dredge spooky, it seems like the small town of Greater Marrow and its surrounding islands are plagued with the likes of frightening ghost ships and Lovecraftian sea monsters.

However, aside from the depths of the terrifying unknown sea, fishing during the daytime can make for a great (and relaxing) pastime. While there are dangers on the sea, there’s also downtime to relax and read books.