The Best Atypical Horror Games

Horror is almost always about the atypical; things that are not usual or normal, such as the dead living, a building or town with agency, or someone who can see things that others cannot. However, as with any genre – almost by definition through being part of a genre – tropes and expectations start to form. Familiarity breeds comfort and comfort and fulfilled expectations are the antitheses of good horror.

One of the most important aspects of strong horror is the surprising and unexpected and while many great horror games follow tried and tested formulae such as the survival horror tropes of gameplay some of the most memorable are also made so by breaking traditions. With some even creating their own unique gameplay, denying the player the comfort of familiarity. This doesn’t always make for the scariest horror games, nor the best, but it does make for memorable experiences that stick with the player and provoke thoughts that a more standardized experience wouldn’t.

10 Carrion

Many Mouths And They Must Feed

While a fair few multiplayer games – such as Dead by Daylight or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – have players take on the role of the slasher, it is not so often employed in single-player horror games, even less so when the killer the player is controlling is a fleshy mass of tentacles. However, in Carrion​​​​​​, that is exactly the case.

Essentially a grotesque murderous puzzle game with the primary objective of escaping the lab containing the creature. Carrion is a fun short experience, memorable due to its clever central concept though a little rough around the edges.

9 Catherine

Relationships and Puzzle Block Towers In A Bar In Space

It’s funny how Catherine makes itself one of the most bizarre horror games in so many aspects yet the central theme and narrative are disarmingly normal, relationships and commitment. The story follows the protagonist, Vincent, who is in a long-term relationship with Katherine but the stability of his life is rocked with the introduction of Catherine, a young woman he just can’t seem to keep away from.

There are also lots of less normal elements, such as the space setting, the nightmare realm puzzle block gameplay, and the copious information about alcohol.

8 P.T.

Looping Terror

Certainly for the time P.T. came out, it was a unique experience with so many terrifying ideas that have been retrodden by horror hopefuls since that it might seem a very tropey experience now. However, the short looping hallway with all its variables and its abstract horror atmosphere have played a huge part in paving the way for many video game horror narratives since.

The downside of P.T. is that in the second half the horror really drops and the repetition rises, which is understandable as it was meant to be a complex to-parse teaser for the – now long canceled – Silent Hills, but it does detract from the memory of the experience as a whole.

7 Stories Untold

Nothing Like Reading A Good Text Adventure

A series of short horror tales with a hidden connection, all playing out like text adventure games. Stories Untold takes horror gaming back to its most basic form, using only a little modern contrivance to assist in developing the atmosphere and meta-narrative.

There’s great understanding on display of not only what makes a story scary but also how giving the player agency in the telling can make for a far more unnerving experience.

6 Immortality

Do You Like Scary Movies?

In Immortality, the player is given the out of order footage from the making of three feature-length films and tasked with discovering the story going on behind the scenes. Fantastically acted and written, these clips carry an underlying creepiness within them right from the get-go.

One more secretive gameplay function revolves around finding hidden moments within the clips, which requires changing the speed or watching them backward. It’s impressive to realize how much attention has gone into making all these clips not only work as simple viewing but become extra unnerving when watching backward or with distorted audio and awaiting the moment the unknown change will happen.

5 Paratopic

Short Stylish Scary Sequences

Platform(s): PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S

Released: March 12, 2018

Developer(s): Arbitrary Metric

Paratopic is a very short game, only taking between 40 minutes to an hour to complete, but in that short span, there are three different characters to play, each with their own varied gameplay and which the narrative switches between with stylish abrupt cuts.

For a narrative that is pretty hard to follow the first time through, Paratopic proves that even a confusing story, if paced correctly, can be incredibly engrossing. It definitely follows the ethos of all killer no filler and warrants a couple of playthroughs at least to spot the many hidden details.

4 Forbidden Siren

Observe Through The Eyes Of The Enemy

The unique sightjacking ability of the Siren games, where the player is able to see through the eyes of the Shibito that are hunting them, is what elevated the Siren series from a memorable to an unforgettable part of the video game horror cannon.

There’s nothing like the experience of thinking you’re hidden before using sightjack and seeing an enemy sneaking up on you through their own eyes. A horror moment that can only be fully appreciated in the interactive medium it was intended for.

3 World Of Horror

A Marriage Of Manga And Lovecraft

Heavily inspired by the works of Junji Ito and wearing its inspirations proudly, World Of Horror plays like an anthology of scary stories. A heavily narrative-driven rougelite where a different selection of short horror stories are available to try and survive. The greater objective is ascending the lighthouse at the edge of town and, hopefully, putting a stop to the madness plaguing Shiokawa.

With different companions, stories, characters, and encounters, there is a huge variety of ways the game can go, giving great replay value and maintaining tension through the changes that occur.

2 Inscryption

A High Stakes Card Game

A deck-building card game is certainly not the go-to gameplay type for a horror game, and yet it is undoubtedly very effective due to the atmosphere that is created and the surprisingly in-depth narrative that is slowly built up over the course of the game. Cleverly moving between various subgenres of horror as the player advances and confounding expectations on numerous occasions

Not only is Inscryption scary, but it’s also hilarious and at times incredibly poignant and sad. Meta narratives are something of a specialty for Daniel Mullins but even among his already existing stories, Inscryption feels like something special.

1 Iron Lung

Deep Sea Dread

For such a short and, quite literally, contained game, there is a lot going on in Iron Lung. The player controls a nameless unfortunate jammed into a tiny ramshackle submarine tasked with exploring the depths of a blood ocean on the surface of a moon. Already a brilliantly unique setup, but then comes the real horror. The submarine has zero visibility except through pictures taken via an external camera.

It’s an excellent gameplay loop that never loses its atmosphere. Use the four buttons to travel the ocean floor using the X and Y axis, become terrified by the outstanding audio that only suggests what could be lurking beyond the walls of the submersible, reach the destination, and, with great trepidation, click to take a snapshot and see what’s outside. Dread-inducing brilliance.