No matter which decade you’re in, horror games always shine and come with plenty of exciting experiences that will maybe make you want to sleep with the lights on. 2015 is no exception for a fantastic year in horror gaming, as you had plenty of hidden gems and some of the most masterfully suspenseful narrative-driven titles in the genre.
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Across the indie and Triple-A game spheres, you were witnessing incredible launches left and right. Whether you wanted to go to a snowy retreat where your choices matter, a Gothic horror setting filled with Soulsborne delights, or new locations in Resident Evil, 2015 was your year.
Honorable Mentions: Zombi, The Order: 1886, And FNAF 3 & 4
There was quite a collection of horror games launching in 2015, and we thought these are still worth mentioning here since everything from that year should be taken into account.
Ubisoft’s Wii U zombie horror game ZombiU dropped the ‘U’ in 2015 and was ported to PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Its stance as a horror game is debatable, but there’s certainly werewolf horror present in The Order: 1886, a narrative-driven cinematic adventure set in an alternate history of Victorian London and exclusive to the PlayStation.
Designer Scott Cawthon also launched back-to-back sequel installments of the Five Nights at Freddy’s series, the third game coming out in March of 2015 and the fourth installment releasing in July. The latter game takes you out of the pizza place and brings the animatronic horrors home to a child’s bedroom. Both games would only receive console ports in 2019.
10
Stasis
The underrated indie horror gem of 2015 was Stasis, an isometric sci-fi point-and-click game that’s set in an eerie abandoned spacecraft. The premise is that your character is awoken from stasis and left to uncover some disturbing mysteries aboard the ship.
The environment design created a great atmosphere, and the overall concept was inspired by Dead Space and the film Event Horizon (which also influenced Dead Space). Then, you also have the added stakes of needing to locate your missing wife and daughter all while the spaceship is being pulled into the atmosphere of Neptune.
Developer The Brotherhood launched the next installment, Stasis: Bone Totem, an underwater horror point-and-click, in 2023.
9
Monstrum
Monstrum
- Released
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May 20, 2015
- Developer
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Team Junkfish
- Publisher
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Independent
- Engine
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Unity
- How Long To Beat
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5 Hours
Monstrum does something you don’t really see with most modern horror games, especially not as early as 2015. It’s designed as a horror roguelike game where the environment is procedurally generated, and you’ll be met with one of three monsters during each of your runs. And when you die, it’s permadeath.
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There’s not much story to Monstrum other than finding yourself stuck with a ravenous creature aboard a cargo ship where your only goal is to evade and escape it. There are various ways you can hide and avoid the monsters, but there are also traps set up that will get you if you aren’t careful.
8
Fran Bow
Fran Bow is a dark 2D psychological horror game with Tim Burton-inspired visuals that follows a young troubled girl stuck in an asylum in the aftermath of her parents’ brutal murder. Fran wants to escape from Oswald Asylum to make it back to her aunt, but there will be some story revelations about the whole situation that will shock you.
The most compelling aspect of Fran Bow is how, through a simplistic 2D point-and-click, you can get a powerful glimpse into the medicated and troubled mind of Fran — you’ll see the environment change and her getting sent to a whimsically creepy plane. It’s really as good a story as psychological horror films like Smile and Oddity.
7
Resident Evil: Revelations 2
Resident Evil: Revelations 2
- Released
-
February 24, 2015
- Engine
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MT Framework
Resident Evil: Revelations 2 continued with the episodic release timeline from the first Revelations game, so you had to wait a bit at that time to get the complete story. The game is set between Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6 and follows Claire Redfield and Moira Burton as the main protagonists. Moira’s father, Barry Burton, also returns and becomes a playable character in this installment.
The nice part about the Revelations spin-off series is the emphasis on co-op gameplay and getting to switch between Claire and Moira or Barry and Natalia throughout the gameplay scenarios. Revelations 2 sees Claire and Moira get captured during an event for their organization Terra Save. Barry Burton tracks his daughter’s trail to rescue her.
6
Fatal Frame: Maiden Of Black Water
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water
- Released
-
October 22, 2015
Fatal Frame was one of those video game series that defined the 2000s, and the 2015 installment continues with the direction of series creator Makoto Shibata. While 2008’s Mask of the Lunar Eclipse launched on Wii, the next installment of the Fatal Frame series, Maiden of Blackwater, was a Wii U exclusive.
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The signature element of Fatal Frame is you being armed only with the Camera Obscura, a special camera that will allow you to combat evil spirits coming your way, which was like a whole new way of experiencing it with Wii U controls. The story follows different characters in the haunted fictional region of Mount Hikami, and you also get to have a glimpse into the past of the spirit you vanquish.
5
Resident Evil HD Remaster
There were two big moments for Resident Evil in 2015; the new HD remaster being available for modern consoles and PC was another one. You could finally ditch your GameCube that still had the 2002 remake exclusive and get to experience the original RE game with even better graphics for the new-gen remaster.
Capcom’s Resident Evil is one of the most iconic survival horror games next to Silent Hill. It not only started a long-spanning series, but it defined the genre for decades to come. In the first installment, you get to play as either Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield, where they must investigate the ominous Spencer Mansion and encounter various zombies and giant virus-mutated creatures around every fixed-camera corner.
4
Bloodborne
- Released
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March 24, 2015
- Developer(s)
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From Software
- Engine
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Havok
- How Long To Beat
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33 Hours
It’ll be the tenth anniversary of FromSoftware’s beloved Gothic horror masterpiece, Bloodborne, in 2025, and there’s still not a PC or PS5 remaster launch date in sight. This game was a large departure from Hidetaka Miyazaki’s typical historical fantasy setting as seen in Dark Souls, Sekiro, and Elden Ring to a more oppressive Gothic Victorian era-inspired location of Yharnam.
You get all the punishing boss fights of the Souls games but with the rich disease-stricken atmosphere of Bloodborne’s main setting, along with some Lovecraft mythos thrown into the main storyline for good horror measure. Even though Elden Ring is one of the studio’s most GOTY-nominated projects, Bloodborne is widely considered the best FromSoftware title.
3
Dying Light
The zombie game genre was in for a new resurgence in 2015 with the launch of Dying Light from Techland, the studio also behind the original Dead Island. This game managed to elevate the mechanics and systems of Dead Island to be a full-fledged open-world experience, with first-person parkour traversal and zombie carnage going hand-in-hand.
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It was a narrative-driven zombie survival game like no other. The amount of weapon crafting and enemy variety, the amount of main quest and side quests you could take on, not to mention the DLC expansion, The Following, and the way the zombies become more aggressive during the night and UV light being a main weapon against them were extremely creative game design choices.
2
Until Dawn
- Released
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August 25, 2015
- Engine
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Decima
- How Long To Beat
-
8 Hours
2025 will mark ten years for Supermassive Games’ branching horror masterpiece Until Dawn. Even with the launches of The Quarry, The Dark Pictures, and The Casting of Frank Stone in that time, and this game even receiving a remake for PC and PS5, there’s still truly no topping the narrative experience that this game delivered in the horror genre.
The setting and concept combine creature horror and slashers. The idea of using a psychiatrist to break the fourth wall and speak to the player to tie into the gameplay was brilliant. The characters are well-written and are portrayed by the likes of Hayden Panettiere, Rami Malek, and Peter Stormare, and the branching choices, butterfly effect, and story moments are all riveting.
1
Soma
Soma was probably the best horror title to launch in 2015. It’s from Frictional Games, a developer that’s mastered first-person walking sim horror puzzle games with its Penumbra and Amnesia series. But instead of being in a Victorian castle, the Algerian desert, or a cave system, you are deep underwater in a research facility known as the Pathos-II in the year 2104.
It’s a Lovecraftian sci-fi horror centered around robots and AI, with infected android monsters lurking about the facility that you must avoid. The isolated underwater setting is atmospheric and unsettling. The mystery being laid out is also compelling and there’s a very effective ending that easily can go down as one of gaming’s best.
