Summary
If you want experimental gameplay that challenges conventions and gives you something truly new,the triple-A scenejust can’t hold a candle to the indie horror space. Sure, you might have to dig through a few mascot horror titles to get to them, but luckily for you, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to hunt down some of the most unique games in the genre on your behalf.
From horror games about delivering mail to dating simulators with a side of Lovecraftian terror, these indie horror titles take creative ideas to the next level to deliver scares in all new ways—literally.
12Home Safety Hotline
Customer Service With A Side Of Analog Horror
Analog horror has really taken off in recent years, and while a lot of games have utilized the analog aesthetic, only one really feels like it understands the old janky PSA vibesthe best analog horror seriesare going for. That’s because, in this game, youarethe PSA.
Home Safety Hotline tasks you with taking phone calls from people suffering from all kinds of pests, only hearing the horrors of the worldbeyond your workstationas you attempt to diagnose their hauntings before it’s too late.
11Sucker For Love
As If Regular Dating Wasn’t Scary Enough…
Dating is already plenty scary, especiallyif you’ve never done it before. While most dating sims tend to make this process easier with a low-risk environment, Sucker For Love goes the exact opposite route.
Featuring multiple dateable entities and a fantastic sense of Lovecraftian humor, Sucker For Love has spawned a series of titles and a cult following by transforming dating sim gameplay into a comedy-driven horror experience.
10Mr. TomatoS
More Like Edu-Terror
We all remember playing educational games in kindergarten. Listen carefully, and use your vocabulary and observation skills to fill out the order correctly. Here, Mr. TomatoS tasks you with much the same task as Reader Rabbit did all those years ago, but with a dark twist.
To be fair, Mr. TomatoS is more of a comedy horror experience than anything else, but that doesn’t stop it and its sequel, Ms. LemonS, from creatively transformingedutainment gameplayinto a more mature experience.
9Greener Grass Awaits
Golf For Your Life
When the green is closed and the night is over, one lone golfer approaches the fairway, clubs in hand, ready to play a game unlike any other, no matter what horrifying consequences await. That golfer is you.
Greener Grass Awaits is one of the most uniquely engaging horror experiences out there, combining the stressful nature of an enemy that only moves when you aren’t looking at it with the focus and strategy of golf. Eventually, you’llhaveto look away in order to hit the ball, and that’s when the real terror begins.
8Buckshot Roulette
Feeling Lucky?
In a club where the music is way too loud, and the walls are ripe with mold, a nameless character, you, walk toward ahigh-stakes gambleyou’ll most certainly regret. Here in the dark, sitting across from a dubious stranger, you’ll both pull the trigger, but only one of you will survive.
Buckshot Roulette is an incredibly unique experience. Taking the world’s riskiest game and transforming it into a rightfully scary experience like no other, this short but sweet indie horror game understands how to keep players on the edge of their seats.
7Mourning Tide
That’s Not A Fish
When most people think of Lovecraftian horror mixed with fishing, they think of the critically acclaimed indie gemDredge. While yes, Dredge is fantastic, if you want a fishing game that goes all in on the horror aspect, Mourning Tide has got you covered in spades.
A retro horror fishing experience, Mourning Tide will have you pulling up fish with human faces under a red sky before the day is done. ThePS1 style visualslend the experience a sense of uncanniness, and the monsters found on your line will haunt you for years to come.
6My Adaptation In(to) Human
Change For The Better
Tasking you with surviving and thriving as an alien species of body snatcher, My Adaptation In(to) Human is a creative experience with some truly off-kilter mechanics.
After choosing a human vessel to inhabit, you’ll need to carefully navigate your social life, your well-being as a parasite, and your surroundings in thisatmospheric horror experience. The gameplay might not always land exactly as intended, but the ideas are there, and we applaud the game’s creative gameplay.
5Night Bus
The Odd Taxi Horror Game I Didn’t Know I Needed
Games likeCrazy Taxihave given us games about transportation before, but none quite like Night Bus, which sees you pick up inhuman passengers and deliver them across what the game describes as a “hyper-realistic depiction of 1999 New Zealand”.
As you transport a mix of people and monsters to their destinations, you’ll need to use the CCTV system onboard your bus to check in on the passengers every so often, which lends the game a passive sense of anxiety that really elevates the experience.
4Fractal Sailor
In A World You Don’t Understand
Fractal Sailor is so unique that it’s almost impossible to describe. Setting off in a vessel that looks normal enough into a world that is anything but, you’ll need to figure out how to navigate an ever-changing landscape to reach your targets and avoid danger.
The game can be a bit obtuse at times, owing mostly to the fact that it’s probably impossible to make things even a little cohesive without undermining the entire point of the game, but in the end, that confusion works in Fractal Sailor’s favor, at least from what we see in the demo.
3Let’s Find Larry
Where’s Waldo With A Twist
Where’s Waldo is one of the most famous non-video games ever put to paper, and with so many people looking for the guy, it only makes sense that, eventually, someone would start askingwhythey’re looking for him in the first place.
Tasking you with hunting down the titular Larry ina hidden object style game, Let’s Find Larry is a master of the art of switchingfrom cute and harmless to unhinged and terrifyingat the drop of a hat. Coming from the developer behind Night Of The Consumers, we’d expect nothing less.
For readers in Europe, you might know Waldo better by his other name, Wally.
