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Despite their quaint art style and lack of dimension, 2D games cater to the horror genre quite well, delivering a nuanced sense of terror. The best 2D horror games available to play on PC often lull gamers into a false sense of security before providing intense scares and psychological terrors.
8 House
Available to play on PC.
This hidden indie gem of a horror game has players take control of Tabby. She is trapped, living the same nightmare endlessly on repeat in a haunted house where every inanimate object is trying to kill her.
House is a trial-and-error game, as players must find a way to survive the horrors in this race against time. The house reacts and changes to Tabby’s actions in real-time, with multiple endings to discover.
7 Detention
Available to play on PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Android devices.
Detention begins with Ray, the main protagonist, and her friend Wei as they are trapped at Greenwood high school during a horrible storm. The only bridge leading to salvation has collapsed, so they must find an alternative. Alone, yet not wholly, the girls must find their way out by exploring the school.
Players must navigate Detention’s main characters around in a classic point-and-click fashion, adding to the ominous tension as evil lurks in unexpected places. This story-driven atmospheric narrative incorporates local Taiwanese cultural references and Chinese mythology to tell its unique and terrifying story.
6 Omori
Available to play on PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
Omori is a slow-burner psychological horror that touches upon the horrors of the human mind. It deals with the story of the bond between a friendship group, mainly focusing on two characters, Omori and Sunny. This fun and colorful cast of characters offset the narrative’s darker and more serious nature.
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While exploring deeper themes like mental health, Omori, at its core, is a traditional turn-based RPG with some fresh mechanics. The combat mechanic explores emotions with a triage-based system; Happy beats Angry, Angry beats Sad, etc. Omori is a touching story that will stay with players long after they have completed it.
5 Worse Than Death
Available to play on PC and Nintendo Switch.
The prospect of high-school reunions is terrifying enough. Still, Worse Than Death takes that to the next level as a high-school reunion goes horribly wrong. Playing as Holly, her return to her hometown dredges up some painful memories from her past. She resolves to uncover the truth behind a murder.
Holly must run for her life and use stealth to get past the creatures that lurk in the dark. The 2D pixel art style and the ambiance set the evocative atmosphere. Worse Than Death is a side-scroller thriller that shows that horror doesn’t just come in the form of jumpscares and monsters but festering secrets that need to be told.
4 Lone Survivor
Available to play on PC, PS3, PS4, and Nintendo Switch.
Lone Survivor is a 2D psychological survival-horror indie game weaving inspiration from games like Silent Hill into its atmosphere. Players step into the shoes of an anonymous character stationed in a ruined city with limited supplies and dwindling feelings of hope. He journeys to discover meaning for his existence, encountering strange characters in the outside world.
This game has a unique sense of surrealism, as the player may realize that they may have an unreliable perception of the world surrounding them. Lone Survivor is one of the best 2D horror games examining the horrors of the human mind.
3 Limbo
Available to play on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android devices.
In LIMBO, players control as a small shadow child looking to reunite with his missing sister. The eerie soundtracks and monochromic environments are pitched in a space of perpetual gloom, perfect for fans of Tim Burton.
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As the name LIMBO suggests, the player will continuously be making progress, only to have to move backward again. The puzzles and platforming elements are fairly straightforward, to begin with, before progressively becoming complex as the game continues, contributing to that disturbing atmosphere.
2 Reveal The Deep
Available to play on PC.
Reveal The Deep is a short 2D exploration game set in the wreckage of a 19th-century steamship. Players take control of a deep-sea diver who looks unnervingly similar to a Big Daddy from BioShock. They must venture deepest into the bowels of the wreck, searching for the answers to the disaster that befell this ship.
Reveal The Deep is a minimalist game with atmospheric lighting, featuring many explorable environments and puzzles as the player searches for diary entries and other clues. There are many psychological horror elements with the games’ ambient soundtrack and limited visibility, making players question what horrors lurk in the shadows.
1 CARRION
Available to play on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
CARRION is a game that subverts typical horror tropes, as the player assumes the role of an amorphous creature of unknown origin, secured in a scientific laboratory and treated as a test subject. Because of its writhing and fluid-like nature, players can easily squeeze through tight vents and small spaces, creating unique ways to sneak up on enemies.
The goal is to retrieve all the DNA located around the laboratory, mutating into an eldritch monstrosity with powerful abilities to escape the confinement and punish anything that stands in its way. CARRION is a reserve-horror 2D Metroidvania-style game with sci-fi horror elements not to be missed.
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