Worlds To Get Scared In: Our Favorite Horror Games

Spooky season has been the only thing on our minds these last few weeks, and we truly couldn’t be more excited!

Last year, we shared our team’s favorite horror films and delved deeper into why we love discussing spooky media so much. Nothing beats the adrenaline rush of exploring a new landscape and getting introduced to characters that make you feel uneasy. You begin to wonder why your heart is beating a little faster but you can’t help yourself from wanting to learn more.

While the team is currently working on some really [redacted] projects, we would be amiss if we didn’t ask them about horror games that stay with them to this day. What is it about a certain game that makes it their favorite? Do they have a character or group of characters they’ll never forget? Let’s see what the team recommends (and what we can add to our wish list.)

Making worlds to get lost in that are full of twisty stories and gripping characters is exactly what we’re striving for at FarBridge, and we’re always searching for our next inspirations – and who knows, maybe you, brave reader, will find an old (or new) spooky favorite of your own!

(Editor’s note: Potential spoilers ahead… read at your own risk!)

Fatal Frame

Jeff Fillion, Game Designer

Fatal Frame is what I consider the scariest video game because your gun is essentially a camera. When the game's ghosts are chasing you the only way to make them go away is to face them and [click a shutter] until they're gone. It keeps their spookiness in your face, instead of showing them reacting and retreating from attacks directed at them.

It’s probably the scariest game I've played. I am very prone to jump scares, because my days working in retail have already numbed the spookiness of psychological horror, and this game is full of just spooky ghosts jumping at you.

The Shalebridge Cradle in Thief: Deadly Shadows

Quoc Tran, Chief Financial Officer

The scariest gaming experience I've had isn't a full game, but rather a level: the Shalebridge Cradle in Thief: Deadly Shadows. The penultimate level in Deadly Shadows is steeped in dread, hinted at throughout the game in hushed whispers. Once inside, the Cradle—a mix of orphanage and madhouse—feels like an urban legend come to life. The first half is utterly terrifying despite containing no real threats, showcasing brilliant sound and level design. The second half, without giving too much away, captures the feeling of the Overlook Hotel coming to life in a way no other game has.

Alien Isolation

Eric Beyhl, Outsource Art Director

My favorite scary video game is Alien Isolation - especially when played in VR! When it launched, the devs left the unsupported VR code and told people how to access it. I played the entire game that way, and it was incredible.

The game accurately captures the vintage experience of the original Alien film (the best in the franchise) with phenomenal art and sound design, and then it drops you in the middle of an already terrorized base, with a single un-killable Xenomorph on the loose. Being constantly hunted and given tools only to defend yourself with is magnified through the VR goggles. It was exhilarating AND terrifying from start to finish.

Don’t Starve Together

Emma Rausch, Producer

Don’t Starve Together is a great co-op horror game.

This game is intense and fantastic for us "cozy" gamers (i.e. gamers that love time and asset management and basically turning a game into a second job. Quick shout out to Lemon Cake).

It mixes fighting and survival with asset and time management. There are tons of player characters you can choose from that fit your vibe or your play style and no matter which character you pick, you'll be supporting your co-survivors. Don't Starve Together also has a ton of wiki pages with playthrough tips and tricks so if I ever get stuck, I do have resources that help me try again.

This game scares me because it lures you into a false sense of security and then it gets intense very quickly as resources run out and things that sustained you in the beginning no longer work as effectively. You are constantly being put in these situations of "you have to be brave and you have to survive.” For someone who does not have cat-like reflexes or reaction times, this makes things all the more horrifying because there's a very real risk I will die in game if I'm a moment too late with dodging or attacking a monster, or if I haven't prepared enough of a certain resource.

It's a “fun scary” with an achievable success moment, rather than a “frustrating scary” – in a nutshell, it’s a great entry-level, co-op scary game where you are as likely to laugh your socks off as you are to have the pants scared off of you!

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

Katherine Byers, Software Engineer

I really love the overall ambiance and story of the Fatal Frame series; Crimson Butterfly has some incredible storytelling. It's not super scary, but there's something about having to handle all the ghosts and lead your twin to their doom that is kinda terrifying.

The sisters are pretty straightforward as characters, but the motivations of the townsfolk who either want to help them escape or want to sacrifice them are pretty compelling.

Katamari Damacy REROLL

Alana Rasche, 3D Artist

My favorite horror game is Katamari Damacy REROLL, hear me out.

Katamari Damacy REROLL is a cosmic horror story of an alien deity destroying much of the universe, then forcing his son to recreate a facsimile of that universe by going to earth and indiscriminately gathering mass (including living creatures) to send into space and set on fire.

Humans are no different from a traffic cone or a pencil to these massively powerful entities. Just more mass to burn. This terrifying story is then colorfully packaged into a cute, charming little game that is fun for the whole family.

Thief: The Dark Project

Damon Chandler, Senior Engineer

Thief: The Dark Project is one of my favorites for its rich immersiveness and fascinating, dark fantasy world. The human characters of certain factions speak in quirky old-timey sounding prose, which enhances the uneasy bizarreness of this fantasy world. The game encourages you to move slowly, observe, and listen, which pulls you deeper into the rich game world. It also surprises you and forces you to adapt quickly.

When I first played it as a kid it was so scary I couldn't finish it. As an adult, it still delivers jump scares but the overall vibe is an intriguing and cozy spookiness, like you'd get from your favorite scary movie.

Phasmophobia

Richard Rouse III, Studio Creative Director

Phasmophobia has scared me more than any game in a while - the variety of ghosts and how they can show up mean you're unsure of what might happen to you in each round.

Audio is also a huge part of the game - because of how quickly a ghost can kill you, hearing a sound - whether it's a ghost or just a creak - can really put you on edge. All the gear you can use to hunt the ghosts is very cool. There’s a variety of tools that have ties to real-world ghost hunting. It makes it feel very “real world,” which just makes it scarier.

Adding in the multiplayer aspect just escalates how scary it can be; there's something unique about talking to your friends and thinking you almost have it solved and then suddenly getting killed by a specter.

More haunts are around the corner…

Did you happen to find any games that also sent shivers down your spine? Or any ideas for what you’d like to add to your wishlist?

Make sure you watch this space for more spooky and terrifying recommendations. We might even hint at what we’re working on next… you never know!

[Editor’s note: Submissions have been edited for clarity or summarized for this post but the participants would probably love to talk about these thoughts next time you see them. Just ask!]