Highlights

• Horror games featuring ghosts offer a unique and terrifying experience, from live-action elements in At Dead of Night to the iconic Ghostbusters game.
• Games like Phasmophobia and Ghost Hunters Corp provide multiplayer ghost-hunting experiences, allowing players to work together to uncover paranormal activity.
• The Fatal Frame series and Luigi's Mansion showcase innovative gameplay mechanics, such as using cameras to exorcise ghosts and sucking them up with a hoover, respectively.

Horror games have become a ubiquitous part of the gaming industry, pitting players against the stuff nightmares are made of, such as zombies, eldritch beings, mutated monsters, and ghosts. While the former has been stealing the spotlight lately in Capcom's steady Resident Evil releases, there are plenty of games involving the latter that are deserving of love.

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Ghost-hunting games have haunted the gaming scene since the early 2000s with releases such as Luigi's Mansion and Fatal Frame, demonstrating the versatility developers could bring with their own take on spirits and how to oust them.

Updated September 27th, 2023, by Amy Cowley: With Halloween on the horizon, there is no better time than now to look towards some spooky games to get in the festive mood. There is no shortage of games where players face off or hunt down the spirits of the departed, with some games varying in fear factor but certainly holiday-appropriate. As such, this list has been expanded to include more ghost-hunting games, as well as information about the game so players can see what platform they are available on.

10 At Dead of Night

FMV games are rare, especially in modern-day titles, but games such as At Dead of Night are keeping this genre well and truly alive. Adding this live-action element to horror games elevates the heights of horror, especially given the fantastic performance given by all the actors, particularly that of Jimmy/Hugo Punch, the main antagonist.

In contrast to most ghost-hunting games, the playable character Maya uses a box to track down and communicate with the spirits trapped inside the hotel, who have all fallen victim to Jimmy. The spirits provide hints to Maya in order to help her uncover more about Jimmy in hopes of escaping his machinations.

9 Ghostbusters the Video Game

When it comes to hunting down ghosts, there are none more qualified than the Ghostbusters. Not only content with busting ghosts in movies, they also have appeared in video games to hunt down and bust those pesky spirits.

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Based loosely on the movies, players take on the role of the Rookie, the latest recruit in the Ghostbusters team, seeking out paranormal activities and entities. Armed with a proton pack, players can live out their wildest Ghostbusting dreams by weakening and then capturing the ghosts. With a full-story campaign to play through, there is plenty of ghost-hunting goodness to enjoy.

8 Ghost Exile

For this ghost-hunting title, players should gather their bravest friends, as Ghost Exile is an experience too terrifying to go it alone. Armed with equipment, basic knowledge, and a can-do attitude, one to four intrepid ghost hunters will enter haunted premises and try to piece together what the entity is exactly.

Similar to other online ghost-hunting games, players will use specialized equipment to identify the type of ghost it is and then use that knowledge to perform an exorcism that will rid the domicile of the ghost. These elements of mystery give Ghost Exile an added layer of depth to make it even more exciting for its players.

7 Phasmophobia

For those who are afraid of stepping into the boots of paranormal investigators, fear not. Phasmophobia allows players to bring up to three friends with them to the various haunted locations available and aid them in their investigation so they don't have to brave it alone.

With a rich variety of terrifying ghosts to encounter, multiple maps with varying themes and sizes, and an entire arsenal of ghost-hunting equipment, Phasmophobia is a fantastic multiplayer game and an excellent ghost-hunting game that provides genuine scares. Players must make use of their equipment to figure out which type of entity is haunting the location while managing their dwindling sanity and trying to survive deadly ghost encounters.

6 Ghostwire: Tokyo

Set in the neon jungle of modern-day Tokyo, Ghostwire: Tokyo is an inventive and original game that brings hauntings and possessions to public open spaces rather than hidden away in remote locations. The player is given control of psychic and paranormal abilities in order to exorcise the spirits that are haunting the streets and possessing the bodies of others.

Unlike the majority of ghost-hunting games, the protagonist is also supernatural in nature thanks to the abilities they need that level the playing field, and although some spirits look terrifying in appearance, Ghostwire: Tokyo places more emphasis on action and adventure rather than horror.

5 Midnight Ghost Hunt

Another foray into ghost-hunting multiplayer is the more recent Midnight Ghost Hunt, an online game that invites players to suit up and boot up with friends. It sets itself apart from Phasmophobia with its more unique graphics style, the way players interact with ghosts and the fact it's a symmetrical multiplayer game pitting 4 hunters against 4 ghosts.

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The objectives of both sides are simple. The hunters must confront and defeat the ghosts, and the ghosts must defeat the powers. Hunters are given a head-start as the ghosts can only hide and weaponize the environment, but at the stroke of midnight, the ghosts gain powers that can even the playing field or even tip the odds completely in their favor.

4 F.E.A.R.

A monolith among mid-2000s horror games, F.E.A.R. brought one of the most terrifying entities from horror games in the form of Alma, a spirit that assumes the form of a young girl with pale skin and long black hair, akin to Sadako from Ringu or Kayako from Ju-On, all of whom are relentlessly terrifying.

FE.A.R. straddles the line between horror and action, pitting the players against the members of a private military that have been tapping into paranormal powers and unleashing a new, devastating power they could not contain. Though most of the game will see Point-Man killing members of the group responsible, Alma will surface on occasion to terrify the player with her frightening appearance and oppressive powers.

3 Ghost Hunters Corp

For gamers who want a similar experience to Phasmophobia, Ghost Hunters Corp should satisfy that itch, as it has players conducting investigations of areas rumored to be hotbeds of paranormal activity, infiltrating these areas, gathering evidence, and then successfully performing an exorcism.

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Players can choose to brave the maps solo, granting them additional lives to make up for them playing alone or play with up to three friends to storm them as an organized group. They must find up to four clues to uncover which of the 8 variants of entities it is and then dispatch the entity. With several different modes, such as exorcism only or rescue, Ghost Hunters Corp is a fun and engaging experience that is sure to keep players coming back for more.

2 Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly

Fatal Frame, or Project Zero as it's known in Europe and Australia, is without a doubt one of the most popular and well-known ghost-hunting games that have immortalized itself in the halls of horror games with its impressive catalog of entries.

In each game, the player controls a different protagonist for each entry as they find themselves in a haunted location, usually summoned by the ghosts within. They find an object called the camera obscura, a camera that is said to have the ability to exorcise harmful ghosts, capture lingering spirits, or even receive some hints from more friendly ghosts. Without the camera, the players are unable to see the spirits or defend themselves, a novel idea that has been replicated in other games to varying degrees of success.

1 Luigi's Mansion

This surprise hit title took the beloved Mario franchise and turned it on its head, breaking away from the platforming series and various sports spin-off games for a completely unique experience, starring Luigi as the playable character following the kidnapping of his brother Mario, who he agreed to meet up with at the mansion he supposedly won in a competition.

Luigi enters the mansion, only to see it is infested with hostile spirits. He is saved by Professor E. Gadd, who sucks up the spirits with a hoover and then entrusts the device to Luigi so that he can safely explore the mansion and save his brother. It is definitely one of Nintendo's more unique entries, and while it may not be typically scary like other games involving ghosts, it's full of charm, fun gameplay, and inventive bosses.

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