Horror game fans had no shortage of high quality experiences to check out in 2022, with some titles standing out as especially noteworthy. The horror genre had a variety of games on offer, ranging from big budget blockbusters to terrifying indie projects that left a lasting impression on fans.

Remarkably, 2022 was a stellar year for horror games even without some of the genre's giants putting out new releases. While there was the Shadows of Rose DLC for Resident Evil Village, no new full-fledged Resident Evil game hit the market. Silent Hill continued its absence streak this year as well, though the franchise is looking to make a comeback in the years ahead. In the more immediate future, horror fans have the Dead Space remake to look forward to in January, while the highly-anticipated Resident Evil 4 remake is set to launch in March.

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While horror fans wait for the big horror games of 2023, they can check out the horror titles that defined 2022. Here are the 10 best horror games of the year, listed in alphabetical order.

A Plague Tale: Requiem

a plague tale requiem amicia with crossbow

Don't be fooled by A Plague Tale: Requiem's sunny locations and gorgeous scenery. Underneath its pretty graphics is a gut-wrenching tale of survival, with siblings Amicia and Hugo subjected to all kinds of atrocities over the course of its runtime. There's always the threat of being eaten alive by massive tsunamis of rats, but the human enemies in A Plague Tale: Requiem tend to be even scarier than the ocean of rodents, capable of genuine cruelty and quick to brutally beat our protagonists to death. A Plague Tale: Requiem may not be quite as focused on scaring players as the other games on this list, but it still works as an engrossing stealth horror experience that will leave players on the edge of their seats.

The Callisto Protocol

Two-Head's appearance in The Callisto Protocol

Striking Distance Studios' The Callisto Protocol may not have lived up to the promise of being a Dead Space spiritual successor, but it still brings a lot to the table for fans of the horror genre. The Callisto Protocol is a sci-fi horror game that, while not reaching the same heights as Dead Space, does borrow a lot from that classic game. What sets Callisto Protocol apart are its cutting-edge graphics and focus on melee combat, putting players in close-quarters combat against a variety of twisted monstrosities. Future updates will look to add more gameplay features to The Callisto Protocol as well as smooth out some of its rougher edges, so it should be an even better game by this time next year.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me

The first full appearance of H.H Holmes in Dark Pictures: The Devil in Me

Supermassive's Dark Pictures games have been an annual horror game tradition since 2019, with The Devil in Me serving as the 2022 iteration and the finale of the franchise's "season one." Each installment in The Dark Pictures series has incorporated more gameplay elements to be more interactive and engaging than its predecessor, with The Devil in Me being no exception to that rule. Players will find themselves completing puzzles and directly controlling the characters more than previous games in the series, all while exploring a replica of the Murder Castle, the terrifying home that belonged to real-life serial killer H.H. Holmes.

Evil Dead: The Game

ash and other evil dead survivors

Dead by Daylight may be the undisputed king when it comes to asymmetrical multiplayer horror games, but Evil Dead: The Game gives it a run for its money. Featuring iconic locations from the Evil Dead horror movie franchise, Evil Dead: The Game lets players take on the role of familiar characters, including multiple iterations of Bruce Campbell's Ash, as they battle against the unrelenting forces of the Deadites. Four players team together to rally against the forces of Hell, but a fifth player controls the Deadites. Evil Dead: The Game has enjoyed strong post-launch support, giving Evil Dead fans reason to keep coming back for more.

Immortality

immortality key art

Sam Barlow has made a name for himself with what are essentially modern day FMV games, but Immortality is perhaps his most ambitious project yet. Immortality tasks players with sifting through a mountain of clips from three distinct movies, behind-the-scenes footage, and talk show interviews to determine what exactly happened to actress Marissa Marcel. As players bounce from one clip to the next, rewinding and fast-forwarding, it becomes apparent that there is something far more sinister going on than what's on the surface. Immortality will shock players and leave them with a serious sense of dread, especially after they have unraveled its haunting mystery.

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Madison

a creepy room with candles and a chair at the center in MADiSON

Madison is an absolutely terrifying game, with data to back it up. Those brave enough to play it for themselves will find a first-person psychological horror experience where players are tasked with exploring a spooky house, armed with nothing but a camera. Not content to simply bombard players with jump scares and a foreboding atmosphere, Madison also challenges players to complete puzzles to get through the game, so there's more meat on the bones than many similar first-person horror titles on the market.

The Mortuary Assistant

mortuary assistant endings

Steam is a great place to find more obscure, but still great, horror game experiences, and The Mortuary Assistant certainly fits the bill. As the title suggests, players take on the role of a mortuary assistant, tasked with embalming dead bodies. As is typical of the horror genre, things quickly go off the rails, and players have to deal with all manner of frightening sights and demonic forces while going about their work. The game is an absolutely nerve-wracking experience and horror fans can rest assured that it doesn't waste its creepy setting.

The Quarry

Abigail begging ryan to help nick in the quarry

Supermassive has not one, but two standout horror games this year. Whereas The Dark Pictures games are relatively small in scale, The Quarry attempts to be more like Until Dawn, offering a longer story for players to experience. Boasting an ensemble cast of unlucky 20 somethings who find themselves stranded in a forest full of dangerous threats, The Quarry is an effective horror game that is even more entertaining when played with a friend. Players can go through the entire experience in co-op, controlling specific characters that they choose at the beginning in an attempt to keep everyone alive by the time the credits roll.

Saturnalia

Image from indie horror game Saturnalia showing a character walking through a purple landscape.

Not knowing what lies around the corner is a big reason why many horror games are so scary, and Saturnalia dials that concept up to 11. A roguelite horror game with a striking neon art style, players explore a dangerous, shape-shifting village that changes form every time they die. The constantly-changing village does a great job of keeping players on their toes and creating a powerful horror gaming experience that fans of the genre won't soon forget.

Signalis

Signalis

Potentially the best horror game of the year, Signalis is quite simply a must-play for fans of the genre. Mixing a retro art style with gameplay that calls back to survival-horror's classics, Signalis is a sci-fi horror game like no other. Players take on the role of Elster, a Replika who finds herself stranded on a mysterious planet without her memories. The goal of the game is to discover the truth about Elster's past, all the while fighting to survive against dangerous enemies and engaging with classic survival-horror gameplay mechanics.

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