The haunted house is one of the most iconic images of horror. The old mansion on the hill that harbors dark secrets is an idea that has endured through generations in every kind of media, and video games are no exception. The idea of home being viewed as a safe place is shattered by haunted houses, as these monsters don’t care about property boundaries.
Several horror games feature houses containing all manner of terrors, and occasionally the odd creepy residence shows up in non-horror games too. From mansions to apartment buildings, these locations are less likely to be cozy places to stay and more likely to murder anyone who sets foot inside.
10 Old Château (Pokemon Diamond & Pearl)
Pokemon is normally a family-friendly franchise about collecting cute creatures, but it does occasionally sneak in something unexpectedly creepy. While much has been said about Lavender Town’s grave sites and the mysterious ghost girl in recent games, the fourth generation also has a notable spooky location.
The Old Chateau is an abandoned house just outside Eterna City, which the player can freely explore. As well as two mysterious figures that can occasionally be spotted wandering around the house, the Old Château is also home to Rotom, the poltergeist Pokemon that loves to possess electrical appliances.
9 Roivas Estate (Eternal Darkness)
Eternal Darkness is built around a framing story where university student Alexandra Roivas discovers dark secrets involving cruel cosmic horrors and their connection to her family history. This all takes place in her grandfather’s mansion following his mysterious death.
As Alex explores, she discovers the mansion is full of strange happenings. These include ghosts drifting through the walls, a bust that stares at her as she walks around, and an ancient horror city buried beneath the building’s foundations, threatening mankind's continued existence.
8 Washington Lodge (Until Dawn)
It’s not a shock that a cabin in the mountains, cut off from civilization in the dead of winter, might turn out to be a dangerous place. That’s the location of Until Dawn, where a bunch of stereotypical horror movie teens are staying for a weekend in honor of their friends who had died a year prior on the exact same mountain.
Unsurprisingly, the teens are in danger this time around too, as a dangerous killer stalks the mountain and threatens the idyllic coziness of the cabin. The fates of the teens when facing this killer are entirely in the hands of the player, with every cast member facing a potential gruesome end.
7 Shinra Manor (Final Fantasy VII)
The town of Nibelheim in Final Fantasy VII has a dark past, as a hub for the Shinra Corporation and the site of a terrible fire caused by main villain Sephiroth prior to the events of the main game. When the party returns to the town as part of the story, they are shocked to find it’s no longer a charred ruin, but eerily looks exactly as it did years before.
The town’s mansion continues this eeriness, as it’s full of ghostly enemies, strange codes, and secret passages and an immortal man sleeping in the basement. It’s also the site of Shinra’s terrible biological experiments, with a lab buried deep in the property researching methods of genetic manipulation.
6 Woodside Apartments (Silent Hill 2)
While many of the entries here are about mansions, Silent Hill 2 provided a haunted house on a different scale. It features an entire apartment block buried in the town’s fog. Like most of Silent Hill, it’s dilapidated, dark and populated by twisted monsters prowling the halls.
In addition to the monster population, these apartments also feature bizarre architecture. There's a door that requires a hop over an alleyway to progress, and rooms contain strange sights such as ominous holes that the game dares the player to put James’ hand inside.
5 Himuro Mansion (Fatal Frame)
Himuro Mansion is a location based on real-world urban legends from Japan, where a terrible sacrificial ritual takes place every few decades and has long been believed to be haunted. At least, that’s the story Tecmo claimed when they released Fatal Frame in North America, even though there is no such place in real life. However, while it is entirely fictional, it is still terrifying.
The home of sacrificial rituals involving ropes and blinding masks, Himuro Mansion’s ghostly residents are aggressive and bear gruesome reminders of their deaths all over their bodies. Secret passages and ominous altars complete the unpleasant vibe of its halls.
4 Derceto Manor (Alone in the Dark)
One of the first survival horror games, Alone in the Dark does not disappoint when it comes to haunted houses. Derceto Manor was built in 1818 by an infamous pirate named Ezechiel Pregzt who planned to live forever among his ill-gotten wealth. After an attack on the manor, Pregzt’s soul became bound to a tree on the property and now his spirit haunts the land.
When the player arrives, the house has fallen into a dark state, populated by monsters and other horrors, all to keep the soul of Pregzt trapped inside.
3 Brennenburg Castle (Amnesia: The Dark Descent)
In Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Brennenburg Castle was a medieval castle rebuilt in the 16th Century by Baron Alexander of Brennenburg and turned into his home. For three centuries afterward, the castle became shrouded in mystery and became a place the locals feared.
During the events of Amnesia, players see those fears were justified. The castle is menaced by dark forces, including a menacing Shadow that causes madness and death, and populated by mutilated creatures out for blood. Alexander himself continues to live on in the castle, performing gruesome rituals in its depths.
2 Baker Residence (Resident Evil 7)
In a series named Resident Evil, it’s not hard to find haunted houses. From Spencer Mansion in the original game to the manor houses of the titular village in Resident Evil Village, there’s no shortage of homes ravaged by horror. The Baker Residence in Resident Evil 7 is arguably one of the scariest.
An estate in the bayous of Louisiana, this is the home of the Baker family, consisting of Jack and Margueritte, and their children Lucas and Zoe. They’ve all been infected with something, turning all of them into murderous creatures who cause suffering to anyone who comes near the property.
1 Endless Hallway House (P.T.)
While Silent Hills never became a reality, its playable teaser, simply called P.T., certainly did. Taking place entirely within a single corner hallway of a small home, the game sees the player character looping through this hallway over and over, encountering strange events such as radio broadcasts, phone calls and paintings on the walls changing appearance.
This hallway is also home to Lisa, a ghostly being who can attack the player at unexpected moments, and a crying fetus that tends to show up in the bathroom sink. The P.T. house is hard to top when it comes to the amount of sheer horror packed into such a small space.