Indie Horror Video Games Destined to Scare You This Year 

Phasmophobia has been available on Steam Early Access since 2020. Due to its original concept and gameplay, the game quickly garnered much well-deserved attention, especially from popular content creators and Twitch streamers—mere weeks after it became downloadable.

Phasmophobia successfully crafted gameplay that truly made gamers feel like they were conducting their own paranormal investigations, right down to using EMF detectors, Ouija boards, and other equipment. Collaborating in an environment where all you can do is search, investigate, and run yields some truly frightening results.

Since the game’s release on early access, developer Kinetic Games has been hard at work on completing the game. Though it has taken some time—and a few setbacks—Phasmophobia is slated to reach its final form on both PC and modern consoles this year.  

The sequel to 2021’s surprise indie horror hit, Tormented Souls, gamers will be treated to an equally surprising and highly anticipated sequel later this year.

Tormented Souls 2 brings back the same mechanics and atmosphere that made the original send shivers down gamers’ spines, with the throwback tank controls, the priority on puzzles and survival, and most of all, the chaotic atmosphere of a forgotten locale.

The protagonist from the original, Caroline Walker, returns as she ventures into yet another abandoned abode, complete with its own scares, and just like the original game, gamers can expect scenes of gore and torture.  

Of all the games on this list, Bye Sweet Carole may be the one destined to be a sleeper hit.

The game is the latest from developer Chris Darril (who created the Remothered series) and opts to blend survival horror and top-notch animation to create an atmospheric and likely traumatizing experience.

Expect all the usual trappings of the survival-focused blend of horror including puzzles, methodical pacing, and the feeling of helplessness against the enemies and terrors hunting you down.

When you blend survival with stunning animation and absurdity that constantly calls back to golden-age animation movies, it doesn’t take much to get hyped about the game’s possibilities for unforgettable scares. 

Developer The Chinese Room may not be recognizable to many, but the studio has built up a respectable list of titles, including Amnesia: A Machine of Pigs and the indie hit Dear Esther.

Still Wakes the Deep is a return to first-person horror for the developer, sending gamers into the middle of nowhere—or more accurately, the middle of the ocean.

You are sent to an oil rig off the coast of Scotland after an unknown disaster befalls the crew. Like any oil rig, you can expect a claustrophobic and lonely atmosphere, that feeling of being stuck, unable to escape with uncharted waters flanking you from all sides.

Could Still Wakes the Deep be an interactive X-Files episode? I hope so. 

If you’re like me, you’re a sucker for found footage.

There’s just something so uncanny and real about the genre, how it instantly suspends disbelief through the utilization of modern (and sometimes not so modern) technology. From the lens of a camera or the digital trail of social media, found footage manages to unearth real scares.

Paranormal Tales is the latest horror offering in the genre, prioritizing found footage as the foundation for its game mechanics. With hyper-realistic graphics and also the choice of using bodycam footage, something that has become quite popular lately, gamers can expect an exhilarating up close and personal descent into the paranormal.