The scariest horror games in the world on PC
Contents:
• In 2022, the inquisitive minds of Broadband Choices decided to look into the computer world and determine which game is the scariest in the world. And really, what could be more creepy than watching a horror movie? Of course, be inside it!
How to determine the list of the most terrible games
• Ranking the scariest PC games in terms of the degree of horror they cause is not so easy. Broadband Choices enthusiasts found 200 test subjects and invited them to play 45 horror games that the industry has spawned over the last third of a century.
• These 45 games were selected for a reason – during the year, experts looked through collections and articles by critics, analyzed the opinions of participants in the r/HorrorGaming subreddit and horror fans on social networks. As a result, a list of the most terrible games on the planet was born, which included not only well-known and famous, but also rare pearls of the horror genre hidden from the attention of the general public. The most important limitation: all these games had to be on sale, and the media could be very different – be it personal computers, PlayStation or Xbox.
• The experiments continued for a long time – the whole summer of 2023, the players did nothing but plunge into the worlds of computer horrors. But they did it for a reason: in doing so, they also tracked their heart rate throughout the game, as well as peak bursts during especially frightening moments. Then the Broadband Choices experts processed the data, compared them with the average heart rate at rest (it is 65), identified and recorded the peaks and brought them into one table.
10 Dead Space
- Average heart rate: 85 beats/min.
- Maximum frequency: 121 beats/min.
• Although the game was released back in 2008, it is still capable of scaring. The reason is either in the dark claustophobic passages of a giant spaceship, in which the protagonist Isaac Clarke crawls like in the guts, or in the necromorphs densely inhabiting them – former crew members who died and were resurrected by aliens, who are still considered one of the most terrible creatures, born from the imagination of developers.
9. The Forest
- Average heart rate: 86 beats/min.
- Maximum frequency: 125 beats/min.
• In addition to sinister castles or abandoned spaceships, another eternal fear of mankind is a dense dark forest, among which, as the practice of horror films and games shows, a lot of deadly unpleasant surprises await a person.
• This time, the thicket turns out to be the domain of cannibal monsters, who run fast and strongly crave human flesh. The main character will have to not only survive, but also snatch from their paws his son, who disappeared after the plane crash.
• It's an open-world game with no quests, no clues, and players will have to make decisions – and survive – on their own.
8. Amnesia: The Dark Descent
- Average heart rate: 88 beats/min.
- Maximum frequency: 126 beats/min.
• Created "Ghost of the Past" (that's how the name of the game soundsn) the Swedish company Frictional Games, in the portfolio of which at that time there was already a good series of horror games Penumbra.
• For some reason, the main character named Daniel was brought to a mysterious abandoned castle, which, of course, turns out to be densely populated – that's just not people. The peculiarity of the game is that it is impossible to fight the monsters – Daniel was not given weapons. All that remains is to run away, while trying to maintain sanity, and literally: darkness and monsters gradually blur sanity, and everything can end with the death of the protagonist.
7.Bloodborne
- Average heart rate: 89 beats/min.
- Maximum frequency: 101 beats/min.
• It's easy to see why Bloodborne made the list of the scariest horror games on PC. It has a harsh Victorian-Gothic atmosphere, as if descended from the pages of books by Lovecraft and Bram Stoker, residents suffering from a mysterious illness, and during the game the hero has to fight not only ordinary monsters, but also mysterious mystical creatures.
• The gameplay is rightfully considered one of the most difficult in the history of games, where players need not only reaction speed, but also tactical thinking.
6Resident Evil VII
- Average heart rate: 90 beats/min.
- Maximum frequency: 121 beats/min.
• The first game in the Resident Evil series in which we are forced to play in the first person. This time we will find ourselves in the shoes of Ethan Winters, who is brought into a mysterious mansion in search of his wife. But there they are already waiting for him, and the intentions of those who are waiting are by no means good. In this part, the creators of the series decided to return to the roots: instead of a vigorous action, a survival game awaits us, where sometimes accepting an imposed battle means losing.
• Interestingly, classic horror films – the first Resident Evil, Fatal Frame, System Shock, Silent Hill – were all among the 45 "test subjects", but none of them rose above 20th place.
• Although the Silent Hill series has earned the honorary title of the oldest game in the top 25 – the second part of Silent Hill has settled in 23rd position, although more than 20 years have passed since its release. The fourth part, Silent Hill 4: The Room, released in 2004, crawled up to 14th place. In general, here, as with films, the latest editions bypass the previous ones. What is the matter here – in the level of graphics, special effects, gameplay or the skill of screenwriters – I will leave it to the players to judge.
5.Outlast 2
- Average heart rate: 91 beats / min.
- Maximum frequency: 121 beats/min.
• Abandoned American outback? Eat. Mysterious crime? Eat! A terrible sect dreaming of the end of the world? There is also! Will journalist Blake Langreman, investigating the death of a pregnant woman, be able to escape the hands of fanatics, free his wife and emerge from the ordeal whole – in the literal sense of the word?
• The creation of the Red Barrels studio deservedly entered the top of the scariest games due to its luxurious graphics (fortunately, the game was released relatively recently, in 2016), an ominous atmosphere and sound effects. Unless the critics were forced to lower the score by the streams of blood splashing on the screen, but many players do not agree with them. After all, what's a horror movie without blood?
4. Five Nights at Freddy's 4
- Average heart rate: 92 beats/min.
- Maximum frequency: 122 beats/min.
• Childhood nightmares – some try to forget them, others do not mind tickling their nerves and reliving them again. The fourth game in the popular Five Nights at Freddy's series is built around trying to take on the monsters of childhood nightmares. Of the weapons, the players have only one flashlight (good, with an infinite battery), which can scare away night monsters. But every new night they return, and become even stronger ... will it be possible to survive all five?
3. Face
- Average heart rate: 95 beats/min.
- Maximum frequency: 128 beats/min.
• The same teaser PK prompted SadSquare to create Visage, which, although it did not become a full-fledged game, managed to remain in the memory of the people with a sweet sense of horror. The students turned out to be worthy of a teacher: Visage got into the top three of the top 10 scary games on PC. You will have to play for Dwayne Anderson, who explores a strange house and tries to guess who was there and why he no longer lives here.
• One of the key game mechanics is the need to hide from the darkness, as a long stay in it will lead to a loss of sanity.
2 Alien: Isolation
- Average heart rate: 96 beats/min.
- Maximum frequency: 127 beats/min.
• It's hard to expect from a game with the word "Alien" in the name of peaceful walks through green meadows, right? And here we are offered, together with Amanda Ripley, to investigate the disappearance of the same Helen Ripley, Amanda's mother.
• The daughter arrives at the Sevastopol space station, where, of course, an alien hungry for a fresh human roams free. The game focuses on stealth – you can’t overcome someone else’s force, especially when you only have a motion sensor and a flamethrower in your hands.
1.Madison
- Average heart rate: 97 beats/min.
- Maximum frequency: 131 beats/min.
• The title of the most terrible computer game was awarded to Madison, published by the Argentine studio with the promising name Bloodious Games. The game was introduced to Steam quite recently, in July 2023, but it has already managed to scare many players into unconsciousness – the reviews are completely laudatory.
• The game is played from the first person. The hero is Luke, a 16-year-old teenager who awakens in a locked room with his hands covered in someone else's blood. His soul was connected to the soul of a serial killer. He is burning with the desire to complete the sinister ritual, begun many decades ago, and to do it with the hands of Luca. The boy's main weapon is an instant camera that allows him to see the invisible and scare away demons. Will the teenager be able to resist evil? Can the ritual be stopped?
The main outsider of the rating
• About 8 years ago, the owners of the fourth PlayStation were able to play a teaser version of Silent Hill. The version was not simple, but stellar – the project was led by Hideo Kojima, and such iconic persons as Guillermo del Toro (the director who became famous for his fantasy and horror films) and Norman Reedus (the actor who played in the TV series The Walking Dead and "loaning" his face to the hero of Death Stranding, another Kojima game). Even in the demo, the game was able to make such a strong impression that the heart rate was an impressive 99 beats per minute – which is 34 beats higher than at rest, and two beats higher than the Madison average.
• Alas, since PT is just a trailer, not a full-length game, and even now you can’t play it anymore, the title of the scariest game in the world has gone to Madison. One can only guess what R.T. would be like if Konami had given Kojima the green light to develop the project.
