The best horror games that feel like nightmares

Key things

• Immerse yourself in surreal worlds, otherworldly horrors and mind-melting monsters with these terrifying horror games.
• From Lovecraftian creatures to psychological horror, video games excel at bringing your worst nightmares to life.

What scares you the most? Spiders? Monsters under the bed? Perhaps a sense of loss or the past is catching up with you? No matter what keeps you up at night, horror games are a surefire way to bring your darkest nightmares to life.

Whether through surrealism or psychological horror, video games have a knack for getting inside your head and bringing out everything that's bothering you. The following titles aren't just scary. They feel like entering literal nightmares. Turn off the lights, put on your headphones and get ready to face your fears.

8 Kill the princess

A mind bending visual novel

Recurring nightmares are some of the most haunting dreams, and no game captures this better than Slay the Princess. This Lovecraftian visual novel puts you outside the cabin in the woods. A strange disembodied voice says that there is a princess inside and your task is to kill her. Otherwise it will be the end of the world. Upon entering, you realize that something much more sinister awaits you inside. Will you complete your task? Or seek the truth on your own terms?

Kill the Princess lets you relive the same scenario over and over again with different paths based on your choices. Each fly-by offers a new terrifying twist, from blood-curdling horror to mysterious elven monsters. If you've ever felt stuck reliving the same dream over and over again, this game offers the same kind of terror and fascinating mystery.

7 Limbo

Immersive, surreal puzzle platformer

Limbo is one of the most famous indie horror games out there, and for good reason. This spooky puzzle game takes you to a monochrome forest on a journey to find your lost sister. With no dialogue or narration to guide you, you must rely on your wits alone to survive the forest's fiendish traps and back-tingling creatures.

This forest is home to many disturbing monsters straight out of your wildest dreams, including a colossal spider and a brain-eating parasite. However, it's the game's clever puzzles that really make the experience stand out. Immersive, surreal and endlessly creepy, Limbo will never stop shaking you.

6 Five Nights At Freddy's 4

Scariest FNAF game

Five Nights at Freddy's 4 perfectly captures a child's fear of monsters under the bed. You experience the nightmares of a small child with a fear of animatronics. Big, ragged robots break into your house, and it's up to you to listen for their footsteps, peek into the hall, and close the door when they get too close.

The FNAF series is known for making you feel completely defenseless and this game is no exception. Nothing is more panic inducing than fending off bloodthirsty creatures trying to sneak into your bedroom. Throw in some complex and ambiguous lore and FNAF 4 will scare you and make you think.

5 Fran Bow

A point and click psychological game about dealing with grief

Set in the 1940s, Fran Bow is a spooky point-and-click game that uses psychological horror to create blood-curdling horror. The story follows a girl named Fran who gets lost in the woods after witnessing her parents' murder. Traumatized and terrified, Fran must come to terms with her devastating reality while surviving a host of disturbing ghouls in the forest.

The game delves deep into struggles with grief, loss and managing mental health. Each bizarre creature symbolizes a new obstacle that Fran must overcome to find peace. The convoluted plot and cleverly designed puzzles create an engaging, terrifying journey that's worth experiencing at least once.

4 Amnesia: The Dark Descent

An iconic survival horror game that's still terrifying today

One of the most common nightmares involves being chased, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent fully encapsulates that fear. You control an amnesiac protagonist named Daniel who wakes up in the monster-infested Brennenburg Castle. In order to survive, you have to solve a lot of brain-teasing puzzles while avoiding the many terrifying creatures that roam the corridors.

Amnesia is widely regarded as one of the most influential survival horror games due to the sheer sense of helplessness it evokes. You have no means to defend yourself, the only option is to run or hide. Lingering in the dark or looking too long at a monster triggers even more terrifying events. It was terrifying when it launched in 2010, and it's still just as terrifying today.

3 Layers Of Fear (2016)

A first-person adventure where nothing is as it seems

Layers of Fear is a first-person psychological horror game about an artist trapped in a haunted Victorian mansion. You control a person known only as the Painter who wanders around his old, decaying estate looking for inspiration for his final painting. The more you progress, the more twisted and twisted the estate becomes as Painter is haunted by his tragic past.

The goal is to explore, solve puzzles, and piece together the tragedy that plagues the protagonist. This game really knows how to play with you, featuring fast-paced environments and bizarre illusions that will make you question everything you see. Check out some reality bending horror.

2 Silent Hill 2

One of the scariest horror games ever

Nothing is scarier than the past coming back to haunt you, which is the underlying theme of the legendary survival horror game Silent Hill 2. The plot follows James Sunderland, who is lured to a haunted town by a letter from his dead wife. Along the way, he encounters a number of terrifying people, including townspeople who know too much about him, and an indestructible monster known as the Pyramid Head.

Without spoiling too much, Silent Hill 2 is about uncovering a dark secret from James' past. Each person and creature symbolizes a part of their troubling history and the soul-crushing guilt they bear because of it. In a way, the city is one big metaphor that creates an emotional, thought-provoking and terrifying experience that all horror fans should experience.

1 Little nightmares

Face your childhood fears in an exciting puzzle platformer

Little Nightmares truly lives up to its name, taking you through a surreal world full of everything that haunted your childhood dreams. Take control of a young girl named Six who is trapped in a nightmare realm called the Maw. Using a combination of platforming and puzzle solving, you must find a way to survive the many horrors that lurk in the dark.

No other game does a better job of showcasing the horrors of the world from a child's perspective. Each monster is a grotesque representation of a child's fear, from a giant cannibalistic chef to a twisted child-catching janitor. If you want to get goosebumps, Little Nightmares should be at the top of your to-play list.