Indie horror has, for the last few years, been going through a bit of a “moment,” so to speak. With countless developers joining the scene and contributing ever-more-interesting games to it, 2024 has been a real watershed year when it comes to indie horror. Between experimental games that more closely resemble art pieces, an explosion in multiplayer titles, and a ton of developers that are revolutionizing what “retro horror” means, horror in games might be in the best place they have ever been (even while the rest of the industry has not).
Despite this, it is difficult to find a solid list compiling the best indie horror games in 2024. There are plenty of articles that will treat the Silent Hill 2 remake as “indie” or that are fine with just adding 1 new game to the list they’ve had up since 2016, but few that have compiled the best indie horror of the year — the kind of games that any horror fan should check out. And so, in celebration of Halloween later this month, we’ve compiled just such a list!
Now, without further ado, here are the 15 best indie horror games (that I played) in 2024.
Kicking off our list with some co-op horror (a subgenre that has seen enormous growth in the last year), The Outlast Trials is the latest in the Outlast series of games and — for what its worth — the most mechanically complex and visually interesting entry in the series. While The Outlast Trials does lack in terms of story and scares — something the previous games excelled at — it also makes up for that with compelling gameplay, enormous replayability, and a fun and schlocky grindhouse aesthetic.
Unlike most co-op horror games, The Outlast Trials is still perfectly playable solo, and it can even make for a more tense, frightening experience. Co-op adds an extra dimension, though, and the extremely violent and messed-up nature of Outlast shines throw fully with or without friends.
How Scary is The Outlast Trials?
While not quite as scary as the two mainline entries in the series (the first being one of the scariest games ever made), The Outlast Trials makes up for this lack with compelling and replayable gameplay, which is magnified hugely by its co-op mechanics. And even without as much fright as those other entries, The Outlast Trials still holds its own, and manages to likely be the most frightening co-op horror game of the year, an achievement in-and-of itself.
Developer: Deep Root Interactive Publisher: Deep Root Interactive
Voyager-19 is not the most recent game from Deep Root Interactive, who goes by Miziziziz on YouTube, nor is it the highest of the solo developer’s games on this list. That said, it is more than worthy of a place on it. An experimental title, Voyager-19 has been called “Iron Lung in space,” and for good reason (ignoring that, technically, Iron Lung already took place in space). In Voyager-19, you are in a shoddily-constructed, single-person spaceship.
You are tasked with finding the missing crew of a vessel that came to the various star systems before you. And, in so doing, you will spend most of your time scanning planets, listening to their eerie radio signals, and dealing with an increasingly dysfunctional computer system. The entire hour-long experience is punctuated with tension, a strong commitment to atmosphere, and intense mystery, but is more restrained than Iron Lung and, as a result, makes for a very interesting, thought-provoking, and scary story.
How Scary is Voyager-19?
Voyager-19 is a slow, tension-building game, but it is not overtly terrifying. Much of the fright happens as you begin to understand the story, and realize its implications. That said, there are at least two moments that should leave you shaking, not to mention the claustrophia that might be induced by this title. Oh, and those creepy noises that you pick up over your radio will put you on edge.
Developer: Mike Klubnika Publisher: Critical Reflex (through CR Channel)
When I first saw Buckshot Roulette on Itch.io early in 2024, I mistakenly dismissed it as nothing but a cheap gimmick. In retrospect, I could not have been further off, as demonstrated by how the game has evolved since being picked up by publisher CR Channel (the horror branch of Critical Reflex). Because, while Buckshot Roulette is a simple and technically predictable game, the way that it is able to keep me on the edge of my seat, sweating and nervous for the next move, is nothing short of incredible.
As for what Buckshot Roulette is? Well, as I said, it’s simple: you play Russian Roulette, with a loaded shotgun, against a demonic opponent. A slew of items, the hints at a grander narrative, and the upcoming addition of multiplayer make deepen the experience to keep you coming back for more. And more. And more. Put another way: if Balatro was a horror game, it might resemble Buckshot Roulette.
How Scary is Buckshot Roulette?
Aside from horror-themed visuals, Buckshot Roulette can hardly be called “scary,” even when compared to other minigame-focused, horror-adjacent titles like Inscryption. The aesthetic is on point, but in actuality, you will get used to the feel of the game and won’t be scared of anything after the first couple of rounds. That said, your anxiety still might peak as you wait to see if the round in the chamber pointed at you is live…
Digital horror, the kind evoking classic internet and desktop nostalgia from the late 90s and early 2000s, is one of the most popular emergent genres for indie horror devs. And there are many reasons for this, from the relative ease of creation to the nostalgic draw that many young developers have. But, beyond that, digital horror also opens up very interesting “meta” topics, since they can use their very medium to comment on the role of the player and on the machine that they run on.
No game since Pony Island understands this as well as KinitoPET, a game which gives you control of a virtual desktop companion that… well, these things never end well, do they? Part of this is because, unlike most similar “desktop horror” games, KinitoPET is willing to use elements from your actual computer to complement the masterful horror on display as part of the core game.
How Scary is KinitoPET?
KinitoPET is very effective for what it is. While none of the scares in KinitoPET are going to end up in any “best jumpscares of all time” lists, the tension and discomfort that the game produces by using your PC’s information is unmatched. That said, KinitoPET is more likely to leave you feeling paranoid and on edge than actually terrified, and how effective the horror is will vary from person to person.
Perhaps the most unothodox entry on this least (and almost certianly the least scary), Sucker for Love: Date to Die For is a horror/romance/comedy visual novel that sees you trying to woo the “Black Goat of the Woods,” Rhok’zan. To do this, you play as Stardust (a fantastic, cannonically asexual protagonist) and must survive a series of onslaughts from Rhok’zan’s followers, patiently showing them that there are other options than blood sacrifices and petty revenge.
And, listen, this might seem like a hard sell to a horror fan like you, but I insist that it isn’t. Between an absolute reverence for horror, a shockingly heartwarming story, and at least a few scenes that will at least make you jump, Sucker for Love: Date to Die For is worthwhile for any horror fanatic who wants something a little bit warmer and funnier between the utter frights that make up much of the rest of this list.
How Scary is Sucker for Love: Date to Die For?
While there are a few little jumpscares and some tense moments, Sucker for Love: Date to Die For can hardly be called a “real” horror game, and its positive themes of hope and love are hardly dark affairs. While Sucker for Love: Date to Die For will appeal to horror fans through adjacency, don’t expect to be scared by it.
Mascot horror has been done to death in recent years. Ever since Five Nights at Freddy’s released a decade ago, many games and series have attempted to conjure up a similar level of success using various kids-toy-turned-horror-monster techniques. And while games like Poppy’s Playtime, My Friendly Neighborhood, Baldi’s Basics and more have seen a surprising amount of commercial success, I and many other longtime horror fans have found much of the subgenre to be shallow and cheap.
Indigo Park, at least going by its free Chapter 1, manages to break out of this cycle, and be something both truly unique, and truly terrifying. With an abandoned amusement park that actually makes sense and a mascot that actually does seem cute enough that it could lure kids into its lair, Indigo Park is a mascot horror game that knows to take its cues from other successful horror and thriller properties. As a result, the brief hour-long experience is better designed, more intriguing, and more scary than almost anything else in the subgenre.
How Scary is Indigo Park?
I won’t pretend that Indigo Park’s jumpscares are the most effective around, but they are functional and are still likely to get a solid spook out of you. More impressive, the lived-in, thought-out feel of the game is immersive enough that, even without exceptional scares, Indigo Park will still leave you on edge and at the ready to bolt. A promising sign for the full game, Indigo Park’s free first chapter is a nice addition to the horror pantheon.
Content Warning is far from the scariest game on this list, but it absolutely is the funniest. Clearly made in the wake of the enormous success of Lethal Company, Content Warning is a co-op, extraction horror game that sees you and three friends descend into “The Old World,” where you will encounter monsters, traps, and oddities that will leave you scarred forever. Why would you do this? To make content, of course.
Content Warning’s most genius and most hysterical mechanic is a camera, which you will take down with you during each expedition. During these, your aim is to record footage of monsters, get them on camera with you or your friends, and to prod them until they do something, all while providing commentary. The result is a bunch of 90-second clips of you and your friends screaming and making jokes like you’re YouTube Let’s Players from the early 2010s. If you’ve got a few friends, Content Warning is sure to get a few laughs out of you all (right after a whole bunch of screams).
How Scary is Content Warning?
The overtly comedic nature of the game — one which actively incentivizes you to make jokes and walk into horrors for “content” — does take away some of the fear potential of Content Warning. But, that said, the creepy Old World environments, inventive monsters, oppressive darkness, and high stakes do have the same effect as Lethal Company. That is to say: while it is all fun and games, all it takes is getting separated from your friends to remember just how scary Content Warning can be.
Developer: Deep Root Interactive Publisher: Deep Root Interactive
A few years ago, the Endoparasitic — thanks to a fascinating one-limbed gimmick and a series of “behind the scenes” videos from the developer (Miziziziz on YouTube) — became a surprise hit. The game, which saw you crawling around, aiming weapons, and trying to survive hordes of monsters, was centered around the main idea that the player character only has one arm and no legs. Between that limitation, extreme darkness, and some tense and clever encounter design, Endoparasitic took survival horror to the extreme.
Now, Endoparasitic 2 follows suit, and it is… Well, it’s essentially the same game, but more! Now, your character has a bag, upgrades, and more streamlined weapons, and faces off against even more oppressive enemies, but otherwise this sequel is simply a solid continuation of the first. Thankfully, the first was great, so this continuation is well worth your time, and is the better of Deep Root Interactive’s two games this year.
How Scary Is Endoparasitic 2?
Endoparasitic is scary in the same way that many survival horror games are, with a few added jumpscares for good measure. That is to say, most of the horror of Endoparasitic comes from the relative powerlessness of the player, and the rate at which your resources will dwindle. It turns out, balancing medical supplies, ammunition, weapon storage, and environmental navigation, and object manipulation with just a single arm is highly stressful, and leads to many situations of panic. While there are scarier titles, Endoparasitic 2 is an improvement on the first.
Developer: Sokpop Collective, Tom van den Boogaart Publisher: Sokpop Collective
Grunn is a just a very normal gardening game, if you believe the marketing. You shouldn’t, because Grunn is actually a horror/mystery with a gardening aesthetic and a strong and bizarre sense of humor. In Grunn, you play as a gardener who has two days to complete your landscaping work, and you are told to not go out at night. What you do with that information is up to you, but, ultimately, nothing will keep you safe for the two days you need.
Beyond the extremely stylized PSX-style graphics (something you’ll see on several of the remaining entries), what should really draw you into Grunn is its open-endedness. What you choose to do and explore, and at what time, will radically change the narrative. The game is quite unforgiving with scares and deaths, too, leading to all kinds of bad endings that you can discover. This open-endedness and the level of mystery that Grunn possesses makes it a truly special horror experience.
How Scary is Grunn?
Grunn is much scarier than its cartoony look and general wackiness might at first convey. Between some very effective jumpscares, a mystery that forces you to confront the most frightening realities in the game, and some off-kilter design choices that leave you feeling ever-unbalanced, Grunn manages to be far more frightening than one would expect. It isn’t going to knock the socks off an experienced horror gamer, but it is sure to give you the thrills you’re looking for.
A retro-inspired survival horror game set in an abandoned theme park with a PSX aesthetic, Crow Country should be nothing too special. After all, that description would define a dozen games that released in the last month alone. But, thankfully for Crow Country, that is about where its comparisons to other titles ends. Because of incredible monster design, a heart-hurting storyline, clever puzzles, and an aesthetic that no game looks like, Crow Country manages to stand out even in a crowded genre.
The blocky polygonal art design, impeccably designed environments, fantastic sound design, and truly off-the-rails story turn Mara Forest’s journey into the titular theme park equal parts terrifying, puzzling, and emotionally loaded, and the continuous descent further and further into the game’s madhouse fever dream escalates with each passing moment.
How Scary is Crow Country?
A distant camera angle and general weakness of jump scares keep Crow Country from being too scary, but that doesn’t prevent it from being extremely tense and stressful, as survival horror games often are. Within the confines of that genre, however, Crow Country’s frightening designs and smart environments do make for some frights that are more effective than one might expect, even if they won’t make you scream out too loud.
Developer: Headware Games Publisher: Headware Games
Like Signalis is a sci-fi spiritual successor to Silent Silent, Hollowbody is, in many ways, a sci-fi spiritual successor to the original fixed-camera Resident Evil. And, even with that comparison, contrasting it against 3 of the best survivor horror titles ever made, Hollowbody still holds its own.
An expertly crafted survival horror game, Hollowbody takes everything that worked for fixed-camera horror giants of the 90s and improves upon it. Between its puzzles, scares, story, and world, everything about Hollowbody’s “tech-noir” presentation is a huge success. Protagonist Mica is a fascinating character living in a terrible and oppressive world, and that bleeds through every facet of the game to make for a truly excellent survival horror title.
How Scary is Hollowbody?
In keeping with its inspirations, Hollowbody rarely has jumpscares, instead opting to frighten the player with dwindling resources, frightening environments, and mind-bending story implications. Hollowbody is exactly as scary as it means to be, roughly matching classics like the original Resident Evil or Silent Hill 2.
Developer: Pixelsplit Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment
Everyone knows Circuses are inherently frightening. It should be no surprise, then, that Reveil makes it onto this list. With visuals that rival that of some AAA games, a long and deep story, very impressive visuals, expert voice-acting, and more, Reveil should’ve been a bigger hit than it was when it released back in March.
In Reveil, you explore the haunted imagination and tortured past of Walter Thompson as he relives his time with the Nelson Bros. Circus, all in an attempt to find and rescue his wife and daughter. Thanks to a real commitment to the horror and emotionality of that premise, then, Reveil is able to compel and traumatize the player throughout its runtime. One of the most traditionally-produced first-person horror titles on this list, Reveil easily lives up to similar first-person horror titles with many times its budget.
How Scary is Reveil?
Reveil is extremely scary, with numerous jumpscares and truly disturbing images that are sure to leave you gasping for air. It can most easily be compared with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard in its tone and level of fear, though the themes it explores are much more firm, and the horror doesn’t lose its luster at the halfway mark. There are more frightening games on this list, but not many, and fewer still with scares that’ll stick in your mind like Reveil’s.
Developer: Night Signal Entertainment Publisher: Night Signal Entertainment
All it takes is the premise to really make clear why you should play Home Safety Hotline: you play as an operator for a hotline that deals with supernatural disturbances in people’s homes. You will use a late-90s desktop and database in order to determine what monster is plaguing each caller, and give them advice for how to deal with the increasingly dangerous horrors that haunt them.
Between expertly-written and acted dialogue, a slew of unique and horrifying monsters, and the game’s desktop-focused corporate-meets-cult aesthetic, Home Safety Hotline is a must play for horror fans, and its recent Seasonal Worker DLC and endless mode add a depth of replayability that most horror games simply don’t have. With all that in mind, Home Safety Hotline has everything it takes to become a cult classic (in a more literal sense than usual).
How Scary is Home Safety Hotline?
While Home Safety Hotline doesn’t have any jumpscares — that’s right, not even one — and doesn’t put its main character into (much) direct danger, it still manages to be one of the most effective and frightening horror games on this list. The mystery and ambiguity of each called will put you on edge for every single one, with the stakes being much higher and more permanent than most horror games can get away with (thanks to your relative isolation from the callers). Combine this with a haunted-Windows-vista aesthetic and some of the most gut-wrenching callbacks you’ll ever receive, and you have a recipe for the kind of horror (and sometimes dark humor) that might not make you jump, but will haunt your mind for weeks after playing.
Developer: Jordan Mochi, Catchweight Studio Publisher: Team 17
“Horror of War” is a frequent theme in games, but rarely are the kinds of games that explore the topic actually horror games. There are a few — like last year’s amazing Amnesia: The Bunker — comes to mind, but even among those, there still tends to be a monster (or monsters) hunting you through the trenches and blown-out houses of the war in question. Conscript is the exception, being a game about the horror of war where the horror truly is the war.
The result is one of the single most harrowing, depressing, and frightening games of the year. Set during World War 1, Conscript sees you take control of a French soldier as he perils to survive through the most devastating war yet known (at the time). Between trench rushes, flamethrowers, gas strikes, land mines, and the unfathomable amount of death, Conscript is truly one of the most upsetting and effective stories ever told — in any medium — about the horrors of war.
How Scary is Conscript?
With entirely mundane threats and historical basis, you’d think Conscript would struggle to be as terrifying as the other games on this list. But, on the contrary, it is those real dangers and knowledge that they are based on real events that makes Conscript as terrifying as it is. Perhaps the single most scary indie horror game of 2024, Conscript is a truly petrifying experience that will leave you horrified long after you’ve seen the credits roll.
Developer: Wrong Organ Publisher: Critical Reflex (through CR Channel)
Sorry, Silent Hill 2 Remake: Mouthwashing is the most emotionally draining, intense, and powerful horror game released since Signalis, and it isn’t even close. A true masterpiece of horror and a psychological magnum opus, Mouthwashing is almost certainly not only my favorite indie horror game of the year, but my favorite game of the year. Mouthwashing’s cabin-fever mania sees a crew of five aboard a deep space haulter struggle to survive after their captain crashed the ship in an attempt to kill them all.
But that doesn’t do the game justice. Between the game’s grotesque imagery that will leave you traumatized, emotional threads that will leave you devastated, and scares that will leave you screaming (then crying), Mouthwashing is a true piece of art, built to rival many of the classic space-horror and thriller films that inspired it. It won’t just terrify you, it will leave you a shell of yourself. As psychologically depraved as it is philosophically dense, Mouthwashing is the kind of horror story that changes you by the time you see its credits roll after 2 to 3 hours.
How Scary is Mouthwashing?
The monsters and jumpscares of Mouthwashing are one thing — being among the most harrowing of the year without ever feeling cheap — but the true horror of Moutwashing lies in its insanely, unbelievably messed up narrative. As you slowly descend through the story (and it can truly only be called a descent), you will come to realize just how horrible and cruel the circumstances within the story are, making the jumpscares and frights just that much more crippling. Featuring the kind of horror that will keep you awake at night for days to come, and give you nightmares once you do finally find sleep, Mouthwashing embodies true terror. While other games have more potent jumpscares, it is hard to think of any other game as scary as Mouthwashing.
Disagree with any of our ratings? Think there are any other indie horror gems we missed? Want to argue that Still Wakes the Deep should count as an indie title? Let’s discuss in the comments below.
Share this article:
Graves
Graves is an avid writer, web designer, and gamer, with more ideas than he could hope to achieve in a lifetime. But, armed with a mug of coffee and an overactive imagination, he'll try. When he isn't working on a creative project, he is painting miniatures, reading cheesy sci-fi novels, or making music.
