Best Horror Games of 2024

It's been quite a good year for horror games, as we've had a broad array of titles from established franchises and new originals too. There have been plenty of traditional survival horrors to jump scare-packed adventures, and also a bunch of narrative-heavy projects from Supermassive's catalogue too. We've definitely not been starved for horror games in 2024, but at the same time, the best this year has had to offer is a remake and that also sets a precedent for the kind of year this has been.

5. The Casting of Frank Stone

I was tossing up putting Until Dawn's remake in this spot instead, as I don't think either of the game's in Supermassive's catalogue this year are too far apart. Sure, Until Dawn has a better and tighter narrative and the remade visuals and cinematic focus make it look striking, but it's also a vastly overpriced product that is unnecessary considering how the original still holds up. Hence why I've selected The Casting of Frank Stone instead. This game feels like the lethargic last breath of Supermassive's now overused format, but this doesn't affect the fact that it's also frightening, interesting, and has plenty of player choice and agency to make the story feel your own. There are undoubtedly better Supermassive games out there, but this is still one of the better horror developers in the world and that holds true here.

4. Reveil

With Pixelsplit's first-person psycho-thriller launching in March, it's easy to forget it in lieu of more recent releases, but frankly Reveil could be the scariest video game of the year. For the horror genre, that's gotta mean something. This title is all about delving into the fractured psyche of a troubled man to discover what happened to his family and how the creepy Nelson Bros. Circus is involved. With dark eerie paths to follow, stalker enemies, fast-paced action, terrifying threats, and soul-crushing audio, Reveil is not for those who whimper and cower at less spooky horror offerings.

3. A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead

I was really not sure how A Quiet Place would translate into an interactive video game format, especially a survival game with horror elements, but the folk over at Stormind Games managed to complete this task with class. The Road Ahead captures the A Quiet Place's most brilliant and terrifying elements and bolsters it with niche and quirky gameplay options that meant you had to remain as silent as possible in real life. Yes, it could have been better with a different focus on environment choice and mechanical setup, but as far as the task of providing A Quiet Place game goes, this one nailed the job with flying colours.

2. Still Wakes the Deep

If I was being a little harsher and firmer on how I treat remakes in awards conversation, Still Wakes the Deep might have come out on top this year. Instead, it falls a little short by being the runner-up in this category. The Chinese Room's psychological horror took us to a collapsing and falling oil rig in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland in the mid-1970s to suit up as a man fighting to escape and survive this frightening ordeal, all while a strange creature hunts him and steadily wrecks the rig even further beyond repair. If running for your life is your favourite part of horror games (you weirdo), then Still Wakes the Deep is an absolute must-play from 2024's catalogue.

1. Silent Hill 2 Remake

No surprises here. When you take one of the most influential and acclaimed survival horror games of all-time, give it a really striking and beautiful graphical improvement, enhance the enemy AI and behaviour, provide a more unsettling world to explore, and most importantly, overhaul the controls to make them feel as though they belong in 2024, there is not many reasons why Bloober Team's remake of Silent Hill 2 shouldn't top this list. There was a huge potential and risk that this wouldn't be delivered to the same quality and standard expected of this modern classic, but the Polish horror masters made it work and served up an excellent end product that to this day reminds us just why the town of Silent Hill is so scary and why Silent Hill 2 changed and redefined the horror genre altogether.