This year has been impressive for video games, particularly within the horror genre. You can't talk about 2024 and horror gaming without mentioning the acclaimed Silent Hill 2 remake, but this year also gave us some great remasters and new games like A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead, Mouthwashing, Crow County, and Slitterhead.
It wasn't easy to pick the scariest games from the new releases. I'm sure many people will have their own opinions since determining what's creepy is so subjective, but below, we've highlighted three of 2024's most terrifying video games.
3. Until Dawn
Until Dawn might not be that scary to some people, but this game will always have a soft spot for me because it was the first horror video game I ever played, back when the original was released in 2015. Almost a decade later, PlayStation released a remake of the game, and it still holds up as a compelling and cinematic narrative horror adventure.
Step into the shoes of a group of young adults in an icy mountain landscape as they do whatever it takes to survive. This is the game that really popularized Supermassive Games. The company has become well known for its choice-based story games within the Dark Pictures Anthology series. An Until Dawn movie is also in development and scheduled to release in April 2025.
Now available on PC and PlayStation 5
2. Still Wakes the Deep
Remember when the creepy North Sea memes took over TikTok and other social media platforms? Still Wakes the Deep is a psychological horror game that takes that concept and runs with it. Developed by The Chinese Room (Everybody's Gone to the Rapture), Still Wakes the Deep is a deeply unnerving cosmic horror story, perfect for fans of H.P. Lovecraft.
Set in the 1970s in—you guessed it—the North Sea, players are put into the POV of an electrician trapped on an oil drilling platform. They have no feasible way to escape their predicament and must do whatever they can to survive the tumultuous sea until they can get help or be rescued.
Now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC
1. Silent Hill 2
Bloober Team's remake of this influential and classic horror game is considered the best of the genre in 2024; it's also widely considered one of the year's greatest games altogether. Fans have been waiting for a long time to get a new version of Silent Hill 2 and Bloober more than delivered. In this story, we meet a grieving man named James Sunderland who is struggling with the death of his wife to a terminal illness.
One day, he receives a letter from her, asking to meet in their "special place," the eerie town of Silent Hill. I don't want to spoil too much for those new to the franchise, but Silent Hill 2 is relentlessly bleak and excels at building psychological terror from the opening scene through the last. The monsters have been significantly enhanced graphically, and the mannequins are scarier (and more annoying) than ever. And that's not even touching on other iconic creatures like Pyramid Head and the Nurses. Trust me, this game will invade your mind and make a home there.
Now available on PlayStation 5 and PC