Many gamers are familiar with the Resident Evil series developed by Capcom and rank it as some of the best horror games. Another category which is also popular is the indie horror games, even if their producers do not have very big budgets to create them.
What Makes Indie Horror Games So Special?
In order for an indie horror game to be successful, it must meet these criteria:
- It has to awaken a strong fear
- It has to create a paranoid feeling about something that may happen
- It has to tell a story scary enough to impress
The Best 10 Indie Horror Games
Lone Survivor
This will take the player on a side-scrolling adventure where they have to escape from a city filled with disease. The events occurring are very realistic and they depend on certain things the player has done such as sleeping or taking pills, and much more. There are many creepy corridors in this game, an element frightful enough for lots of players.
Detention
The producers of this game have drawn inspiration from both the Chinese and Taiwanese mythologies. The year in which the action unfolds is 1960, and two students must escape from a haunted school and many strange creatures.
Anatomy
The player explores a house in search of VHS videotapes. This indie horror game departs from games filled with lots of monsters. Instead, people will have to be careful with the house itself as the scary element of this game.
Stories Untold
It is a horror anthology that has the first episode available for free on Steam. The player must explore an abandoned house and be very careful with the environment, which changes according to their actions in the game. If you come to think of it, it’s not that far from what happens in a baccarat gambling game. In the end, you will have to explore a nightmarish environment. The other three frightening happenings will be focused on interactions which are very repetitive and an increasing degree of frightfulness.
Bonbon
Having an interesting name, this indie horror game reveals the world as it is perceived through the eyes of a small child. Its most attractive characteristic is the moments when the distinction between fiction and reality becomes very blurry.
SCP-087 (Stairwell)
This is part of a series of actions taken by strangers on the Internet that try to scare each other. Sometimes, the player will encounter a normal object or a location which becomes a genuine horror scenario. The plot of Stairwell is kept simple and very efficient in terms of a fright. Thus, the player is climbing down a dark staircase for a certain number of floors when very strange events start to happen.
IMSCARED
Described as a meta-horror experience by its creators, this game was designed to be a strong and powerful deceiver. Many people have enjoyed this low-fi first-person horror game because of its elevated level of trickery.
Duskers
A smart combination of horror, real-time strategy, and survival, Duskers allows the player to verify derelict spaceships using drones. While they will have to find fuel, upgrades, and scrap metal, there are also invisible alien entities seeking to destroy their drones. The most attractive elements of Duskers are definitely the atmosphere, the tension, and lots of very scary moments.
The Last Stand 2
In this game, players must click on zombies until they die. While the first game was all about surviving the night with hordes of zombies, this sequel is more concerned with taking action during the day. Thus, the player must find survivors, more traps, and more weapons. What adds up to the thrill of playing The Last Stand 2 is actually finding supplies. They will allow the player to travel to the next town.
Inside
Any player that gives this game a try will find themselves in the skin of a boy on the run in a strange and scary otherworld. Their mission will be to navigate puzzles and platforms and avoid creepy instant deaths. At a certain moment, the game transforms into something completely different.
Indie horror games are a genre that definitely has gained its rightful place among horror fans. The reason is that it contains elements that stimulate a person’s fear. Many players probably had paranoid moments while expecting some potential frightening events. Others were simply scared by a finely crafted horror storytelling.
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