Best Horror Game Franchises Ever
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Summary
- Resident Evil holds the spot as the king of survival horror.
- Outlast innovated the ‘hide or fight’ genre with its found footage-esque gameplay.
- Amnesia is an iconic horror series that introduced a generation of gamers to horror storytelling.
Horror is and, as long as video games are a thing, will continue to be one of the most important genres in the medium. Whether it’s for the adrenaline-fueled thrills or the stories wrapped up in dark concepts spawned by the most wonderfully depraved minds, fans will flock to these games for as long as they are made.
Gamers are lucky then that they have been spoiled by a number of classic franchises. Standing tall for years thanks to their innovation and quality or rapidly blooming new beds of repugnant titles, the franchises below stand out as some of horror’s strongest.
10
Five Nights at Freddy’s
Indie Series Sensation
Some gamers, jaded by its mass spread and the ever-swelling market of mascot horror games, are going to roll their eyes at the idea of Five Nights at Freddy’s featuring among the best horror franchises in gaming. But the fact is: No matter how many times a similar title hits the steam store page, the franchise is memed, or an unfortunate piece of fan art sneaks its way into one’s social feed, Five Nights at Freddy’s is an indie horror game behemoth.
Many forget, in the subsequent over-exposing storm upon its release, how effective the original game was. It took a simple concept, monitoring security cameras at a haunted knock-off Chuck E. Cheese, and flew with it – inciting widespread interest and a wave of fan theories. They have their abundance of flaws, with ‘white woman jump scare’ encapsulating quite a few, but to dismiss the Five Nights at Freddy’s games as nothing more than the butt of a joke is a disservice to their cultural significance and fan love.
9
Outlast
The original duology of Outlast games, plus the first game’s DLC, innovated the ‘hide or flight’ sub-genre of horror games with a simple but effective inclusion: the camcorder. With it, players are able to record the events of the game in a found-footage fashion as well as use its night vision to illuminate the games’ many dark areas. The grainy green images of glowing-eyed enemies lurking in the dark immediately became an iconic motif of the franchise, allowing it to stand out on visuals alone.
The Outlast Trials has since put a spin on the franchise’s own conventions, introducing co-op features to its turn-tail gameplay all the while expanding on the series’ story with its Cold War-era institutional setting. With Outlast being a recently conceived and updated franchise, fans should – hopefully – get to see a lot more of it in the coming years.
8
Amnesia
Unforgettable Horror
Frictional Games’ Amnesia is a horror series that needs no introduction. Starting fifteen years ago, with its most recent installment dropping back in 2023, Amnesia introduced a generation of gamers to horror for the first time thanks to the plethora of YouTube playthroughs that popped up after its release.
As their titles suggest, each installment follows an unfortunate protagonist afflicted with amnesia as they attempt to navigate horrific and dangerous scenarios. The series has ranged from the gothic glominess of Dark Descent to the claustrophobic tunnels of World War 1 trenches and bunkers. Frictional Games’ other titles, such as Soma and Penumbra, are equally excellent, but it is their Amnesia franchise that has become the most iconic and persistent.
7
System Shock
An Immersive Horror Sim
System Shock was a key player in the birth of the ever nebulous immersive sim genre, inspiring the creation of beloved games like Deus Ex and BioShock. While the latter could have easily taken this spot among the best horror game franchises, as it is fantastic in its own right, it felt more apt to reserve the space for its elder sibling.
Each title in the franchise sees players fighting their way through space stations overrun with monsters and at the whim of the series’ iconic AI, SHODAN. However, while there are currently five games under the series’ belt, three of those titles are remakes and remasters. As appreciated as these updates are, many fans are desperate to see something original come out of the franchise, with the last original title coming out almost twenty-six years ago now.
6
Alan Wake/Remedy Universe
A Twin Peaks Inspired Universe
The Remedy Connected Universe is a fairly young and underdeveloped franchise compared to other horror game series, with 2019’s Control drawing a line between it and Alan Wake. That being said, however, what is there is absolutely fantastic. Control delivered an excellent supernatural government thriller that has left countless fans eagerly awaiting its sequel, and Alan Wake 2 expanded on the Twin Peaks-inspired story of its predecessor in glorious fashion.
While not a story-focused outing, the franchise’s latest installment, FBC: Firebreak, marks the long-awaited return to the Oldest House, Control‘s reality-warping setting.
5
Alone In The Dark
Granddad Of Survival Horror
While the franchise, overall, has quite a rocky reputation, the significance of Alone in the Dark and its influence on subsequent survival horror games can’t be ignored. The series popularized fixed camera angles and tank controls while introducing players to gameplay focused on limited inventory systems and solving puzzles. All of this, of course, laid the groundwork for future survival horror titles like Silent Hill and Resident Evil.
The franchise made its comeback with 2024’s Alone in the Dark, which, while not perfect, marked a step in the right direction for the classic series.
4
Fatal Frame
Spooky Photography
Fatal Frame is a Japanese series of horror games that each are, mostly, self-contained stories inspired by the country’s folklore. Players explore a number of dilapidated mansions and towns, encountering and defeating ghosts along the way.
The manner in which players achieve the latter is what makes Fatal Frame stand out, besides its eerie atmosphere and enemies, of course. Using the Camera Obscura, players exorcise ghosts by taking photos of them, letting them defend themselves with photography rather than the traditional armory of guns. Fatal Frame‘s unique gameplay and creepy folklore-inspired visuals make it a series worth every horror fan’s time.
3
Dead Space
Twisted Monstrosities In Space
Dead Space blasted survival horror games into space, trapping players on space stations and planets with twisted abominations as well as sentient obelisks set on creating fleshy planetary monsters. Dead Space is most well known for its stomach-churning body horror in the form of the Necromorphs, the series’ main enemies, as well as its fine-tuned survival horror gameplay. Well, for its first two installments, that is.
Like Resident Evil, Dead Space fell into the co-op action pipeline prevalent in the 2010s, effectively stopping the series dead in its tracks. The recent remake of Dead Space, however, is hopefully a sign that the series is due for a full return to its former glory days – one day.
2
Silent Hill
Cerebral Survival Horror
Silent Hill, especially after its second installment, is a survival horror series less concerned with plot and more interested in delving into the fractured psyche of its characters. The games are cerebral, taking players through twisted reflections of their protagonist’s trauma, which is conjured by the series’ recurring setting of Silent Hill. The decision to focus on the psychological torment of these characters has worked in the franchise’s favor, elevating it as an introspective, thoughtful, and terrifying experience.
Unfortunately, like a number of the best horror game series, the franchise’s quality has faltered with its later installments, but the Silent Hill 2 remake and the upcoming Silent Hill f are looking to turn things around.
1
Resident Evil
King Of Survival Horror
Resident Evil is, arguably, the king of the survival horror world. Defining the survival horror genre all the way back in 1996, the franchise continues to pump out excellent zombie horror titles to this day.
Of course, the franchise faltered for a few years between the release of Resident 5 and Resident Evil 6, but Capcom corrected course with Resident Evil 7 in 2017. Since then, fans have been able to gorge themselves on a consistent output of AAA survival horror games, whether they be original titles or remakes, that don’t seem to show any sign of letting up any time soon.
