There are a handful of games on every platform that stand out for being the best of the best, but things get a bit hazy when we look at PC. That’s because there’s so much more readily available, with many subgenres of horror and fantastic releases that date back to the 90s. With what feels like infinite options when choosing your next horror game to launch, there are some classics we’ve never forgotten and others that showed innovation that’s irreplicable on console.
This list consists of horror games that originally released or only exist on Windows. We tried to avoid games that you can get on most platforms, such as Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Dead Space, Outlast, Murder House, and Alien: Isolation. So, let’s get into our favorite PC horror games you can still play today.
18) DEAD LETTER DEPT.
The mundanity of life abruptly spirals into madness when the software at your data entry job gets contaminated by something far worse than malware. Paid to sift through junk mail and transcribe near illegible addresses, DEAD LETTER DEPT. is a haunting take on the typing game genre. Feeling trapped, as if something is pulling you along in life by a string, your control and freedom are lacking in this eerie entry that has a foreboding atmosphere. It’s surprisingly effective with its simpler plot as it uses repetition to tell its story, slowly unravelling the mystery and getting creepier with every shift.
17) Mad Father
One of the greatest RPG-maker horrors out there is Mad Father (shout-out to The Crooked Man, Ib, and The Witch’s House, too). Full of intrigue, puzzles, and exploration, curiosity gets the best of you for uncovering your father’s dark secrets felt like a pastime an 11-year-old girl might do. Having some of the most interesting and complex characters dissected in a narrative woven in the past and present, Mad Father has a clear identity with its aesthetic, gameplay, booby-trap level design, puzzles, and endings. It may not be particularly scary, but there are layers to peel back for its creepy and sometimes silly exterior hides a more disturbing truth.
16) The Midnight Scenes: The Nanny
Inspired by The Twilight Zone, The Midnight Scenes is an episodic series with gorgeous art design and compact stories that are easy to digest. The Nanny is a bite-sized horror that has impeccable writing, worldbuilding, and excellent pacing. A side-scroller with exploration, dive into the mystery of the missing nanny and pray nothing sinister has happened to her. The ’80s aesthetic and dialogue make this entertaining pick, but beware, for this episode has a slow build to a terrifying climax.
15) Home Safety Hotline
Who you gonna call for a rat infestation, black mold, or a case of a memory wisp? The Home Safety Hotline, of course! Handle callers’ queries and correctly diagnose their problems. Failure will not only harm the caller, but you could be out of a job, too! The calls start out simple, sure, but there are so many cryptic cases you must get through and navigate across the confidential, strange, and surreal entries of “less common” home infestations. You’re basically the team that comes in before The Foundation takes the SCPs away. So are you the right person for this job? Join the hotline now and enjoy the challenge, get lost in its mystery, and see if you can free each caller from their distress.
14) Yume Nikki
There is nothing like Yume Nikki. There’s no hand-holding and no obvious path on where to go next. Exploring your dreams, you take a peek into a world so far detached from our reality. Surreal and abstract imagery where kaleidoscopes, symmetry, fluorescent lights, and body parts writhe in the eternal abyss. This isn’t necessarily classified as a horror game; in fact, you can interpret the strange world of Yume Nikki in your own way. Not much makes sense, but there’s something strangely hypnotizing about this game that has no plot, no clear meaning, and no real purpose outside of being art.
13) The Cat Lady
A beautifully tragic narrative unravelled in a gory, high-contrast side-scroller tells the unforgettable story of The Cat Lady. The contrast, predominantly black and white lighting, shows the vulnerability of each character and the consistent dark themes it covers, being exposed at all angles without ever glamorizing it. A difficult game to endure, but not one you can easily put down after starting, The Cat Lady will stay with you for its violence and disturbing content.
12) IT STEALS
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A nightmarish labyrinth stands in front of you, yet each game has its own set of rules. You may have a flashlight, a camera, a will to survive—but can you outrun the thing that is chasing you? Every mode is different yet the goal remains the same: collect the orbs and get out. One of the most tense games I’ve ever played, IT STEALS is a panic-inducing horror that’s straight out of PAC-MAN‘s nightmares. It’s do or die, fight or flight, learn to adapt or you’re finished.
11) Fear & Hunger
A true testament to your will to carry on, Fear & Hunger is (without a doubt) the most punishing horror game in existence. It’s terrifying for its imagery, content, and absolutely brutal difficulty; with an otherworldly appearance like a turn-based Berserk. With zero hand-holding and horror beyond human comprehension, this adventure feels hopeless from the jump. You’re actively choosing to suffer through the fear and hunger of the past, present, and future, jumping head-first into the bottomless pit of this evil video game. It’s wickedly brilliant, but you may lose yourself while playing.
10) Lost in Vivo
Jumping into the sewers after your dog sounds like a no-brainer until you descend further into the madness, accessing a completely different realm, far from the normal life you previously knew. With bizarre, hostile creatures that have to be something Lovecraftian brings Lost in Vivo, a claustrophobic survival horror that throws you into the jaws of death. Its minuscule FOV forces you to look at the horror, making it an incredibly uncomfortable experience that’s difficult to enjoy, but its excellent level and sound design make it impossible to put down.
9) Cry of Fear
Transported into a nightmarish setting after getting in a car accident, Cry of Fear packs so much into its grimy and trippy setting that it’s hard not to be fully immersed in a new and horrifying version of Earth. The sound design and erratic behavior of the monstrosities that pursue you make this game truly unsettling. Something inhuman, uncanny, and unnatural won’t quit until it wipes the stain called you clean from this world. With imagery linked to the dark themes explored in our young protagonist, Cry of Fear may have outdated gameplay, but it remains one of the best survival horrors for its atmosphere alone.
8) Sanitarium
Playing as an amnesiac with his face covered in bandages, you must piece together his dark past while navigating the surreal world around him that blurs the line between dream and reality. Is anything you’re experiencing real, or is it just the last few synapses in your brain firing all at once? Fall down the rabbit hole and try to come out the other side a better person. It’s the journey through life, death, and everything in between. The point-and-click horror of Sanitarium has strange (and outdated) visuals that deliver a muddled, chaotic, and confused surrealistic world. But through time, you can start to make sense of your surroundings and eventually, it’ll come to make sense.
7) I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream
Feeling a little too close for comfort with each passing day, I Have No Mouth is an existential nightmare that pits five humans against a torturous supercomputer. Released in 1995, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream shows its age with its frustrating puzzles and glaring bugs, but try to look past it for it’s a masterpiece in storytelling as it truly dives into the psychology of the mind, an adaptation of Harlan Ellison’s short novel. Taking the role of five different characters, each is forced to confront their deepest fears for testing and entertainment purposes now that the supercomputer has destroyed the rest of humanity.
6) Look Outside
Trapped inside your apartment building as a cosmic horror unfolds outside, curiosity tugs at you to take a peek, but doing so may be the last human thing you do. Survive 15 days as nightmares flood your home, a place once calm has now been completely stripped of its humanity. This RPG is full of grotesque monsters of people you once called your neighbors. A challenging turn-based game with a strong identity, Look Outside is masterfully crafted from its wordbuilding and narrative to the polished combat.
5) FAITH: The Unholy Trinity
You don’t need hyper-realistic graphics to make a good horror game, as FAITH demonstrates the power of fantastic sound and art design, atmosphere, and mystique crammed in a tiny 8-bit adventure. The despair is palpable, like you’ve stumbled across a cursed game possessed by the worst evils imaginable. A challenging game that is both unholy and alluring, The Unholy Trilogy is full of intricate details, etched in colorful pixels across a dark abyss as your playing ground.
4) Imscared
Acting like malware on your computer, IMSCARED makes effective use of being a PC game. Befriending a sentient computer programme that just wants a heart that cares, you must figure out the puzzles laid out before you, all while trying to avoid Imscared (a smiling pixelated face that just wants a deadly hug). Showing that less is more, what makes IMSCARED feel so alive is its use of the game’s folders and private YouTube videos to deliver most of its lore, mystery, and to push the story forward.
3) SCP: Containment Breach
The alarm sounds inside the Foundation. You’re time as a D-Class employee is up. This place was meant to be secure, to contain those monstrosities, and protect humanity. Gain higher clearance and the freedom to explore wherever you please. Use whatever you can to outsmart and outlive the monsters. With many enemies to face and endings to get, there are layers not only in its grand design, but in your enjoyment of this legendary free horror game. Don’t let its flat appearance fool you, for Containment Breach remains one of the most tense, mysterious, and entertaining games out there.
2) Penumbra: Black Plague
Following in your father’s footsteps, you descend into an abandoned research facility, only to find mindless husks of those who once worked there. What took over the facility is airborne, contaminating all lifeforms—and you’re next. Flawless voice acting and the best storytelling that note-collecting can offer, Penumbra: Black Plague is a dark adventure that’s filled with puzzles, terror, and unforgettable moments that’ll haunt you for life.
1) Amnesia: The Bunker
The ultimate game of cat and mouse, Amnesia: The Bunker is a terrifyingly claustrophobic adventure that pits you against a constant threat, stalking you from inside the same walls you’re desperately trying to escape. Left alone in an abandoned bunker with the only exit blocked by debris, you must manage your resources effectively and make as little noise as possible if you want to survive. With a hand crank flashlight and limited gasoline, the slightest sound could get you killed, so get used to navigating around in the darkness. Block the holes, outsmart the monster, and live.
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