10 Great Horror Games That Are Fun Immediately

What makes horror video games fun is often very different from most other popular genres of games, as horror titles can't often rely on fast-paced multiplayer action, wide open worlds, or even player-driven relationships with NPCs.

Instead, much like popular horror films and books, horror games commonly rely on slow build-ups to horrifying reveals and intense sequences either fighting against or running from seemingly invincible monstrous foes.

This tension and anticipation to see what kind of horror awaits around every corner in itself is fairly fun, but some horror games are more gory and action-packed, allowing players to live fantasies as heroic, or somewhat arrogant, monster hunters.

In certain cases, horror games are immediately fun straight from going from the menu, letting players hide and discover terrifying truths of hulking monsters or allowing them to go all out on a monster-slaying craze until the credits roll.

10 R.E.P.O.

Robots' Worst Nightmare

Sometimes the best horror games that are instantly fun from the start are those that are more multiplayer focused, with one of the best multiplayer horror games being R.E.P.O.

The second game developed by Semiwork, R.E.P.O. is an early-access horror game centered around cartoonish Retrieve, Extract, and Profit Operation robots traveling to monster-infested locations such as a manor and a museum to extract valuable items for their creator.

Items extracted can be sold and used to obtain new upgrades and weapons, but players should always remain cautious as R.E.P.O.'s gameplay is highly physics-based, with most objects and even some enemies being able to be destroyed by simply dropping them or hitting them against a wall.

While R.E.P.O. can be played solo, it's far more fun to play with friends as it features up to six-player co-op and is ripe for countless hilarious moments, such as seeing each robot's mouths move like clamshells while players talk or battling friends to the death after a failed extraction to see who can become the King of the Losers.

9 Lethal Company

All in the Name of Profit

Much like R.E.P.O., Lethal Company is another early-access co-op multiplayer game, though the latter has had a few years under its belt to improve its gameplay and expand its features in numerous fun ways.

Instead of playing as robots, Lethal Company has players embody masked employees as they're sent out to recover scrap and other items from abandoned exomoon outposts, all while avoiding horrifying yet often comedic aliens.

These outposts are randomly generated, meaning each location will be a bit different from the last and contain different creatures both outside the outpost and within it, such as the gigantic Forest Keeper or the creepy Jack-in-the-box-like Jester.

Like R.E.P.O., Lethal Company can be played alone, but it's far more fun when played with friends and mods, as some mods allow the game to be played in 16-player co-op and others add more hilarious and surprising aliens like emergency exit door-disguising Mimics.

8 The Evil Within

Ruvik's Terrifying Mind Games

Sometimes the most fun horror games are those that instantly dive into crazy moments with numerous intense sequences battling incredibly grotesque monsters, with one such game being Shinji Mikami's The Evil Within.

A third-person survival horror game, The Evil Within follows Detective Sebastian Castellanos as he and a few other detectives investigate murders at the Beacon Mental Hospital only to be thrust into a literal nightmare by a mysterious hooded man known as Ruvik.

With The Evil WIthin being developed by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, the game is full to brim with some of horror gaming's most disgusting and terrifying monsters, from the human-spider hybrid Heresy to the regenerating, safe-headed Keeper.

Each confrontation in The Evil Within is different from the last, making every fight chaotic but fun as players strive to quickly learn how to defeat each new boss or horde of zombie-like Haunted without dying or wasting precious resources, all while struggling to figure out just what in the world is going on.

7 Lollipop Chainsaw

Hacking and Slashing Through High School

Single-player horror games tend to take themselves very seriously and while that tone can still lead to enthralling experiences, some of the most entertaining horror titles from start to finish are those that satirize genre tropes as seen in games like Lollipop Chainsaw.

Created by Goichi Suda and James Gunn, Lollipop Chainsaw is a third-person horror title following San Romero High School cheerleader Juliet Starling as she wakes on her 18th birthday to a zombie apocalypse.

What ensues is a colorful, bloody, zombie-slaying romp as Starling, her trusty pink chainsaw, and the disembodied yet still living head of her boyfriend Nick, attempt to save their classmates and end the zombie outbreak unleashed by their Goth classmate Swan.

Lollipop Chainsaw is a very unconventional horror game in many ways, but it celebrates past horror tropes and is just downright a complete joy to play through, just like how The Cabin in the Woods is a very entertaining watch especially for horror fans.

6 Five Nights at Freddy's

A Timeless Classic

Many video games in general these days feature hyperrealistic graphics and complex gameplay mechanics, but games don't need all of those expensive and intricate systems to be fun, with one classic horror title making the most of little to become a multimedia franchise, with that game being Five Nights at Freddy's.

2014's FNAF is a fairly simple point-and-click survival horror game centered around a night shift security guard at the Chuck E. Cheese-like Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria who must survive five nights while keeping watch on the pizzeria's violently possessed animatronic mascots.

Players cannot move out of the pizzeria's security office and can only rely on watching the animatronics move from camera feeds, turning on lights outside the office, and closing metallic doors to the office to defend themselves until 6 a.m. each morning, with each ability using a bit of the office's limited power.

FNAF perfectly builds upon most people's innate fear of creepy animatronics and the thrill factor of jump scares to create a simplistic yet addictive game that is still fun over 10 years later.

5 Left 4 Dead 2

A New Kind of Zombie Horde

Dozens of horror games feature zombies as their primary obstacle, with many featuring slow zombies, fast zombies, or mutated zombie variants, but arguably the first game to perfectly exhibit all three zombie types in a single title was Valve's Left 4 Dead 2.

The original Left 4 Dead was great on its own, with fantastic fast-paced co-op gameplay, but Left 4 Dead 2 improved upon its predecessor in nearly every way with new maps, characters, the addition of melee weapons, and the addition of three new special infected with the Charger, Jockey, and Spitter.

These additions make each playthrough of L4D2's maps all the more visceral and replayable, as one run on Dark Carnival could have Coach be pinned down by a Hunter while Ellis is pulled away by Jockey, while another run could have a Spitter throw noxious acid over a downed teammate, preventing their revival.

L4D2 is the definitive zombie co-op game as it's incredibly fun to play solo or with three other friends, with similar co-op games such as Toxic Commando still trying to replicate the game's magic to sadly unsuccessful results.

4 Dead Rising 2

Terror Is Reality

2006's Dead Rising was a remarkable new horror game as it finally allowed people to live their Dawn of the Dead fantasies and use practically everything and anything to take out zombies, but Dead Rising 2 improved upon it in nearly every way possible.

Set five years after the Willamette Incident, Dead Rising 2 follows motocross athlete Chuck Green as he takes part in a zombie-killing tournament called Terror is Reality in the Las Vegas-like Fortune City, only for a new zombie outbreak to occur in the city and Green being framed for the outbreak.

DR2 is a ton of fun right from the start as the game immediately allows players to rip apart groups of zombies on chainsaw-mounted Slicecycles, but the fun never stops as DR2 introduces the ability to craft several combo weapons, combining the best aspects of tools, weapons, and other objects found on the strip.

For example, players combine a giant teddy bear and an LMG to create the turret-like Freedom Bear while they can combine bowie knives and boxing gloves to create deadly, Wolverine-like Knife Gloves, making DR2 endlessly comedic and addicting trying to find and try out every combo card.

3 Dead by Daylight

The Definitive Multiplayer Horror Game

R.E.P.O. and Lethal Company are both fantastic, relatively new horror multiplayer titles, but the best horror multiplayer that's still incredibly entertaining from the very start is Behaviour Interactive's Dead by Daylight.

Unlike the two aforementioned early access games, Dead by Daylight is an asymmetrical multiplayer survival horror game with one person playing as a killer hunting down four other people playing as survivors striving to fix generators to escape nightmarish realms.

Playing as the killer in DBD is extremely satisfying, as each killer features unique abilities used to attack, trap, or thwart other players and over the game's near 10-year-long existence, more and more killers have been added even from other properties, such as the Xenomorph from Alien and Pyramid Head from Silent Hill.

However, playing as survivors is still a ton of fun as well, as players can customize their survivors with a wide variety of perks to better evade killers or help fellow survivors, with most matches requiring survivors to help one another for the best chance at everyone safely escaping.

2 Dead Space 2

Isaac Clarke's Most Intense Day

Visceral Games' 2008 third-person sci-fi survival horror Dead Space is an absolute masterpiece among horror titles, but if players are looking for a sci-fi horror game that's immediately fun right from the start, they should definitely check out DS's stellar sequel Dead Space 2.

Dead Space 2 has players embody C.E.C. engineer Isaac Clarke once more, but the game mysteriously opens up with Clarke being woken up in a straitjacket by Franco Delille in a mental hospital, only for Delille to be suddenly turned into a Necromorph by an Infector.

What follows is an intriguing, intense, and deeply unsettling waking nightmare as Clarke struggles to survive another Necromorph outbreak on the Titan Station space colony while attempting to recover his memories, evade zealous Unitologists, and end his tormenting visions of his deceased girlfriend Nicole.

Dead Space 2 is widely considered to be the best entry in the DS series, and it well earns that sentiment as its visuals and gameplay feature a perfect balance of intense action with quiet, haunting moments thanks to the use of eerie environments such as the Unitology Church and terrifying enemies like the raptor-like Stalkers.

1 Resident Evil 4

Leon Kennedy's Greatest Adventure

Without a doubt, the most successful horror video game franchise of all time is Capcom's Resident Evil, but out of all of its many mainline entries and spinoffs, 2005's Resident Evil 4 remains the best RE game that is incredibly fun from the start and remains so throughout its duration.

An over-the-shoulder third-person survival horror game, Resident Evil 4 drops players back into the shoes of popular series protagonist Leon Kennedy, now an agent of the U.S. government, as he travels to Spain to rescue the president's daughter Ashley Graham.

Here, Kennedy faces his deadliest threats yet as he must battle mutating Las Plagas-infected locals, titanic Gigantes, and zealous Los Illuminados cult members to save Graham, all while solving complex puzzles and confronting former allies.

Resident Evil 4 is one of the best-selling and most celebrated horror games for many reasons, largely thanks to its revolutionary gameplay and engaging, often comedic story and even though it's over 20 years old and has been remade, the original RE4 still remains one of the best horror games to play right from the very start.