10 Most Ambitious Horror Games

Horror is a genre that's difficult to appeal to everyone, especially for those who are fans of the genre and that have practically seen it all. And yet, despite it all, there will always be those stories that go above and beyond, defying all expectations and delivering a timeless masterpiece.

These horror games, simply put, were immediate standouts in the genre. They may not have influenced gaming as a whole like others, but they have made their mark as works of art.

It's easy to be ambitious, but it's difficult to actually succeed in those ambitions — and yet, these games not only do just that, but they even make it look easy.

And thankfully, these games are given their proper accolades, setting a mark in horror in ways that never existed prior.

10 The Midnight Walk

A Claymation Classic

The Midnight Walk may seem like your average VR horror game about grief, but that is, until you take a closer look at the art style and realize: it's done completely using claymation. Every little bit of it is lovingly sculpted with clay, and combined with the game's themes, it actually creates an experience unlike any other.

The gameplay is standard for a walking simulator, where you waddle around and talk to people in the world that you encounter, but it's the game's narrative and themes that make it memorable. This story tackles everything from grief and regret to the classic battle of light and darkness, with you determining which prevails.

The Midnight Walk isn't horrifying in the traditional sense, but creepy, combined with dark themes to give players an overall sense of unease. The character designs with the claymation only add to this concept, resulting in an ambitious end result that players will love and linger on for weeks to come.

With this, it's no surprise that this special title won a category (Best VR) at The Game Awards this past year (one of the few horror games to actually do so). Not to mention, it's just cute to look at.

9 SOMA

Don't Dwell too Long

SOMA is one of those eerily deceptive games, one that looks like any other maritime horror story, but it turns into a narrative that will get your head spinning in ways you'd never see coming. Tense and unbelievably atmospheric, SOMA tells a story that will have you second-guessing everything ... including yourself.

SOMA tackles themes of human existentialism, asking one simple question that nobody seems to be able to answer: what exactly defines someone as a human? As you progress, the answers only get muddier.

The story of this game is ambitious in and of itself, and it's told in such a way that it doesn't come off as obnoxious. It's a message that doesn't insist upon itself too hard; it's just enough for players to get the point and lie with it, lingering with their own thoughts and theories about the adventure they have just gone on.

8 Doki Doki Literature Club

Dan Salvato, WYD?

While at first glance, you wouldn't think that a dating sim could work as a horror game, Dan Salvato (the head of Team Salvato) subverted everyone's expectations with Doki Doki Literature Club. Not only did Salvato subvert expectations with a visual novel-style game, an ambitious project unlike anything he had created prior, but also with its incredibly meta narrative, one that twists and turns on all kinds of horrifying roads.

This is one of those games that is equal parts fun to watch and play, with percentage-based scares that will make each playthrough terrifying in new ways every time.

It's also a game that perfectly demonstrates Murphy's Law, even though there are no enemies, and just when you think things can't get worse for you or the girls, they absolutely do. Combine the story/fears you have to peel away with the cool gameplay mechanics you have to employ to beat the game, and you've got a recipe for something truly unique.

Don't worry about the poems you have to write in the meantime, either. You're not being graded on those.

7 The Last of Us

A Drama with a Firm Grip

In the Era of Action Horror, it was hard to see something that was truly original and scary — and while The Last of Us could definitely benefit from being a little scarier, the wholly original drama possessed a voice that demanded attention from everyone.

The very reason why so many games are so cinematic now is because of The Last of Us and everything it has done to be taken seriously by players and non-gamers alike.

The entire game is ambitious: in visuals, sound, acting, and even with the gameplay (as it is actually a massive escort mission across the remnants of America ... one, thankfully, that doesn't suck). The resulting experience is something that will stick with you, especially after you make it to the ending.

The story ended up having a firm grasp on audiences all around, and that grip only tightened when the HBO TV adaptation was dropped (and just as excellent as the game).

6 Five Nights at Freddy's

The First One Remains Distinct

I need to preface that when I say Five Nights at Freddy's was incredibly ambitious, I'm talking about the first game exclusively, back when it was something original and unlike anything we had ever seen before. That is, until Scott Cawthon decided to copy his own games repeatedly, spawning a franchise that's just an outright mess; seriously, none of the other FNAF games pack the same punch as the first title had.

Unfortunately, we now live in an era of Mascot Horror Slop, with hundreds of copycats trying to cash in on what used to be something unique.

Yet, that doesn't make the first FNAF any less special. If anything, it's all the more special now that we know what the series spirals into, and we can't deny that this game made a significant impact on the horror genre with its ambition. It just didn't maintain that ambition for the rest of the franchise — but despite this, that first game will always be something special.

Plus, since it's an indie game, it doesn't take too long to beat, so you could feel the punch directly in your face.

5 Dead Space

Cut Off Their Limbs

Every single horror game, and least ones that involve bullets, all have the same textbook when it comes to killing enemies: shoot them in the head. However, that doesn't work as easily with the Necromorphs in Dead Space, so players are instructed to actually just cut off their limbs instead; that way, they can't keep lunging at you even while headless.

Dead Space is what defined sci-fi horror in the gaming industry, making its mark with its unique story, and with a really, really cool feature: by making the UI organically integrated into the game, from your health to your ammo.

The overall game is ambitious, as developers worked to create an experience that's as fresh as possible but still acting as a love letter to the other games that inspired it (such as System Shock 2), and it worked out wonderfully in the game's favour.

It's a great survival horror game if you're new to the genre, one that teeters close enough to action to where it has an air of familiarity while playing, but freaking you out all the while.

4 Resident Evil 7

Digging Beneath the Horror Roots

What made Resident Evil 7 so ambitious is how it's a complete, stark contrast to everything we had seen out of the franchise so far. Even the earliest Resident Evil titles, which are the more horror-centric ones, were still not really that scary — but then here comes RE7 genuinely being one of the scariest games of not just the franchise, but all time.

While I think that Resident Evil Requiem is scarier, it probably wouldn't even exist if it weren't for the fact that Capcom went back to RE's horror roots (which I'd say is a nice apology for spawning the Action Horror Era). However, they didn't just go back to their roots, but started digging underneath those roots to see just how far they could go. Just saying, the Happy Birthday puzzle should give you enough of an indicator of the kind of horrors you're going to be dealing with in this game.

Resident Evil 7 was an incredibly brave move that single-handedly brought the series back to life, and those of us who loved these games for the past 30 years are grateful that it's doing better than ever.

Just don't expect a walk in the park while you're playing through RE's most stand-out title yet; you're going to be struggling for a long while.

3 Alien: Isolation

The A.I. is Still Unreal

To this day, I have never seen an A.I. be as scarily intelligent as I've seen from the Xenomorph in Alien: Isolation, and that intelligence only makes things all the more terrifying. As you're trying to sneak around the ship, hiding from an enemy literally hunting you down, you're going to feel your heart practically beat out of your chest.

If you're the kind of player who loves combing through every aspect of a game to get the platinum trophy, just be warned that you're not going to have an easy time getting the platinum at all, and the Xenomorph is a huge reason for that. As it hunts and stalks you, it learns from you, adapting the very same techniques you employ to protect yourself, and that's not even considering the increasingly insane difficulties.

The ambition with this game is entirely with how the A.I. works on the Xenomorph, and it works wonderfully. Basically, the way that it works is that there are actually two A.I.s controlling the Xenomorph, one that is walking around and looking for you, and another that knows exactly where you are and is feeding hints to the other hunting you down. Get in the habit of looking over your shoulder.

This makes me excited to see how they plan to improve on this with the recently confirmed sequel, but that will be a while.

2 Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

The Father of the Sanity Meter

If you're a fan of sanity systems in horror games, you can thank Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem for being the literal pioneer of that mechanic, serving as an ambitious title that isn't afraid to break the 4th wall to terrify players. It's one of those games that you'd expect to see everywhere because of the impact that it made on horror game mechanics for decades to come, but it has long remained a GameCube exclusive.

But hey, that just makes it a cult classic.

If this game were to be given the remake/remaster treatment like so many others in the genre (which would be absolutely awesome), I would be fascinated to see how it plans to incorporate those analogue 4th wall breaks into modern technology. The scares made the game what it is, after all.

You can't really get any more ambitious than inventing an entirely new mechanic, so we can thank Eternal Darkness for being the literal founding father of the sanity meter.

1 Silent Hill f

When a Horror Icon Meets Artistic Beauty

Will there ever be a day when I don't gush about my favourite game of all time, Silent Hill f? Absolutely not, it's a masterpiece in every sense of the word.

Silent Hill f is easily the most ambitious title of the Silent Hill franchise, moving to the other side of the globe and forming its own unique identity in 1960s Japan, and yet, remaining completely authentic to the Silent Hill Phenomenon. During development, NeoBards was told to "find beauty in terror," combined with incredibly poignant metaphors, and the result is a game that's as artistic as it is expressive.

Not only was this game ambitious for the series, but for horror gaming overall, specifically how the story is told. It's a marriage (pun intended) of a Ryukishi07 story, iconically known for a looping structure, while it incorporates parallels to the classic Silent Hill games we know and love, layered upon layered with symbolism. This cultivates into a New Game+ that continues the story, making replayability refreshing every time, and honestly unreal with how many details it's packed with.

Obviously, I'm biased towards this game, but I mean it wholeheartedly when I say that Silent Hill f is the perfect example of what happens when ambition meets authenticity (obviously, in the best possible way).