Halloween is just around the corner. That means horror movie tributes, costumes, parties, and lots of articles about horror games on PCs and gaming laptops. Before that happens, we’re going to give you a list of genuinely scary games that you should play BEFORE Halloween to get you in the mood, or even give you inspiration for costume ideas that you can use for that day.

Iconic horror writer H.P. Lovecraft once said, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. And the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” And all these games tap into that fear. You may think it’s just a video game, but you hesitate in opening that door to the item you need, you find yourself clutching to your chair, or keep you tight-lipped because you know something around that virtual corner will make you scream in fear.

Slender

Nothing is scarier than an urban legend and meme coming to life, so to speak. The Slenderman is a communal effort to create a modern Boogeyman, and it was terribly effective. It has inspired a slew of memes, stories, and even an inhuman act that was blamed on the Slenderman.

Slender is a low-budget game that proves that graphics and funding don’t always make a game. The game was well-made. The scares are right and not the least bit schlocky. The design of the game was so well-made that it upped the terror level by leagues. Combined with a hazy and uncertain story, Slender is guaranteed to keep you at the edge of your seat.

The Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

Most horror games are about highly-trained individuals stuck in harrowing situations with increasingly powerful weapons littered as they progress in the game. In Dark Corners of the Earth, you are highly-trained individual (as trained as 1920s police detective can get) stuck in a harrowing situation, BUT there are no weapons until you get to the later parts of the game.

A significant bulk of the game is spent hiding and running away from stalking monsters and violent villagers. Being chased around and not being to fight back is more intense than it sounds. You will have to block and lock doors, find nooks to hide, and just pretty much survive the whole thing. With your sanity intact, the game has a sanity meter that adds a level of depth to how you handle the game.

It’s an underrated and fantastic game. Play it.  

Among the Sleep

All of us were scared when we were children. Everything is bigger. The dark seems more ominous than it should. We also know less about the world, so we don’t know a lot of the things that are out there. Among the Sleep makes your feel more weak and defenseless than your usual horror game because you play a two-year-old in a dark and scary house.

The creepy environment adds to the creepiness of the game. You have to solve puzzles involving tasks that we, as adults, take for granted. So you have to figure out how to open doors and climb over things while being chased by scary monsters.

The story is dark, and sucker punches you with the perception of children as a coping mechanism towards parental abuse and alcoholism. Playing this game will take you for a scary and even painful ride.

Alien: Isolation

In 1979, the movie “Alien” changed the game for horror films. It was terrifying, plain and straightforward. A lot of movies sprung from that. Not surprisingly, games as well. Unfortunately, a lot of the games were unable to capture the simple horror that Alien gave us. Most of them were side-scrollers and shooters that eschewed the horror aspect that gave the movie it’s fame.

That all changed with “Alien: Isolation”. A haunting atmosphere with visuals and sound that all worked together perfectly. It was a real experience in horror. Try watching the first two movies then play the game. It will make you love it even more than you would if you just played the game.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Considered one of the most famous horror games ever. Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a stellar and unique game. The game is dedicated to solving physics-based puzzles and interactions. You will be weaponless throughout the game, so the main gameplay is all about stealth. You will spend a lot of your time hiding in the shadows, which isn’t a good thing.

Apart from a health bar, you also have a sanity bar. The more you see unsettling events, being in the darkness, or just seeing monsters lowers your sanity and that’s bad. As your sanity decreases, you start to experience auditory and visual hallucinations, which makes hiding difficult considering you don’t know if the monster stalking you is real or not.

Add to that the incredible voice acting and scary game design; it’s not surprising why this game is as popular as it is.

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There is a lot of great and scary games on the PC and gaming laptops. So these are just a few that gave us a lot of fright and shivers. What games do you think are the scariest? Share it with us.