13 Best 90s Horror Games You Should Play

Horror video games were at their peak in the 1990s. These books marked the decade, and fans of the genre still love them today.

Even though we love scary movies, horror games are really something else. Because players have direct control over their figures in video games, horror games let players feel what it’s like to be in a scary situation. The horror theme is always popular, and video games have a long past with it.

A lot of the most popular horror games are based on older games. A lot of important games from the past came out in the 1990s. Which projects are still the best horror games from the 1990s?

Nocturne

Not well remembered for its time, Nocturne was a PC game that needed a lot of resources. It’s an ambitious action horror game that never hits a home run but always goes down swinging. The game is split into four parts that are based on different classic horror styles. Players take control of The Stranger, an American agent who goes on tasks where they have to kill things that go bump in the night.

Nocturne can look really cool, and the monsters’ designs are sometimes both amazing and creepy. Like most horror games from the 1990s, Nocturne’s gameplay isn’t very fun, and the controls feel old-fashioned. However, there are moments that will stick with you.

Sanitarium

Sanitarium by DreamForge is a cult classic point-and-click game that you can still get on a lot of systems, like Steam. Players take control of a man who has lost his memory and wake up in a scary hospital, surrounded by scary images.

The main character, who is called “Max,” goes on an uncertain journey that takes him to strange, scary, and wild places as he tries to remember who he is and what got him into this mess. Even though it came out more than 20 years ago, Sanitarium is still a good psychological horror game with a nice buildup over the course of its nine chapters.

Realms Of The Haunting

Realms of the Haunting is like having a fever dream in video games. Adam Randall walks into a clearly evil house, which is a pretty normal start to the story. But it doesn’t take long for things to go ridiculously wrong in the best way possible. Soon, Adam is going to other worlds, fighting all kinds of nasty demons. And facing Belial, a foe who doesn’t get enough attention.

Realms of the Haunting is a great mess that pays attention to the little things. It uses FMVs and plays like Doom, but not as well. Adam’s trip is enriched by the company of a psychic who is like a living dictionary for the evil spirits they meet, giving the experience a lot of background and personality.

Clock Tower

Clock Tower is a point-and-click adventure game that came out for the SNES in 1995. It is both scary and great. The game does a great job of setting the mood with its sound and graphics, combining dull and crowded graphics with scary music.

Clock Tower was unique in that it had many ends that depended on the choices and outcomes of the player. The game not only sets the right mood, but it also has well-thought-out tasks that players must solve in order to stay alive.

Dark Seed

Dark Seed, a point-and-click story game like Clock Tower, came out in 1992. The story is told in both real life and a nightmare-like dream world, with a focus on psychological horror. The creator of Alien, H.R. Gieger, had a lot to do with the look of this nightmare world.

Dark Seed relies a lot on trial and error, and players have to complete a number of jobs within a limited amount of time. This makes the player feel even more anxious.

The House Of The Dead

These days, horror-themed guns are pretty popular in games, but that wasn’t always the case. The House of the Dead is an on-rails shooter game that came out in 1996. It lets up to two players fight off hordes of zombies.

Like Clock Tower, The House of the Dead has different ends that can happen depending on what the player does and how they choose to play. The follow-up is also a famous arcade game and a lot of fun horror game from the 1990s.

Resident Evil

The first Resident Evil game, which came out in 1996, is without a doubt one of the most important horror games ever made. It was made by Capcom, and players have to handle their limited resources while trying to avoid and live groups of zombies.

The fixed camera and tank controls in Resident Evil haven’t held up very well over time. But the game had a big impact on horror games and helped them become more popular.

Alone In The Dark

Survival horror is one of the most famous types of games right now. And most new games are influenced by Alone in the Dark. The PC version of the game came out in 1992. And its main goal is to get the player out of an evil house. That being said, this is easier said than done because there are so many tasks and zombies to beat.

Resource management is a big part of both Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark. Players have to keep track of how much stuff they have on them at all times.

Resident Evil 2

Resident Evil 1 may have been the first game in Capcom’s series. But it wasn’t until 1998 that Resident Evil 2 really came into its own. Many people have come to expect certain things from this series ever since.

Resident Evil 2 builds on the horror themes of the first game in the series by making almost every part of the gameplay better. There is always a threat waiting to attack the player. If you’ve played Resident Evil 8: Village, you can be sure that the design ideas that went into Resident Evil 2 are still present in that game.

Parasite Eve

Parasite Eve, which came out in 1998 from Square, is a game that combines aspects of RPGs and real-time action games into a very dramatic package. The player takes on the role of Aya Brea and has to find and stop Eve, a woman who wants to wipe out all humans.

The action fighting in Parasite Eve is good on its own. But a lot of the fun comes from exploring the game’s settings.

I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream

Just like Dark Seed, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is mostly about psychological horror and not about jump scares or zombies. The game, which came out for PC in 1996, is based on Harlan Ellison’s 1967 short story of the same name. An computer intelligence keeps the last five humans living and tortures them. This is the main plot of the story.

Backrooms Game goes a lot further than you might think from a 1990s horror game. The themes and situations in this game are by far the most disturbing and awkward of all of them.

Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night

Even though Castlevania: Symphony of the Night isn’t a traditional horror game. It is filled to the brim with gothic horror atmosphere. Many people think Symphony of the Night is one of the most important Metroidvania games ever. Even though it’s not overtly scary. It has gothic-horror-themed environments and enemies, and the gameplay is very tight.

Konami’s famous game can be played over and over again, looks great, and had a big impact. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is one of those games that you should really play.

Silent Hill

Since it came out in 1999, few games have had as big of an effect on the horror game genre as Silent Hill. For a realistic and mood-driven experience, Silent Hill is a game that plays with someone’s fear by covering their vision with thick fog.

The main goal of the game is to help the player find their lost daughter in the town of Silent Hill. Depending on how they handle the events that happen, the game can have five different ends.