The ultimate medium for horror has always been videogames, and this is especially true for the finest VR horror games. There is nothing more immersive than virtual reality when it comes to enhancing the spookiness of a horror experience.
Nevertheless, what are the top VR horror games? What music should you listen to to capture that existential dread? Which game will frighten you more than an ice bath on a train traveling through the Alps? We have a few recommendations for you, which we hope will quench your appetite for all things frightful.
The top VR horror games include:
Lethal Floor Incursion
The Lost Soul: Paranormal Activity in the Forest
Resident Evil VII biohazard
Dreadhalls
Blair Witch Narcosis Torn
Five Nights At Freddy’s: Arizona Sunshine: Help Needed
Phasmophobia
Lethal Floor Incursion
Killing Floor Incursion provides you with this horror classic in plenty. Yet, it is not simply a matter of killing creatures. The game features not just a spooky landscape to explore, but also puzzles with ingenious designs. The VR is utilized effectively for both the “brain” and “muscle” elements of the game, with a variety of things to hold, use, and interact with, each of which feels distinct to the touch.
The Forest
Today, if you venture into the woods, you’re in for a tremendous surprise. As a species, we have a near-innate dread of the wilderness, which The Forest exploits to perfection. In this game, you assume the role of a person who has gotten trapped on a densely forested peninsula, and as you progressively become aware of your surroundings, you realize that you are not alone.
It begins like other survival games, but you quickly discover the odd cannibals that inhabit the island, whose superior artificial intelligence makes them so terrifying. They are not only mindless and unrelenting attackers, but also smart, calculating, and possess an uncommon sense of self-preservation for this genre. When performed in virtual reality, this becomes much more unsettling. You’ll actually feel like you’re not alone.
Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul
The Lost Soul is based on the famous Paranormal Activity film series and is set in an ordinary house. This series is so successful in part because it depicts paranormal experiences in homes that might be your own, so your hallway will never look the same again.
The same applies to the game. You navigate a dark home with just your flashlight, but you must be careful because its battery power is diminishing. Once you realize you’re not alone in the home (which, given the scenario, shouldn’t come as a surprise), the ghostly frights increase to really terrifying proportions. You must uncover the riddle of what transpired in that house immediately, lest something terrible befall you.
Resident Evil VII Biohazard
The Resident Evil series has been many things over the years, but its terrible essence has never changed. Resident Evil VII is a return to the series’ roots in that you explore a spooky old building, but whereas the previous game placed you in a posh home filled with undead, this installment has you in a dilapidated plantation owned by the psychotic Baker family (as well as mutant creatures called the Molded).
What makes this one especially scary is because the antagonists retain a great deal of humanity despite their wicked actions, and even have a terrible past that ‘hordes of the undead’ just cannot provide. Although though it is not solely a VR game, it performs exceptionally well in this medium.
Resident Evil VII Biohazard
Dreadhalls was built primarily as a virtual reality experience. At its core, it is built on a fairly straightforward premise: you find yourself in a big maze-like castle and need to escape, so you search for the exit. Despite its apparent simplicity, it succeeds in producing an extraordinarily creepy mood.
Every corner you turn will cause your heart to race, despite the fact that there is frequently nothing there. It’s a game that goes inside your skull and lets you think all sorts of horrible things as in Backrooms Game, which are more scarier than graphic violence. Because the map is randomly created, you will never grow familiar with its layout, which contributes to the uniqueness of this game. If you die and respawn, the environment will be entirely different.
Shadow Witch
The Blair Witch Project introduced the discovered footage subgenre to the horror genre in 1999. It is only fair that there be a video game set in the Blair Witch universe, given that there are movies and even video games whose creative origins can be traced back to that film.
Blair Witch exemplifies how well-suited found-footage games are for virtual reality. If you’ve watched the movie, you’ll know what to anticipate from this game’s narrative about a guy called Ellis Lynch who gets lost in the woods while hunting for a missing child. It’s not so much what you see (not that you don’t see anything), but the atmosphere of these dark, terrible forests, which will keep you on edge at all times.
Torn
This game is a bit more fanciful than some of the others on our list, but if you enjoy visiting haunted places, you’ll love it. In Torn, the player assumes the role of a lady who discovers an odd old home and decides to explore it out of curiosity.
As you explore the mansion, you learn more of the tale, which reaches into the uncharted depths of the human psyche and even alternate universes. It is a VR-exclusive experience that is absolutely worth checking out.
