The Best Horror Games Of 2021

The lights are out. The television's hypnotic glow has you under its spell. Your controller is caged within a tense grasp. You're filled with terror, yet you can't look away. Such is the experience of playing a truly great horror game.

What is it that compels gamers to seek out the most terrifying, most chilling video games? Perhaps the rush of emotions? Or maybe some people enjoy testing how brave they really are? Whatever the case may be, gamers love horror.

If you're a fan of the genre and have already played all of the greatest horror games, you might be eager to get your hands on some fresh titles. Lucky for you, there's an overwhelming amount of horror games on the way to sate your appetite. Some of these exciting titles are already out, so which ones should you pick up? 

Sometimes, the best horror video game is not what you might have expected, which is why it's always useful to consult a more definitive guide. Grab a flashlight and maybe a blanket for hiding — these are the best horror games of 2021.

There's nothing small about the terror you may face when playing Little Nightmares 2. The game follows a child with a bag over his head named Mono. And poor Mono is living out any kid's worst nightmare: wandering around the woods as the dangers of his surroundings grow more apparent. He stumbles into a cabin and joins Six from the first game, and that's where the bone-chilling and critically-lauded adventure truly begins.

Andrew Shaw of The Digital Fix loved Little Nightmares 2. He called it "A perfect sequel," as he thought it pulled from the first game's strengths while improving upon its weaknesses. Shaw enjoyed how the game messes with the player's sense of reality. He also felt that the horror elements were well-paced. 

Writing for GameSpot, Andrew King was a little less enthusiastic. While he loved the art design, creepy aesthetic, and stimulating puzzles, he did not enjoy the game's combat, one of its puzzles, and its excessive length. Despite some of his complaints, King enjoyed Little Nightmares 2, describing the game as having "a frightening cityscape haunted by humans who have turned into frightening parodies of mundane occupations."

The Medium puts gamers in control of a psychically gifted protagonist named Marianne who can cross over to the spirit realm while still existing in the physical world. Because of this, she can communicate with and walk among those who have passed on. Overall, critics were quite impressed with Bloober Team's latest horror outing.

Over on Gamers Heroes, Blaine Smith found The Medium to be a startling exploration of human nature and that Marianne's powers invite an existential kind of horror. He appreciated how the game uses its captivating narrative and its reality-bending design to instill gamers with dread and terror. Smith was also pleased by the puzzles, the gameplay, the character performances, and its fixed camera, which he compared to the first Resident Evil. 

On the other hand, CGMagazine's Lane Martin thought the game looked nice, but saw plenty of problems beyond that. He felt that The Medium failed to properly get players invested in the characters and that its story was too blunt. Martin also disliked the controls and experienced too many bugs while playing. Even though he admitted the game was not his "cup of tea," he still saw merit in the game's concept.

If you're one for a hand-crafted aesthetic, then you might want to take a look at Mundaun. This first-person-perspective horror title is rendered in a hand-sketched pencil style and follows a man named Curdin who stumbles into an investigation revolving around the mysterious death of his grandfather. Critics found Mundaun to be a particularly creepy experience.

Andrew Farrell of PC Invasion was not terribly spooked by Mundaun, but he did find it compelling and "unnerving at times." While he didn't think the story was especially original, he appreciated the more nuanced details. Farrell enjoyed exploring the world and found it to be a rather addicting game to play with its even pace and accessible means of progression. 

In his review for COGconnected, James Paley was less impressed. He believed that the game's art style worked in its favor to create something truly eerie, though its pacing was a detriment in his eyes. In Paley's opinion, Mundaun is significantly slowed down by excessive foot travel. Still, he was invested in the story overall, even if he found it to be a test of his patience. In the end, he arrived at the conclusion that this game isn't for everybody, but it can be quite enjoyable for the right audience.