Although October has come and gone, spooky season is never really over. We’ve curated a list of 5 budget-friendly games for you to check out this holiday season – either as a gift to yourself or to other horror lovers.
Phasmophobia
Developer: Kinetic Games
Publisher: Kinetic Games
Platforms: PC
Price: $13.99
Phasmophobia is a 4 player co-op game where you and your friends play as paranormal investigators. Your goal is to gather evidence and survive the haunting of the ghost. If you haven’t, go check out our guide on How To Play.
Although it’s not a terrifying ride throughout, working together with friends to taunt a ghost into attacking and killing your friends never gets old. Plus with proximity chat you can hear the fear in your friends’ voices as they are being hunted and chased around the map.
The game is currently available for Early Access. According to the developers, the full version with added content should be released in 2021.
Check out Phasmophobia here on Steam.
Maid of Sker
Developer: Wales Interactive
Publisher: Wales Interactive
Platforms: PS4, Nintendo Switch, X-Box One, PC
Price $24.99 (Steam)
If you are a fan of Resident Evil and Outlast, you will love Maid of Sker. Maid of Sker is based on Welsh and British folklore tales about a high-class woman who is locked in an attic by her father to starve after she falls in love with a poor harpist.
You assume the position of Thomas Evans, who has been asked to come to the Sker Hotel by your lover Elisabeth Williams. Upon arrival, you encounter ‘The Quiet Ones’ – blinded cult followers who use sound to locate and attack you. As you navigate the hotel, you are tasked with finding keys, music sheets, and cylinders to save Elisabeth.
When navigating the hotel, you must stay as silent as possible to avoid being found, including controlling your breathing – hold your breath too long and you gasp for air, alerting The Quiet Ones. You’ll find yourself holding your own breath too.
Download Maid of Sker on Steam here.
In Silence
Developer: Ravenhood Games
Platforms: PC
Price: $7.99 (sale ends December 18)
This multiplayer horror game is a truly terrifying experience. Similar to Dead By Daylight, you and a team of players must escape or hunt a hypersensitive hearing monster.
The sound design and production are what takes this to a new level of utter terror. You must be as silent as possible when navigating the map and completing tasks or the Rake will find and disembowel you. The game features a proximity chat to talk with your teammates but remember – every sound you make will bring you on the Rake’s radar. You also have to be cautious of where you step – squeaky toys, jack-in-a-boxes, and vases on the ledges ready to fall and break – they will be your downfall.
Get In Silence here on Steam.
Stories Untold
Developer: No Code
Publisher: Devolver digital
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
Price: $9.99
A departure from the noise-sensitive games above, this episodic horror adventure-puzzle game is a new level of unsettling.
There are four episodes you play through – The House Abandon, The Lab Conduct, The Station Process, and The Last Session. I can’t go into too much detail about the game’s plot without spoiling it for you, but each episode deals with old technology fighting back. Stories Untold is a genre-defying experience filled with intricate puzzles. Although some may find the puzzles to be too difficult, if you are able to solve them, you’ll be rewarded with something utterly morbid and delightful.
Check out Stories Untold here on Steam.
Unfortunate Spacemen
Developers: Sandswept Studios, Geoff Keene
Publishers: New Blood Interactive, Sandswept Studios
Platforms: PC
Price: Free
If you’ve been watching and playing a lot of Among Us lately, you’ll love Unfortunate Spacemen. This paranoia-inducing co-op/multiplayer game of lying and deceit focuses on a group of astronauts employed by ‘The Company’ waiting to be rescued.
As an astronaut, you will have to work together with your teammates to complete a list of tasks in order to be rescued. Be cautious – one of your teammates is a shapeshifting monster whose main priority is to kill everyone on the base.
With teams of up to 16 players and 15 different maps, Unfortunate Spacemen is a great game to play with friends or randos online.
Play it free on Steam.
