Play if you want: Addictive action gameplay that isn’t actually scary. So no matter what kind of scares you want to get into this October, there’s a horror game waiting for you. We also made sure to include a diverse mix of games, spanning contemporary and classic, solo and multiplayer, competitive and cooperative, and more. With those scaredy-cats in mind, we’re rounding up games that fall everywhere on the spooky spectrum, from those that are simply horror-adjacent to games that might actually cause you to literally die, Ringu-style. Of course, even the horror-averse might want to dip a toe into the world of interactive scares this October.

By immersing you in the action and putting you in charge of your own fate, horror games are often scarier than even the most intense horror movies. The approach of Halloween is getting us all in the mood for something spooky, and there’s no better way to feel the fright than with horror video games. Photo-Illustration: Vulture Photos Courtesy of the Developers

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