No matter how much you may prefer a mouse and keyboard for PC gaming, some games and genres are just built with gamepads in mind – and play much better with one as a result. That's why I've tested dozens of controllers during my PC-centric career, and why I feel confident in recommending the nine picks below. Whether you're looking for something simple and inexpensive for occasional use, or something more advanced for competitive or accessible play, you should find at least one great option here.

TL;DR – These Are the Best PC Controllers:

1. Xbox Core Controller

Best PC Controller

2. PowerA Advantage Wired Controller

Best Budget PC Controller

3. Hyperkin Competitor

Best Wired PC Controller

4. Asus ROG Raikiri II

Best TMR Controller for PC

5. Sony DualSense Controller

Best PC Controller for PlayStation Games

6. Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller

Best High-End PC Controller

7. Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra

Best Customizable PC Controller

8. Razer Kitsune

Best PC Fight Stick

9. Logitech G Pro Wheel and Pedals

Best PC Racing Wheel

10. Xbox Adaptive Controller

Best Accessible PC Controller

How to Choose the Best PC Controller

Choosing the best PC controller for gaming can seem daunting, especially given the excess of options available. However, it’s easier to nail down the right choice by assessing what kind of gamer you are, what types of games you play, and whether you want to use your controller across other devices.

Sticks and triggers

While almost all classic controllers use potentiometers to sense when a thumbstick has been moved or a trigger has been depressed, many modern options now use more advanced HE (Hall Effect) or TMR (Tunneling Magnetoresistance) magnetic sensors instead. These tend to be more expensive than potentiometers to include in a controller, but they allow for more precision, in the form of smaller deadzones. These technologies also tend to offer better long-term durability, with fewer physically interacting parts, helping prevent stick drift. HE sensors typically require more power than potentiometers, potentially reducing battery life in wireless controllers, while TMR sensors are more power-efficient than either option. However, implementation by manufacturers also matters, so while TMR and HE sticks and triggers are worth looking for, they're not a guarantee of a good-quality experience.

Ergonomics

One of the biggest factors to consider is the ergonomics and comfort of the controller. Since you'll likely be using it for extended gaming sessions, it's crucial to pick a controller that feels comfortable. Look for controllers with well-placed buttons, responsive triggers, and a shape that fits naturally in your hands. Beyond that, grips can be important in games that require extra control.

Controller type

Think about the types of games you'll be playing. Different genres may benefit from specific controller designs. For instance, if you're into racing or flying simulators, a controller with analog sticks and precise triggers might be ideal. On the other hand, if you're primarily playing fighting or platformer games, a controller with a good D-pad and responsive face buttons could be more suitable. Playing a lot of FPS games: a gamepad with adjustable triggers and a tighter stick will make for quicker reactions and better control. Of course, if you’ve got the budget, you can also grab specified controllers for certain games, like racing wheels, PC joysticks, and fightsticks.

Compatibility

While the majority of controllers are designed to work seamlessly with Windows PCs, it's always a good idea to double-check compatibility with your specific gaming setup. If a controller offers a wired connection via USB, using it with a PC should be relatively simple. Oftentimes, there will also be software that allows for button remapping and other customizations.

Wireless controllers may be trickier. Most come with Bluetooth support, which makes them great phone controllers. However, a good deal of latency is often introduced. Sometimes wireless controllers offer a 2.4Ghz USB dongle to plug into PCs for a faster and more stable connection; if you're a competitive gamer, this is the way to go. Luckily, most wireless offerings come with the option for a wired connection.

Features and customizations

Don't forget to consider additional features and extras. Many controllers come with programmable buttons, vibration feedback, or even customizable lighting effects. Adaptive triggers are a boon in FPS or sensory-focused games. Some higher-end controllers even come with swappable controls and a degree of modularity to adjust the feel for certain games. While these features may not be essential, they can enhance your gaming experience and provide added value for your money.

Cost

Perhaps the biggest factor in choosing a PC controller is cost. If your controller will only be used occasionally, since you’re more of a mouse and keyboard hero, a budget controller is perfectly suitable. Expect to find some great options in the $30 to $60 range. Upping the budget slightly to somewhere between $60 and $100 will bring a great balance of features, comfort, and quality. Stick to this price if you're more of a casual player. Anything above $100 should bring awesome customizability and durability; competitive players should expect to shell out a bit more for a high-end, reliable controller.

What's next in the world of PC controllers?

We recently went hands-on with the upcoming Steam Controller, which is slated to launch alongside the Steam Machine sometime in the next few months. Alongside a suite of modern controller features, such as TMR sticks, programmable back buttons, and HD haptics, the Steam Controller carries a number of rare or unique features, namely gyroscopic motion controls and a pair of capacitive touchpads that make it easier to control mouse inputs on PC. These features set the Steam Controller up as uniquely qualified among controllers for PC, and we're looking forward to testing it out when it launches later this year. In the meantime, check out our interview with Valve about it and the Steam Machine.

PC Controller FAQ

Is PC gaming better with a controller?

Compared to a keyboard and mouse, some gamers opt to use a controller. However, it comes down to your personal preferences, as each of these input devices has its own advantages and disadvantages.

A keyboard and mouse combo will be much larger and more spread out than a controller, which means you’ll need a great gaming desk or reliable lap desk to use them successfully. But thanks to a larger size, there is a wealth of inputs that a typical controller just can’t offer. Many of the keys and buttons are customizable with secondary functions. When gaming, keyboards and mice usually pull ahead in precision, accuracy, and responsiveness, which is especially beneficial to competitive players.

Now, don’t get me wrong, controllers are equally great. They are much smaller and more ergonomic than a mouse and keyboard, making all the inputs easy to reach. Great controllers will also have customizable or remappable buttons and triggers. The analog sticks bring smoother control over certain movements, and with some controllers offering a dose of haptic feedback, gaming can be more immersive.

Ultimately, it tends to depend on the game. Many titles are designed with one input method or the other in mind, so having the flexibility of a good controller to hand is frequently useful.

Do all controllers work with PCs?

While not every controller is guaranteed to work with PC, almost all current controllers are supported in some way. Xbox controllers are your best bet for native compatibility. Whether it's connected via wired USB, Bluetooth, or Xbox Wireless (with adapter), the devices should be instantly detected by either Windows or Steam. With the Xbox Accessories app, remapping, vibrations, and more should be supported. Be sure to check out our guide on how to pair an Xbox controller to PC for even more info.

The latest PlayStation 5 controllers are another safe bet when it comes to compatibility with PC, especially when you connect using a wired USB or Bluetooth. You can always grab a great Bluetooth adapter for your PC if your PC doesn’t support it. Steam and the majority of modern games recognize PlayStation gamepads, allowing for button remapping and other customizations. However, adaptive triggers and haptics will only work with certain games. Still, for the most part, a PS5 controller pairs seemlessly with PC.

Third-party controller brands, like Turtle Beach, Razer, and PowerA, should also be completely compatible with PC and recognized by Steam if not Windows. These devices connect either using a wired USB connection or wirelessly via Bluetooth or a 2.4Ghz USB dongle. Now, not all the controllers' features may necessarily work with PCs, but you should have no problem with basic controls.

Of course, it’s always good to check that a controller supports PC and what limitations it may have when used with PC before purchasing. All the ones I’ve selected for this guide will make a great addition to your PC battlestation.

Can you play any PC game with a controller?

Not all PC games are designed to work well with a controller. If you’re playing games on Steam, you can visit the store page to see if the game is compatible with a controller before buying the game. However, other platforms, such as Epic Games, do not list if the game is compatible with a controller, but you can often find out which games support a controller with a quick Google search. The PCGamingWiki is another great resource for checking what input methods PC games support, including fan-made fixes where relevant.

Will is deputy tech editor for IGN, specialising in PC hardware, sim racing and display tech. He has been publishing about games and technology since 2001 (age 12). Will was formerly Deputy Editor at Digital Foundry. He is currently playing Battlefield 6.

Additional contributions by Danielle Abraham, a tech freelance writer based in Los Angeles who spends her free time creating videos and geeking out over music history.

Masterpieces. As IGN celebrates its 30th anniversary, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the past and celebrate the defining experiences that shaped gaming as we know it. In recognition of the release of a new Resident Evil (a series that's produced at least one masterpiece) we thought we'd start by exploring the incredible world of horror games.

Few genres have mutated and evolved quite like horror has. It’s given us absolute classic franchises like Silent Hill, Castlevania, and Resident Evil, along with modern masterpieces like Dead Space, Bloodborne, and Mouthwashing. From humble and simplistic pixel art beginnings to the hyper realistic, ultra violent games of today, here we run down 30 horror masterpieces, plus the dozens of horror games that inspired them - and scared the hell out of us - along the way.

1. Shadowgate (1987)

The earliest days of horror video games are characterized by minimalist, creepy text based adventures like Mystery House and Transylvania, the maze-like Haunted House, or even the dread inducing Space Invaders, where waves of creatures slowly descend upon your lone defenses against a deathly black screen. But 1987’s Shadowgate bucked that simplistic trend to become of the most immersive early horror games. It paired a unique first person perspective with a cryptic setting, great writing, and the kind of obtuse environmental puzzles that would eventually make their way into games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill.

ICOM Simulations, the original studio responsible for Shadowgate, went on to create a sequel, Beyond Shadowgate, and dabble with several other horror games, dipping into the worlds of Dracula and Are You Afraid of the Dark, before ultimately shuttering in 1997. Although the original Shadowgate recieved handsome remake in 2014, and was ported to the adorable little crank-driven Playdate handheld just last year, it’s not part of a franchise regularly getting new games like so many of the other entries on this list. Regardless, it will always be one of the early masterpieces that helped set the stage for years of horror games to come.

2. Doom (1993)

These days, we largely associate Doom with revolutionizing the first person shooter and delivering tons of ripping, tearing, and ass-kicking across several games in the decades since it first changed the world, back in 1993. But Doom’s contributions to the horror genre are just as important, which make sense considering Alien and Evil Dead were some of its biggest inspirations.

Through its dank, dimly lit corridors filled with horrible, guttural sounds, you face zombified humans, cybernetic spiders, and flying demons from hell, all of which are very fitting for a game that kicks off with a chapter called “Knee Deep in the Dead”, a difficulty level that caps off at “Nightmare!”, and a chainsaw-wielding hero whose face gets covered in blood as he takes damage. If that doesn’t scream horror, I don’t know what does.

The Doom series would explore these themes repeatedly as it evolved, pushing and pulling its horror elements to balance them with its notoriously badass power fantasy, with varying degrees of success. 2004’s Doom 3 took the series into (literally) dark places, utilizing shadows, jump scares, and tight environments to elicit fear, while later games retained the horrific creature design but cranked up the original's violence, using widened level design and increased scale.

Building off of the success of 1992’s Wolfenstein 3D, Doom will always deserve its flowers for changing first person gaming forever. But never forget what it did for horror, too.

3. Clock Tower (1996)

Building off the story established in 1995’s Clock Tower, the 1996 PSX sequel - also called Clock Tower - took the original 16-bit cryptic point and click adventure game and overhauled it with full 3D graphics, CD quality voice acting and sound effects, and a deeper unraveling of its villain Scissorman, leading to a truly unnerving experience. While horror games in this era may not have been intentionally sparse, Clock Tower’s minimal use of a soundtrack meant that players would often go long stretches of time hearing only the echo of their own footsteps before the big and unexpected cinematic moments would sweep in to disarm them and make them jump off of their couches.

Clock Tower takes inspiration from classic Italian giallo films like Suspiria and Phenemona, and follows a similar structure of dropping an unsuspecting female lead into an increasingly bizarre and dangerous world. But unlike a traditional horror film, it also gives you multiple endings to encounter across several storylines. The 1996 Clock Tower game went on to get several sequels and spiritual successors, but it never really took off like its contemporaries for various reasons, the biggest of which was releasing just as another horror masterpiece had opened the door and entered the room...

4. Resident Evil (1996)

It’s a golden horror rule that a creepy old mansion in the middle of nowhere is a top tier setting for terror. Movies like 1963’s The Haunting and 1980’s The Changeling knew that, as did games like 1987’s Maniac Mansion (even if leaned more into the absurd). Resident Evil producer Tokuro Fujiwara’s original horror game, 1989’s Sweet Home, did so, too, and is a top down precursor to the original Resident Evil in nearly every way. Old mansions are scary. What’s behind that creaky door? What’s that thumping sound in the attic? What’s down there lurking in the basement? Better hunt down a flashlight, some old keys, and see for ourselves if we want to figure out how to get out of here.

Resident Evil took the lumbering, groaning hordes of undead from the likes of Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead, put them in a mansion-sized puzzle box, and sent you in to explore and survive the night. It took some of the best elements from early horror across every medium and turned them into something entirely new. Cinematography isn’t generally a word that video game geeks throw around to describe their favorite hobby like film buffs do, but Resident Evil had it in spades, with its locked camera perspective and dynamic angles framing protagonists Chris and Jill in unique ways - often deliberately so you couldn’t see what was lurking around the corner. Combine that with clunky tank controls, limited weapons and healing items, a sparse, sinister soundtrack, campy voice acting, and good old fashioned jumpscares, and Resident Evil instantly became one of the greatest horror games ever made when it launched in 1996.

Capcom’s stunning remake, released in 2002 for the GameCube, completely redid the graphics and added some deranged new story beats (shout out to Lisa Trevor lurking in the basement) which only continued to exemplify Resident Evil’s masterpiece status.

1992’s Alone in the Dark originated many of the ingredients that made Resident Evil’s gameplay so successful. While Alone in the Dark never quite took off on the same trajectory (many of its sequels and reboots have been critical duds), the Resident Evil franchise continued to iterate, evolve, and even reinvent itself entirely several times over for years to come. But hey, more on that in just a bit...

5. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997)

While 1985’s Ghosts ‘n Goblins and 1986’s Castlevania established that horror-themed platformers could be both moody and brutally difficult, 1997’s Castlevania: Symphony of the Night set the bar higher than it had ever been before. Combining the nonlinear progression of games like Castlevania 2 and Super Metroid, Symphony of the Night gave you a massive castle in which you could explore, grind levels, and hunt vintage movie monsters like werewolves, sea monsters, and bats. You'd do all this while searching for unique items that allow you to reach new areas, battle brutal bosses, and ultimately work towards a surprise twist that turns the entire game on its head.

There are horror games that revel in crippling your ability to fight back, forcing you to hide in fear and wait out the horrors. Castlevania, on the other hand, is a power fantasy that constantly rewards the inquisitive with new weapons, armor, abilities, and summons as they rise in strength to take down Dracula once and for all... or at least until he returns again in the next game.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night set the tone for many future 2D Castlevania games to come, including several similarly scoped games on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, and would go on to inspire an entire generation of Metroidvania games.

6. Silent Hill (1999)

If you haven’t put it together yet, the PlayStation was an absolutely incredible proving ground for inventive horror games, and things got even better in 1999 when Silent Hill first arrived. It took a much more dynamic approach to the third person action and puzzle format established in Resident Evil and Clock Tower. Using some clever hardware trickery, Konami obfuscated the PlayStation’s draw distance limitations by using fog and lighting techniques which ended up playing to the genre’s strengths, creating a dreary, atmospheric world to explore. Silent Hill also tells a much sadder, more morose story than your usual survival horror game, awarding various endings depending on your actions, and manages to do all this while introducing some of the most bizarre enemies seen in video games to date.

The Silent Hill series continued to grow and mutate over the years, notably with an incredible sequel in 2001 along with several other more experimental titles along the way, cementing it as one of the most important horror game franchises of all time.

7. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (2002)

The “unreliable narrator” trope in fiction - making the audience view the story through the perspective of someone who may or may not be telling the truth - often leads to fascinating results and unforeseen twists. Movies like Rashomon, The Sixth Sense, and Memento all revel in distorting the audience’s trust of the storyteller. Silicon Knight’s revolutionary 2002 classic Eternal Darkness creates the same relationship between art and audience, but uses it as a gameplay mechanic, forcing you to control a protagonist who frequently goes temporarily insane. It demands you push through disturbing visions and horrific encounters that often aren’t actually happening, occasionally even breaking the fourth wall entirely.

If surviving a creepy Rhode Island mansion packed with violent monsters while going slowly mad wasn’t enough, Eternal Darkness also occasionally pretends to shut your television off or infest your screen with bugs. At the time it was nothing short of brilliant, and while numerous attempts were made to revitalize the IP and build a brand new game, none ever made it to the finish line, leaving the original as the one and only Eternal Darkness game, left standing on its own forever.

8. Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly (2003)

Wedged between the first and third Fatal Frame games, Crimson Butterfly is the clear survival horror standout of the trilogy, once again relying on a clever camera mechanic that allows you to both document and debilitate ghosts. It’s a truly, deeply scary experience where you can never really feel comfortable. Nor should you be when you're in a village infested with all types of bleeding and deformed spirits.

Compared to some of the more contemporary games on this list, the graphics and mechanics do feel a bit dated. But with a slick new remake running on a wholly new engine on the way this year, 2026 is the perfect time to bring the old ghost hunting camera back out for a night on the town.

9. Resident Evil 4 (2005)

While 2000’s Resident Evil: Code Veronica took the original Resident Evil formula to brand new heights, 2005’s Resident Evil 4 completely reinvented it, finding a new balance between action and horror that would be the series' recipe for for years to come. Classic Resident Evil hero Leon Kennedy is ripped out of an urban environment and thrown into the deep end of a rural folk horror teeming with murderous villagers. This yielded incredible results, and no wonder every other third person action game immediately took notes. Resident Evil 4’s gunplay and move set changed the genre forever, and its awesome set of upgradeable weapons, unique side characters, giant set pieces, and over the top bosses became enduring icons.

Resident Evil 4’s real achievement, though, is taking all of those action movie-inspired elements and layering them into a gritty, atmospheric horror game. Wolves leap out at you from the night, chainsaw wielding psychopaths decapitate you, blood showers down, and hordes mob you with pitchforks and torches, hoping to tear you limb from limb. Sure, you’ve got a bigger arsenal than any prior Resident Evil game had offered up, but that doesn’t mean you still won’t die horrifically a bunch of times.

Resident Evil 4 may have altered the franchise’s DNA for good. While older players may prefer the series' pure survival horror roots, this seminal entry is undeniably one of the best video games ever made - a statement only reinforced when you experience its excellent 2023 remake.

10. Condemned: Criminal Origins (2005)

While Resi 4 terrified GameCube and PS2 players, Xbox 360 owners were treated to a very different horror game in 2005: Condemned: Criminal Origins, a brutal and crude first-person horror game about the hunt for serial killers across a sprawling urban setting. Little of the style of the typical first person shooter is on display here; guns are extremely limited, both usage and presence, forcing you to use everyday objects as blunt melee weapons. It's an approach that creates combat scenarios that feel extremely violent and personal.

Between those visceral life-or-death altercations you’ll need to find forensic clues to unravel the larger mystery and figure out exactly what is making everyone in town so psychotic. It’s a foul, dirty feeling gameplay experience with bad vibes that linger long after the credits roll. It’s certainly unique, although 2012’s ZombiU managed to capture a similar feeling by throwing a pipe wielding player into a city gone mad.

12. F.E.A.R. Extraction Point (2006)

F.E.A.R Extraction Point - a standalone expansion to the original F.E.A.R. - successfully mixes fast paced first-person shooting with a Matrix-style bullet time slo-mo mechanic and a unique balance system that rewards you with faster movement if you holster your weapon. This all helped create a rapid risk/reward combat setting. It’s admittedly a bit on the short side and reuses many of the original game’s sounds and visuals, but manages to resurrect them in a smart, cohesive way to tell a singular horror story that plays differently to practically every other game on this list.

13. Siren: Blood Curse (2008)

While many horror games opt to go in guns blazing, particularly since Resident Evil 4 showed how it could be done effectively, Siren: Blood Curse closes out the excellent Siren trilogy with deeply satisfying stealth mechanics that see you silently creep across an ominous, sepia toned Japanese village. It’s a tense and harrowing experience that arms you with limited offensive abilities, often leaving you waiting in the shadows as a nearby enemy passes, with only the sound of your own increasing heartbeat for company. Siren: Blood Curse is also home to some of the most horrific creature designs in gaming, with each one seemingly lifted straight from a Junji Ito drawing. Seeing them leap from the shadows never stops being utterly terrifying.

14. Dead Space (2008)

Ridley Scott’s 1979 film Alien proved that pitting regular workers against a nasty creature in a derelict spaceship was the perfect concoction for sci-fi horror, and 2008’s Dead Space totally received the message loud and clear. It pitts engineer Isaac Clarke against some of the grossest looking aliens you’ve ever seen and arms him with little more than some rusty mining tools. Using a genius combat system that encourages you to target and dismember individual body parts, severing limbs and heads to slow enemies down, Dead Space took survival horror to bold new heights, and that’s before the anti-gravity sequences even kick in.

Two sequels, along with spiritual successor in The Callisto Protocol, revisited this same thesis, as did the fantastic Dead Space remake in 2023. Unfortunately, the future of the franchise feels uncertain at the moment. Until it returns, though, the first game is always worth a playthrough, no matter which version you decide to experience.

15. Amnesia: The Dark Descent (2010)

Returning to video game horror’s adventure game roots, 2010’s Amnesia: The Dark Descent relies - like Eternal Darkness - on its own twist on a sanity meter, this time tethering it to the darkness. Or, more specifically, how much time you opt to dwell in the shadows. Throw in some vintage H.P. Lovecraft inspiration and a big spooky castle trapping a character who - you guessed it - can’t remember why they’re there, and you’ve got a modern classic indie horror. It managed to connect deeply with tons of players, thanks largely to its unique physics-based puzzles and unforgettable story moments that culminate in big, satisfying ways. There’s an argument to be made that Amnesia: The Dark Descent might just be the scariest game ever made, even if you don’t scare easily.

16. The Evil Within (2014)

2014’s The Evil Within brought Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami back to his roots after he realized that survival horror games had begun to take a backseat to action horror. The first project of his then-new studio, Tango Gameworks, The Evil WIthin feels equal parts classic Resident Evil and the Saw film franchise, with a couple of dashes of things like 2003’s Manhunt thrown in like a nice stab in the gut. It’s a harrowing and deranged experience riddled with death traps, torture, violent enemies, and a general sense of hopelessness that pervades its overall tone. Despite being much more gruelling than any Resident Evil game, it still feels like the natural maturation of the classic survival horror formula, right down to its safe rooms where you can briefly disconnect from being hacked by blunt objects during a psychotic hallucination.

The Evil Within also features an clever mechanic where downed enemies can come back to life if you dont burn their corpses with a match, a resource that’s just as hard to come by as bullets and healing items. It's a clear nod back to Mikami's remake of Resident Evil, which had a similar mechanic.

Like many classic horror films, the plot tends to take a backseat to the gore, death, and general creepy ambiance, but the overall experience feels so cohesively horror that it ultimately never really gets dragged down by its faults. Tango Gameworks followed things up with the equally successful The Evil Within 2 in 2017, as well as the open world first-person horror Ghostwire: Tokyo in 2020. In 2024, Shinji Mikami announced he was starting a new studio that will move its focus away from horror games, which is definitely a bummer for many, but hey, the guy is a legend responsible for some of the most incredible games ever made. As long as he’s making new ones, we’ll be happy, even if they aren’t designed specifically to terrify us.

17. Alien: Isolation (2014)

Hot off the heels of 2013’s tremendously successful Outlast - a game that basically reworked the rules for first-person survival horror - SEGA and Creative Assembly teamed up to release Alien: Isolation, a game that took classic cat-and-mouse/hide-and-seek themes and dropped them into the world of Weyland-Yutani. Alien: Isolation pits Amanda Ripley, daughter of the original film’s Ellen Ripley, against a quick moving, unpredictable, and utterly vicious xenomorph in a painstakingly recreated retro-futuristic spaceship and the vibes are, as the kids say, immaculate.

Throughout the experience the xenomorph’s artificial intelligence constantly learns new tricks, tracking your patterns to quite literally rip you out of your comfort zone. It’s not perfect; as one of the game’s original writers admits, the game goes on a tad too long - a sentiment many critics were saying at the time - but it’s such a mechanically and visually engrossing experience as a whole that it doesn’t really matter. And sure, it’s absolutely scary as hell, but it’s also such a total delight to be basking in this world if you’re a fan of the original Alien films. The team at Creative Assembly put so much love into recreating so much about what made those movies cool, although that does mean you have a pretty good chance of getting stabbed by a huge alien tail because you stand around gawking at the gorgeous ship interior details for too long.

Creative Assembly has since announced that a new Alien: Isolation game is in early stages of development, so hopefully it won’t be long until we’ll get to return to that special corner of space where no one can hear you scream.

18. Five Nights at Freddy’s (2014)

If you grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, there was a strong chance one of your friends would invite you to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese; a glorified arcade that featured skeeball, rubbery pizza, and the world’s dirtiest ball pit full of sunken treasures like lost bouncy balls, someone’s missing left sock, and a dental retainer (and somehow those weren’t even the scariest things there.) Back in the party room, a bug-eyed animatronic band sang songs and made jerky movements behind fake instruments until the previously mentioned rubber pizza was served. The band and the spotlights above them would then shut down, cease moment, and ominously watch over you as you ate. Basically, it was nightmare fuel for any kid just trying to win enough arcade tickets to get a crappy prize.

Decades later, in 2014, developer Scott Cawthorn realized that this fast-food nightmare was the perfect setting for a horror game in which he could introduce a whole new generation to the Chuck E. Cheese backrooms, and Five Nights at Freddy’s was born. It turns that inspiration into a point and click adventure game in which you play a lonely night guard tasked with watching over Freddy's pizza restaurant once all the customers are gone, only now the animatronics are psychotic murderers that can’t wait to jump scare you and kill you.

What specifically kicks ass about the FNAF games is that younger audiences who were generally shut out from the more violent and mature games in the genre latched on to them quickly, making them a global hit and creating a whole new generation of horror fans in the process. Five Nights spawned several sequels and two theatrically released films, and while the actual Chuck E. Cheese restaurants still exist in dwindling numbers across America, it’s safe to say that Freddy’s has surpassed Chuck E’s in pop culture popularity and propensity to scare children everywhere.

19. Bloodborne (2015)

While 2009’s Demon’s Souls and 2011’s Dark Souls had plenty of horror elements, FromSoftware’s living nightmare masterpiece, Bloodborne, took the punishingly hardcore gameplay the studio was known for and dropped it into its most sinister world yet. Bloodborne’s plagued city of Yharnam is entirely out to kill you, from brutal environmental hazards to its rogues’ gallery of gnarled monsters that lash out at you from the darkness. But underneath its oppressive and dimly lit themes of evil monstrosity is a fast paced, immensely satisfying action RPG with some of the best and most varied combat in the genre.

Yes, Bloodborne and its masterfully created army of creatures will kill you over and over again, but every time you succeed in inching closer to its next shortcut, or taking down one of its many towering beasts with only a speck of your life remaining, you’ll leap off the couch jumping for joy and screaming in victory.

There is a deep, complex story tying Bloodborne together, one that fans have interpreted in unique ways for over a decade now. Every inch of its dilapidated cobblestone streets, barren countryside, rotting alleyways, and impossibly magnificent castles feels packed with life, death, and lore, with a beautiful and haunting orchestral score swelling over it all. FromSoft went on to revisit similar feelings later in the excellent grim fantasy inspired games Dark Souls 3 and Elden Ring, but nothing has nailed horror as well as Bloodborne has.

20. SOMA (2015)

An underwater ocean facility is a death trap for humans. The masterfully dystopian BioShock taught us that in 2007, with its sunken city of Rapture gone to hell, and in 2015, Frictional Games’ SOMA once again plunged us into the depths of madness beneath the ocean’s dark and treacherous waves. SOMA opts to make you largely powerless against its wild array of both mechanical and organic enemies that trudge around a sunken research center on the ocean floor, focusing more on survival as the story beats are doled out little by little. It’s only when learning that things might not exactly be much better up there on land do things really start to congeal and become truly hopeless.

21. Until Dawn (2015)

In 2012, Telltale’s The Walking Dead broke the mold for narrative-driven video games by presenting a series of connected, episodic stories that ebbed and flowed based on you decisions. It took the deliberate construction of a great TV show, mixed it with the creative autonomy of a great video game, and created a wholly unique thing that felt both personal and powerful. It was the natural extension of games like 2010’s Heavy Rain, a pulpy serial killer story that played out differently depending on your choices and actions, leading to a variety of good, bad, and really bad endings.

In 2015, Supermassive Games revisited the concept with Until Dawn, this time leaning on classic “young adults go somewhere they’re not supposed to be and start getting killed off one by one” movies while integrating the branching narrative functionality that only the medium of video games can offer. Until Dawn throws together tons of great slasher film tropes into an experience that works really well as a single player game and even better with a group of real life friends huddled around a television, frantically shouting their personal decision choices before watching characters die in violent and absurd ways. It’s an utter blast to replay over and over again, watching individual story beats play out differently, seeing how sparing a specific character from death might lead to another dying an even worse one, and so on. Until Dawn went on to get a prequel, a remake, a spiritual successor, and a film adaptation, so it’s clearly a concept with some life left in it, even if its protagonists rarely get to share the same fate.

22. Inside (2016)

Mechanically, Playdead’s 2016 classic Inside took much of what made the studio's previous hit, Limbo, work so well and improved upon it in just about every way. Inside is once again a largely monochrome platforming game starring an emotionless little boy who will suddenly and frequently die to various environmental horrors in brutal and violent ways. As you explore his world, you slowly peel back the layers of the bigger picture... if he manages to survive the night, that is. It’s a far cry from the colorful hop and bop sidescrolling games that came before it, but that’s precisely why it works so well.

There are no walls of text to parse through, no voice over cutscenes. Just a sad, morose, minimalist story drip fed through simplistic imagery and a subtle-but-profound score that has more in common with an industrial engine room than a Koji Kondo soundtrack. And, like Limbo, it’s the kind of experience that begs to be unpacked and dissected through numerous interpretations long after the credits roll. Playdead is currently working on an unnamed third game that clearly takes visual cues from its previous work, and the sooner we learn more about it, the better.

23. Dead By Daylight (2016)

As you’ve probably picked up on by now, despite horror being a genre so perfectly suited to experiencing alone in the dark, it scales really well with friends, too. And while watching a scary movie with others is great, it’s even more fun when you know one of them is the killer who's hunting down the rest of you. That’s why 2016’s Dead By Daylight works so well. It's a brilliant, fast paced asymmetrical multiplayer game where one player takes on the role of a violent murderer while the rest try to team up to survive... or just scramble separately into the night where they’ll get picked off one by one.

Like many popular online games, such as Fortnite and Call of Duty, Dead by Daylight eventually became defined by its collaborations with other intellectual properties and brands. But being a horror game allowed it to introduce all sorts of licensed monsters from both movies and TV to join its roster of cunning and savage killers. Everyone from Freddy Krueger to Ghostface and even Chucky eventually made their way to the game, turning Dead by Daylight into a massive celebration of genre icons.

24. Little Nightmares (2017)

For a kid with a vivid imagination, every dark corner of their bedroom hides a horror. There’s a monster under the bed, a creature in the closet, and the shadow cast by a chandelier's flickering lightbulb is really a six foot tall venomous tarantula waiting to devour them... at least until the screams begin and their parents run in to tell them to go back to sleep because it’s all in their head. 2017’s Little Nightmares builds on this idea, grabbing the iconic yellow raincoat from Stephen King’s IT and putting its young protagonist in a house of horrors that feels like playing hide and seek in a Tim Burton sketchbook. It mixes some truly fun monster designs with some occasionally frustrating game decisions, but it ultimately all balances out to become a special puzzle platforming horror game. In fact, the premise was so solid that Little Nightmares eventually went on to become a full trilogy of games, leading up to Tarsier’s Studios latest ambitious horror game, Reanimal.

25. Visage (2020)

2014’s groundbreaking horror experience P.T. - aka “Playable Teaser” - brought together the minds of Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro for a claustrophobic, looping horror experience filled with terrifying surprises at every turn. Originally intended to lead up to a full-fledged modern reboot of the classic Silent Hill series, the universe (or, specifically, Konami) got in the way and the game was cancelled. P.T. was delisted from the PS4 store and all parties went their separate ways, leaving a gigantic “what if?” situation for gamers to slink into forever. It’s a bummer, as the potential of a collaboration between those two creative geniuses seemed limitless. On a more positive note, Kojima is working on a new horror game, Del Toro keeps making great horror movies, and in 2020, the talented folks at SadSquare Studios launched Visage, an excellent spiritual successor to P.T. So hey, not all is lost.

Visage revisits a similar premise as that seen in P.T., trapping you in a haunted house, tormenting you and slowly chipping away at your sanity as you explore and try and get to the bottom of exactly what went down to make the place so evil. It’s a genuinely unnerving experience, repeatedly succeeding in catching you off guard in bold and scary ways, largely due to the way each room feels natural, lived in, and deliberately staged. You rapidly begin to feel like the house is a real place where really bad things happen. Sure, it sucks that we never got the true follow up to P.T., but its potential lives on in the indie horror game scene.

26. Resident Evil 2 (2019)

2012’s Resident Evil 6 was critically divisive and failed to reach internal sales goals, and so Capcom used this stumble as an opportunity to put the brakes on Resident Evil for a bit and come up with a brand new plan for the franchise. The result was a brilliant two pronged attack, led by 2017's Resident Evil 7, a taut first-person game that traded over the top action for tense survival horror, and quickly followed by a full remake of the 1998 classic, Resident Evil 2. But unlike Capcom’s previous Resident Evil remake, 2019’s Resident Evil 2 ditched the tank controls and fixed camera angles, instead gaving you full, fluid control of movement and aiming.

The result was an absolute masterpiece, and proof that Capcom could take a decades-old game and make it feel both novel and nostalgic, honoring the original for older fans while modernizing the formula for newer players. And while 2020’s remake of 1999’s Resident Evil 3 missed the mark and felt like a slight step backwards, 2023’s remake of Resident Evil 4 picked things right back up and is largely regarded as one of the best video game remakes of all time. Overlapping with these releases was the excellent Resident Evil Village and now, in 2026, Resident Evil Requiem utilizes its two main characters to give players both the survival horror and action combat experiences that Resident Evil has been known for for decades. None of these achievements would have been possible without Resident Evil 2 and Capcom’s willingness to go back to its roots while also future proofing the series. It's exciting to think how, after 30 years, this legendary horror game franchise might only just be getting started.

27. Phasmophobia (2020)

While the Resident Evil franchise continues to thrive by incorporating first-person horror, indie games have their own successes in the same space, doing groundbreaking and terrifying things with the perspective. Phasmophobia is a brilliant ghost hunting simulator that can be played either solo or with friends, providing a deeply unnerving experience either way.

Like the best indie horror games, combat is deemphasized in favor of survival, but unlike games that expect you to hide and wait out the night, Phasmophobia’s focus on paranormal investigation means you’re forced to head deeper and deeper into its world to document everything you see. And man, you will see some shit. And as is the case in the previously mentioned Eternal Darkness, your character’s sanity is actively hindered by the ghosts you witness or interact with. This formula turned out to be a smash hit with the streaming crowd, as it turns out the only thing more fun than watching one player suffer in fear is watching a group of friends go through hell together.

28. Alan Wake 2 (2023)

13 years after the original Alan Wake and four years after their monumental and subversive action game Control, the folks at Remedy Entertainment released Alan Wake 2, a stunning psychological horror game that blends two different protagonist’s stories together to create one of the most unique experiences of all time. At first glance, Alan Wake 2 might seem like your standard issue third-person action horror game, but things very quickly go completely off the rails and the experience becomes one of the least predictable horror stories of all time - a pretty stunning achievement considering how deep the genre had run by the time of its release. It’s also one of the best looking games ever made, thriving for photorealism in everything from its foliage to its facial hair. Its most interesting achievement, though, is the way it balances gritty murder investigation work with insane Twin Peaks absurdity, hitting comedy high notes just as well as it hits the horror ones.

29. Mouthwashing (2024)

Who says you need cutting edge visuals and graphical fidelity to sell a great horror game? There’s something spectacularly creepy about a lo-fi aesthetic, fuzzy textures, warbled sound effects, and weird, obtuse characters. After all, that’s the backbone of so many early horror video games, which were built around hardware and technology limitations. That approach created a look and feel that seemed mindblowing at the time, felt dated years later, and has now looped back around to being a specific style people are genuinely nostalgic for. 2022’s Signalis understood the assignment when it used beefed-up PS1 era graphics to tell a modern sci-fi horror story. 2024’s bleak and violent Mouthwashing took things even further while stripping back gameplay mechanics to a bare minimum, focusing on exploration and limited interactivity in a derelict ship lost in space, weaving together stories from both before and after the crash to feed you a delirious double-crossing horror story where no one can be trusted and things just keep getting more and more insane.

30. Silent Hill 2 (2024)

Developed by Bloober Team, a studio that cut its teeth on horror games like 2016’s Layers of Fear and 2019’s Blair Witch Project, 2024’s Silent Hill 2 Remake presented a modern recreation of a classic survival horror game, ditching locked camera angles and low-poly models for a full on third person experience complete with gorgeous new graphics, just as Capcom did when they revisited Resident Evil 2..

The Silent Hill 2 remake is a triumph, successfully carrying over all of the mood, tone, and despair of the original game, judiciously deciding when to contract or expand moments and themes, which resulting in an experience that both honors it and occasionally exceeds its source material.

A year later, in 2025, Konami published the excellent Silent Hill f. Despite the publisher having fumbled with the series previously, it feels like things might finally be on track for gamers to get great new Silent Hill games again for years to come.

And there you have it, 30 horror game masterpieces that changed the world of gaming as we know it and paved the way for the genre to grow, evolve, shock, and kill excited players for decades to come. And with big 2026 horror games like Resident Evil Requiem and Reanimal, and even more on the way, things are only just getting started.