The horror genre has been absolutely thriving lately, with knockout entries arriving to revitalize the Resident Evil franchise and keep survival horror going strong with The Evil Within 2.
Don't forget about the indie side either, because small-time developers are consistently coming out with surprising entries that propel horror forward in unexpected and innovative ways.
With the year nearly done, it's time to start looking ahead to what's slated (or rumored) to drop in the 2018 horror game lineup. Sadly, perennially missing entities like Routine, Draugen, and Dead Island 2 are probably never coming out, but that's OK because there are some killer games set to land next year.
Here we're rounding up 17 of the most interesting horror games in a variety of gameplay styles, from FPS to RPG and beyond.
Lust for Darkness
Developer: Movie Games
Platforms: PC
Release Date: Q1 2018
Ready for something really different? This one features a main character seeking satisfaction on the border of two intertwining worlds -- one in an old Victorian mansion (anyone else thinking of Eyes Wide Shut?) and one in another dimension altogether with some Cthulhu Mythos overtones.
Erotica has entangled with horror in many different mediums over the ages, but video games tend to shy away from that due to the ESRB, so it's a welcome surprise to see that trend getting bucked here with the psychological horror entry Lust for Darkness.
While the promo imagery makes it clear that sexuality intertwined with the occult and BDSM will play a key role, it obviously must be toned down or off-screen enough that Steam will still let the game be sold, so it's not quite clear just how far the game will really go.
There's a lot of room here for unintentional comedy or for the sexual aspects to really fall flat, so hopefully this new developer has all its ducks in a row before release. Consider me "cautiously optimistic" for something worth playing that just might change how we view horror games.
Call Of Cthluhu
Developer: Cyanide
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Release Date: TBA 2018
Due to the mangled path of this elusive game's development shifting between two different companies, Call Of Cthulhu has managed to make our most anticipated lists for the coming year ... a solid three years in a row now! Third time's a charm, am I right?
This new take on the Cthulhu Mythos features investigator Edward Pierce delving into the mysteries on Darkwater Island, and it looks like it will manage to get the proper pacing and style to match Lovecraft (rather than an action game).
The way the insanity system is being implemented is also quite a bit different than what we've seen before. Hopefully the controls and difficulty won't be as maddening as Dark Corners Of The Earth!
Agony
Developer: Madmind Studio
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Release Date: March 30, 2018
This long-awaited titled was also on our list last year but got pushed back in recent months. But if it means a better game, I've got no problem with that development. The big draw to Agony is in its location -- you start out already in hell!
The possibilities there for a horrifying gaming experience are endless, and based on the latest trailers, it's clear we are in for some very disturbing material. Calling to mind a bit of H.R. Giger, it's clear there's a serious vaginal motif going on with many of the demonic things to be found in the pits of hell.
With any luck, this one will end up hitting as hard as Outlast and become a new classic of atmospheric horror.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Developer: ArtPlay
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
Release Date: March 2018
It's hard to believe we first saw the Kickstarter for this spiritual successor to Symphony Of The Night all the way back in early 2015! Koji Igarashi's love letter to his Castlevania series is finally almost here, and it's looking to be a bloody good time.
In true horror fashion, I'm a relentless pessimist, so I've got this nagging feeling we might sadly end up in Mighty No. 9 or NightCry territory with another crowdfunded flop. Pray to all the dark gods out there that I'm very, very wrong.
The Sinking City
Developer: Frogwares
Platforms: PC, presumably consoles
Release Date: Unannounced
After Frogwares passed development of the official Call Of Cthulhu game to Cyanide, they immediately got to work on . . . a Lovecraftian Cthulhu-style game. Yeah, I don't get what happened there either, but whatever, I'll take two cosmic horror games instead of one.
What sets The Sinking City apart is that it's an open-world game, and while the setting clearly calls to mind Innsmouth, it's done quite a bit differently, as the various districts of the game are slowly dropping beneath the waves. The city generator tool, in fact, is going to be released to fans so players can create their own versions of the city directly.
If the promo art is any indicator, The Sinking City also looks to be a lot more explicit on the monster front than Call Of Cthulhu. We may be overly optimistic in expecting it to land as a full release by the end of 2018, but fingers crossed.
State Of Decay 2
Developer: Undead Labs
Platforms: PC, Xbox One
Release Date: Spring 2018
Since Dead Island 2 is probably never going to arrive, and who knows what's happening with the Left 4 Dead franchise, we've got to look now to State Of Decay 2 for our co-op zombie apocalypse fun on consoles. The game is shaping up to be a pretty stellar combination of hard choices, tactical combat, and open-world survival.
If you haven't gotten into the State Of Decay series yet, think of the RPG elements and large areas in a zombie apocalypse wasteland from Dead State, but with the better visuals and faster pace of something like Left 4 Dead. The mixing of styles offers up something really compelling for console players, and the sequel aims to expand that even further.
The Inpatient
Developer: Supermassive Games
Platforms: PS4 Exclusive
Release Date: January 24, 2018
After the success of the PS4 exclusive slasher title Until Dawn, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that more games in that franchise were in the works. Like its oddly on-rail sequel Rush Of Blood, this prequel, titled The Inpatient, will be a VR-only game.
The Inpatient dives back 60 years into the past and the events that took place at Blackwood Sanatorium, expanding on the mythology of Until Dawn. We know there will be a branching narrative with different possible outcomes, so based around the setting and what we discovered in Until Dawn, it leaves me wondering if you will eventually become a Wendigo yourself . . . or perhaps if you are responsible for them being unleashed from the sanitarium seen in the first game.
Either way, the prospect of playing through a nefarious sanitarium where supernatural monsters are sure to be roaming in a VR setting sure sounds like it will get the blood pumping!
Days Gone
Developer: SIE Bend Studio
Platforms: PS4 Exclusive
Release Date: TBA
We may be stretching just what qualifies as a "horror" game here, as the emphasis seems clearly more on the action, but since it takes place in a world where zombies (sorry, "freakers" in this case) have destroyed civilization, I'd say Days Gone qualifies.
The biker protagonist is what will shake up the formula a bit here, putting some serious Sons Of Anarchy action into a game somewhat akin to The Last of Us, but with an absurd number of zombies on the screen at once to rival Dead Rising.
Scorn Part 1: Dasein
Developer: Ebb Software
Platforms: PC
Release Date: October 2018
There have been some amazing highs and devastating lows in Scorn's history, from a jaw-dropping trailer that had the whole horror world abuzz to times where it seemed like the project was dead in the water.
When I first saw that disturbing, flesh-focused world in the game's original teaser video, I was hooked and knew I'd be on board no matter where development ended up going.
While I'm not exactly overjoyed that the game has been split into two, I'm still hopeful we'll get something that messes with our minds on the level of SOMA, while giving us an insane Giger-esque world with major touches of Cronenberg in the flesh-meets-technology style.
Moons Of Madness
Developer: Rock Pocket Games,
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Release Date: Sometime 2018
Moons Of Madness is another Lovecraftian entry, but this one looks quite a bit different from either Call Of Cthulhu or The Sinking City. While many of those types of games deal with what comes up out of the sea, fewer cover what's out there among the darkness between the stars.
Of course there will be liberties taken in the name of game design, but what's interesting about this project is its focus on "hard science," taking a more realistic bent -- so think more The Martian than Star Wars on the sci-fi elements.
Project Wight
Developer: The Outsiders
Platforms: PC
Release Date: TBA
Here we've got something very off the beaten path -- an alternate history Viking horror game about transforming into something monstrous and hunting down people who have nearly eradicated your species.
Project Wight's extremely unique subject matter, coupled with the fact that you start as a relatively weak baby creature fleeing humans and then move forward through time, has officially got my interest piqued.
It's sort of like playing the opposite side of The Witcher! Aside from asymmetrical titles like Friday the 13th or Dead by Daylight, there aren't many games that let you play as the monster, so it's a welcome change to see that finally happening with Project Wight.
Dead Matter
Developer: Quantum Integrity
Platforms: PC
Release Date: February 2018 (estimated)
Although definitely an indie affair, this sandbox survival-horror entry looks like it will go incredibly in depth with a variety of subsystems such as water lines, player-made structures, radio stations, and more.
While there have been plenty of zombie games, a truly immersive open world experience that brings the real world to life in a post-apocalyptic scenario has been elusive, and Dead Matter aims to rectify that situation.
The Dead Matter release date listed above is the Kickstarter "expected fulfillment" date, and developers have essentially never met that date on a crowdfunded game, well, ever, so expect it to slip back towards the end of the year.
The Shattering
Developer: Super Sexy Software / Deck 13
Platforms: PC
Release Date: Q1 2018
The Shattering is about as different on the visual front as you can possibly get from any other horror game, with starkly white, austere rooms making up your dreamscape.
Working on the notion that emptiness is more upsetting to the human mind than darkness, there is a total lack of combat as the game messes with your -- the player's -- mind instead.
This is looking to be a very different type of game than Deck13's previous titles like The Surge or Lords of the Fallen. It's a bit up in the air as to whether this will be something experimental but ultimately a one-hit wonder like Super Hot, or if it might really strike a chord with gamers due to its offbeat nature.
The Last of Us 2
Developer: Naughty Dog
Platforms: PS4 Exclusive
Release Date: TBA 2018
Before anyone gets all up in arms, I would defy anyone to play the opening scene of The Last of Us or to consider the connotations of the story's ending and tell me that's not a horror game.
Now that we've got that nonsense out of the way, is there anyone out there who isn't stoked beyond belief for The Last of Us 2 to land next year? Seriously, the PS4 is killing it on exclusives lately, and this just make the hype more real.
Ad Infinitum
Developer: StrixLab
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Release Date: TBA
Honestly, this atmospheric single-player game probably isn't going to actually come out next year, but it's worth keeping an eye on anyway just in case.
As if the unrelenting hell of war in the trenches during WWI wasn't horrifying enough, now there's some sort of supernatural or psychological threat to deal with as well in Ad Infinitum.
The claustrophobia of those tight trench tunnels can already make a person break a sweat, but add in something horrible chasing you that can do a lot worse than a bayonet or grenade, and it's COD meets Hellraiser!
Stygian: Reign Of The Old Ones
Developer: Cultic Games
Platforms: PC
Release Date: TBA
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones is a game very solidly aimed at the old-school PC RPG fans. If you couldn't get enough of Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, etc., then you need to be closely watching this game's development.
The setting is very different from those fantasy affairs though, taking place in the Lovecraftian staple of 1920's New England . . . except in this alternate history, Cthulhu already rose, and humanity is on the brink of annihilation.
Madness and death are around every corner as a scattered humanity lives out its last days. Although it won't have the visceral terror of a first-person game, it's a good bet Stygian will deliver both as a classic RPG and as a horror title.
Remothered: Tormented Fathers
Developer: Stormind Games
Platforms: PC, PS4
Release Date: TBA 2018
There's a major Clock Tower/Silent Hill vibe going on with this one, and it's refreshing to see a different protagonist, as you play as a middle-aged woman in a suit rather than an action hero.
Remothered: Tormented Fathers sadly just came to my attention, so it didn't make the list of Early Access titles in our State Of Horror 2017 article, but rest assured we'll be covering this one more in the coming months. A portion of the game is out on Early Access at Steam now, with the full version landing on PS4 and PC next year.
These 17 entries aren't even all the terrifying games slated to land next year, with other titles such as Hunt: Showdown and Metro Exodus better classified as shooters, so they hit our list of most anticipated FPS games of 2018 instead.
Plenty of other big-name, anxiously awaited games have the possibility to drop next year, with no specific release date announced yet. Maybe we will actually get Death Stranding in 2018?
What horror game are you most looking forward to playing next year, and what titles didn't make our list that we should be looking out for? Let us know in the comments!
Published: Nov 17, 2017 08:33 pm