Best Indie Horror Games of 2023
What are the best indie horror games of 2023? Find out here, including Demonologist, Suffer the Night, Paranormal Cleanup, and more.
Looking for the spookiest gameplay to come out of 2023? Our list of the best indie horror games of 2023 lists the titles that we’re almost too scared to name (almost). Indie horror games skew heavily towards PC, but our picks span across all major consoles, so regardless of where you want to get creeped out – PC, PlayStation, Xbox, or Switch – living room or bedroom or indeed, anywhere else, we’ve got the scare for you.
Our picks will be updated regularly, so be sure to check back often. If there’s a horror game that came out this year and you think it deserves a spot on this list, let us know!
Demonologist
Platforms: PC (Early Access)
Demonologist is a 1-4 player co-op horror game, in which you explore cursed locales to identify supernatural spirits and then exorcise them with your demon-busting equipment.
Every game features randomised events and spirits, so you’ll never be certain of what to expect. You’ll also have to be careful of what you say, as the cursed places you visit might react to your words.
Crimson Snow
Platforms: PC
Crimson Snow is a single-player story-driven horror game set on one particularly horror-filled Christmas night.
Your holiday celebrations are interrupted by an otherworldly stalker, and whether your girlfriend Joyce will help you through the strange house… or become a victim herself, will all depend on the decisions that you make.
Suffer the Night
Platforms: PC
Suffer the Night is a single-player, first-person survival horror game, in which you play as a horror illustrator in 1989 who’s stuck in a secluded cabin, in a violent storm that’s ravaging the county.
The game combines an in-universe text-based adventure game with actually exploring the environment in first-person. You’ll have to survive both challenges as you solve puzzles and delve into Mr Tops’ constantly changing, grisly world.
Rewind or Die
Platforms: PC
Rewind or Die puts you in the shoes of a video store employee called in to the job right around when a serial killer is stalking the area.
You’ll have to take care of the 90s VHS store, stocking shelves, dealing with angry customers and demanding bosses… while solving puzzles and trying to avoid getting killed by a serial killer.
Dredge
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch
Dredge is a fishing adventure game with a distinctly dark tinge, both in style and theme. You captain a fishing trawler, catching deep-sea creatures, selling fish to the many characters across the game’s islands, completing quests, and collecting secrets.
Surviving your trips after dark won’t be as easy as it sounds, though, and what horrors lurk in the waters may challenge both your sanity and your abilities.
Forsake: Urban Horror
Platforms: PC
Forsake: Urban Horror is a 1-4 player co-op survival horror game, where you play as a member of an urban exploration group. You’ll explore urban areas that are off-limits to uncover their secrets, solving puzzles and discovering hidden codes, mechanisms, and keys.
You’ll have to loot your environments to fund future expeditions, but at the risk of your life. Supernatural entities haunt the partially randomly-generated areas you explore, and you will have to survive them, perhaps even exorcise them.
Anthology of Fear
Platforms: PC
Anthology of Fear is a singleplayer horror game that has you investigating your brother’s disappearance while exploring liminal locations and survive paranormal dangers.
The surreal events you witness and experience will lead you through the tragedy that you share with your brother, as well as the disturbing past that envelopes these environments.
Barotrauma
Platforms: PC
Barotrauma is a 2D co-op submarine simulator that blends survival horror with RPG elements, in which you can work with – or against – your submarine crew in the depths of the ocean of Jupiter’s moon Europa.
You can play with 16 players on one submarine, which features complex wiring, crafting, and medical systems. As you complete missions and improve your character’s talents, you’ll also have to survive the horrors that lurk Europa and threaten you and your crew. The game also features very extensive editing and modding capabilities, so that you can build your own scenarios and beyond.
9 Childs Street
Platforms: PC
9 Childs Street is a first-person horror game in which you explore a recently abandoned house as a 9 year old boy. The terrifying, dread-filled environment hides the secret of the owner of the house, and you will encounter paranormal phenomena that will test your mettle.
Paranormal Cleanup
Platforms: PC (Early Access)
Paranormal Cleanup is a 1-4 player co-op horror game with a twist on the usual formula. Your job as an employee of a cleaning company is to clean up a haunted house, but you’ll have to be careful to avoid the horrific spirits that inhabit the place you’re cleaning.
With proximity voice chat, randomised events, and scaling difficulty, Paranormal Cleanup offers a particularly spooky frightening experience for you and your friends.
Thanks for reading our article on the Best Indie Horror Games of 2023! For other interesting articles on Into Indie Games, be sure to check the links below!
