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The problem with ghost hunting in haunted locations is that you have to go there– physically. You don’t want that. You might take home something weird and icky. But thanks to horror video games, you can experience the fright without being there physically. To complete your digital Halloween horror house tour, we present to you the 10 scariest horror video game locations that will haunt the deepest recesses of your mind long after you’ve noped out.
10. Baker Ranch – Resident Evil 7 (2017)
[Updated on October 12, 2024 – Added five new entries and several revisions]
Imagine the house in Texas Chainsaw Massacre but the hillbillies that lived inside are also grotesque fungal spore zombies that would very much like to munch you but not before playing with their food. That’s the Baker Ranch in Resident Evil 7. Every room and every corridor has a sinister decay to it and you never know when that seemingly innocuous mold blob will turn into a zombie and stalk you. Not to mention the house ranch proprietors are awfully unrefined and frequently cannibalize each other.
9. Rapture – Bioshock Series
There is a terrifying beauty about the underwater city of Rapture. A city built by millionaire Andrew Ryan, this scariest game location is from the smash hit Bioshock. From your first steps out of the bathysphere, there is an unnerving sense that something terrible has occurred here. From the massive art deco statues that loom over you, to the happy-go-lucky music seeping down the hall; Rapture oozes personality.
In many ways the city is a character itself, constantly creaking and moaning under the weight of the sea. Populated by drug-fueled, deformed psychopaths called Splicers; these crazed denizens will wander the halls aimlessly in search of you. Coupled with the imposing Big Daddies and the haunting lullabies from the Little Sisters, Rapture is not a comfortable trip under the sea.
8. Yharnam – Bloodborne (2015)
Not many Lovecraftian-themed games capture the essence more accurately than Bloodborne‘s Yharnam. That’s why it’s so special– even as a Soulsborne game. It just so happens that the Lovecraftian fear of the unknown complements FromSoftware’s jumbled and cryptic lore. The result is one of the best blends of environmental storytelling and horrific imagery. Yharnman is a gaping maw that’s ready to chew you, spit you out, and gobble you back in again.
7. The House – P.T. (2014)
While P.T. was a playable teaser, there is no mistaking how unsettling this experience was. Lasting shorter than an hour, (depending on how fast you solved that puzzle) its slow burn and lack of traditional scares pushed it to greatness. Its constant repetition of sending you through the same hallways again and again seemed like an odd choice at first, but it works perfectly for P.T.
Every time you awake at that main door, you know that you’ll have to do it all again and brave the new frights waiting for you. Coupled with a deformed baby in a sink and the surreality of the eye hallway, P.T. was full of memorable moments. It’s a crying shame Hideo Kojima’s Silent Hill got canceled, but this home will always live on in our nightmares.
6. The Hospital – Little Nightmares 2 (2021)
There’s no shortage of terror-filled sequences and locations in Little Nightmares 2, but The Hospital levels often take the cake thanks to some mannequins. Take your mind and your flashlight off some of them and they will creep ghoulishly toward you. It’s a clever layer of gameplay that not many horror games have surprisingly implemented. One playthrough of The Hospital level in Little Nightmares 2 is enough to give you trauma on heavy footsteps.
5. Brennenburg Castle – Amnesia: The Dark Descent (2010)
Not all gaming locations need to be unique for them to be scary, sometimes a simple classic works wonders. Amnesia: The Dark Descent‘s Brennenburg Castle is Gothic horror in the most classic of senses. Twisting halls, grand rooms, dark basements, and empty dungeons help bring this castle to life. Yet it’s not just these traditional designs that give Brennenburg Castle, but the psychological terrors it instills in the player.
It takes a long time before anything actually tries to kill you, but the emptiness of it all makes you feel as if you’re being watched at every turn. Add a dash of cenobite horrors stalking down the hallways and you have one of the scariest game locations.
4. Mount Massive Asylum – Outlast (2013)
There was bound to be a haunted asylum here, and Mount Massive Asylum in Outlast is the most violent and agitating of them all. It doesn’t help that you have to explore this cesspool of criminal madness in first-person view– without a weapon. You only get a trusty video cam with you, but good thing it has infrared, you’re not exactly helpless out here. All you can do most of the time, however, is run from the misshapen carnage that chases you in Mount Massive’s decrepit halls.
3. USG Ishimura – Dead Space (2008)
The claustrophobic nature of the derelict spaceship is too much to ignore in Dead Space. Infested with the warped, undead crew members now called Necromorphs, these terrors are not to be taken lightly. The Ishimura feels like a floating graveyard of twisting, hulking metal that never offers a single sense of solace.
With the nightmarish inhabitants able to transverse through vents and pipes, no place ever feels truly safe. At any moment, the dead could come clamoring out at lightning speed, eager to add you to the pile of corpses. Sounds throughout the Ishimura haunt you, as the shrieks and cries of the Necromorphs ring out from around you.
2. Sevastopol Station – Alien Isolation (2014)
Speaking of sci-fi horror, Dead Space notably took inspiration from Ridley Scott’s Alien movies, and it’s only fitting to have a dedicated Alien video game. To date, Alien Isolation is the best Alien game because it plays well into how the movie fans view and experience the films– often helpless and being chased by an invincible giant phallic cockroach monster. You’ll soon find yourself holding your breath while hiding in vents– even if your real-life breathing has no bearing on the game’s noise mechanics.
1. Silent Hill – Silent Hill Series
Could there be any other? The town of Silent Hill is the physical embodiment of pain, sin, and terror. It’s not just a building filled with monsters out to kill you, but a living thing itself. With every newcomer to the town having their greatest terrors dragged up from the depths of their minds, the experiences are far more personal. Everyone who enters this town must face their demons one way or another, offering no hope for those lost on its foggy streets.
Familiar locations become macabre masterpieces, as it warps what we know into something far more devious. The fogged town leaves little room for the player to see, making every lingering shadow in the distance a muscle-tensing experience. Some games may have better stories and characters, but Silent Hill reigns supreme as the scariest game location. Now, you get to experience it all over again in the Silent Hill 2 remake.
