Looking for a new kind of scare this Halloween season? Once you’ve seen all of the scary movies and binged the spooky shows, the genre of horror can lose its spark.
Luckily, horror has never been more immersive than with video game classics such as Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Dead Rising.
This guide to the spooky side of the video game medium is sure to help even the newest of players find the best horror adventure to fit their vibe. Whether your taste is survival horror, psychological horror or even online multiplayer horror games, new players will need to know some tricks to help on the journey.
Here’s a breakdown on how to survive each of the different sub genres of horror games.
Survival games
The best example for the survival horror sub genre is Resident Evil. And the main thing new players need to focus on is looting.
Loot everything. Every resource is valuable in survival horror. Even backtracking to an area long surpassed to loot some more is necessary.
Games like these offer features such as crafting extra ammo, helpful materials and even new weapons. What makes these games so appealing is that players must explore and venture into the dark and dangerous areas themselves to access these features, helping players themselves face their fears.
The next tip new players often miss is to conserve, conserve, conserve! Conserve everything! Resources are scarce, especially ammo, so if you have the opportunity to run past an enemy instead of killing them, you should.
Hoarding resources is an integral part of any survival horror game. It’s even more of a rewarding feeling when you get to a difficult boss and you have a whole arsenal of ammo ready to take them down. The icing on the cake is once you defeat a boss, you get to take all the resources from the boss arena.
There’s also inventory management. In most survival horror games, you have a limited inventory space that can be upgraded throughout the game. It’s hard to figure out what to prioritize, so here’s what’s most important to have. First, you always need to make sure you have plenty of ammo. Second, always make sure you have one or two healing items. Finally, if you have materials used for crafting, make sure to use them for crafting as soon as possible in order to free up space. A lot of survival horror games have different inventories but this is what I try to stick with.
Online/co-op games
Online horror games such as Dead by Daylight, The Outlast Trials and Texas Chain Saw Massacre usually keep to the same gimmick. Players can either play as the killer or as the survivors, except for The Outlast Trials, where players can only play as survivors while the killers are AI.
The first thing to do in an online horror game is keep the killer occupied. Keeping the enemies busy provides precious time to your fellow survivors while they complete objectives. Keep in mind, this is very dangerous and there’s a strong possibility that the killer will get you.
On the other hand, if you are playing as the killer, don’t focus on one survivor for too long. If you do, the other survivors will gain the opportunity to finish the objectives super fast. If you notice yourself staying on one survivor for too long, stop chasing them and go check up on your objectives.
If you don’t have many friends who are into horror games, that’s okay, because these games have massive communities.
In recent years, there’s been an explosion of co-op horror games like R.E.P.O. and Lethal Company, where you and three other friends face horrors beyond your comprehension.
When playing, you want to make sure you keep your voice down. These games use the actual audio of the players, meaning most of the monsters can hear you and will follow and attack you if you make noise. If you want to keep the game more immersive, playing with the in-game chat instead of a third party chat app like Discord proves for an even funnier and more tense experience.
Most online horror games have a perk system that can be used for both survivors and killers to make winning a little bit easier. Always be sure to read what your perks do. I know the descriptions can be long sometimes, but trust me, it’ll be worth knowing what each perk does. That way, you can make perk builds that synergize well together and make your time playing a lot easier.
Psychological horror games
Psychological horror is a very broad category, including titles like Silent Hill 2, Outlast 1 & 2, Doki Doki Literature Club, Mouthwashing, Little Nightmares and many others. Each of these games plays completely differently from one another, but they all mess with you and your mind.
First, read the lore. Most psychological horror games have collectibles that you can get throughout the game that help you understand more of the world; they might even help you piece together what’s going on. Although understanding the world might not make the game any easier, it does make it more enjoyable. Learning the lore to any video game can be exciting and make you feel more connected to the characters overall.
Even if you don’t understand the lore, that might just be by design. Psychological horror games are made to mess with your head, so don’t feel bad if you’ve just finished playing Little Nightmares and you’re like, “I have no idea what happened.” At the end of the day, that is what lore videos and talking to other players is for.
Since these games bank on messing with players’ heads, always make sure to pace yourself. When it comes to psychological horror games, you don’t want to rush. If you rush through, you won’t get the whole feel of the game. Games like Doki Doki Literature Club and Mouthwashing are very dialogue-heavy, so you want to make sure to pay attention and read carefully so as to not miss anything that may be important.
I find playing a horror game with a friend makes it a lot more fun and easier to get through. It’s a lot like watching a horror movie together. It’s fun to be scared together, so if you just got yourself a new horror game, call up your best pal and play it together. Even if a game is not co-op in itself, it’s still a good time to have someone there with you.
If you don’t have many friends who are into horror games, that’s okay, because these games have massive communities. Horror game fans, in my experience, can be some of the most friendly and passionate people you’ll ever met. If you find yourself immersed in these games and eager to talk about them with others, don’t be afraid to join these communities and servers to meet other players.
Now that you are one step closer to finding the perfect horror game for you and your friends, there’s only thing left to do. Get out there and get to playing! Unforgettable Halloween memories and bonding moments are only a click away.
Velocity 
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