Horror Game Glossary
A comprehensive guide to horror game terminology. Learn the meaning of common horror gaming terms, subgenres, and mechanics used across the genre.
A
Action Horror
Horror games that combine scary elements with combat-focused gameplay. Unlike survival horror, action horror gives players more powerful weapons and abilities while maintaining a horror atmosphere. Examples include Dead Space and Resident Evil 4.
Browse Action Horror horror games (45 games) →Analog Horror
A horror subgenre presented through the aesthetic of degraded analog media such as VHS tapes, old television broadcasts, and public access footage. Analog horror games use static, tracking lines, and lo-fi visuals to create unease, often blurring the line between documentation and fiction.
Asymmetrical Horror
A multiplayer format where one player takes the role of a powerful killer or monster while the others play as weaker survivors who must cooperate to escape. The imbalance between sides creates tension on both ends. Dead by Daylight and the upcoming Halloween game are examples of the format.
Atmospheric Horror
Horror games that create fear primarily through environment, sound design, and mood rather than direct threats. These games build tension through dimly lit corridors, ambient sounds, and a pervasive sense of unease without relying on jump scares or combat.
Browse Atmospheric Horror horror games (11 games) →B
Backtracking
A design pattern where players must revisit earlier areas of a game after acquiring new items or abilities. In survival horror, backtracking is a deliberate pacing tool that forces players to traverse familiar but now-changed environments, often with new threats or puzzle solutions.
Body Horror
A subgenre focusing on graphic transformations, mutations, and violations of the human body. Body horror games feature disturbing physical changes, grotesque creatures, and the unsettling loss of bodily autonomy as central themes.
Browse Body Horror horror games (13 games) →C
Chase Sequence
A scripted or dynamic gameplay segment where the player must flee from an immediate, often unkillable threat. Chase sequences strip away combat options and force split-second navigation decisions. They are a staple of stealth horror and found footage horror games.
Co-op Horror
Horror games designed for cooperative multiplayer, where two or more players work together against threats. Playing with friends can reduce fear but also creates new tension through shared responsibility and communication under pressure. Phasmophobia helped popularize the modern co-op horror format.
Browse Co-op Horror horror games (21 games) →Content Warning
An advisory notice about potentially distressing content in a horror game, such as graphic violence, self-harm themes, or specific phobia triggers. Content warnings help players make informed decisions about which horror games are appropriate for them.
Cosmic Horror
Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, cosmic horror games feature incomprehensible entities, existential dread, and the insignificance of humanity against vast cosmic forces. Players often face sanity-draining encounters with otherworldly beings beyond human understanding.
Browse Cosmic Horror horror games (9 games) →Creepypasta
Short horror fiction originally shared on internet forums and wikis, often written as first-person accounts of paranormal encounters. Many creepypasta stories have been adapted into horror games, and the format has influenced indie horror game design, especially in titles built around internet urban legends.
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Environmental Storytelling
A narrative technique where story details are communicated through the game world itself rather than dialogue or cutscenes. In horror games, environmental storytelling uses blood trails, abandoned notes, disturbed furniture, and visual clues to let players piece together what happened in a space.
F
Fear Profile
A rating system used by Horror Game Directory to categorize the scare elements of horror games. Fear profiles include intensity ratings (1-5), jump scare frequency, and specific content warnings, helping players find games matching their scare tolerance.
Fixed Camera
A camera system where the viewpoint is locked to predetermined angles, limiting the player's ability to see around corners or behind them. Classic survival horror games like early Resident Evil and Silent Hill used fixed cameras to restrict information and amplify tension through blind spots.
Folk Horror
A subgenre rooted in rural settings, pagan rituals, isolated communities, and the dark side of folklore and tradition. Folk horror games draw on superstition, harvest imagery, and the tension between modern characters and ancient beliefs. The tone tends toward slow dread rather than direct scares.
Found Footage Horror
Horror games presented through the lens of a camera or recording device, mimicking the found footage film genre. Players often view the world through night-vision cameras, camcorders, or security feeds, adding a layer of voyeuristic tension.
G
Gothic Horror
Horror games set in or inspired by Gothic architecture and literature, featuring castles, mansions, graveyards, and Victorian-era settings. Gothic horror games emphasize atmosphere, mystery, and supernatural elements rooted in classic horror traditions.
Browse Gothic Horror horror games (9 games) →I
Indie Horror
Horror games developed by independent studios or solo developers, often featuring experimental mechanics, unique art styles, and unconventional horror approaches. The indie horror scene has produced some of the most innovative and terrifying games in the genre.
Browse Indie Horror horror games (23 games) →Inventory Management
A gameplay system that limits how many items a player can carry at once, forcing difficult decisions about what to keep and what to leave behind. In survival horror, inventory management adds strategic pressure because choosing between a healing item and ammunition can mean the difference between life and death.
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J-Horror
Japanese horror, a style characterized by slow-building psychological dread, supernatural threats rooted in Japanese folklore, and an emphasis on atmosphere over gore. J-horror games often feature vengeful spirits, cursed objects, and claustrophobic domestic settings. Fatal Frame and Siren are defining examples.
Browse J-Horror horror games (8 games) →Jump Scare
A sudden, unexpected event in a horror game designed to startle the player. Jump scares typically involve a sudden loud sound, flash of imagery, or enemy appearing without warning. They are one of the most common scare techniques in horror games.
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Liminal Space
Transitional environments like empty hallways, stairwells, parking garages, and waiting rooms that feel unsettling when encountered without their usual human activity. In horror games, liminal spaces exploit the uncanny feeling of places that should be populated but are not, creating wrongness through absence rather than presence.
P
Permadeath
A mechanic where the player character's death is permanent and forces a full restart from the beginning. In horror games, permadeath raises every encounter's stakes dramatically because a single mistake can erase all progress. Roguelike horror games use permadeath alongside procedural generation to keep each run unpredictable.
Psychological Horror
Horror games that focus on mental and emotional fear rather than graphic violence. These games use unreliable narrators, sanity mechanics, disturbing imagery, and unsettling narratives to create dread. The fear comes from what you think rather than what you see.
Browse Psychological Horror horror games (74 games) →R
Roguelike Horror
Horror games that combine procedurally generated levels, permadeath, and run-based progression with horror themes and atmosphere. Each playthrough offers different layouts, item placements, and encounters, preventing players from memorizing safe routes and keeping the fear of the unknown alive across repeated runs.
Browse Roguelike Horror horror games (2 games) →S
Safe Room
A designated area in a horror game where enemies cannot enter and the player can save progress, manage inventory, or recover. Safe rooms provide brief relief from tension and serve as pacing anchors. The contrast between the safety inside and the danger outside is what makes leaving one feel so difficult.
Sanity Mechanic
A gameplay system where the player character's mental state deteriorates based on frightening encounters. As sanity decreases, the game may introduce visual distortions, hallucinations, or gameplay changes. Featured prominently in games like Amnesia and Eternal Darkness.
Sci-Fi Horror
Horror games set in science fiction environments such as space stations, research labs, or dystopian futures. Sci-fi horror blends technological anxiety with creature threats, often featuring alien organisms, rogue AI, or experiments gone wrong. Dead Space and SOMA are well-known examples of the subgenre.
Browse Sci-Fi Horror horror games (16 games) →Slasher
A horror subgenre centered on a masked or costumed killer stalking and attacking victims, usually in an isolated setting. In games, slashers often take the form of asymmetrical multiplayer where one player hunts the rest, or single-player experiences built around evading a persistent, pursuing threat.
Stealth Horror
Horror games where the player must hide and sneak past enemies rather than fight them. The inability to defend yourself creates intense vulnerability and tension. Games like Amnesia and Outlast pioneered the modern stealth horror experience.
Browse Stealth Horror horror games (4 games) →Survival Horror
A subgenre of horror games emphasizing resource management, puzzle-solving, and vulnerability. Players must carefully manage limited supplies like ammunition, health items, and save points while navigating terrifying environments. Iconic examples include Resident Evil and Silent Hill.
Browse Survival Horror horror games (81 games) →T
Tank Controls
A movement system where pressing up always moves the character forward relative to the direction they face, regardless of camera angle. Turning must be done separately before moving. Classic survival horror games used tank controls paired with fixed cameras, and the deliberate clumsiness became part of the tension.
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VR Horror
Horror games designed for or enhanced by virtual reality headsets, placing the player physically inside frightening environments. VR horror amplifies immersion because the player cannot look away, and spatial audio plus head tracking make threats feel present in a way flat screens cannot replicate.
Browse VR Horror horror games (10 games) →W
Walking Simulator
A first-person exploration game where the primary mechanic is walking through environments and discovering narrative elements. In the horror context, walking simulators like P.T. and Layers of Fear use exploration as a vehicle for atmospheric storytelling and environmental scares.
Browse Walking Simulator horror games (9 games) →Frequently Asked Questions
Survival horror emphasizes vulnerability, limited resources, and careful exploration, making every encounter tense. Action horror gives players more powerful combat abilities while maintaining a scary atmosphere. In survival horror you run and hide; in action horror you fight back.
Psychological horror in games means the fear comes from mental and emotional manipulation rather than monsters or jump scares. These games use disturbing narratives, unreliable perspectives, mind-bending puzzles, and atmospheric tension to make the player feel uneasy and paranoid.
Jump scares are sudden, startling moments designed to frighten the player. They typically combine a sudden loud sound with a visual surprise, like a monster appearing from nowhere. While divisive among horror fans, they remain one of the most common scare techniques in horror games.
Asymmetrical horror is a multiplayer format where one player controls a powerful killer while others play as weaker survivors trying to escape. The power imbalance creates tension on both sides. Dead by Daylight popularized the format and upcoming games like Halloween continue to evolve it.
Tank controls are a movement system where up always moves the character forward in the direction they face, and turning is a separate input. Early survival horror games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill used tank controls with fixed camera angles. The deliberate awkwardness made combat and evasion feel clumsy, which added to the tension.