This is the year of remakes and creepy indie games, but which game was the creepiest? If you're curious, we also compared MMORPG games, and the article turned out to be very interesting!

It’s impossible not to point out that we’re currently experiencing the best period of video game development since the PS2 era. The last few years have brought a completely new dimension to the genre, partly due to nostalgia when survival horror peaked in popularity.

The results have brought modern remakes, retro versions, and new games that know new ways to increase the sense of fear and chills down your spine.

The horror world is doing so well that last year SHOPI introduced the "Best Horror Game" category for its annual awards. And it was entirely right to bring it back for the second year because of the great selection in the horror genre in 2024. We were shown disturbing and claustrophobic horror in the game Still Wakes the Deep and its infected oil rig, challenges reminiscent of the "Saw" movies and The Outlast Trials, impressed by stunning works from Silent Hill 2 by Bloober Team and horrifying twists in Mouthwashing, among others.

But as we all know, there can only be one game in first place. So what did the SHOPI team consider the most deserving? Let’s take a look…

Honorable Mentions

Thanks to a wide range of new and interesting features that the current period in the horror genre offers, the SHOPI team gave their ratings to a variety of 2024 releases. Although they didn't gather enough votes to take another spot, we’re happy to note the Honorable Mentions.

Still Wakes the Deep

by developer The Chinese Room is a great narrative horror, set on an oil rig infected by an unknown creature, similar to The Thing from the iconic movie "The Thing". This pleasant depiction of Scotland is painted in the depressive shades of 1970s British literature and based on the unconscious fear of Eldritch. The game is just as captivating as we might have expected from its chase scene and creepy stealth tasks.

We also tip our hats to Slitherhead. Although our reviewer ultimately couldn’t fall in love with this game, key members of the SHOPI team enjoyed its idiosyncratic approach to the script in the style of Invasion of the Bodynatchers. The latest game from the writer of the first "Silent Hill," Keitaro Toyama, probably has its share of oddities and likely interesting delivery, giving this game a fundamentally captivating concept. The abduction of bodies and using different characters to investigate lantern-like monsters, which are human costumes, is unlike anything we’ve ever done in horror games before.

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead

Original film

“A Quiet Place” has its strength in its simple concept: a world where you have to be silent and not make a sound because that could be the last thing you do in your life. On paper, this is not only a good plot for a movie, but also a brilliant setup for a horror game. As expected, it’s an intense survival game based on stealth tasks. Pursued by the same alien monsters from the films, you must constantly hide and act as quietly as possible, avoiding noisy objects. Every drawer or step you take could be your last. The added tension comes from the fact that the character suffers from asthma, and using an inhaler can lead to death. The developers clearly had a lower budget, and sometimes it shows, but it doesn’t affect the gameplay. The cat-and-mouse gameplay is not quite like Alien: Isolation, but despite this, it doesn't lose to its competitor.

Crow Country

The success of this project can be explained by the fact that the developers use tried-and-true methods from past games. “Crow Country” recreates the atmosphere of 1990s indie horror games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Low-polygon graphics, limited inventory, and a static third-person camera are features that give the game a retro feel. However, new ideas like the ability to rotate the camera 360 degrees and aim add a modern comfort to the gameplay.

Thanks to these innovations, “Crow Country” not only nurtures nostalgia but also adds new layers to the genre. The gameplay takes place in an abandoned theme park, where the heroine Mara has something to say even in the most terrifying situations, thus adding a bit of humor to the eerie atmosphere.

Mouthwashing

“Mouthwashing” is a horror hit of 2024, gaining popularity thanks to player recommendations. It’s one of those games where the advice “don’t read anything, just play” applies. If you’re interested in a twisted plot that explores human nature, it’s worth opening Steam and hitting the “buy now” button.

But we’ll still tell you more.

Silent Hill 2

It can be confidently said that there was no guarantee for the Silent Hill 2 remake from Bloober Team. Some believed that the immortal survival horror classic from Team Silent couldn’t be remade. Others were wary of the developers after the game “The Medium” and many past projects. But once the latest company settled on their console, it was instantly clear why the game took horror to a new level. The game follows last year’s Dead Space, being a remake that almost completely stays true to the original game, adding modern improvements with taste. The game retains all the horrifying, tense, and sinister moments of exploring the surrounding world. It’s a game where you’ll pass through terrifying and ruined buildings, where you can find new terrifying secrets of the game. Only this time, you can do all of this with a 3D camera. For many people, including most of the SHOPI team, this is exactly the golden mean that the remake has reached.

Silent Hill 2