The 30 Greatest Horror Video Game Franchises

Some of these series built the genre's rulebook; others got there with one camcorder, a haunted camera or a pizzeria after midnight. Pick the nightmare you would replay.

1. 1
   Resident Evil

   Capcom's zombie-and-bioweapon saga that defined survival horror in 1996 and remains its best-selling series.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Silent Hill

   Konami's fog-shrouded psychological horror series about a town that reflects its visitors' guilt.
   965pts
3. 3
   Alone in the Dark

   The 1992 haunted-mansion series that pioneered 3D survival horror before Resident Evil.
   965pts
4. 4
   Little Nightmares

   Tarsier's eerie puzzle-platformer series about small children escaping grotesque giants.
   848pts
5. 5
   Amnesia

   Frictional Games' defenseless first-person horror series that popularized hiding instead of fighting.
   778pts
6. 6
   Parasite Eve

   Square's survival horror RPG series where NYPD officer Aya Brea battles mitochondrial mutants.
   694pts
7. 7
   The Evil Within

   Shinji Mikami's gory, nightmarish survival horror series starring detective Sebastian Castellanos.
   694pts
8. 8
   The Dark Pictures Anthology

   Supermassive's anthology of standalone cinematic horror stories with multiplayer choices.
   629pts
9. 9
   Layers of Fear

   Bloober Team's shifting-room psychological horror series about tormented artists.
   629pts
10. 10
    Corpse Party

    Team GrisGris' cult Japanese horror adventure series about students trapped in a haunted school.
    629pts
11. 11
    Five Nights at Freddy's

    Scott Cawthon's animatronic jump-scare series that grew from a 2014 indie hit into a books-and-movies empire.
    629pts
12. 12
    F.E.A.R.

    Monolith's horror shooter series pairing slow-motion firefights with the ghost girl Alma.
    555pts
13. 13
    Fatal Frame

    Koei Tecmo's Japanese ghost-story series in which a haunted camera is the only weapon.
    470pts
14. 14
    Siren

    Sony Japan Studio's stealth horror series in which you see through the eyes of the undead Shibito.
    470pts
15. 15
    Left 4 Dead

    Valve's four-player co-op zombie shooter series driven by the adaptive AI Director.
    470pts
16. 16
    Outlast

    Red Barrels' found-footage horror series where a camcorder's night vision is your only tool.
    470pts
17. 17
    Bendy

    Joey Drew Studios' cartoon-ink horror series set in a decaying 1930s animation studio.
    470pts
18. 18
    System Shock

    The cyberpunk horror RPG series where the rogue AI SHODAN stalks a space station.
    470pts
19. 19
    Clock Tower

    Human Entertainment's 1990s point-and-click series about fleeing the scissor-wielding Scissorman.
    370pts
20. 20
    Dino Crisis

    Capcom's survival horror series that swapped zombies for dinosaurs on a remote island.
    370pts
21. 21
    Dead Rising

    Capcom's open-mall zombie sandbox series built on improvised weapons and dark humor.
    370pts
22. 22
    Until Dawn

    Supermassive's branching slasher drama where any of eight teens can die by dawn.
    370pts
23. 23
    Condemned

    Monolith's brutal first-person melee horror series about a hunted FBI investigator.
    370pts
24. 24
    Poppy Playtime

    Mob Entertainment's episodic toy-factory horror series featuring the monstrous Huggy Wuggy.
    370pts
25. 25
    Dead Island

    Techland and Dambuster's gory first-person zombie series set in sunny holiday resorts.
    370pts
26. 26
    Alan Wake

    Remedy's story-driven thriller about a novelist fighting the Darkness with a flashlight.
    252pts
27. 27
    Dead Space

    Sci-fi survival horror in which engineer Isaac Clarke dismembers Necromorphs aboard derelict starships.
    252pts
28. 28
    The Last of Us

    Naughty Dog's post-apocalyptic survival series haunted by the fungal Infected.
    0pts
29. 29
    Dying Light

    Techland's parkour zombie series where the infected turn deadly after nightfall.
    0pts
30. 30
    The House of the Dead

    Sega's arcade light-gun zombie shooter series running since 1996.
    0pts

Comments 1