Summary
There are few feelings in gaming quite like triumphing in a horror game. Finally conquering the horrors and coming out on top is a feeling that few game genres are capable of, but horror makes victory feel all the sweeter for truly conquering fears.
Whether it’s finally winning an hours-long battle against a horrific foe or simply surviving through a catastrophe to see another sunrise, there are plenty of incredible horror games that are satisfying to beat. This list is based purely on how satisfying it feels to see the end credits roll.
For a franchise that has enjoyed many video game adaptations,Alien: Isolationremains the pinnacle of adaptations, adapting the world of the films like never before with a near-obsessive attention to detail in every single molecule of the Sevastopol space station. All the sweeter when the titular xenomorph arrives to wreak some havoc.
Alien: Isolationis quite a long game too, so by the time the final credits roll, the player has been in a cat and mouse duel with the xenomorph for hours, torturing each other, until the player finally manages to land the killing blow. It’s incredibly satisfying, making itone of the best horror games of the 2010s.
During the indie game boom of the 2010s, evoking true fear was the name of the game, even if that meant taking away player agency. No game exemplifies this new philosophy towards horror game design better than the indomitableOutlast.
Players take on the role of a journalist investigating the horrors inside the Mount Massive insane asylum, and once there, they are put through the ringer, encountering a menagerie of terrifying people willing to do truly horrible things to the player. Finally reaching the end credits feels like a hard-won award,conquering villains that chased the player throughout the entire game.
Isaac Clarke didn’t quite know how bad his day would get when he stepped aboard the Ishimura. A humble engineer at heart, Isaac is forced to turn into a horror movie dismembering action hero as he cleaves his way throughthe horrific necromorphsin search of his wife.
The magic of the originalDead Spaceis that Isaac seems like a normal person flung into an awful situation, meaning that each grunt, drop of sweat, and exertion feels tough. Getting to the end feels like a sigh of relief, and it’s incredibly satisfying to experience that alongside Isaac, even if he does turn into a more conventional action hero in later entries in the franchise.
The Last of Usis about a lot of things, but centrally, it’s about the proto-mythical journey westwards across the American landscape to try and find a better tomorrow where the sun sets on the horizon. It’s a stone-cold classic of a narrative archetype, and one thatThe Last of Usperfects.
Of course, players of the game and watchers of the TV show know that things don’t quite go to plan when Joel and Ellie reach their final destination, but reaching that final cut to black after Ellie’s confrontation of Joel back in Wyoming is one of gaming’s most famous endings, tying a satisfying bow on one of gaming’s best stories.
A lot ofResident Evilgames have the player become a zombie-slaying badass who can’t be stopped by monsters (or boulders), no matter how fearsome. Yet, the magic ofResident Evil 2is that Leon and Claire are still green, fresh out of the academy, and far more vulnerable than their later selves.
Add on top of that Mr. X, the trench coat stomping monstrosity who tirelessly hunts the player through the RPD, and reaching the end of Capcom’s survival horror magnum opus feels incredibly satisfying, conquering the generator of fear, and coming out the other side stronger than how the player entered. It’s easilyone of the best games in the entire franchise.
The odds were always stacked againstThe Evil Within 2from the moment it was announced. Shinji Mikami, the legendary horror game director, stepped away from the chief creative role, and the franchise didn’t get off to the strongest start. Expectations were suitably low.
Yet,The Evil Within 2proved itself as a truly fantastic sequel, improving on the original in almost every way, and providing an incredibly satisfying arc for protagonist Sebastian who confronts his repressed traumas in one of the gaming’s most satisfying conclusions where he’s forced to confront everything that haunts him in a gauntlet of horror. It’s gonzo horror mayhem, and a great ending to the series if another sequel never arrives.
There’s always a baseline satisfaction at the end of a FromSoftware game that few other games can achieve. Players need to go through some of gaming’s most difficult bosses to reach the final credits, and it truly feels like something was accomplished once those credits roll.
Yet, that feeling is magnified inBloodbornebecause of the horror elements. The player didn’t just make it past the final boss. They conquered all the evils and horrors Miyazaki and his team could throw at them, and the player still came out on top. Few feelings in gaming are quite like it.
At their core,Silent Hillgames are always about the psychological interiority of the protagonist rather than the monsters on the outside. While the originalSilent Hillfounded the formula,Silent Hill 2perfected it, pitting the player against some ofgaming’s most iconic and terrifying horror enemiesin pursuing his seemingly dead wife.
Of course, the ending ofSilent Hill 2at this point is one of the most famous in all of gaming. By the time the final credits roll, James Sunderland has not just discovered the truth about his wife and Silent Hill, but the truth at the core of himself, too. No matter which of the game’s many endings a player gets, they get an incredibly satisfying narrative bow, tying the whole experience up in an incredibly satisfying way.
