these are the franchises that make you
play with the lights on
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
be counting down our picks for the top
10 video game horror franchises
before we begin we publish new videos
every day so be sure to subscribe for
more great content for this list we’re
looking at horror game series that have
at least two games released and better
memorable influential and consistently
enjoyable at times but bottom line so
number 10 alone in the dark series we
begin with the series that laid the
foundation for other entries on this
list this series was influential for the
survival horror genre being hailed as
the inspiration for Silent Hill and
Resident Evil which we’ll get to in a
second it follows edward carnby who
throughout the series that was a name
for himself as a supernatural private
investigator as he deals with mysteries
that pertain to the metaphysical many of
the themes and imagery found within the
games take inspiration from both Edgar
Allen Poe and HP Lovecraft giving the
games an old-style horror feel though
the newer games don’t quite have the
same charisma as the original four and
they also stock the early games will
always be downright iconic
number nine five nights at Freddy’s
series it’s hard to believe that in two
years since its inception this series
has already spawned six titles made by
one man
the original title started a viral trend
of freaking out YouTube less players and
with its newfound popularity we’ve seen
Freddy fazbear and friends become
household names new and in room running
bad very people while its popularity
also brought its fair share of critics
who are quick to point out the low
production value and lack of free
movement it’s also brought up a large
following of sleuths who frequently
theorize about the franchise’s backstory
sure it’s RPG spin-off was a flop but
with a dedicated fanbase
and a new movie deal this series is only
going to get bigger number 8 outlast
series
[Music]
[Applause]
we had to bend the criteria a little bit
here since there’s technically only one
game out currently with another one
coming down the pipe however in addition
to the original game there’s an add-on
entitled whistleblower which tells a new
story in mount massive asylum I want a
family a legacy a first-person survival
horror inspired by the found-footage
sub-genre the player characters here are
mostly defenseless armed with only a
camera that allows them to see in the
dark they must avoid deranged asylum
patients as they try to enter the
clinics many mysteries featuring some of
horrors most disturbing enemies and
intense chasing this series has made a
name for itself amongst the best in a
relatively short amount of time and
we’re excited to see where the fledgling
franchise is headed with triumphant ruin
[Music]
number 7 left 4 dead series some of the
best horror video games cues from their
parallel cinematic genres and none do so
quite as well as left 4 dead the games
are cooperative first-person shooters
that follow various survivors in the
aftermath of a zombie apocalypse in
various places in the United States
[Music]
nothing gets the tension flowing more
than the sudden barrage of zombies
coming at you from all directions and
you constantly having to shoot to
survive but the real fun in the game
comes from its various gameplay modes
which feature some of the best co-op
shooting to be found and let’s be honest
it’s more fun when you’re just shooting
zombies together especially that’s
stupid which number six Telltale’s The
Walking Dead series thank you
make bands of the AMC’s The Walking Dead
find themselves shouting at their
television since the characters are
always making stupid choices
well telltale games provided those fans
with an opportunity to see exactly how
they would fare in a zombie apocalypse
this point can click adventure is
loosely related to both the television
series and the comics existing in the
same universe but featuring a whole new
cast of characters in this series the
story progression is based on the
choices the player make often in
split-second life-or-death situation
you’ll never really feel like you made
the right choice and often there is no
right choice though there are certainly
a lot of wrong one and don’t put it on
the trigger unless you want to hurt
somebody okay okay if you end up causing
the death of one of your friends there’s
really no second chance they’re gone but
hey no pressure though
number five
clock tower series likely one of the
most little-known series on this list
all of these games feature the scissor
man the horrifying villain that starts
each protagonist using a giant pair of
well you’ll never get it differentiates
itself from other survival horror games
at least over time by making the player
character relatively defenseless and
forcing them to hide from the dangerous
antagonist while solving puzzles to
progress the story though the series
technically ended with clock tower 3 the
game’s presence is still felt as two
spiritual successors entitled haunting
ground and night cry were released in
2005 and 2016 respectively although the
latter wasn’t very good quite possibly
the most underrated yet still
influential game series in the horror
genre it may be a bit dated now but no
list of horror series would be complete
without it thank you say I’m a bad name
number 4 dead space series
two parts Resident Evil 4 plus one part
system shock to get you dead space a
perfect and truly unique mix of sci-fi
and horror
that’s 500 years in the future the
series focuses on Isaac Clark an
initially silent protagonist who ends up
smack in the middle of an attack from
creatures known as a Necromorph
reanimated and disfigured corpses of a
Space Station’s crew what makes the
gameplay in this over-the-shoulder
shooter different is that the player
must weaken the enemies by dismembering
them rather than just take an headshot
and be ready to lose your lunch when
they manage to get you because the
developers spent a lot of time on those
death animations number three
Fatal Frame series so each entry in the
Fatal Frame series is loosely connected
in terms of story the gameplay remains
similar using the camera obscura to
capture various ghosts both malicious
and otherwise
after capturing the ghost the player is
able to learn about the ghost flanks
adding a lot of depth to the already
unique gameplay though it’s a relatively
long-running series it is still managed
to innovate gameplay recently moving to
the Wii U allowing for the gamepad to be
used as a camera and a 3d F spin-offs
that used augmented reality to place the
ghosts in the players environment the
series really didn’t need to get any
spooky er but honestly we’re happy they
did number 2 Silent Hill series Mary
could you really think many of the
previous mentioned franchises a lot to
this iconic survival horror series it
follows various characters in the
titular foggy town steeped in a complex
mythology involving a cult and a young
girl with mysterious powers most notably
Silent Hill 2 provides one of gaming’s
best explorations of psychological
horror introducing the series is most
memorable and horrifying Dillon Pyramid
Head
so some recent games had dipped in
quality following the change in
developers fans were filled with
excitement when the mysterious and
terrifying PT dropped which turned out
to be a teaser for a reboot of Silent
Hill sadly Konami cancelled that project
so the series has been left in limbo
which of course cost it the top spot on
this list before we get to our number
one pick here a few honorable mention
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
number one Resident Evil series
it was a close call between our top two
choices but Resident Evil has
consistently transcended a variety of
gaming yards over its lengthy lifetime
enemies range from standard zombies to
other horrific monstrosity all of them
at least at first
resulting from experiments from the evil
umbrella corporation although alone in
the dark definitely laid the groundwork
Resident Evil was the first to truly
coined the term survival horror as a
genre in addition to the main series
several sub series have sprouted from
the original game fleshing out a huge
universe spanning over 20 games with no
signs of slowing down
misses story and race abandoned
farmhouse missing family foul play
suspected the usual do you agree with
our picks check out these other great
clips from WatchMojo and subscribe for
new videos every day
play with the lights on
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
be counting down our picks for the top
10 video game horror franchises
before we begin we publish new videos
every day so be sure to subscribe for
more great content for this list we’re
looking at horror game series that have
at least two games released and better
memorable influential and consistently
enjoyable at times but bottom line so
number 10 alone in the dark series we
begin with the series that laid the
foundation for other entries on this
list this series was influential for the
survival horror genre being hailed as
the inspiration for Silent Hill and
Resident Evil which we’ll get to in a
second it follows edward carnby who
throughout the series that was a name
for himself as a supernatural private
investigator as he deals with mysteries
that pertain to the metaphysical many of
the themes and imagery found within the
games take inspiration from both Edgar
Allen Poe and HP Lovecraft giving the
games an old-style horror feel though
the newer games don’t quite have the
same charisma as the original four and
they also stock the early games will
always be downright iconic
number nine five nights at Freddy’s
series it’s hard to believe that in two
years since its inception this series
has already spawned six titles made by
one man
the original title started a viral trend
of freaking out YouTube less players and
with its newfound popularity we’ve seen
Freddy fazbear and friends become
household names new and in room running
bad very people while its popularity
also brought its fair share of critics
who are quick to point out the low
production value and lack of free
movement it’s also brought up a large
following of sleuths who frequently
theorize about the franchise’s backstory
sure it’s RPG spin-off was a flop but
with a dedicated fanbase
and a new movie deal this series is only
going to get bigger number 8 outlast
series
[Music]
[Applause]
we had to bend the criteria a little bit
here since there’s technically only one
game out currently with another one
coming down the pipe however in addition
to the original game there’s an add-on
entitled whistleblower which tells a new
story in mount massive asylum I want a
family a legacy a first-person survival
horror inspired by the found-footage
sub-genre the player characters here are
mostly defenseless armed with only a
camera that allows them to see in the
dark they must avoid deranged asylum
patients as they try to enter the
clinics many mysteries featuring some of
horrors most disturbing enemies and
intense chasing this series has made a
name for itself amongst the best in a
relatively short amount of time and
we’re excited to see where the fledgling
franchise is headed with triumphant ruin
[Music]
number 7 left 4 dead series some of the
best horror video games cues from their
parallel cinematic genres and none do so
quite as well as left 4 dead the games
are cooperative first-person shooters
that follow various survivors in the
aftermath of a zombie apocalypse in
various places in the United States
[Music]
nothing gets the tension flowing more
than the sudden barrage of zombies
coming at you from all directions and
you constantly having to shoot to
survive but the real fun in the game
comes from its various gameplay modes
which feature some of the best co-op
shooting to be found and let’s be honest
it’s more fun when you’re just shooting
zombies together especially that’s
stupid which number six Telltale’s The
Walking Dead series thank you
make bands of the AMC’s The Walking Dead
find themselves shouting at their
television since the characters are
always making stupid choices
well telltale games provided those fans
with an opportunity to see exactly how
they would fare in a zombie apocalypse
this point can click adventure is
loosely related to both the television
series and the comics existing in the
same universe but featuring a whole new
cast of characters in this series the
story progression is based on the
choices the player make often in
split-second life-or-death situation
you’ll never really feel like you made
the right choice and often there is no
right choice though there are certainly
a lot of wrong one and don’t put it on
the trigger unless you want to hurt
somebody okay okay if you end up causing
the death of one of your friends there’s
really no second chance they’re gone but
hey no pressure though
number five
clock tower series likely one of the
most little-known series on this list
all of these games feature the scissor
man the horrifying villain that starts
each protagonist using a giant pair of
well you’ll never get it differentiates
itself from other survival horror games
at least over time by making the player
character relatively defenseless and
forcing them to hide from the dangerous
antagonist while solving puzzles to
progress the story though the series
technically ended with clock tower 3 the
game’s presence is still felt as two
spiritual successors entitled haunting
ground and night cry were released in
2005 and 2016 respectively although the
latter wasn’t very good quite possibly
the most underrated yet still
influential game series in the horror
genre it may be a bit dated now but no
list of horror series would be complete
without it thank you say I’m a bad name
number 4 dead space series
two parts Resident Evil 4 plus one part
system shock to get you dead space a
perfect and truly unique mix of sci-fi
and horror
that’s 500 years in the future the
series focuses on Isaac Clark an
initially silent protagonist who ends up
smack in the middle of an attack from
creatures known as a Necromorph
reanimated and disfigured corpses of a
Space Station’s crew what makes the
gameplay in this over-the-shoulder
shooter different is that the player
must weaken the enemies by dismembering
them rather than just take an headshot
and be ready to lose your lunch when
they manage to get you because the
developers spent a lot of time on those
death animations number three
Fatal Frame series so each entry in the
Fatal Frame series is loosely connected
in terms of story the gameplay remains
similar using the camera obscura to
capture various ghosts both malicious
and otherwise
after capturing the ghost the player is
able to learn about the ghost flanks
adding a lot of depth to the already
unique gameplay though it’s a relatively
long-running series it is still managed
to innovate gameplay recently moving to
the Wii U allowing for the gamepad to be
used as a camera and a 3d F spin-offs
that used augmented reality to place the
ghosts in the players environment the
series really didn’t need to get any
spooky er but honestly we’re happy they
did number 2 Silent Hill series Mary
could you really think many of the
previous mentioned franchises a lot to
this iconic survival horror series it
follows various characters in the
titular foggy town steeped in a complex
mythology involving a cult and a young
girl with mysterious powers most notably
Silent Hill 2 provides one of gaming’s
best explorations of psychological
horror introducing the series is most
memorable and horrifying Dillon Pyramid
Head
so some recent games had dipped in
quality following the change in
developers fans were filled with
excitement when the mysterious and
terrifying PT dropped which turned out
to be a teaser for a reboot of Silent
Hill sadly Konami cancelled that project
so the series has been left in limbo
which of course cost it the top spot on
this list before we get to our number
one pick here a few honorable mention
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
number one Resident Evil series
it was a close call between our top two
choices but Resident Evil has
consistently transcended a variety of
gaming yards over its lengthy lifetime
enemies range from standard zombies to
other horrific monstrosity all of them
at least at first
resulting from experiments from the evil
umbrella corporation although alone in
the dark definitely laid the groundwork
Resident Evil was the first to truly
coined the term survival horror as a
genre in addition to the main series
several sub series have sprouted from
the original game fleshing out a huge
universe spanning over 20 games with no
signs of slowing down
misses story and race abandoned
farmhouse missing family foul play
suspected the usual do you agree with
our picks check out these other great
clips from WatchMojo and subscribe for
new videos every day
Please follow and like us: