Best Puzzle Horror Games

Horroris a massive genre within games, tracing its roots back to as early as 1972 when developers first began experimenting with implementing horror into video games. Since then, horror games have only flourished, granting gamers horror games across a multitude of genres, from the action-packed Doom, to the survival horror giant Resident Evil.

But, horror games aren't all about tackling problems head-on with an entire arsenal of guns. Players might have to stealth around enemies, be unable to fight back, or solve puzzle after puzzle in order to progress. While most horror games will eventually challenge their players with the odd puzzle, there are games that place their focus on brain teasers, even those intended to instill fear.

Penumbra: Requiem

This Entry into the Penumbra Series Removes the Monsters in Favor of Puzzles

• Platforms:PC
• Release Date:August 27, 2008
• Developers:Frictional Games
• Genre:Survival Horror, Puzzle

Before Amnesia, Frictional Games were best known for Penumbra, a survival horror game series that was more sci-fi oriented, as players found themselves in abandoned research facilities infested with alien creatures. The series consisted of three games, titled Overture, Black Plague, and Requiem.

While the former two placed an emphasis on surviving the horrors, namely monsters, Requiem shook up the formula, removing monsters while maintaining environmental threats and a tense atmosphere as players had to complete a number of puzzles to progress through the game. Though the lost threats from previous titles are mourned, the puzzles remain satisfying to complete, and players learn more about Philip and his unfortunate circumstances.

Rusty Lake Series

A Quirky Collection of Unique Puzzles Games Verging into the Bizarre

• Platforms:PC, Android, iOS
• Release Date:April 25, 2015
• Developers:Rusty Lake
• Genre:Indie, Point and Click

For gamers in the mood for something a little more unusual, they should look no further than the Rusty Lake franchise, which consists of a series of small interconnecting games centering around the eponymous hotel and surrounding areas.

Players need to complete increasingly bizarre puzzles through a point-and-click interface with cartoon visuals that are sometimes outright horrifying, as though Tim Burton has broken away from stop-motion and attempted cel-shade animation. For example, in Rusty Lake: Hotel, the seventh game of the series, players need to solve puzzles to execute the hotel guests in a grizzly manner, and then serve them to the remaining guests for dinner.

Inside

Solve Puzzles to Escape the Horror

The minds behind Limbo, the little eerie platforming game, also made Inside, a semi-2D platforming puzzler with some spooky themes, set designs, and story. With an absence of dialogue, players have to piece together the story themselves through the visuals on screen, and the places and creatures they encounter.

The characters they control must find creative ways to progress through the areas and escape the danger that inhabits them. The puzzles and gameplay are challenging enough and satisfying to complete, and the visuals create enough atmosphere and dread to unsettle the players, even as they try to focus on the puzzles in order to escape the present danger.

A Rose in the Twilight

Switch Between the Two Characters to Overcome Environmental Puzzles

• Platforms:PC, PS Vita
• Release Date:April 11, 2017
• Developers:Nippon Ichi Software
• Genre:Puzzle, Platform

Gothic set-pieces act as the backdrop of this stylish side-scrolling platformer, invoking feelings of horror and fear as they must overcome the horrors that face them, as well as the environment. Players take the role of Rose, a young girl with mysterious powers who awakens cursed in a mysterious castle, which has had all color and the passage of time stripped away.

Rose, along with the help of a giant, explores the castle to unravel the mystery, at times having to switch between the two in order to make use of their unique abilities. Each puzzle will require a different approach, meaning players will need to think carefully in order to decide the best way to overcome it and progress through to the next stage. It can be tricky to solve each puzzle, but very rewarding to finally reach the conclusion.

I'm on Observation Duty

Memory Puzzles are At the Heart of this Horror Fest

• Platforms:PC
• Release Date:December 14, 2018
• Developers:Notovia
• Genre:Horror

I'm on Observation Duty kicked off a trend of terrifying games that would challenge the players to observe the areas through a variety of cameras set in mundane locations that would soon become plagued by strange occurrences, such as the subject of painting morphing into something unsettling, objects duplicating or moving, or even worse, dreaded intruders that stare directly at the camera.

It's up to the players to keep a cool head, steady their nerves, and cycle through each camera to see what changes, like a spot the difference puzzle with extreme horror elements attached. They must memorize each location, each room, and their layout, and decide which category of anomaly they are faced with, if any. If too many anomalies pass their notice, it's game over. This game is only for those confident in their memory, and able to work effectively under pressure.

Home Safety Hotline

Deduce the Terrors Hiding in People's Homes

• Platforms:PC
• Release Date:January 16, 2024
• Developers:Night Signal Entertainment
• Genre:Indie, Simulation

Working a job that requires speaking to clients over the phone is scary enough, but when insects, cryptids, and horrors that seem like they are straight out of SPC are involved, it reaches new heights of horror. This is what the Home Safety Hotline is all about, as the player must answer calls from troubled clients and deduce what phenomena are plaguing their homes.

The game seems simple enough, as players will cycle through the files and cross-reference the information provided by the caller to what they have on each file, but sometimes the information is vague and not the same as what is in each hazard's description, which will require some puzzle solving on the player's side. And with some creepy entries, the horror elements are definitely present in this game.