When video game developers find a horror game that works, they tend to stick with it. Hit games likeSilent HillandFive Nights at Freddy’shave spawned entire franchises based around their concepts, giving fans the chance to relive the chills and thrills again and again in new installments.
Not every horror game gets to become a part of a larger series. Sometimes devs lose their rights to the IP, other times they can’t find the funding, and occasionally they simply decide to move on to something else. Whatever the reason,some incredible horror games never got their own franchises—but they really should have.
10Visage Is A Deeply Unsettling Atmospheric Experience
Heavily Inspired By PT
Visagewas a 2020 title developed by SadSquare and inspired by theshort-lived demo forSilent Hills, PT.The game took place throughout a strange house andrelied on creating an unsettling atmosphere through psychological horrorrather than jump scares.
The title wasn’t a little rough around the edges, drawing criticism for technical issues and game-breaking bugs that could be attributed to it being the first game from a small indie team. It could have made a great jumping-off point for a series that could have explored different creepy locations.
Sadly, althoughVisageshowed promise for the future of SadSquare Studio, the team seems to havedisbanded shortly after its release.
9Soma Creates A Sense Of Existential Dread
Wander The Depths Of The Oceans And Question Your Existence
Frictional Games cut its teeth onAmnesia, a game that defined the type of horror where you haveno way to fight backagainst the horrors that surround you.
SOMAbuilds on the studio’s previous titles, thrusting players into astark underwater environmentwith nothing but their thoughts, the remains of an old research facility, and a host of machines that exhibit human-like characteristics.
The game did a brilliant job ofcreating a sense of existential dread. It would have made a great first game in a series, with the next title potentially shifting settings to the similarly bleak environment of outer space.
8Cry Of Fear Explores Themes Of Mental Illness
A Sequel Was Never Meant To Be
On the surface, Team Psykskallar’s 2012 indie hitCry of Fearis about a young man exploring ahaunting version of Stockholm. Digging a little deeper uncovers a deeper narrative about dealing with mental illness and trauma, through the allegory of the monsters that lurk in the darkness.
The indie hit got its start as aHalf-Lifemod but went on to gain a life of its own. It’s still remembered fondly by fans who found themselves terrified at the game’s psychological variety of spooks and could have gon on toexplore more difficult themes through horror.
A sequel was never meant to be, though, as the developers have stated onInstagramthat they consider the story to be complete.
7Lost in Vivo Is Perfect For Silent Hill Fans
A Horrifying Take On Claustrophobia
Lost in Vivois a small 2018 game from Akuma Kira, who also worked on the better-knownSpooky’s Jump Scare Mansion.Unlike the cuterSpooky,Lost in Vivois a chilling experience thatforces players to confront their fearshead-on.
The protagonist ofLost in Vivosuffers from claustrophobia (the fear of tight spaces), and every environment and encounter isdesigned to make you feel uncomfortable. A series could have explored different phobias, but the developer moved on to other projects.
6Bloodborne Is An Eldritch Horror Fest
Inspired By One Of The Most Iconic Horror Writers
You might not think of FromSoftware’sBloodborneas a horror game because it is, first and foremost, a Soulslike. However, thegrim and dark shooterhas its feet firmly rooted in the lore of one of the most iconic horror writers of all time, H. P. Lovecraft.
InBloodborne, you (and a potential friend) explore thecosmic horrors of FromSoft’s take on Gothic Eldritch terror.And though it’s easy to forget the game’s horror roots, one thing everyone agrees on is thatBloodbornedesperately deserves to kickstart its own series.
Fans have beenbegging for a sequel(or at least a remake) for years to no avail. Still, there’salways hope forBloodborneto get its own franchiseat some point in the future.
5Fran Bow Sits At The Intersection Between Creepy And Cute
Proof That Darkness Is Even More Effective When Held Against Light
he point-and-click gameFran Bowwas developed by Swedish studio Killmonday Games, and has gone on to achievecult classic statussince its release in 2015.
Fran Bowtells the story of ayoung girl struggling with mental illness in 1944, after witnessing the brutal murder of her parents. The game combines a hand-drawn comic-book style with disturbing imagery, a juxtaposition that makes the horrors even more striking.
A sequel was allegedly in the works, but nothing has come of it yet. The game was ported to consoles in 2023, giving fans hope that the creepy title will eventually get a followup.
4Haunting Ground Could Have Been A Fantastic Series
The Title That Capcom Abandoned
The 2005 PlayStation 2 titleHaunting Groundis considered by many fans to be aclassic example of atmospheric horror done right. The game follows Fiona and her dog, Hewie, as they look for a way to escape from a mysterious and potentially dangerous mansion.
The game has a lot of flaws, namely in its controls and repetitive gameplay, but it also has plenty of excellent aspects that garnered it a faithful fan community.
Although the duo is now considered iconic, Hewie the dog was added by Capcom during production because the company was afraid that players wouldn’t be as interested in playing a game centered around a sole female protagonist. Thankfully, it seems thattimes have changed.
Haunting Groundwas aspiritual successor to the legendaryClock Towerseries, and it could have been the start of a series. However, it was released in the same year as the much more successfulResident Evil 4came out, so it never got a chance to flourish.
3Signalis Is A Different Kind Of Cosmic Horror
Instantly Recognizable Style Would Have Worked Well As A Series
Horror games tend to have similar styles, butSignalisbroke the moldin 2022. The game was developed by the two-person indie studio rose-engine, and provided amuch-needed fresh coat of painton the tried-and-true formulas of survival horror.
The game won fans over, with a thriving community still active several years after its release—which received a sweet thank you note onXfrom one of the devs, Yuri Stern.
Signalisis atop-down 2.5D shooterwith bright, contrasting pops of color and a stylized art style. Despite looking nothing like them,Signalisis heavily influenced by classic horror likeSilent HillandResident Evil,as well as the classic storyThe King in Yellowby Robert W. Chambers.
A sequel was never in the cards, sadly, as the style would help make aSignalisfranchise stand out from other horror series.
2Kuon Could Have FromSoftware’s Silent Hill
The Forgotten Project From Elden Ring’s Dev Team
Today, FromSoftware isknown mostly for its widely successfulSoulsfranchiseandElden Ring.In 2004, the studio released a game that’s often forgotten, but that would work well as a series:Kuon.
Created by Atsushi Taniguchi,Kuonfollowed a female protagonist through adark kaidan (traditional Japanese) ghost story.It wasn’t perfect, but it pulled off the dark and creepy storytelling well and was praised for its atmosphere.
Kuonshould be revisited as a series now that FromSoft has several Game of the Year titles under its belt. FromSoftware’s honed sense ofenvironmental storytelling and dark world-buildingwould lend themselves well to a series retelling the terrifying folklore of Japan.
1Eternal Darkness Broke The Fourth Wall With Its Sanity System
The Horror Reached Its Tendrils Into The Real World
Anyone who’s ever played Silicon Knights' 2022 hitEternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiemknows that no other game has ever come close to recreating its unique horror. The title extended its horrifying moments beyond the screen,playing tricks on the playeras the protagonist’s Sanity meter ran low.
As the protagonists lost their grip on reality, so, too, did players as the game pretended to erase their save files, mute their TVs, force their characters to shoot themselves in the head, and otherfourth-wall-breaking moments of terror.
Out of all the standalone horror games,Eternal Darknessis perhaps the most deserving of a series in the same vein asSilent Hill.Several attempts torevisit the title with a sequelor spiritual successor have fallen though, though, leaving this classic as a lone title instead of the series it deserves to be.
