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Best Horror Games of 2022: SIGNALIS, Iron Lung and More

2022 was a year of small, strange horror that players loved, from SIGNALIS and Iron Lung to The Mortuary Assistant, alongside big releases like The Last of Us Part I and The Quarry. These are the year's horror games that players and critics rated well.

The games

7 of the 25 games in this guide are outside your choice (PlayStation) and are left out. Show them all.

  1. Extreme close-up of Elster's shadowed face with glowing red eyes against a deep red background, drawn in a pixel anime style PsychologicalSIGNALISClassic survival horror in a retro sci-fi facility of corrupted machine-people, with scarce ammunition and a story about memory and loss.
  2. The Last of Us Part I key art: Ellie with a backpack looks down over a ruined town in orange haze, a small figure of Joel with a pistol walking within her silhouette SurvivalThe Last of Us Part INaughty Dog's rebuilt The Last of Us: smuggle Ellie across a country overrun by the Infected.
  3. Iron Lung key art: the title IRON LUNG over a grainy brown and grey image PsychologicalIron LungUnder an hour sealed in a windowless submarine in an ocean of blood, seeing only through slow photographs.
  4. The Mortuary Assistant key art: a pale, rotting face with a bloody open mouth beside a dark tiled embalming room with a corpse on the table PsychologicalThe Mortuary AssistantEmbalm bodies at night in a mortuary while a demon tries to possess you, and work out which one it hides in.
  5. The Quarry key art: the counselors' faces under a full moon, two shadowy figures with bloodied clawed hands looming over a campfire in a dark pine forest Co-opThe QuarrySupermassive's summer-camp horror film: nine counselors hunted on their last night, where your choices decide who lives.
  6. Choo-Choo Charles key art: a red spider train with a grinning, toothed face and a lit headlamp coming through a forest at night under a full moon SurvivalChoo-Choo CharlesDrive your own locomotive around an island terrorised by a monstrous spider train, upgrading your guns to fight it.
  7. Scorn key art: a rust-red face of cracked, veined flesh with one empty eye socket, framed by tube-like growths SurvivalScornA wordless world of flesh and machinery fused together, with puzzles of living machines.
  8. Bendy and the Dark Revival key art: the grinning cartoon Bendy with ink dripping from his eyes, arms spread between lit candles in a dark studio SurvivalBendy and the Dark RevivalAn animator trapped in a warped, ink-soaked studio, sneaking past and fighting what the ink became.
  9. MADiSON key art: a bruised, bloodied hand gripping an old instant camera with Luca written on top PsychologicalMADiSONA teenager in a possessed house, with an instant camera whose photos connect this world to the beyond.
  10. CULTIC key art: a man opens the door of a muscle car outside a barbed-wire compound at dusk, framed by hooded cultists with an axe in red light Action horrorCULTICA retro first-person shooter against a cult in dark, gory places, crawling out of your own grave.
  11. Ib key art: a brown-haired girl with red eyes, in a white blouse and red skirt, holds a red rose against a dark green wall beside the white Ib logo PsychologicalIbThe remake of the pixel-art classic: a girl alone in a world inside an art gallery, with seven endings.
  12. Martha Is Dead key art: the upside-down face of a young woman with a pearl necklace, as if seen through dark water PsychologicalMartha Is DeadA psychological thriller in 1944 Tuscany: a drowned twin, photography and folklore.
  13. The Callisto Protocol key art: Jacob Lee in armour stands among mutated inmates in a ruined prison block SurvivalThe Callisto ProtocolSci-fi survival horror from Dead Space's co-creator: break out of a prison on Callisto as an outbreak turns people into monsters.
  14. FAITH: The Unholy Trinity key art: a caped man seen from behind faces a huge red demon with many clawed arms in a dark painted scene SurvivalFAITH: The Unholy TrinityA pixel horror trilogy of the 1980s Satanic Panic, driving back demons with a crucifix.
  15. Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel key art: a figure in a dark gas mask with one green lens stands in a red-lit hotel corridor SurvivalFobia - St. Dinfna HotelInvestigate a Brazilian hotel with a camera that shows other times, in first-person survival horror.
  16. The Night of the Scissors key art: a frightened, bloodied man behind crossed bloody scissors, beside the red title on black SurvivalThe Night of the ScissorsA scrap run in an abandoned post office, a killer with scissors and wardrobes to hide in, in PSX-style fixed cameras.
  17. The Chant key art: three retreat members in red mist, one raising a red flare, with a glowing cyan creature and red tentacles under a starry forest sky SurvivalThe ChantA spiritual retreat on an island whose chant opens a dimension of cosmic terror.
  18. Escape the Backrooms key art: four players in yellow hazmat suits and gas masks stand in an empty library-like room under a sign reading THE END Co-opEscape the BackroomsCo-op Backrooms for up to four, across more than thirty levels with entities that hunt you.

2022 was a strong year for small, strange horror. SIGNALIS rebuilt classic survival horror in a retro sci-fi world and drew Overwhelmingly Positive reviews from nearly 35,000 players on Steam. Iron Lung sealed you in a submarine in an ocean of blood for under an hour, and The Mortuary Assistant made a night job of embalming bodies while a demon tries to take you. Fear & Hunger 2: Termina went the other way, a long and brutal survival horror RPG set at a deadly festival.

The bigger releases included Naughty Dog's rebuilt The Last of Us Part I, Supermassive's The Quarry, a summer-camp horror film where your choices decide who lives, and The Callisto Protocol, sci-fi survival horror from Dead Space's co-creator whose Steam reviews are mixed. Scorn built a wordless world of flesh and machinery, and Bendy and the Dark Revival returned to the ink-soaked studio.

Some of the year's most talked-about games were odd ideas done well: Choo-Choo Charles, about a monstrous spider train on an island, MADiSON's possessed house and haunted instant camera, Gloomwood's stealth through a fog-bound Victorian city, and CULTIC's retro shooter against a cult. Who's Lila made a mystery of a boy's face that you shape to answer people, Fears to Fathom: Norwood Hitchhike turned a night drive home into its best-known episode, and The Night of the Scissors brought PSX-style fixed cameras to an abandoned post office with a killer inside. Fobia: St. Dinfna Hotel and The Chant were larger: a hotel seen through a camera that shows other times, and a spiritual retreat whose chant opens the way to cosmic horror. Ib returned as a remake of the pixel-art classic, and Rusty Lake's The Past Within made a co-op puzzle game for two people in different times.

If you only play one, play SIGNALIS. For one evening, play Iron Lung or The Mortuary Assistant.

Questions

What was the best horror game of 2022?

SIGNALIS was among the best rated, and Iron Lung, The Mortuary Assistant and Fear & Hunger 2: Termina were among the most talked about. The Last of Us Part I and The Quarry were the year's biggest releases.

Which 2022 horror games are short?

Iron Lung takes under an hour, and How Fish Is Made, free, about twenty minutes.

Which 2022 horror games can I play with a friend?

The Past Within is made for exactly two players, and Escape the Backrooms takes up to four.

Which 2022 horror games are on Switch?

SIGNALIS, Iron Lung, The Mortuary Assistant, Choo-Choo Charles, Bendy and the Dark Revival, MADiSON, Ib, The Past Within and FAITH are on Nintendo Switch.

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