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Parasite horror games

In these games something lives inside the people around you: a worm, a fungus, a virus or a creature that wears its host. Villagers who still talk and walk come at you with the thing inside them, growths split heads open, and in some you cannot tell who is still human. The fear is of being taken over yourself, and of what crawls out when a body falls.

The top 24 of 24 parasite horror games, ranked by player and critic scores

The 24 best, 2026

  1. Resident Evil 4 key art: a close-up of Leon Kennedy's face beside a dark foggy forest with a figure standing by wooden crosses SurvivalResident Evil 4The villagers are controlled by a parasite called Las Plagas, which can burst out of an enemy you have felled. 97% on Steam (283,806 reviews)12 h or morePaidPC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, Mac, iPhone, VR
  2. How Fish Is Made key art: a fish's head and tail sticking out of a tangled ball of organs and guts, under the title in cream capitals PsychologicalHow Fish Is MadeA tongue-eating louse riding a fish's mouth performs a song and dance number about productivity, PC Gamer writes. 95% on Steam (5,746 reviews)about 20 minFreePC
  3. Barotrauma key art: a diver in a heavy armoured suit with a skull inside the helmet, against a grungy red and green submarine schematic Co-opBarotraumaParasite outbreaks are among the hazards that can strike a crew alongside hostile fauna, pirates and traitors 94% on Steam (90,532 reviews)51 h or morePaidPC, Mac, Linux
  4. Resident Evil 4 VR key art: Leon Kennedy's face over a dark village beside the Resident Evil 4 logo, with The Mercenaries characters on the right SurvivalResident Evil 4 (VR)The villagers are controlled by a parasite, and Road to VR lists mutated enemies among the types that gang up on you. 94% on the Meta Quest store (13,138 ratings)16 h or morePaidVR
  5. Endoparasitic key art: a blocky grey figure reaching out on a tiled floor, its body sunk into a large splash of red blood beside pure black darkness SurvivalEndoparasiticYour health bar is a parasite burrowing up toward your brain, held back only by vaccine syringes. 94% on Steam (3,106 reviews)about 2.5 hPaidPC, Mac, Linux, Xbox, Switch
  6. Penumbra: Black Plague key art: a lone figure with a red backpack stands in a snowstorm between two snow-covered roofs, beside a frozen post hung with charms PsychologicalPenumbra: Black PlagueWhat the researchers dug up under the ice turns out to be a semi-parasitic virus that infects the staff and then Philip. 94% on Steam (3,007 reviews)about 8 hPaidPC, Mac, Linux
  7. MOLDRISE key art: a grinning blue-skinned hooded figure peeks in beside the title in red, fleshy, spiked letters on a dark background PsychologicalMOLDRISEA fungal infection that started in your foot has reached your head and orders you to go up. 96% on Steam (672 reviews)about 2 hPaidPC, Linux
  8. 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 IThe Infected are people taken over by the Cordyceps fungus; Clickers have heads split open by the growth and Bloaters are swollen with fungal plates. 98% on the PlayStation Store (146,000 ratings)15 h or morePaidPC, PlayStation
  9. The Last of Us Part II Remastered key art: Ellie crouches before a flooded, ruined Seattle with a Ferris wheel, while Abby walks with a gun among embers inside Ellie's silhouette SurvivalThe Last of Us Part II RemasteredThe Infected are people taken over by a mutated strain of the Cordyceps fungus, and they hunt Ellie and Abby through dark buildings. 91% on the PlayStation Store (311,000 ratings)24 h or morePaidPC, PlayStation
  10. The Visitor Returns title art: a bloodied bald man slumped at a table beside a whiskey bottle and glass, with cigarette butts on the floor Body horrorThe Visitor ReturnsThe slug gets into its prey and kills it from within, taking a new power from every body it devours. 92% on Newgrounds (1,679 ratings)about 10 minFreeBrowser
  11. The Thing: Remastered key art: soldiers in hooded snow parkas charge forward under a huge snarling dog-like creature in red and orange haze Body horrorThe Thing: RemasteredThe creature absorbs and imitates the people it kills, so it can hide inside your team. 90% on Steam (1,446 reviews)about 6 hPaidPC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
  12. The Visitor: the pink alien slug sits in a pool of blood at the foot of a blood-smeared tree by dark swamp water, a crow watching from a stump Body horrorThe VisitorThe maker's own description: guide an alien parasite through its new earthly surroundings 88% (165,000 ratings)about 10 minFreeBrowser
  13. Resident Evil 5 key art: Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar back to back with a pistol and a shotgun Co-opResident Evil 5The Majini are townspeople changed by a biological agent, and one screenshot shows a head splitting open into tentacles. 87% on Steam (68,924 reviews)12 h or morePaidPC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
  14. The Sinking City 2 key art: a man in a fedora with a shotgun on his back stands waist-deep in floodwater under an Arkham cemetery arch, wrapped by rising tentacles SurvivalThe Sinking City 2The Slither, parasitic worms, puppeteer the corpses of Arkham's dead against you 90% on the PlayStation Store (2,506 ratings)10 h or morePaidPC, PlayStation, Xbox
  15. MY BROTHER; THE PARASITE key art: a long-haired figure's shadowed face against a yellow glow, with the title in black on yellow bars PsychologicalMY BROTHER; THE PARASITEThe title calls the dead brother a parasite, and reviewers on IFDB describe a parasitic disease that keeps him half alive. 98% on itch.io (81 ratings)about 1 hFreeBrowser
  16. Resident Evil 0 key art: the empty, blood-stained passenger carriage of a luxury train, light spilling through its far door SurvivalResident Evil 0Leeches carrying the T-virus swarm the train and its passengers at the start 91% on the PlayStation Store (24,000 ratings)10 h or morePaidPC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
  17. Don't Let Her In cover: the title don't let her in scrawled in red pixel letters on a dark red and black background PsychologicalDon't Let Her InEating the meal the woman makes leaves bugs growing and crawling under your skin, and you are slowly turned into a vessel for them. 92% on itch.io (154 ratings)about 10 minFreeBrowser
  18. Endoparasitic 2 key art: a black silhouetted body sprawled on a dark tiled floor, one hand reaching up, a red wound on its chest, above the game's title SurvivalEndoparasitic 2Your health bar is a deadly parasite burrowing toward your brain, held back only by vaccines you craft. 86% on Steam (647 reviews)PaidPC, Mac, Linux
  19. Resident Evil 4 (2005) art: Leon Kennedy holds a handgun in a misty forest as infected villagers close in on both sides SurvivalResident Evil 4 (2005)A parasite called Las Plagas controls the villagers and bursts out of some of them when they are shot. 94% on Steam16 h or morePaidPC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
  20. Aliens: Dark Descent key art: five Colonial Marines and a drone stand in a misty blue Xenomorph hive, with open alien eggs in the foreground Sci-fi horrorAliens: Dark DescentOpen alien eggs and Facehuggers are among the creatures your marines face in the hive 88% on Steam (9,485 reviews)25 h or morePaidPC, PlayStation, Xbox
  21. Cold Fear key art: a blond Coast Guard sailor in a red jacket aims a laser-sighted pistol on a storm-lashed ship deck at night, under the title SurvivalCold FearThe crew are hosts to a parasite that raises them again unless the brain is destroyed, and it can crawl into another corpse. 84% on GOG (237 ratings)about 6 hPaidPC
  22. Scorn key art: a rust-red face of cracked, veined flesh with one empty eye socket, framed by tube-like growths SurvivalScornA bloody parasite-like arm plugs into a bony device clamped on your wrist, and your own body is changed as you go. 77% on Steam (20,129 reviews)about 5 hPaidPC, Xbox, PlayStation
  23. Back 4 Blood key art: four Cleaners fire from a red clearing shaped like a 4, ringed by a huge horde of Ridden and a bloated mutant, seen from above Co-opBack 4 BloodA deadly parasite has turned most of humanity into the Ridden, and the Cleaners are among the few immune to it. 72% on Steam (25,461 reviews)about 6.5 hPaidPC, PlayStation, Xbox
  24. Zoochosis key art: a mutated long-necked creature with a red eye and a spike-ringed tube mouth, glowing pink and orange below the title Body horrorZoochosisA parasite spreads through the zoo, and the animals it reaches start turning into monsters 61% on Steam (2,411 reviews)about 2 hPaidPC, PlayStation, Xbox

Short enough for one evening

Done in an hour or so

Free to play

5 games

Every game of the kind

More picks

Scores are those players and critics give on the stores and sites named; each game's page says where.

More kinds of horror

  1. Short horror games621
  2. Psychological horror games530
  3. Horror games with multiple endings417
  4. Horror puzzle games341
  5. Survival horror games259
  6. 2D horror games254
  7. PS1 horror games233
  8. Stealth horror games180
  9. Horror escape games164
  10. Surreal horror games145
  11. Horror visual novels137
  12. Anime horror games132
  13. Haunted house games131
  14. Mystery and detective horror games127
Every genre

Where you play

  1. Steam horror games1009
  2. Epic horror games97
  3. GOG horror games270
  4. itch.io horror games592
  5. PC horror games1337
  6. Mac horror games391
  7. Linux horror games261
  8. PlayStation horror games404
  9. Xbox horror games367
  10. Switch horror games317
  11. Mobile horror games188
  12. VR horror games69
  13. Browser horror games236
  1. Scary games1456
  2. Free horror games561
Every game, A to Z