F.E.A.R.

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A special forces team, an aerospace compound, and a little girl who should not be there.

Platforms: PC
Stores: Steam, GOG
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (94% of 19,718 reviews); Metacritic 88 on PC (57 critics); 4.5/5 on GOG (1,094 reviews)
Length: about 8 hours
Players: 1
Controls: Keyboard and mouse.
Made by: Monolith Productions (expansions by TimeGate Studios)
Released: 2005

No. 6 of the soldier horror games · No. 12 of the horror games about human experiments · No. 14 of the city horror games · No. 30 of the horror games about children · No. 10 of the office horror games

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What frightens A paramilitary force seizes an aerospace compound, and the special forces sent in are torn apart by something no one can explain; as a member of the F.E.A.R. team you fight through dark offices and corridors where the lights flicker, blood-soaked visions break in and a little girl named Alma appears and vanishes.
Content: gore, violence, strong language.

F.E.A.R. is a first-person horror shooter from Monolith Productions. As a member of the First Encounter Assault Recon team, you fight a paramilitary force through an aerospace compound while a paranormal presence, a little girl named Alma, tears the place apart around you. The Steam version includes the Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate expansions.

About F.E.A.R.

F.E.A.R. was made by Monolith Productions and first released in 2005, published by Vivendi Universal Games; the Steam release from Warner Bros. bundles the main game with the expansions Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate, made by TimeGate Studios. GOG sells the same bundle as F.E.A.R. Platinum, updated in 2025 with a configurable frame rate cap. It holds a Metacritic score of 88 on PC.

A mysterious paramilitary force infiltrates a multi-billion dollar aerospace compound, taking hostages but making no demands. The special forces team sent in is obliterated, and footage shows an inexplicable wave of destruction tearing the soldiers apart. You are part of F.E.A.R., First Encounter Assault Recon, sent in to evaluate the threat and eliminate the intruders at any cost.

Most of your time is spent in close, chaotic gunfights in offices, corridors and courtyards, with sparks, debris and blood flying. The enemies are clone soldiers called Replicas, and they flank and push hard. You carry only three firearms at a time, and reflex time slows the action down so you can pick your shots. Between fights the game turns quiet: lights flicker, visions soaked in blood break in, and Alma, a little girl in red drawn from Japanese ghost stories, appears at the end of hallways and is gone when you look again. The expansions carry the fight across a ruined city against Alma and her paranormal minions, and into Armacham Technology Corporation's dark past.

It suits players who want a horror game where you can shoot back, with real scares between the battles. The main story takes about 8 hours. Perseus Mandate's multiplayer is no longer available.

How to play F.E.A.R.

Buy it on Steam or GOG and run it on Windows.
Fight through the compound with the weapons you find, using cover; you can carry three firearms at a time.
Use reflex time to slow the action in a firefight and pick off enemies.
Stay alert in the quiet stretches between fights; that is when the paranormal shows itself.
Play on into Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate after the main story.