5. SCP: Containment Breach
SCP: Containment Breach is a survival horror game that takes place in a secret facility packed with anomalous creatures and objects. The SCP Foundation exists to keep these reality-defying entities secure and contained, but something has gone terribly wrong and the anomalies are breaching containment. You take on the role of a human test subject who must escape the many meticulously documented threats found in the wider SCP universe.
Content warnings: body horror, scientific horror, a lot of different ways to die.
4. Flesh, Blood, & Concrete
Flesh, Blood, & Concrete is another concept-driven game, this one set against the already intimidating snowy backdrop of post-Soviet Russia. Players take on the role of Lera, a young woman whose attempt to outrun her loneliness leaves her stranded outside a dilapidated apartment building with only one visible inhabitant: a little girl named Nika. Nika is kind, innocent, and painfully sweet, but there’s something off-putting about her attempts to convince Lera to stay in the apartment and meet her family… and that’s before the body horror starts kicking in.
Content warnings: depression, gore, body horror, strange geometries.
3. Discover My Body
If you’re into retro point-and-click adventure games and body horror, then Discover My Body will be a real treat. This short title packs as much nightmarish imagery as it possibly can into its runtime. The premise is simple: you play as a medical student in 2040, studying a man who is about to go through a horrifying transformation. What follows is a mixture of low-rez graphics, terrifying body horror, and the kind of dread-inducing conceptual horror that linger long after the game is over.
Content warnings: low-rez nudity, body horror, mind control, fungus.
2. IB
Ib is one of those classics that never truly goes out of style. The story of a young girl trapped in a cursed art museum where the exhibits are lurching to hideous life is compelling on its own, but Ib also nails every aspect of its presentation. Whether you already played this RPGmaker horror classic when it came out or you’ve never heard of the title before, you should definitely give it a play this Halloween.
Content warnings: suspense, body horror art displays, small children in danger–and becoming dangerous.
1. Sacrifices Must Be Made
Sacrifices Must Be Made is an excellent piece of short psychological horror. You find yourself in an isolated cabin, playing a card game that pits your forest creatures against your opponent’s starving men and heavily-armed hunters. As the game continues, you find yourself forced to make bigger and bigger sacrifices to stay alive, all while your opponent gradually reveals who you’re playing as… and how high the stakes of the game actually are. Although Sacrifices Must Be Made stands alone as a tight little horror experience, it’s also receiving a paid expansion called Inscryption that will be available on October 18th, 2021.
Content warnings: starvation, cannibalism, abusive parenting, fear of the dark, sacrifices.
Honorable Mention: Carrion
That’s all the free games we’ve gathered for you, but the list isn’t over just yet. For those of you who just can’t get enough scares, no matter the cost, we’ve also added a great paid game: Carrion. In this reverse horror game, you take on the role of a horrifying–and hungry–shapeshifting tentacle monster that must climb, jump, eat, and mimic its way out of the lab where it has been held captive. Will you escape? Why were you locked up to begin with? What will happen to the world when you are unleashed? These questions and more will definitely keep you up at night.
Content warnings: body horror, scientific horror, graphic violence, gore.
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