The best horror game without weapons

Key Takeaways

• The best horror games create a powerful sense of helplessness in players by removing weapons and defenses.
• The scariest horror games portray players as the hunted rather than the hunter, facing overwhelming odds.
• In horror games, helplessness is achieved by leaving the player completely defenseless, without weapons or combat options.

good horror gameIt's great at making players feel helpless. While most action titles and RPGs have players empowering themselves with weapons and special abilities, horror games go the other way, putting the protagonist in a truly desperate situation and leaving him struggling to survive and find a way out.

One of the easiest ways to achieve this feeling of hopelessness is to leave the players completely defenseless. Some of the scariest horror games don't have weapons. Or any kind of battle. The protagonist is left entirely in the hands of a terrifying force bent on ending them, and the player must struggle to survive the onslaught with no way to fight back. Here are some: The best horror game without weapons.

10 Freddy's Pizza Place

a week of sorrow

text Freddy's Pizza Place This is a game that needs no introduction. This indie game gained explosive popularity thanks to its simple but unique premise and the haunting designs of its terrifying animatronics. The title later spawned a massive multimedia franchise that included several games and even a major motion picture.

One of the reasons the game works so well is because of the player character's sense of helplessness. The protagonist's small office door is only a weak and temporary defense against the moving animatronics. Players must carefully monitor the entire restaurant to survive. With no real way to fight off these terrible machines, the player must survive five terrifying nights.

9 I'm on an observation mission.

Anomaly Hunting

I'm on an observation mission. is a bite-sized horror experience that spawned a series of respectable sequels, all based on the same hair-raising premise. in I'm on an observation mission.In , players take on the role of a surveillance operator who must investigate a mysterious house through a series of security cameras. The only way to survive is to catch the paranormal activity as it happens and report it on the spot.

This simple yet high-stakes gameplay loop creates extreme levels of tension and paranoia throughout the game's short play time. Fans looking to experience more suspense can see the game's multiple sequels, but the first game alone is a solid evening of pure horror.

8 morgue assistant

fate among the dead

Among horror genre games, morgue assistant It is a particularly terrifying experience. As the name suggests, the player character is working in a morgue late at night when he is attacked by a terrible demonic entity. Players must try to survive while figuring out how to banish the demon before it's too late.

The game is somewhat short, but maintains high replayability due to the strong random elements. Different ghosts and spectral events occur each time you play, preventing the game from becoming predictable or stale. Each visit to the morgue offers a unique and terrifying encounter with a demon, one that players will find virtually impossible to resist.

7 Exciting Literature Club

Appearances can be deceiving

A shocking twist at the center of it all Exciting Literature Club It's a legend now, but it took the gaming world by storm when it was released. This exciting psychological horror game hides deeply disturbing content behind a seemingly innocent visual novel about romance and poetry, and draws fans into the true horror that lies beneath.

Exciting Literature Club It conveys surprisingly deep and heavy themes about the nature of relationships, as well as the constraints of the video game genre itself. There is no combat in the game, not even enemies in the traditional sense. Exciting Literature Club From the moment his true character is first revealed to the very end, fans will be on the edge of their seats.

6 abolition

unimaginable depth

The horror genre's continued attempt to scare players in new and unexpected ways has resulted in some truly imaginative games. abolition It's one of the strangest things. The game casts the player as a prisoner of an alien moon, adrift in a sea of ​​blood, sealed in a small, windowless submarine and forced to explore its dark abyss.

The protagonist's only means of interacting with the outside world is a slow, archaic camera that provides brief time-delayed snapshots of the outer ocean depths. This blind insight into an otherwise incomprehensible sea, combined with the player's intense claustrophobia of the tiny submarine, creates a sense of helplessness and dread that is rarely matched in the genre.

5 immortality

The Mystery of Marisa Marcel

immortality It may be stretching the definition of a video game, but it's still an incredibly creative horror experience that fans of the genre won't want to miss. The game is presented as a collection of archival footage from three unfinished films, all starring an actress who mysteriously disappeared named Marisa Marcel. By exploring the footage, players can piece together what happened to her, but it quickly becomes clear that something much darker is going on beneath the surface.

secret immortality It's a much better experience than what's outlined, but it takes the game to some truly unsettling places. This is a far cry from a traditional horror video game, but by the time the mystery is solved, you'll have many sleepless nights.

4 social phobia

ghost hunting with friends

social phobia It exploded in popularity in late 2020 as a seasonally appropriate way to get scared with friends online. The game casts up to four players as professional ghost hunters, traveling through haunted areas and collecting spectral evidence to identify ghosts before they are killed.

Players can subdue and defeat the game's hostile spirits through a variety of means, but cannot fight back directly. Usually, if the players see the ghost in person, it's already too late. Players must proceed carefully and battle faulty equipment and interfering spirits to survive and earn money.

3 Amnesia: The Dark Descent

depth of madness

Amnesia: The Dark Descent In many ways, it's the standard for helplessness in horror games. This survival horror game casts the player as a man who has not lost his memory in a dark, crumbling castle filled with incomprehensible horrors. The game does not provide players with specific ways to fight off these monsters, forcing players to rely on stealth and evasion if they want to survive.

An oppressive atmosphere of madness and fear that prevails at every moment. amnesia It established itself as an icon of the horror genre and provided a blueprint for several sequels. For all the horror this later game caused, Amnesia: The Dark Descent It remains one of the most iconic survival horror games.

2 soma

a sailing nightmare

This nightmarish game Amnesia: The Dark DescentTransports players to an abandoned research base at the bottom of the ocean. This terrifying facility is home to shameful robotic horrors and horribly mutated humans and fish. Simon, the protagonist, must learn how he got there and how to escape before he is slaughtered by the game's terrifying and unstoppable killing machine.

It's very similar to the brothers game. amnesia, soma As players learn how the facility was destroyed and how Simon ended up there, they fall into despair and fear. The game deals with dark and tragic themes about the fate of humanity and the nature of digitized consciousness, and its philosophical implications are as troubling as the horrors that roam its waterlogged halls.

1 P.T.

lost legend

infamous P.T. Because of how deep and incredibly scary it is, and how it's been forever lost in modern gaming. This short game served to set the stage for the next entry. silent hill A franchise created by the famous Hideo Kojima, but unfortunately the game was canceled and the playable demo was removed from stores.

When available, P.T. It was a revolutionary title. It trapped players in an endless loop of hallways, looping themselves over and over again while players evaded the attentions of malevolent spirits and puzzled over very ominous environmental clues to sort out the game's dark past. Silent Hills It could have been a truly unforgettable match, but the fans were lucky enough to see it through. P.T. I could still experience the hopeless feeling of being forever trapped in a madman's nightmare.