15 Best Horror Games Inspired By Folklore

The horror genre in video games has seen a massive change since 1992's Alone in the Dark, considered to be the first 3D survival horror game produced and a huge influence on the subgenre in the years that followed. Horror has evolved into larger-than-life series like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Silent Hill or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Resident Evil that continue to capture the public imagination.

But simply looking into the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:scariest monsters in mythology and folklore gives you ple🍒nty of inspiration on how to make the best video games. The thrill of what slinks about in the shadows never fades, especially when you factor in folklore monsters straight from your worst nightmares.

Updated April 9, 2022 by Charlene Maria Teressa: Folklore and local urban legends of various countries have continued to prove a point of inspiration for the scariest horror games. With launches both old and new, we feel that it would be a shame not to include these soon-to-be horror classics on this list.

15 Ikai

A very recent launch back in late March, Ikai is the newest spooktastic addition to first-person psychological horror games. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Heavily based on Japanese folklore and set in 🅺feudal Japan, you play as shrine priestess Naoko, who was transported into a hellish realm rife with yokai.

Using seals, Naoko must exorcise the dozens of folklore-inspired yokai to return to her world. But there's more than meets the eye. Naoko finds herself seeing the horrid memories of another woman unjustly killed by her abusive husband, only to discover new secrets about her family.

14 Short Creepy Tales: 7PM ꦅ 🔯

Exactly as the name suggests, Short Creepy Tales: 7PM is a Malaysian horror game that uses cardboard cutout artistry to tell its horrific stories. A choice-based game, what you opt to do throughout yo💦ur playthrough really factors into the ending you get.

The game revolves around three friends, a new neighbour has just moved in, and weird, creepy things that have started happening. With Malaysia's Hungry Ghost Festival nearing its end and eerie paper dolls targeting them, some ghosts are nice, but others are simply malicious.

13 Detention

Detention is set in 1960s Taiwan, dealing with the country's wartime trauma through symbols and creepy creatures from folklore. High school student Ray awakes to find herself in her school, alone, only to gradually realise that the school had transformed into a nightmarish hellscape of terror.

Stuck in a loop of misery, Ray was once part of a freedom movement, only to betray them and cause her ex-colleagues' deaths simply out of misplaced jealousy. In order to be free and move on, Ray must accept her faults.

12 Parཧanormal HK 🌳

Paranormal HK Kathy and the Spider Ghost

Set in Hong Kong, you play as Ah Lok, a cameraman who accompanies his colleague Kathy to Kowloon Walled Cit🎃y to shoot the next installment of their ghost-hunting show. But with Kathy possessed by a sinister spirit, Ah Lok tries to save her as well as survive the night.

Ah Lok goes through three different folklore tales popular in Hong Kong, such as the 'Lady In Red', the spirit of a woman mistreated in life, full of anger and vengeance.

11 BEKKOUAME

In the Chinese-made game BEKKOUAME, the main protagonist finds herself lost in an alternate dim𝕴ension that p💙roves to be a twisted version of her own world. She encounters monsters beyond imagining and must battle them in order to return home.

Not only must she battle the warped versions of the horrible people in her life, but she must also contend with an umbrella that will eat her if she does not feed it regularly. Despite being free on Steam, BEKKOUAME is entirely in Chinese, with only Chinese and Japanese subtitles.

10 Unꦆforgiving: A Northern Hymn

Unforgiving: A Northern Hymn Giving the Naecken Freyja's harp

Unforgiving: A Northern Hymn is very heavily inspired by creatures from Swedish folklore and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Norse mythology that are pure nightmare fuel. The story 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:revolves around dead protagonist Linn, who's going through a torture cycle of Purgatory after her sinful life.

A creepy, maniacally giggling creature called the Nakken follows her throughout her journey. According to folklore, the Nakken fell in love with the goddess Freyja, but after she rejected and humiliated him, he began to initiate his vengeance. In the game, Linn finds Freyja's lyre, which the Nakken demands from Linn.

9 🔯 🌄 Maid Of Sker

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Maid of Sker is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:set in the Victorian era, where you're put in the shoes of Thomas Evans, who seeks to save his love Elisabeth from her family. Thomas travels to Sker Island, where he discovers a disturbing truth about Elisabeth's fanatical family and their obsession with the Siren's powers.

The game is founded on Welsh folklore, with its principal characters inspired largely by a Welsh ghost story. In the story, Elisabeth is imprisoned by her father after falling for Thomas, who was far below her station. She dies of heartbreak and becomes a ghost. Maid of Sker's Sker Hotel is based on the real-life historic manor of Sker House.

8 🐠 Pamali: Indonesian Folklore Horror

Pamali: Indonesian Folklore Horror does Indonesian myth and legend justice in this 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:tastefully done indie horror viꩵdeo game. You experience four different folk💖lore tales in a variety of different settings -🙈 all haunted locations, of course.

The game features the most popular (and frightening) folklore spirits amongst Indonesians. The first folklore tale features the infamous Kuntilanak, the horrifying spirit of a woman who lost her baby, followed by pocong (a tied corpse that hops around) and tuyul (little devils). Pamal✃i delivers you a look into the daily lives of Indonesians, with s🅰ome otherworldly spooks to spice things up.

7 Mundaun

Hidden Fields' Mundaun is not your average horror game, with its characters and gloomy locations being pencil-drawn. Set in the Swiss Alps, you are investigating your grandfather's mysterious death, before quickly discovering there's something darker lurking at Mundaun.

The creator of Mundaun himself has spoken about the game, citing folktales and a certain novel for inspi꧑ration. The novel, called 'The Black Spider', tells the story of a woman who made a deal with the Devil. The game's bleak settings and pagan-religious monsters serve as quite the hint.

6 🅘 DreadOu🦄t Series

Yet another Indonesian horror game that never fails to send shivers down your spine. DreadOut see🅺s you play as Indonesian high school girl Linda, who is plagued dail🌜y by terrifying spirits.

The first DreadOut game sees Linda and her friends end up in an abandoned town rife with evil spirits. Armed with her six senses and phone camera, Linda hunts and wards off demons like the Kuntilanak in order to escape. Linda's journey continues in DreadOut: Keepers of the Dark, where she battles monsters new and terrifying.