The best indie horror games of 2025 for Halloween scares

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Beautiful but terrifying, these are some of the most creative horror games of the year.

It's that time of the year when large gourds become interior decor and kids are encouraged to threaten their neighbours with unknown horrors if they fail to hand over candy. You can find inspiration in our features on fall decorating mistakes and how to decorate your porch for Halloween. We even have a DIY pumpkin basket tutorial.

But you don't need to dress up your house, pets or yourself to get into the Halloween spirit. It's also the perfect time to catch up on the best indie horror games of the year. They don't often have the visual realism of AAA games, but good indie horror games excel in creating atmosphere, suspense and jump-out-of-your-seat scares, with developers able to experiment more freely with design, storytelling and mechanics away from the tighter commercial considerations of big studios.

01. The Midnight Walk

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The Midnight Walk screens from the stop motion VR game, one of the best indie horror games of 2025
(Image credit: Fast Travel Games)

The Midnight Walk might not be hugely high on the frightometre, but it's my top pick as the best horror game of 2025. A heartwarming story and beautiful artwork make this cosy horror adventure a real gem.

Part of that makes The Midnight Walk so beautiful is that the characters and objects in its world physically exist. Moonhood co-founder Klaus Lyngeled has long made clay sculptures as a hobby – in fact the character of PotBoy began as a personal project, but advances in tech mean it's now relatively straightforward to bring physical 3D models into a digital world (see our pick of the best 3D scanners).

Using physical models means that they can be filmed in live-action, which gives this indie horror game its organic, handcrafted feel. There are some genuinely scary moments despite the cosiness, and the game is also available for VR, where the PSVR2's 4K lenses enhance the detail of the handmade models. There's even a mechanic where you can close your eyes to make the monsters go away, while heightening your ability to hear.

02. PAGER

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A scene from a black-and-white pixelated 3D video game inspired by Severance called Pager, one of the best indie horror games of 2025
(Image credit: Bilge)

PAGER is an unconventional horror game with a seriously creepy atmosphere, and it's proof that you don't need flashy 3D realism to achieve that. The 1-bit 3D graphics make its surreal, alienating 1990s office setting all the more unsettling.

Starting your first day on a new job, you must follow increasingly bizarre and Kafkaesque instructions that arrive on your pager. Comparison's with Apple TV's Severance are inevitable, but indie developer Bilge also cites the literature of Franz Kafka, the films of David Lynch, TV series The Prisoner and the video game The Stanley Parable as influences.

The pixelated 3D graphics and gorgeous black-and-white dithering root the game in its historical setting and also make it feel more disturbing. You have only the bare bones of information that you need to understand the scene, making the world feel familiar but mysterious and alien at the same time.

03. Sorry We're Closed

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Sorry We're Closed review; a video game scene shows a character shooting a low-texture retro style shotgun at a demon in a brown, grungy corridor
(Image credit: a la Mode Games)

Technically, this was released in 2024, but Sorry We're Closed has been one of our favourite indie horror games of the year here at Creative Bloq. It's the most gory game on this list so far, and the most traditional, but it's still very intelligently crafted.

As shop assistant Michelle, you have to escape a demonic supernatural stalker while getting over a breakup that makes the game more layered than we expected. Traps and puzzles soon suck you into an existential nightmare that unfolds in a visually striking neon-soaked retro horror world.

The game perfectly refreshes old horror game tropes with Resident Evil-styled fixed camera angles, eerie corridors, locked doors, and noises from things just off-camera that you know are going to be a problem. Our reviewer described it as a quirky blend of Silent Hill and Persona, with a dash of Paradise Killer thrown in, and rendered in a retro aesthetic that recalls PS1 horror adventures. Great stuff, and perfect for Halloween gaming.

04. Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3

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Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion III, one of the best indie horror games of 2025
(Image credit: Strange Scaffold)

Wondering what happened to the first two games in the series? Don't worry, they don't exist. This zany indie horror game is about the making of a sequel to a fictional game series, complete with its own lore and development team.

Described as a match-3 survival horror comedy RPG metroidvania, the game is a visual novel featuring a protagonist who discovers he's in the latest video game in a big franchise that's been cancelled. His journey through the mansion thus becomes a journey into the code to try to finish the game from inside it.

You make dialogue choices to explore different story branches, while tasks like fighting the dinosaurs are resolved with match 3 versus puzzles. Resources gained can be used for moves, requiring resource management. A horror game about game development might sound like meta navel gazing, but it turns out to be refreshingly honest, and it's wild ride with a lot of humour and some scares along the way. Many devs will be able to relate.

05. The Flayed Man

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The Flayed Man, one of the best indie horror games of 2025
(Image credit: Snoring Dog Games)

Clive Barker fans should enjoy The Flayed Man, a game that proves the limitations of pixel art don't have to mean toning down the gore factor in a horror game. This free and very bloody game doesn't take up a lot of time, requiring only around an hour to complete, but it leaves an impression that will last a lot longer.

It's a game of redemption in which you play as a condemned sinner who wakes up with no recall of his past transgressions (and no skin) and who must escape purgatory by convincing the jailer he deserves forgiveness. First, you have to recover your tongue and then solve escape-room puzzles and pass judgement on others. This brings in moral and philosophical themes that make the game surprisingly deep for a free release.

06. Tormented Souls 2

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Tormented Souls 2, one of the best indie horror games
(Image credit: Dual Effect)

Horror is one genre where I'm often happy to accept a few clichés. The original Tormented Souls was an intelligent take on the classic survival horror genre with fixed camera angles and narrow corridors. Now the Chilean developer Dual Effect is back with a sleeker-looking follow up – and just in time to play this Halloween.

The release date is still two days away at the time of writing, but I'm including this based on the strong demo alone. You play as Caroline Walker again, this time exploring the remains of a former spa called Villa Hess. Here you'll need to solve puzzles, use improvised weapons and bend the fabric of reality to save your sister from a twisted cult. Made in Unreal Engine 5, this indie horror game is a clear visual upgrade from its predecessor with impeccable lighting and animations.

07. Sharks and Minnows

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Sharks and Minnows, one of the best indie horror games
(Image credit: Collin)

Sharks aren't your usual Halloween monsters, but they inspire terror in many, and this low-fi indie from developer Collin’s Game Company leverages that in a wonderfully simple game. You find yourself trapped in a spookily empty leisure centre and the only way to escape is to swim while a shark – and then other dangers patrol.

The minimalist art style contributes to an atmospheric setting with a liminal feel. The idea is taken much further than you could probably imagine, while generating some jump scares along the way.

08. It Has My face

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It Has My Face, one of the best indie horror games
(Image credit: NightByte Games)

Identity theft is a very contemporary real-world fear, and It Has My Face explores that in a creepily literal way. You play as a protagonist who discovers that their face is being worn by someone else and must hunt down the clone.

Described by our sister site PC Gamer as a blend of Guess Who meets Hitman, this first-person horror roguelite is a short game in which flat pixel art in a 3D environment plays a big part in creating a disturbing feeling of unease and paranoia.

Have a favourite horror game that I missed? Let me know in the comments below. And if you're looking for bargains, don't miss the massive PlayStation 5 game deals at Amazon right now.

Joe Foley
Joe Foley
Freelance journalist and editor

Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.

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