16 Indie Horror Games To Pick Up During The Steam Halloween Sale
12) Darkwood – $5.99
Darkwood feels like a game from another era. It’s a huge compliment. It feels like the natural conclusion of that golden age of Flash games where people were just making weird shit. You’d see all kinds of top-down shooters, adventure games, and horror point-and-clicks coming out on sites like Newgrounds. While that trend died a long time ago, Darkwood feels like one of those games taken to the natural conclusion; if those creators just kept going and improving, Darkwood would have been the result. An indie title made by a passionate group, Darkwood is an open-world scavenging game mixed with base defense. Explore by day, hunker down and survive by night. All set in a world that gives Silent Hill a run for its money. If you’re willing to take a plunge into the world of “different,” you can’t go wrong with Darkwood.
11) Stifled – Echolocation Horror Mystery – $15.99
Stifled is one of those indie games that feels like it was made to win awards at IndieCade. It’s a psychological horror game about someone with a twisted past. It has microphone support, so that you can use your own voice as the echolocation device. It’s VR optional. And to top it all off, it looks like it was made for the oscilloscope. And yet, it still just works. The concept is so simple and effective, presentation so unique, that Stifled sticks with you. In a horror market constantly trying to find new ways to scare you, Stifled does so intelligently and effectively.
10) Stories Untold – $2.49
Linking screenshots from Stories Untold is a bit of a conundrum, since they all are framed like promotional photos. I can assure you, that is not a real picture. That is just how the game looks. A series of static environments with minimal traversal, Stories Untold is basically a puzzle game. Each puzzle has its own story and basic gameplay mechanics. Broken down into a series of “episodes,” each level is its own thing. Until it’s not. It’s one of those games where everything seems to be one thing at first, before bleeding into itself and revealing a whole new picture. Was that too confusing? Good, play the game and figure it out. It’s far more satisfying to experience than just talk about.
9) The Void – $2.49
In The Void, you are dead. No use whining about it. Luckily, you’ve been given a brief respite from total oblivion thanks to a spark of Color. You now exist to serve the whims of the Brothers, nightmarish ghouls who horde color and feed it to the beautiful eternal Sisters. It seems like your lot is to briefly assist in this eternal balancing act before your color drains and you are forever consigned to oblivion. However, you do have one trick up your sleeve. You have access to a garden, where color grows. It’s up to you to decide if you wish to use this color to challenge the Brothers, free the Sisters, and unlock the secrets of The Void. Featuring permadeath, gigantic bosses, and multiple unbeatable game-states, The Void redefines your definition of a “hard” game. if you can wrap your head around the obtuse premise and bizarre gameplay, The Void is an adventure unlike any other.
