The 10 scariest free horror games you can play.

Indie developers have been gravitating towards horror games for years now. There are a couple of reasons for it - one prominent one is that jumpscares are an easy way to find yourself on a YouTuber's channel and gain some notoriety that way. However, there are a couple of free indie horror games that go one step beyond to truly stand out. Here are a list of ten of the scariest ones.

10. Do You Copy

Do You Copy is a rare horror game in that you don't really see a monster. In fact, most of the horror comes from your interactions with the victim it's stalking. What's really terrifying is that during some routes, the monster will emulate the victim and try to get you to reveal yourself, and if you do, you'll finally see it right before it kills you. It's a very competent psychological horror game.

9. Yume Nikki

Yume Nikki is one of the most famous RPG Maker horror games around, and for very good reason. It has some of the most surreal visuals in any medium of game, never mind horror RPG maker games. The unique settings are all incredibly unsettling and the story really hammers in the fact that it's a psychological horror game about a little girl.

8. The Crooked Man

Another famous RPG Maker psychological horror game where you have to go through multiple locales to learn more about the titular Crooked Man. Each and every location will build on the intrigue and the creeps until you finally get to the heartfelt finale. It leans a little too hard into jumpscares, but it's a genuinely spooky experience even aside from those.

7. Mad Father

Mad Father is the last psychological horror RPG Maker game on this list, we swear. It's based around the classic premise where an experiment has gone wrong and the area is flooded with zombies. There's still an emotional core at the center of all this regarding the relationship between the main character and her father. It's definitely worth playing through.

6. Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning

Baldi's Basics is one of those horror games that rely on how it subverts your expectations and how everything is just generally incredibly off and wrong. From the scratched out and incredibly unsettling art style to how Baldi loudly slaps his ruler in his hand to constantly jumpscare you, this game is one of the most surprisingly effective horror games out there.

5. Cry of Fear

Cry of Fear is one of the most well-known Source horror mods out there. It has a ton of unique gameplay mechanics such as having your phone be important for storytelling while also being limited on battery life. That, on top of the legitimate horror that this mod throws at you, easily sets it above even most AAA horror games.

4. SCP: Containment Breach

SCP: Containment Breach is one of the best games based on the famously horrifying SCP universe. This game has you navigating through a bunch of horrors from the SCP universe all with their own unique rules, like having to stare at something without blinking or you'll die or a zombie creator who can walk through walls.

3. SCP: Secret Laboratory

SCP: Secret Laboratory is what happens when you take Containment Breach and slapping multiplayer on it. Of course, this is a lot less horrifying if you play with friends and the extensive voice chat can lead to silly moments more often than not, but having to deal with monsters that are controlled by people can be one of the most horrifying experiences around.

2. Doki Doki Literature Club

If you somehow haven't played this game or have been spoiled by now, then you should definitely give Doki Doki Literature Club a shot. Just be forewarned that it very much is a horror game.

1. The Thirstiest Time of the Year

The Thirstiest Time of the Year may sound and be designed as a joke, but as I've mentioned before, it's actually surprisingly well designed in many ways. It's a short game, so you should definitely give it a shot.

And that's it! We hope you found some new games to try out from this list.