Best Nintendo Switch Horror Games
Are you troubled by strange noises in the middle of the night? Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic? Have you or your family ever seen a spook, spectre, or ghost? If the answer is “no”… you obviously haven’t been playing any of the excellent horror games on Nintendo Switch.
There’s no shortage of scary games on the console, but you may well be wondering which are the best Switch horror games to load up when you’re in the house alone on a darkened night and in the mood for a fright.
We’ve rounded up a list of the best scary Switch games — in no particular order — to get your pulse racing. Not all of them are outright horror games, but each one of these titles is a spooky treat in its own way. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
Little Nightmares II (Switch)
We quite enjoyed the original Little Nightmares, but the sequel — the appropriately titled Little Nightmares II — is the pick of the pair in our book. It’s nothing less than engaging from start to finish, with superb pacing, entertainingly varied level design, and excellent graphics and performance.
Its only real flaws are based on the imprecision that comes with all games in its sub-genre, as well as a few sections that feel more about trial-and-error than reactive survival. In our view, though, this doesn’t detract from a far superior sequel and one of the best cinematic platformers we’ve had the privilege of enjoying. A real stylish treat.
Resident Evil Revelations Collection (Switch)
This series is granddaddy of survival horror games, so it’s obviously going to feature on this list. Resident Evil Revelations Collection combines both the original 3DS title Revelations and Revelations 2 (although the sequel is a download code if you buy physical, so beware) and provides some excellent over-the-shoulder scares.
Both are available separately on the eShop and the latter is ideal for co-op if you have a friend. In fact, we’d recommend you bring someone else along – it might be less scary that way.
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Layers of Fear: Legacy (Switch eShop)
Layers of Fear: Legacy is a horrifying walking simulator in which you have to explore the house of a mad painter.
The scares are psychological here, and even a simple pan of the camera can alter the environment considerably. You’ll be terrified to take a simple step in this artistic mind-messer; the creativity in its scares helps to keep you guessing about what’s around every corner, and even then, its unique set-pieces will most certainly surprise you anyway.
Slightly lacklustre gameplay aside, the plot’s descent into madness and the title’s dedication to messing with your expectations to set up a scare mean that this horrific experience is one you won’t want to miss out on.
Observer (Switch eShop)
Despite threatening to fizzle under the weight of its reverence for Blade Runner, Observer manages to craft an impressive and affecting horror experience on Switch that doesn’t outstay its welcome. It’s arguably at its best when you surrender to the barrage of imagery and sounds rather than scanning pools of blood with detective vision.
This port walks a technical tightrope and falters a little in docked mode, but fares much better as a handheld experience – its ambition and rich world-building are admirable enough to make up for any technical shortcomings.
As for the scare factor, well, everyone’s going to have their own personal scale when it comes to what makes you moisten your trousers, but if dread, unease, and a total lack of predictability sound like your cup of tea, you could be looking forward to a long, sleepless night after playing this one.
Outlast: Bundle of Terror (Switch eShop)
The original Outlast: Bundle of Terror proved that indie developers can do survival horror – and do it well. You play as the freelance journalist Miles Upshur, who decides to stop writing about Brexit and new-age diets and go looking for a story inside a long-abandoned asylum. However, it might not be quite as abandoned as it looks…
If you like the original there’s also Outlast 2 to consider. It takes place in the same universe as the original, but has you playing as a husband and wife investigative journalists Blake and Lynn Langermann. Armed with only a camera, you have to investigate the mysterious death of an unknown pregnant woman. Nothing can go wrong there, surely?
Both Outlast games are must-have experiences for those who love to be scared witless, although the first one is perhaps the best. Still, the sequel is worth a look when you’re finished filling your unmentionables with…fear.
Limbo (Switch eShop)
Limbo is a brilliantly moody and expertly poised platform-puzzler that tells a harrowing story entirely without the use of words. It might be a little stark, but it’s dense with ingenious physics puzzles and weighty platforming challenges.
It’s pretty powerful stuff, and your imagination will run wild at what it all means. Oh, and there’s an absolutely massive spider to contend with. That provides more than enough horror to earn its place here.
Detention (Switch eShop)
Detention is a horror classic that deserves a place on your Nintendo Switch. Its story has an important message behind it as it introduces themes that seem almost unfair when viewed through the eyes of a child, but that only helps to escalate the horror.
Through a terrifying atmosphere, a series of chilling ghouls, and a soundtrack that will sink its teeth into you, Detention is a suitably horrifying title that should be experienced first-hand.
Dark Souls: Remastered (Switch)
Dark Souls: Remastered might not be a strict horror game, but it’s packing plenty of frights nonetheless. This is a faithful remaster of a touchstone in video game design that improves overall performance while preserving all of the character traits that made the original such a memorable experience.
While it’s no less forgiving — and its menus are a little fiddly — this slick Nintendo Switch iteration offers the only way to experience Lordran’s ultra-challenging odyssey in true handheld form. Between the daunting difficulty, horrific monsters, and a claustrophobic dark setting, Dark Souls will have you as tense as a night spent in a haunted house. Enter, if you dare!
Death Mark (Switch)
Death Mark‘s mystical horror setting presents itself as an exploratory adventure game, and much of your time will be spent wandering around a single predetermined location trying to find clues and objects that will help solve the case and quell the spirit’s thirst for revenge without getting yourself killed in the process.
It’s a rare game that can start off tense and then continuously ratchet up the mood to almost unbearable levels until the final moments of the final chapter – and an even rarer one that has enough alternative characters, dialogue, and endings to make it worth playing through more than once – but Death Mark succeeds where it really counts.
There’s plenty on offer here for both horror fans as well as those looking for a mystery that requires more than hoarding knick-knacks and waiting patiently for your character to officially notice something before you can proceed.
Resident Evil Origins Collection (Switch)
The first Resident Evil remains a classic of the genre. In many ways, it is – and can only ever be – a product of its time, though. Even when tuned and honed and buffed to perfection, it has its own idiosyncratic personality and ways; change them and you change the game. Series veterans will know what to expect, but new players should prepare themselves for a schooling in game mechanics which have largely fallen out of fashion.
The same applies to Resident Evil 0, and while the original game is the obvious draw here, the prequel deserves another look, especially for fans who skipped it. Both games look great on Switch and the ability to play on-the-go helps alleviate some of the frustrations inherent to their old-fashioned systems, giving them the best possible opportunity to win you over in a modern context.
Both are available separately on the eShop, and if you buy physical you’ll still have to download REmake via a code regardless. Ultimately, there’s no better way to sample that original survival horror formula in 2019, provided you’ve got the stomach — and the space on your system memory — for it.
Darkwood (Switch eShop)
Darkwood is, thankfully, rather unlike any other horror game on Switch. Those with a taste for survival games will appreciate the constant pressure to salvage parts and craft new items while a clock ticks down in the background, while those with a love for all things sinister will really appreciate some of the truly disturbing moments.
Despite the occasional technical flaw, the result is a purposefully slow experience that rewards multiple playthroughs with a storyline that branches depending on just how far into madness you’re willing to tread.
Amnesia: Collection (Switch eShop)
Despite being a set that includes three entries in the same series, the Amnesia: Collection actually offers three very distinct experiences.
The Dark Descent is a milestone for the genre that belies its own mechanical issues by offering some good, old-fashioned scares. Justine is a brief but experimental foray into gruesome puzzle-solving that’s well worth the detour, and A Machine for Pigs takes a more stripped-down approach to the original’s systems, but introduces a much more immersive story as a result.
It’s a proper little time capsule that’s perfect for those who’ve already exhausted their fear glands with Outlast and Layers of Fear and want another means to chill their blood on a cold, dark winter night.
Stories Untold (Switch eShop)
Stories Untold is a chilling adventure that manages to draw us right into its world through the ingenious use of its UI and perfectly realised lo-fi aesthetic.
Through the walls of old technology and complicated machinery, it creates a uniquely strong bond between player and narrative, giving you a real sense of place within its world as it slowly corrupts and twists from the comfortingly familiar to something else entirely.
It’s one of the best interactive horror stories we’ve ever played and a perfect fit for enjoying alone in the dark on Switch.
Alien: Isolation (Switch eShop)
Alien: Isolation is a survival horror masterpiece and straight-up one of the very best horror video games ever released.
It’s a nerve-wracking affair – a slow, methodical game of cat and mouse against a brilliantly clever recreation of one of cinema’s most infamous killers – but if you’re up to the task you’ll find one of the most satisfying gameplay experiences in the genre; a brilliant and beautiful homage to one of the greatest Sci-Fi movies of all time.
Feral Interactive has done a stellar job with this Switch port and the excellent motion controls and inclusion of all previously-released DLC only go to sweeten the deal. This is essential stuff for survival horror fans.
Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins (Switch eShop)
Featuring the absolutely terrifying Weeping Angels – best known for the episode “Blink”, to which this game is a direct sequel – Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins is very probably the best Doctor Who game ever made.
While you may not put the iconic (and occasionally janky) British sci-fi show in the horror genre, the pervasive influence of the aforementioned villainous statues and some quite frankly excellent writing make this ‘found phone’ game genuinely frightening in places. Perhaps not enough to make you weep, but certainly sufficient to have you drop your Switch due to a jump scare. Be careful!
The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season (Switch eShop)
Whether you played this back in 2012, or are completely new to the series, Telltale’s The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season is a masterpiece of video game storytelling. It features some of the best voice-over performances you’ll find on any gaming platform and sets the stage for a grand, multi-season odyssey of tragic proportions.
However, this is also a satisfying and poignant collection even if you never play the subsequent episodes. Even if you lost patience with Rick Grimes and TV series adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comic books, this remains an incredible interactive adaptation of Kirkman’s world of walkers.
Carrion (Switch eShop)
Carrion is a special thing in many ways — a game which puts you in the shoes (or slithering eldritch tentacles) of the game’s ‘boss’ — but its actual meat-and-potatoes structure is as formulaic as the genre gets.
Thankfully, its core gameplay of tearing room after room of people into wet chunks of corpse never ever gets old and sustains the experience throughout. It looks superb, sounds great, and is plenty of fun to play, despite some minor issues which just hold Carrion back from the absolute upper echelons of the Switch library.
Still, if you’re after a horrific Metroidvania with a twist, this one is disgustingly intriguing.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water (Switch eShop)
There’s a lot to like about Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water (known as Project Zero in Europe). While we didn’t find it overly scary, it is very good indeed at being eerie. You’ll see ghosts out of the corner of your eye and when you check, they’ll be gone. It’s oddly cosy and non-stressful for a horror game, because your camera is such an efficient weapon and the combat it propagates is too action-packed to really let any dread sink in.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though we found the earlier PlayStation 2 instalments of the series were more interested in actively frightening the player. Get absorbed in the storyline — which is easy to do as the episodic structure makes “just one more area” a compelling prospect — and you’ll find this game’s a real winner and worth snapping up if you’re a horror fan who missed it on Wii U.
Dying Light Platinum Edition (Switch)
While there are some undeniable hardware limitations, Dying Light Platinum Edition nonetheless translates the full survival horror experience in all its undead glory to the Switch with impressive results and stands as quite a remarkable achievement.
Its ambitious open world full of zombies is unlike anything else in the Switch’s library and, between the core campaign and six years of constant DLC updates, there’s potentially hundreds of hours of enjoyment to be had here.
Granted, all of this comes at the cost of performance that can be middling compared to other platforms, but this is neatly balanced out by the convenience of playing in handheld mode. If you like your scares diluted with a healthy dose of open-world action, this is the game for you.
Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Switch)
Okay, we’ve gone from horror to ‘horror-themed’ here, but Luigi’s Mansion 3 is not only a graphical powerhouse and showcase for Next Level Games’ unrivalled mastery of video game animation, but it’s also an immense helping of spooky fun as well.
The amount of care and consideration poured into every facet of the game is abundantly clear, and it all results in one of the most enjoyable and attractive Switch titles of the year. It’s also the undisputed high point of a franchise which – following this sterling release – will hopefully get even more love and attention from Nintendo fandom, and the gaming community as a whole.
We know what you’re thinking, and no, it’s definitely not exactly an outright horror game, but if you’re after a spooky title that you can play with the kids, Luigi’s Mansion 3 is perfect.
Inside (Switch eShop)
Inside is the spiritual successor to Limbo, and it builds on its predecessor in every imaginable way possible. A grimly beautiful platform-puzzler that, while brief, is packed full of jaw-dropping highlights, its dark tone won’t be for everyone, but it’s all been executed brilliantly, with gently taxing physics-based conundrums woven into a haunting wordless narrative.
It’s a very similar game to its predecessor in many ways, with side-scrolling elements, a gorgeous, moody art style, and a vulnerable protagonist at the heart of it. Everything’s just bigger, better, and way more affecting.
Signalis (Switch eShop)
Signalis came out of nowhere to provide survival horror fans a near-perfect love letter to the long-running genre. It is at its best when you’re darting between enemies, using stealth and patience rather than brute force. While some of the combat encounters felt a little forced, the puzzles are just the right mix of challenging and approachable.
The surreal imagery and unique storytelling structure here add to the overall polish of a game that is the perfect length for what it is. There have been an awful lot of homages to classic survival horror, but Signalis stands as one of the best.
Afterdream (Switch eShop)
Afterdream is a trippy puzzle game that takes all the iconic hallmarks of classic survival horror games (minus the survival part) and crams them into a cute yet entirely unsettling package. The game makes great use of the camera mechanic to reveal secrets and scares, and while it doesn’t go quite as freakishly horrifying as we’d perhaps like, the overarching atmosphere more than makes up for this.
If you’re after something spooky that’s not going to outright scare the living daylights out of you, then this is definitely one to check out.
Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered (Switch)
Another entry that’s more spoopy than genuinely spooky, we could hardly exclude the ‘busters, could we!?
Your enjoyment of Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered will depend almost entirely on your affection for the movies – we love ’em (and we’re more than happy to rigorously defend Ghostbusters II if you want to hear us bang on about it for an hour down the pub), so this game is a wonderful form of time travel.
Mechanically speaking, there’s little you haven’t seen elsewhere, but it’s a good-looking, fun third-person romp dripping in slimy spooks and nostalgia, and the chance to spend time in the company of these old friends – some of them dearly departed – is too good to pass up if you’ve ever strapped on your school backpack and gone out to catch ghosts in the garden.
Need even more nostalgic paranormal entrapment in your life? We’ve got you covered…
Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed – Ecto Edition (Switch)
Launching on Switch a year after its debut on other platforms, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed – Ecto Edition douses its thoroughly serviceable online 4v1 gameplay in positively charged psychomagnotheric nostalgia slime.
From small touches in the visuals to snippets of dialogue, the detail and care that has gone into recreating the Ghostbusters’ world here makes you forgive the occasional visual glitch and basic, predictable plot.
If ‘busting makes you feel good, you’ll have a great time with this one, even if it’s not strictly a ‘horror’ game in the blood-curdling, spine-tingling sense.
You made it? Well done. Here we’ll answer some common questions readers have when it comes to getting your scares with Switch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Nintendo have any horror games?
Nintendo itself? Hmm, not really. As you can see above, the Switch console hosts plenty of horror games, but Luigi’s Mansion is the closest thing Nintendo itself has to a horror franchise of its own, and that’s most definitely a kid-friendly spookfest. An excellent series, but not one that’s going to genuinely scare you. Famicom Detective Club has some unsettling moments, but it’s not a horror game per se.
Nintendo has published several scary games in the past, though, including Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water on Wii U (the Switch port was published by Koei Tecmo, though) and the genuinely terrifying Eternal Darkness on GameCube. The platform holder retains the IP rights to Eternal Darkness, so it’s possible — if unlikely — that Nintendo could return to ‘proper’ horror again sometime in the future.
More recently, Nintendo launched Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club on the Switch which, thanks to its creepy initial marketing, led many to believe that it would be a full-fledged horror game. As it is, it’s a pretty standard detective adventure title, albeit with some horror elements attached.
