I don’t believe anyone hasn’t heard of Resident Evil, it’s a scary adventure. Resident Evil and Silent Hill are really scary and make your heart beat faster. If you want to experience a quiet horror atmosphere or mystery, then you should not miss puzzle games combined with horror elements in this article.
By the way, if you want to find other types of puzzle games and Steam coupon codes, check out CouponBirds’ collection of the 10 best puzzle games of all time. You can find puzzle games that are different from atmospheric horror, and you can check the difficulty level of each game and whether it has horror elements, which is very friendly to novice players.
- Little Nightmares – Child Nightmares Adventure
Source: SteamPowered.com
Little Nightmares is a puzzle-platform horror adventure game. Little Nightmares follows the journey of Six, a hungry little girl who must escape the Maw, an iron vessel inhabited by monsters. It has a tense atmosphere and deep meaning without deliberately rendering horror effects.
The graphics and composition of each room are exquisite, which is very similar to the scene of our childhood nightmares. The tall furniture, the dark bottom of the bed and the bottom of the cabinet are our best hiding places.
A small lighter brings limited brilliance, making the unknown darkness even more terrifying. If you play with a controller, you will feel that the vibration is synchronized with the sound of heartbeat, making the atmosphere tense and your palms sweating unknowingly.
- Price on Steam: $19.99
- Platform: Windows PC
- Release Date: Apr, 2017
- Storage: 10 GB
- The Past Within – 2 Player Co-op & Affordable
Source: VoxelSmash.com
Puzzle & horror games from Rusty Lake are grotesque. You must have heard of their cube escape and rusty lake series. You’ll be surprised or shocked by something that goes against the grain.
The Past Within is their latest two-player co-op puzzle game. Both players need to purchase to play together, and there must be a way for players to communicate to each other to describe the clues of the puzzle, such as an online call (the most efficient).
3 modes, each with a choice of past and future, for a total of 6 puzzles that can be explored repeatedly to unlock achievements. You need to assign who is from the past and who is from the future with another player. The two people from the past and the future search for clues in the room they are in and help each other complete the puzzles.
The funniest part is that your friend might yell over the phone “Oh, god. This shadow is crawling. Give me clues!” Because solving the puzzle will lead to another scene, rid of the shadow.
- Price on Steam: $5.99
- Platform: Windows PC
- Release Date: Nov, 2022
- Storage: 1 GB
- Fireworks – Chinese Themes & Strong Storytelling
Source: SteamPowered.com
Firework is a mystery puzzle game with local Chinese themes. The story takes place in a remote mountain village, where an accidental fire at a funeral involves a closed case of the massacre. The player guides the role of a rookie policeman and re-investigates the case by chance. As the investigation deepens, the victim’s past slowly emerges, and he approaches the truth.
The game has received rave reviews on Steam, the biggest reason is the strong storytelling and player engagement. For non-native Chinese players, the special cultural background of the game can add an ominous atmosphere, making it impressive. Firework has no sudden scares, but creates a strong atmosphere with unique graphics and Chinese elements. It’s not a happy ending, but to show the truth and reflect the absurdity of the real world.
The only downside is that if you don’t understand Chinese culture, it’s hard not only to remember Chinese names, but also to understand the historical significance of signs on village walls. It is highly recommended that you learn the cultural background after completing the game.
- Price on Steam: $9.99 (Free demo on Steam is available)
- Platform: Windows PC
- Release Date: Feb , 2021
- Storage: 4 GB
- Facility 47 – Lonely World Of Ice And Snow
Source: SteamPowered.com
Facility 47, a point & click adventure, originally came out in 2014 on mobile platforms, made its way to PC a bit later, and to Steam in 2020. It’s a very niche game with less than 100 reviews.
At a research facility in Antarctica, everyone seems to have disappeared. You wake up and find yourself in a locked cell with only a letter and a bottle full of pills beside you. You’ll solve various puzzles and find out what happened by reading journal entries, emails and such. But finally found out the truth, you connected the radio and got in touch with the outside world: “Is any people there?” The other party asked over and over again. You fell silent.
The graphics are beautiful, depicting a dilapidated and lonely world of ice and snow. Also, music provides a gloomy atmosphere. If you like to explore quietly, enjoy loneliness, and don’t like too prominent horror elements, you can try this game.
- Price on Steam: $4.99
- Platform: Windows PC
- Release Date: Apr, 2014
- Storage: 512 MB
- Inside – Dark style & Shocking Ending
Source: SteamPowered.com
The two games produced by PlayDead, Inside is the sequel of Limbo, both are dark style. In contrast, Inside has improved on the basis of Limbo, and the ending is super shocking. It has been critically acclaimed for its moody art style, ambient soundtrack and unsettling atmosphere.
The two games are very similar to each other, and instead of being scared, you are gradually overtaken by despair, gloom, and unease. Here’s what you experience as a player.
“The journey along the way is like being arranged by someone. Although I have my own independent consciousness, the path I choose is within the expectations of those onlookers. It was as if I was just a white mouse trying to end up repeating the same mistakes. The cameras along the way monitored me, and all behaviors were expected. There was no freedom at all.”
- Price on Steam: $19.99
- Platform: Windows PC, Mac OS
- Release Date: Jul , 2016
- Storage: 3 GB