5 New and Upcoming Indie Horror Games to Give Yourself the Spooks

5 New and Upcoming Indie Horror Games to Give Yourself the Spooks

It's nearly time for the holidays, and what better way to tell your friends or family that you love them by giving them a video game that will scare them so much they won’t be able to sleep at night?

The catch for this round is that we will only be talking about indie horror games, the counter to the Triple-A market. Indie games are video games created by small development teams or individuals without financial aid or support from major publishers. Given how small some of these game studios are, they rely on word of mouth for promotion, namely, through YouTube. Some don’t even have their own websites and can only be found through the online gaming platform, Steam.

Although these games are at a much smaller scale than Triple-A, don’t be deceived! Some of the best video games on the market are dominated by indie games, like Five Nights at Freddy’s, Cuphead, and Palworld. These games are usually free or much cheaper than Triple-A, as they are made with no ulterior motive but a love for video games. 

Mouthwashing

We’re not pulling any punches for this list, and to signify that, we are starting with a game that is sure to get your skin crawling in more ways than you thought possible. 

Fair warning: you're going to need a strong stomach for this one.

Mouthwashing is an absolutely vile game in the best way possible, a true testament to what horror games can be when they are not limited by publishers. This is a game determined to make you unnerved and tell a forbidden story that could only be done in this format.

Developed by Wrong Organ and published by CRITICAL REFLEX, Mouthwashing is a short narrative experience overflowing with psychological and bodily horror, lightly peppered with elements of the surreal and disturbing, stylized in a vintage retro aesthetic. You may even find some aspects of the game ironically humorous if you are slightly disturbed, but then again, who isn’t?

Wrong Organ is a relatively new indie studio, having started its operations in 2022 with only one other game currently under its belt, How Fish Is Made. Only two games in their catalog, and they have already solidified themselves as a development “dev” team that is not afraid to get uncomfortable with its subject matter or weird– and I mean really weird. Their games really are far more akin to reading comic books than playing an actual video game.

Mouthwashing isn’t so much a game as it is a piece of artwork, a walking simulator with some slight puzzle-solving sprinkled in between. A game that tells you the compelling story of the twilight crew of the Tulpar spaceship. It is a story carried by complicated individuals trying to make the best of a terrible situation.

I cannot overstate this enough: while the story Mouthwashing tells is one of the best-written psychological horrors I’ve seen in a while, it is NOT for the faint of heart. If you feel in any way that this kind of game is too much to handle at the moment, please skip it. As the Steam page likes to not-so-subtly warn us, “In space, God is not watching.”

Mouthwashing was released earlier this year on September 26 and has been met with glowing reviews and overwhelmingly positive feedback. It is available to play on Windows. 

Echoes of the Living

Here’s a blast from the past! Echoes of the Living is an upcoming horror game that takes the word classic to a whole new level.

Inspired by the Golden Age of survival horror, the 90s, Echoes of the Living is a true-to-its-form retro game fitted with tank controls, fixed camera angles, and more! The game takes massive inspiration from classic survival horror titles like the original Resident Evil and Silent Hill trilogies, attracting many classic and modern gamers to its Steam page.

Developed and published by MoonGlint, a first time dev team, not much is known yet about the game, as it is still fairly early in its development. A few trailers have been released, but other than a handful of progress reports, it’s been a slow cycle.

We also don’t know that much about the story yet except that we, the player, are trapped in a zombie-infested town and are tasked with escaping and uncovering the mystery behind the outbreak. Again, pretty classical story setup.

Gamers are hoping that Echoes of the Living will live up to the Golden Age of survival horror and come complete with an oppressive atmosphere, haunting soundtrack, and, of course, terrifying zombies! But hopefully, the notoriously terrible voice acting that was also attached to the genre will stay in the past.

Echoes of the Living does not have a set release date yet but is aiming for 2025. It will be available first on Windows, with plans to be released later on consoles. 

The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, Episode 3: Burial/Decay

Here is a game that is as famous as it is infamous. The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is a humble little horror game made by a single person, “Nemlei,” in Role-Playing Games (RPG) Maker. An episodic experience, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, released episode 1 in March 2023 and episode 2 later in October.

The game quickly gained traction for its beautiful art style; the characters, backgrounds, and cutscenes were all drawn by hand using no existing presets like most RPG Maker games. However, what really made this game stand out was its story.

The narrative follows the titular characters Andrew (Andy) and Ashley (Leyley), two siblings trapped in an extremely abusive and unhealthy relationship with each other. The game was praised nationally for its uncensored depiction of a toxic relationship between two individuals who continue to thrive off each other's misery and its commentary on taboo subjects like abuse, trauma, and dysfunctional families.

Despite its serious subject matter, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, is also a game that isn’t afraid to show a “lighter” side to this story in the aspect of dark humor. From the in-universe insurance company promoting euthanasia as the new miracle cure to the game itself calling you a “dumb bastard” for refusing to save the game, the dark humor ensures you never take the game too seriously. It is edgy, and it’s not about to apologize for it.

Unfortunately, a game this unprecedented is also bound to attract some negative attention. The third entry of the series was delayed several times due to ongoing harassment and dox attacks targeting Nemlei and her family. 

After a long break from the lunatics lurking on Twitter, Nemlei returned earlier this year with news about the progress of episode 3 and announced it would be released on Windows by the end of this year or beginning of next year.

While The Coffin of Andy and Leyley isn’t nearly as graphic as something like Mouthwashing, I would still promote caution if you are not in an ideal mental state. 

PALEOPHAGE

If it wasn’t obvious already, I consider myself an aficionado of horror games. Even when I’m playing the best of the best horror can provide in gaming, I often think to myself, What can make it better?

What can make the eldritch monsters in Amnesia more terrifying? Or the atmosphere in Resident Evil 2 more suffocating? Or even overrule the disturbing visuals of Outlast? What's one thing all of these games have in common that they are missing?

Then it hit me.

Dinosaurs.

None of them have any dinosaurs!

Dinosaurs have so much potential as horror game antagonists, yet they are hardly ever utilized, much less used effectively. Hell, the only halfway decent scary dinosaur game we have on the market is Dino Crisis, and that game came out in 1999! For some reason, developers really struggle to make dinosaurs scary, and the niche genre of prehistoric horror has been on the decline because of this.

However, there is a new game on the horizon that may just be the dinosaur horror game we’ve been praying for. PALEOPHAGE advertises itself as a dinosaur survival horror experience much akin to the holy grail of dino-horror, Dino Crisis. The game also takes a lot of inspiration from Resident Evil 2 in that the game can be completed with two different characters at different times, which alters the experience depending on who you play as first. Using two of the best survival horror games as a framework and a whole lot of ambition, PALEOPHAGE is a game that is sure not to go extinct anytime soon!

At this time, not much has been revealed about the story except that it will take place in urban Wisconsin and that a mysterious supernatural force called the “Paleophage” is behind the reliving dinos. Every step you take will be tracked by something predatory, waiting for the perfect chance to ambush and swallow you whole. The only way to survive is to put that delicious human brain of yours to good use and find creative ways to outsmart the dinosaurs and conserve as many resources as possible.

However, what I found especially intriguing about this prehistoric horror was its inclusion of more than just dinosaurs. We will see all manner of prehistoric beasts, including the monstrous insects that once plagued the earth. If the razor-sharp teeth and claws aren’t what get you running, it will be the countless spindly legs of poisonous centipedes and killer dragonflies. Just thinking about the monster millipede and supersized scorpion gives me the shivers!

PALEOPHAGE is being developed by first-time game studio LogDev and has yet to announce an official release date, aiming for the end of 2024. Progress updates have been scarce, but a new trailer just dropped, showing off more of what's to come! PALEOPHAGE will be available on Windows and PS5. 

Little Nightmares III

Last but certainly not least, we have the return of an oldie but a goodie. The third main installment of the critically acclaimed and beloved Little Nightmares series is bound for release soon, and, with its strained development cycle laid bare for all to see, this game has a lot to live up to.

Little Nightmares I and II are absolutely phenomenal horror games and are considered cult classics of the modern gaming era, a Studio Ghibli-inspired horror game that mimics stop-motion and claymation styles of early animation with an atmospheric puzzle game of hide-and-seek between children and the monstrous adults who have a mad craving for supple child flesh.

After the completion of the second game, Tarsier Studios announced that they weren’t going to be making any more Little Nightmares and instead were going to move on to other games. However, later that year, Tarsier also announced that they would be giving the franchise rights over to another gaming studio—Supermassive Games—a Triple-A developer that makes many gamers around the world cringe in anticipation of what this could mean for the series.

To say Supermassive Games is a controversial studio would be an understatement. Their brand skyrocketed to stardom with the release of their first game and magnum-opus, Until Dawn, in 2015. It was a huge success, praised for its incredible graphics (way past the graphical standard at the time), solid story, and entrancing sound design.

Since then, Supermassive Games has struggled to recapture that lightning in a bottle. The reception their games received ranged from mediocre at best to boring at worst. You know it’s bad whenever YouTubers start hosting Supermassive cliché bingo nights every time a new game comes out.

Little Nightmares III, much like its predecessors, is a 3D platformer stealth game, a style of gameplay Supermassive has never done before. Not only that, but their gameplay for even their better games are notoriously dull and unrefined.

Little Nightmares III already looks aesthetically completely different from the other games in the franchise, trading the surreal, dreamlike environment that made the game famous for a grungy, punk look. Even the monsters we face in III look totally different, favoring traditional scary monsters like creepy dolls over the bizarre yet disturbingly realistic childhood fears embodied by the monsters in previous games, like the Doctor and the Teacher.

It’s not often an indie franchise moves into triple-A status, but many fans remain cautiously optimistic about this new entry. The perspective alone is something we’ve never seen before in Little Nightmares, being the first multiplayer game in the franchise. Who knows? Maybe this will be Supermassive’s first decent game since 2015!

Little Nightmares III will be available on Windows, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series S/X/1, and Nintendo Switch. A definitive release date has yet to be given and has already been delayed several times, with the latest release goal set for some time in 2025.

With that, we conclude this list of upcoming and newly released indie horror games.

Have a very merry holiday, and don’t have too many nightmares!