The Best PC Horror Games to Grab During Fanatical’s Scream Sale

Most players tend to stick to the official storefronts when buying their PC games, with Valve’s Steam Store and the Epic Games Store coming to mind as two of the most prevalent. But key resellers are another viable option for obtaining great games at a nice discount, with Fanatical being one of the more trustworthy and reliable key resellers out there. Right now, Fanatical has its annual Scream Sale running for what seems to be the remainder of October, with hundreds of excellent deals across multiple genres. But rather than look at all the games on offer that players can pick up at a discount, we’re highlighting the best horror games that players can pick up for the ongoing spooky season, with many of them down to their best-ever prices.

• Release Date — March 20, 2024
• Developer — Pieces Interactive
• Publisher — THQ Nordic
• Steam User Score — 78% (Mostly Positive)
• Price — $15.99 (Normally $39.99, 60% off)

Last year’s Alone in the Dark reboot may not have won any awards or done much to reassert the franchise’s place as survival horror royalty, but that’s not to say it’s a bad game by any stretch. In fact, Alone in the Dark is a perfectly competent survival horror experience that has some excellent puzzles and atmosphere that are only slightly held back by its somewhat lackluster combat. Truthfully, though, that’s always been the case with Alone in the Dark games, and this newest one delivers where it counts: a creepy, eldritch-horror tinged story with some great writing and a captivating mystery at its core. I wouldn’t necessarily pick it up at full price, but it’s definitely worth grabbing at just $16.

• Release Date — July 23, 2020
• Developer — Phobia Game Studio
• Publisher — Devolver Digital
• Steam User Score — 94% (Very Positive)
• Price — $4.99 (Normally $19.99, 75% off)

There are a few great horror-themed Metroidvania titles (including one later down this list), but there’s only one where the game lets you play as the villain: Carrion. Carrion is mostly an excuse to see how much carnage one shapeshifting amorphous blob can cause in a handful of hours, but man, oh man, is it fun while it lasts. And while the gore and the novelty of playing as the creature from The Blob or The Thing is the main driver behind Carrion‘s short but sweet campaign, it’s worth mentioning that it has some surprisingly deep puzzles that require you to really put all of your avatar’s abilities to good use in situational contexts. This is yet another game that’s an absolute steal at its current sale price over on Fanatical.

• Release Date — June 1, 2023
• Developer — Team17
• Publisher — Team17
• Steam User Score — 93% (Very Positive)
• Price — $4.37 (Normally $24.99, 83% off)

If you’re looking for a horror game that delivers atmosphere and tension in spades and is a little different from what you might be used to in the genre, look no further than Killer Frequency. As a late-night radio DJ in a small town, it’s up to you to save the potential victims of a deadly slasher in this amazing adventure and puzzle hybrid set in the 1980s. Killer Frequency nails the vibes and aesthetic of the slasher genre’s heyday, evoking classic films like Friday the 13th, Halloween, and A Nightmare on Elm Street, all while delivering a clever twist on choice-driven gameplay that makes multiple playthroughs an absolute necessity. Even if you don’t think you like adventure games or first-person “walking simulators”, you might find something to like about Killer Frequency.

• Release Date — April 22, 2024
• Developer — Dambuster Studios
• Publisher — Deep Silver
• Steam User Score — 77% (Mostly Positive)
• Price — $20.99 (Normally $69.99, 70% off)

Dambuster Studios’ salvaging of Dead Island 2 helped save the game from development hell, and that it actually released in a playable state is almost a miracle. It’s roughly 40-50 hours of pure dumb fun where you get to take out zombies using a wide variety of weapons and abilities, but sometimes that’s all you need. Truth be told, Dead Island 2 is really good for one playthrough, and then you’ve seen just about everything it has to offer, which makes the current deal on its Ultimate Edition (which includes some great and worthwhile DLC) a perfect chance to pick the game up if you’ve held off until now.

• Release Date — April 27, 2023
• Developer — Dimfrost Studio
• Publisher — Maximum Entertainment
• Steam User Score — 94% (Very Positive)
• Price — $4.79 (Normally $29.99, 84% off)

Gothic horror and whimsical, fairy tale-like folklore go hand-in-hand with one another (just read the original versions of Grimm’s Fairytales for confirmation), and Bramble: The Mountain King is one of the few titles that serves up that dream combination on a silver platter. In terms of its gameplay, Bramble is pretty similar to other horror-centric puzzle platformers like Little Nightmares or Limbo, but its striking visual aesthetic and heartfelt narrative cement it as a wholly original work that absolutely deserves to be played by anyone looking for an atmospheric and moody horror experience. You can even complete Bramble in just a few hours over a single sitting, which makes its current $5 price point feel adequate.

• Release Date — December 10, 2018
• Developer — David Szymanski
• Publisher — New Blood Interactive
• Steam User Score — 97% (Overwhelmingly Positive)
• Price — $5.99 (Normally $19.99, 70% off)

Of all the boomer shooters out there, Dusk is still one of the best, and it just so happens to be one of the creepiest. There are plenty of boomer shooters that incorporate horror elements into their gameplay, but Dusk is one of the few (alongside maybe Cultic) that genuinely earns the moniker of “horror shooter”, with its undeniably creepy and unsettling monster designs, underworld setting, and buckets and buckets of on-screen gore. Dusk might not be for the faint of heart, but for those of us who grew up playing classics like the original Doom and Quake, it’s about as close to an authentically old-school FPS as it gets.

• Release Date — November 15, 2023
• Developer — Kumi Souls Games
• Publisher — Playstack
• Steam User Score — 81% (Very Positive)
• Price — $16.79 (Normally $27.99, 40% off)

Both of the Blasphemous games are currently on sale over at Fanatical, and while I would highly recommend both as two of the best modern Metroidvanias, they’re only tangentially horror-related. As such, I’m instead going to highlight the criminally overlooked The Last Faith, which is about as close to a Bloodborne Metroidvania as we’ll likely ever get. The Last Faith isn’t shy about its influences from FromSoftware’s gothic horror masterpiece, but it also happens to be a strong standalone Metroidvania experience that does enough on its own to warrant adding it to your library. It’s also usually a pretty pricey Metroidvania, all things considered, which makes its current 40% off sale a great incentivizer to pick it up.

• Release Date — March 30, 2023
• Developer — Black Salt Games
• Publisher — Team17
• Steam User Score — 96% (Overwhelmingly Positive)
• Price — $10.87 (Normally $24.99, 56% off)

While it may seem like just about everyone with an interest in horror has played Dredge, it’s surprising how many people you’ll come across who have yet to play this eldritch fishing simulator. Dredge is an interesting combination between an honest-to-goodness fishing game (and a good one, at that) with a Lovecraftian survival horror experience, and it nails both of those disparate halves so well that it’s hard to put down once you get started. Dredge is easily worth its asking price on any given day, but at its current sale price of just $10, it’s a must-buy title for any Steam library. Just don’t be surprised when you can’t stop thinking about it long after you’ve put it down.

• Release Date — June 21, 2023
• Developer — Trepang Studios
• Publisher — Team17
• Steam User Score — 94% (Very Positive)
• Price — $10.49 (Normally $29.99, 65% off)

Sometimes, a game doesn’t even need to have intentional horror elements for it to be scary. Case in point: Trepang². Clearly borrowing heavily from the same school of FPS design as the 7th-generation classic F.E.A.R., Trepang² places an emphasis on tension that expertly drives players’ fight-or-flight response during each white-knuckle firefight, to the point where anything supernatural isn’t even necessary. Trepang² underscores how frightening an actual firefight should feel, especially when facing off against other skilled opponents, and it’s capable of getting the heart racing in ways that other FPS games simply aren’t.

• Release Date — October 19, 2021
• Developer — Daniel Mullins Games
• Publisher — Devolver Digital
• Steam User Score — 96% (Overwhelmingly Positive)
• Price — $7.99 (Normally $19.99, 60% off)

With Inscryption‘s release and Game of the Year acclaim now firmly in the rearview mirror, it’s the perfect time to revisit this genre-shifting horror classic, and the title’s current sale on Fanatical only underscores that point. Inscryption starts off simply enough as an interesting take on a deckbuilder…until it isn’t. The less you know about Inscryption before going in, the better. Just suffice it to say that not all is as it seems in this pivotal indie game from singular creator Daniel Mullins. Given how weird and wonderful Pony Island was, we should have expected as much from Inscryption, but it still manages to surprise even when stacked up against Mullins’ other titles.

• Release Date — January 26, 2015
• Developer — Techland
• Publisher — Techland
• Steam User Score — 94% (Very Positive)
• Price — $9.99 (Normally $49.99, 80% off)

Both Dying Light and Dying Light 2 are heavily discounted over at Fanatical right now, and while I’d recommend either as a great horror game, my preference is still for the original. As much as I love Dying Light 2 and its changes from the original, the first Dying Light has a much more distinct horror vibe that it seamlessly weaves into just about every aspect of its gameplay. It doesn’t hurt that Dying Light‘s survival aspects are a lot more pronounced and its city has a lot more verticality, which together make every excursion out of a safe zone feel like a roll of the dice whether you’ll make it back in one piece. Getting the base game plus all of its many DLC expansions for just $10 is one of the best deals to be found during the Scream Sale.

• Release Date — September 5, 2025
• Developer — Bloober Team
• Publisher — Bloober Team
• Steam User Score — 87% (Very Positive)
• Price — $47.99 (Normally $59.99, 20% off)

Even though it just came out a few weeks ago, Fanatical has a great 20% off discount on Bloober Team’s latest original horror game, Cronos: The New Dawn. As you can probably tell from the screenshots or any gameplay footage, Cronos is obviously Bloober Team’s love letter to sci-fi horror classics like Dead Space, and it mostly executes that homage well. The one sticking point that players have with Cronos is its aiming and shooting, but those aspects can be tweaked and customized in the game’s settings to make it a non-issue. If you’re looking for a great horror game with an esoteric time travel story, you could do way worse than Cronos.

• Release Date — October 8, 2024
• Developer — Bloober Team
• Publisher — Konami
• Steam User Score — 95% (Overwhelmingly Positive)
• Price — $52.49 (Normally $69.99, 25% off)

Speaking of Bloober Team, the studio’s phenomenal remake of Silent Hill 2 is also discounted over at Fanatical right now, down to just $53 as part of the Scream Sale. Silent Hill 2 was easily one of the best games of 2024 and a prime example of how to approach a remake of a beloved classic, which makes sense when you consider it obviously pulling from Capcom’s playbook with Resident Evil 2. Bloober Team successfully threaded the needle when it came to modernizing Silent Hill 2 but still retaining the spirit of the original, and it somehow managed to make the story and characters even better, thanks to some top-tier voice acting and facial capture that really brought the game’s narrative to life.

• Release Date — October 9, 2025
• Developer — Supermassive Games
• Publisher — Bandai Namco
• Steam User Score — 52% (Mixed)
• Price — $33.59 (Normally $39.99, 16% off)

Impressions for Little Nightmares III are surprisingly more mixed than most would have anticipated, given the love that fans have for the first two games in the series. While many are praising the game’s atmosphere and visuals, there are plenty of players complaining about Little Nightmares III‘s issues with visibility and accessibility, with the general sentiment being that it’s a step back from its two predecessors. Still, if you’re in the mood for a new horror-themed puzzle platformer and have been looking forward to Little Nightmares III, you can at least grab this new release at a nice 16% off discount over at Fanatical, which should help ease some of the disappointment if it doesn’t live up to expectations.

• Release Date — September 25, 2025
• Developer — NeoBards Entertainment
• Publisher — Konami
• Steam User Score — 81% (Very Positive)
• Price — $52.49 (Normally $69.99, 25% off)

When the curtain closes on 2025, Silent Hill f should go down as one of the year’s best games, both as a stunning new entry in the storied franchise and as an incredible horror game with surprisingly great combat and puzzles. Silent Hill f does right by its pedigree and sets a high bar for the next era of the franchise, and it’s also necessary to play through multiple times to get the full scope of the game’s excellent story, giving players plenty of bang for their buck. Out of all the games discounted in the Fanatical Scream Sale, Silent Hill f demands the most attention — it’s practically a brand-new game that’s 25% off its normal asking price and one of the best experiences you’re likely to have this year.