The top indie horror games you can play on Steam Philippines

by Bea Fernandez / October 17, 2019

If you’re looking for an immersive horror gaming experience that isn’t too heavy on your computer, try out these indie titles on Steam!

With Halloween looming on the horizon, it’s that time of the year again to turn off the lights, hunch over the computer, put on your earphones, and hunt for horrifying content to consume—online ghost stories, conspiracy videos, and “spoopy” skeleton memes galore!

Or if you’re not of the faint of heart, you can dive right into true horror with these highly acclaimed PC indie games, for cheap or for free, all available on Steam. Do you have what it takes to brave these terrifying titles?

1. Layers of Fear

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but what if the beholder is a madman obsessed with the pursuit of an artistic vision? In the first game of Bloober Team’s Layers of Fear franchise, released in 2016, you play a lonely painter doomed to roam the halls of his Victorian mansion, ambling to create his magnum opus at all costs. The unnamed artist is haunted by traumatic flashbacks in the process—incoherent, visually stunning, and revealing a violent and unforgiving past.

Think Silent Hill, but instead of rusty walls, you get rooms dripping in paint, disorienting hallways that change with every turn, and portraits with grotesque features that haunt your imagination even after you close the game. Good luck sleeping tonight!

2. Yomawari: Night Alone

It’s fair to say that Japanese horror games are a dime a dozen in the indie game scene. However, Yomawari: Night Alone by Nippon Ichi Software puts a whole new spin on survival horror that revolves around Japanese supernatural creatures or yokai—all through the eyes of a young girl. In this game, you explore every street, every corner, and every building of your neighborhood at night in search of your older sister.

The path to find her, however, is riddled with various yokai that are hungry for human blood. With atmospheric artwork, a moving narrative, and not-too-overbearing jump scares, Yomawari: Night Alone is a must-have for any horror enthusiast’s Steam library.

3. Detention

In the 1960s, Taiwan was placed under martial law, and such a decade was abundant with political unrest, violent protests, and thousands of civilians being killed or going missing. What would it have been like to live in such tempestuous times, hounded with suspicions and subsequently haunted by the ghosts of murdered innocents?

Detention, developed by Red Candle Games and released in 2017, answers that question and offers so much more. In this dark side-scroller, you play as a student named Ray and attempt to escape from a seemingly abandoned school building—a task made more difficult by encounters with lingering spirits and flashbacks leading to the cause of your entrapment in such a rotten place. It’s up to you to lift the curse of this school and unravel the mysteries of your guilt-ridden past.

4. Doki Doki Literature Club

“This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.” This is the disclaimer that welcomes you when you start up Doki Doki Literature Club, developed by Team Salvato and free to play on Steam. The best advice we can give you is not to be fooled by the game’s cotton-candy appearance and cutesy dating sim mechanics.

Doki Doki Literature Club is a game best experienced by being played right off the bat and not by being read about or researched beforehand. It takes some time, but when the twist comes, it comes hurtling with a force and grows more and more frantic and disturbing until you finally finish the game. What’s the twist, you ask? We’re not telling!

5. The Letter

It’s not every day that a locally developed video game makes a huge impression on the international indie scene, making The Letter a title with quite the legacy among gamers and horror fans alike.

Developed by Yangyang Mobile and released in 2017, The Letter, a horror visual novel, tells the story of real-estate agent Isabelle Santos as she uncovers the secrets of the mysterious Ermengarde mansion and finds her life in immediate peril when she reads a cursed chain letter. If you’re a fan of The Grudge and have read such horror comics as Bongcheon-Dong Ghost, then you should definitely give this game a try.

What other indie horror games have you played on Steam that you would also recommend for the month of October? Tell us about them in the comments below!