This year has proved yet again that horror games do best when devs keep it small-scale

Grandiose spectacles of horror are certainly impressive, but those don't usually keep me up at night. The scariest games I've played this year have been from smaller studios and even solo devs who've managed to piece together fantastic narratives, disturbing sequences, and spine chilling horror in compact form.

Mouthwashing was one of the best games I played all year and is now one of my favourite horror games of all time—which is pretty impressive for something I managed to finish in under two and a half hours.

Stuck on a broken spaceship called the Tulpar, which is just floating aimlessly through the void with no hope of rescue, Mouthwashing sees you switch between characters Curly and Jimmy—the captain and vice captain of the ship—as the short story unfolds.

There are plenty of unsettling things about Mouthwashing, like the implications of Jimmy's violence against the freighter’s nurse, Anya, or the bleak suggestion that the company which these workers have given their lives to views them as nothing more than cogs in a machine. But the most striking aspect is the nonlinear story.

Mouthwashing is something of a masterclass in how to tell a scary tale. Instead of relying on cheap jumpscares or constant chase scenes and bloody fights, it uses its narrative structure to make you feel uneasy and keep you in the dark. I've always thought the worst part of horror games is the unknown. Maybe you don't know what monster is hunting you, or you're unsure of where you are. But in Mouthwashing, you don't know who to trust or what the truth is.

It's impressive how Mouthwashing was able to tell such a well-rounded story in such a short time, but it wasn't the only horror game this year to do so. Still Wakes the Deep is no longer than six hours, but even so it's another masterclass in short, horrifying storytelling.

Weather the storm

A neat trick The Chinese Room uses to make you feel like you've known the protagonist Caz McLeary and the rest of the crew on the oil rig for much longer than you have is acting like that's the truth. Walking into the canteen for the first time, you're greeted with friends and coworkers picking up conversations with you and discussing previous events around the rig—because the story starts after you joined the crew. It's a great way to create meaningful bonds and establish characters quickly so you can jump straight into the horrifying action.

The writing is fantastic, following a troubled Caz who has run away from some stupid decisions to hide out on an oil rig. The only problem is that he also ran away from his family, a regret that haunts him right through to the end of the story. I don't usually cry while playing games, much less horror ones, but this one got me.

Other than the narrative, Still Wakes the Deep is also psychological horror at its finest. Trapped on an oil rig in the North Sea, running away from a monster that is beyond human comprehension, is just as awful as it sounds. You not only have to try and fix a breaking rig but also have to deal with all your friends dropping like flies around you.

There were so many awful moments, like when a mutated coworker chased me through a half-flooded engine room, or when I sat under some rubble for almost 10 minutes because I was too scared to make a run for it while another monster was on the lookout. Chase sequences are my weak point, and Still Wakes the Deep is full of them.

Collective punishment

Another highlight of the horror year had to be Lethal Company. This multiplayer sandbox horror game has gone from strength to strength in 2024 with several big updates—like v50, which added crying mechs and evil butlers, or v64, which brought us the tactical belt bag, a must-have for any seasoned scrap hunter.

In part thanks to its new maps and monsters, Lethal Company is a shining star of solo horror game development. This game has become a regular venture for my friends and I because of how terrifying and funny it can be.

Last time I played Lethal Company I got carried off into the sky by a hungry bird, flattened by a giant robot, and chased through a mineshaft by a frenzied mutating monster that ended up killing my whole crew. But that's just your average day when it comes to hunting down scrap for some megacorporation.

Sandbox horror has always been one of my favourite things to play in co-op because of how unexpected and random everything can be. Unlike the other more narrative driven horror games that released this year, games like Lethal Company—or recently Pilgrim—thrive off players being able to tell their own stories, which are usually pretty chaotic.

All in all it's been a fantastic year for horror fans, and celebrating smaller horror releases shouldn't take away from some of the larger games like Silent Hill 2, which I also really enjoyed. But I have to say, my experiences in games like Mouthwashing and Lethal Company far outshone any adventure into Bloober’s foggy town, or Derceto Manor in Alone in the Dark. When it comes to the creepy and unexpected, the indies have the upper hand.