Following the tradition of listing Metroidvanias or "Metroidvania-likes" currently present on GOG of my other thread, I decided to create this thread to list the "Survival Horrors" or, "Survival Horror-likes" present on GOG. Since Survival Horror is also a genre I love, just like Metroidvania, I decided to also do this list.

As discussed in the Metroidvanias on GOG thread, to classify a genre so broad is not as easy as saying "X game is a point & click game", because there's a clear defined mechanic in Point & Click games - that is - you point and click to do all or most important actions, normally in a 2.5D environment, and even this can be discussed and debated over.

I'd personally classify true Survival Horrors as games which contain mechanics such as:

- Reduced means of fighting against your foes or no ability to fight against them at all
- Save Game areas with or without limited save items
- Some kind of inventory management
- Puzzle based story progression
- Map exploration based story progression

Those would be the main characteristics, with varying levels of applicability, of true Survival Horrors to me, which would disqualify loved Horror themed games such as Dead Space and F.E.A.R - yes, to me they're not Survival Horror games, they're Action Horror games.

BUT, not many true Survival Horrors would be found anyways, so, for the sake of comprising other good horror titles, I will also list Action Horrors, Psychological Horrors and so on on this list, so feel free to list the games you consider Horror/Survival Horror/Action Horror/Psychological Horror currently being sold on GOG and I will add them to the list.

List updated: 05-20-25

*** = Personal recommendations

A

Ad Infinitum
Alan Wake***
Alan Wake: American Nightmare
Alien: Isolation - Collection***
Alisa
Alone in the Dark 1+2+3
Alone in the Dark 4 - The New Nightmare
Alone in the Dark Remake
Amnesia: The Dark Descent***
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
Amnesia: Rebirth
Amnesia: The Bunker***

B

Bendy and the Ink Machine
Bendy and the Dark Revival
Blood West***

C

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
CAYNE
Conscript
Crow Country***
Curse: The Eye of Isis

D

DARQ: Complete Edition
Darkwood***
Daymare: 1998
Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle
Days Gone
Dead Space***
Deadly Premonition Director's Cut
Dino Crisis***
Dino Crisis 2***
Dino Crisis Bundle***
DOOM 3***
DOOM (2016)

F

Faith: The Unholy Trinity

G

Ghost at Dawn

H

Hollowbody
Homebody

I

Inscryption

L

Labyrinth Of The Demon King
Lone Survivor Director's Cut
Lust From Beyond - The Full Set

M

Monstrum

N

Necrovision
Necrovision: Lost Company
Nosferatu: Wrath of Malachi

O

Outlast
Outlast: Whistleblower
Outlast 2

P

Pathologic (Classic)
Pathologic 2
Pathologic 2 Marble Nest
Penumbra Collection
Prey - Deluxe Edition

R

Remothered: Broken Porcelain
Remothered: Tormented Fathers
Resident Evil 1***
Resident Evil 2***
Resident Evil 3***
Resident Evil Bundle***

S

Scorn
SOMA***
Silent Hill 2 (2024)
Silent Hill 4: The Room
Song of Horror
STASIS***
STASIS: Bone Totem***
S.T.A.L.K.E.R - Shadow of Chernobyl
S.T.A.L.K.E.R - Clear Sky
S.T.A.L.K.E.R - Call of Pripyat
S.T.A.L.K.E.R - Legends of the Zone Trilogy - Remaster
S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 Heart of Chernobyl - Ultimate Edition
System Shock: Enhanced Edition
System Shock 2 (Classic)
System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster
System Shock (2023)
Subterrain
Subterrain: Mines of Titan

T

The Beast Inside
The Chant
The Coma - Bundle
The Coma - Recut
The Coma 2 - Vicious Sisters Deluxe Edition
The Evil Within 1 - Complete Bundle
The Evil Within 2
Them and Us
Tormented Souls
Tormented Souls 2

W

Westmark Manor

Daymare: 1998

Hollowbody

Silent Hill 2 (2024)
Silent Hill 4: The Room

Them and Us
Tormented Souls
Tormented Souls 2

Scorn
Labyrinth Of The Demon King

System Shock: Enhanced Edition
System Shock 2 (Classic)
System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster
System Shock (2023)

I haven't played Alisa yet but it should fit the bill as well:
https://www.gog.com/en/game/alisa
Possibly Conscript as well:
https://www.gog.com/en/game/conscript

Thanks! Games added to the list:

Alisa
Curse: The Eye of Isis
Daymare: 1998
Hollowbody
Labyrinth Of The Demon King
Scorn
Silent Hill 2 (2024)
Silent Hill 4: The Room
System Shock (2023)
System Shock 2 (Classic)
System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster
System Shock: Enhanced Edition
Them and Us
Tormented Souls
Tormented Souls 2

---

I don't know how I could forget about Hollowbody, Tormented Souls and Silent Hill.
Alisa is one game Im curious to play.

Hello .Keys!

I have a *couple* of other suggestions some of which are relatively close to the Resident Evil or Amnesia formula while others are quite distant related only.
(!) (My personal recommendations)

First, actual Survival Horror games on GOG to add to your list:

* Close to Silent Hill, but in side scrolling 2D:
- Lone Survivor (Director's Cut) (!)

* Resident Evil alike:
- Alone in the Dark (4) The New Nightmare (!)
- Alone in the Dark (Remake)
- Ghost at Dawn (I have not baught it, yet, but am considering to do so.)
- Homebody (!)

* This one is actually somewhere in between Dungeon Master and a Survival Horror game:
- Repose

* Modern Survival Horror games (though, I have neither baught nor played them):
- The Chant
- The Beast Inside
- Ad Infinitum
- Deadly Premonition
- Westmark Manor
- Song of Horror

Second, not exactly (Survival) Horror games:

* Another psychological Horror series:
- Pathologic (Classic) (!)
- Pathologic 2
- Pathologic 2 Marble Nest (Expansion)

* Horror Action RPGs:
- Exanima (inDev) (!)
- Spark in the Dark (Coming Soon) (demo available here)

* When counting "Alan Wake" & co., then why not:
- Control

* More Horror themed 'Metroidvanias' in a sense:
- Depth of Sanity
- Carrion
- Odallus the Dark Call (!)

Third, atmospheric Horror & Suspense Adventure games (mostly, but not all Point & Click):
- Asylum - (too bad, "Scratches" is not here)
- Barrow Hill 1
- Barrow Hill 2
- Scanner Sombre (!)
- The Voidness - Lidar Horror Survival Game
- The Void

And fourth, more Survival than Horror games:
- Miasmata
- Rain World (!)
- Rain World Downpour (Expansion 1)
- Rain World The Watcher (Expansion 2)

Kind regards,
foxgog

Hello again!

I almost forgot to mention another game, that I at least consider to be somewhat a Horror Survival game, although in the cinematic platformer category:
- Another World (Out of This World)

It does not fit all the characteristics which you mentioned, .Keys, it is missing the inventory at all, but it has puzzles and exploration based progression. And it is about survival against overwhelming odds and enemies.

Kind regards,
foxgog

Hello once more!

I beg you pardon for my repeated posts, but I thought about another two games that are tangential to Horror Survival games:
- Duskers
- Teleglitch

Both are so called rogue-lite (or rogue-like) games with heavy emphasis on both survival and horror elements.

So what do you think, do they count?

Kind regards,
foxgog

I believe Monstrum would fit the list. Moreover, the procedurally generated maps and the random placement of items on every run make this game more replayable than most other survival horror games out there.

Now that's a lot of recommendations!

New games added to the list:

Ad Infinitum
Alone in the Dark 4 - The New Nightmare
Alone in the Dark Remake
Bendy and the Ink Machine
Bendy and the Dark Revival
Deadly Premonition Director's Cut
Ghost at Dawn
Homebody
Lone Survivor Director's Cut
Monstrum
Pathologic (Classic)
Pathologic 2
Pathologic 2 Marble Nest
Song of Horror
The Beast Inside
The Chant
Westmark Manor

--

Don't know about the Tower Defense, RPGs, Point&Click and Sandbox games on the list though, so for now I did not add them. I'd personally call them Horror themed games, but not necessarily Action/Survival/Psychological horror games.
But I understand this is where things get complicated when defining genres.

An argument could be made that Rain World is a kind of psychological horror game because it would most definitely scare some people out (because of how everything on the game seems to make you feel vulnerable), and on that logic, because Control is from the same universe as Alan Wake, the supernatural things that happen on it are a sign that it is a kind of Action/Psychological horror like Alan Wake games.

When talking about Survival Horror games that are not based necessarily on map puzzle based exploration and progression and maybe have sandbox mechanics, I think we could add S.T.A.L.K.E.R games to the list, while also not denying The Coma series to it (as they resemble Fatal Frame series).

Well, adding those to the list for now. :)

New games added to the list:

STALKER series games
The Coma series games

It does a disservice to the concept to be so lenient. While it is true, as is said, that not many true Survival Horror games exist, no one looking for the Biohazard '96 experience would be satisfied with something like Alan Wake.

How important would you say this is for a true Survigal Horror game? There is much I like in many of the games you posted, especially on the narrative and graphical design sides, but lately I am growing worn out of games that don't let the player save anywhere (or at least whenever there are is no ongoing combat).

I completely agree with you, actually. :P
The solution would be to create two separate lists of True Survival Horror that pay true homage to the classics.

Probably people like you and me would say that True Survival Horrors should also have:
- Fixed camera angles to create the feeling that the classics did (Plus the artistic vision)
- Two or more scenarios with unlockables, creating replay value while maintaining player choices through playthroughs
- Tank controls and no options for Analogical controls, as with tank controls, the clumsiness is also a part of the design, which forces players to adapt and plan their movement beforehand, instead of being able to trick enemies/zombies

But, as you said, quoting me, not many games with this characteristics exist, thus there is no real point in making a list even, I'd say. Well... maybe we would have a list with 10 games, which would exclude its purpose on GOG, I guess.

If you miss the way the classics were designed, please, also vote on The Mute House, here's a thread I've created to try to bring this game here:

https://www.gog.com/forum/general/dreamlist_the_mute_house_survival_horrorlike_resident_evil

To me personally its essential for a game to have limited saves and/or save areas with no checkpoints to be considered Survival Horror. That's actually a mechanic that differentiate Action Horror from Survival Horror to me.

Here's why:

Survival Horror genre should be based on creating on the player the feeling of eeriness, fear and removing any kind of comfort they can have when playing recklessly.

Checkpoints and Manual Saves / Auto Saves everywhere gives the player the room for error and save abuse. Example: There are three corridors with 2 zombies on each. Lets suppose I'm without ammo enough to kill all of them, that means I'm forced to dodge and run some of them. With manual saves, I could dodge one, save, run and escape through the second corridor killing the zombies present there, save again, then die in the third corridor. I'd just need to load the save from the previous corridor and would not be punished at all for doing this - playing recklessly. Of course this could also be punishable in the long run, say, a boss wit high HP which would require you from saving ammo in the last corridor. But games like this rarely punish the player at all for save abuse.

While save areas / limited saves force the player to understand the map layout, enemy patterns, puzzle solving while also punishing players that don't plan ahead, exactly like the classics. So it would be required from the player the understanding of the three corridors, its enemies, their patterns, while also creating the fear that maybe, after the third corridor, a room with an even stronger enemy could exist. (This is a real example found in Resident Evil 1, by the way, right before the first snake boss fight.)

To some, this sound boring, to others, this sound exactly like it should be for a true survival horror: The punishment for playing without planing ahead, without smart decision making.

With unlimited saves, you can abuse enemy placement, and therefore, you need to give the player ammo and resources, etc. This creates a more Action focused gameplay - the Action Horror genre.
If you can, try playing Dead Space on the lowest difficulty and then play it in the hardest difficulty, with limited saves - the atmosphere is completely different because you know that if you die, you will lose much progress, and therefore, time, and thus you will take each action more seriously.

But there's nothing wrong in both genres. These are just game design philosophies, but I wish more games would focus on Survival Horror aspect, because we already have many (majority I'd say) games focusing on the Action Horror side.

Hot take, by the way (for you to understand where I stand when talking about the genre):
To me the game that killed true survival horror genre for years is Resident Evil 4.
While the classics focus on creating this feeling through map exploration and puzzle solving, Resident Evil 4 design is a straight line with some puzzles here and there and way too much action. Leon there is basically a super hero kicking zombies on the face. Compare this to the classics: Each zombie you encounter is a nightmare to kill. Many of us survival horror fans would want the first pre-release build played in the gameplay trailer of RE4. But oh well.. similar situation with Bioshock 1&2 and "3".
We could even say that Resident Evil 3 started this trend because of the absurd amount of zombies present on it compared to the first game.

But anyway, I'm rambling already. :P