5 Best Video Games Like Fears To Fathom

While there are certainly fantastic scary games from major publishers, many essential horror games that fans should play come from indie developers. This includes everything from "Five Nights at Freddy's" to "Outlast," each offering their own distinct twist to the genre. One standout indie series that blends creepypasta — or online urban legends — with horror game thrills is "Fears to Fathom." Launched in 2021 by developer Mukul Negi, each game in the series covers a different harrowing story for players to experience and try to survive.

For fans who have played through all the "Fears to Fathom" games, there are plenty of other indie horror titles to check out next. Like the best "Backrooms" games, many of these games also have a deliberately lo-fi presentation similar to "Fears to Fathom." The games we're listing here also have a strong narrative focus and, in some cases, a slow burn approach to delivering their terror. These are the five best video games like "Fears to Fathom" to keep those lo-fi thrills and chills coming.

It's the least overtly terrifying game on this list, but "Firewatch" still has visible similarities to "Fears to Fathom." The 2016 game has protagonist Henry work as a fire lookout at a Wyoming national park during the summer of 1989. As Henry maintains his regular vigil to ensure the forest around him is safe, he notices a sinister figure in the area. This leads to a larger mystery as Henry realizes that someone appears to be stalking him and his fellow fire lookout, Delilah.

In terms of comparison, "Firewatch" closely aligns with "Ironbark Lookout," the 2023 installment of "Fears to Fathom." Both games involve players investigating increasingly disturbing developments from a firewatch lookout tower that escalate into something more lethal and tense. "Firewatch" veers more into mystery and adventure than the more horror-oriented "Ironbark Lookout," but fans of that game are sure to love this, too. "Firewatch" won big at the GDC Awards upon its launch, and, a decade later, it's definitely still worth playing.

A remote British hotel with a dark secret serves as the setting for the 2020 horror game "At Dead of Night." Developed and published by Baggy Cat, it features a mix of live-action sequences and animated backgrounds and environments to set the chilling mood. The game's protagonist is a student named Maya whose friends are held captive by deranged hotel proprietor Jimmy Hall. Navigating Sea View Hotel's darkened halls, Maya must rescue each of her friends while using her ability to commune with the dead to learn more about the old building's history.

"At Dead of Night" is all about being stealthy. Maya must evade capture at all costs as she attempts to solve the hotel's mystery and carry out her rescue mission. Jimmy can pop out from behind any corner to ambush and incapacitate Maya as he stalks the halls of his creepy hotel. With that in mind, players are encouraged to bolt doors, hide in closets or bathrooms, and check peepholes to ensure that the deadly maniac isn't nearby. One of the more original indie horror games of recent years, "At Dead of Night" is a solid PC chiller worth checking out.

The Japanese indie developer Chilla's Art has steadily been making lo-fi games that center on different aspects of local culture gone wrong for years. One of the developer's standout titles is its 2022 PC game "The Closing Shift," which takes place in and around a coffee shop. Players control a barista on an apparently routine day as she closes the coffee shop alone at the end of her shift. However, this is derailed by the sudden appearance of a murderous man who has the lone barista isolated, trapped, and searching for a way to escape.

Like "Fears to Fathom," "The Closing Shift" is an intentionally lo-fi game that's story-driven and played out from a first-person perspective as players interact with their environment. There is a mundane joy to carrying out the menial tasks associated with running a coffee shop that quickly gives way to frightening stakes as the location falls under siege. With different ways to try to escape, the game provides players with multiple endings, some successful and some lethally bleak. If you're a fan of lo-fi indie horror games like "Fears to Fathom," do yourself a favor and check out "The Closing Shift."

Another Chilla's Art game that "Fears to Fathom" fans absolutely need to play, 2023's "Parasocial" has players control a VTuber living alone in an apartment in a seemingly nondescript Japanese city. However, the protagonist discovers that they're not only being stalked by someone who knows their true identity, but who also has access to their apartment. Fans of Satoshi Kon's anime classic "Perfect Blue" will recognize a lot of the film's DNA here, with the game's protagonist, Nina, having a lot in common with the film's J-pop icon-turned-actress, the similarly named Mima.

There is a metatextual nature to the premise behind "Parasocial," with its lonely gamer girl dealing with a murderous stalker. But what really elevates the game is that it handles the building suspense better than many other Chilla's Art titles before getting to its tautly staged climax. Like other games in the series, the experience also has multiple endings based on how players react to events around them. Arguably the best Chilla's Art game to date, "Parasocial" perfectly captures what the growing line of titles is all about.

Prolific horror movie studio Blumhouse is now bringing scares to video games through its venture Blumhouse Games. Its inaugural title is "Fear the Spotlight," developed by Cozy Game Pals and released in 2024 for a variety of modern platforms. The game follows a pair of high school students who accidentally unleash a malevolent supernatural entity during a séance. This traps the two teenagers in a nightmarish version of the world they know as they uncover the truth behind a local tragedy.

"Fear the Spotlight" marked a very strong start for Blumhouse Games, giving gamers a good idea of what they could expect from the publisher going forward. It presents players with some light puzzle-solving and, as the title suggests, stealth gameplay is a key source of its suspense. But the real appeal is the atmospheric story, one that's illustrated beautifully by its presentation. This love letter to '90s horror flicks scored near-perfect reviews across the board when it dropped right before Halloween in 2024, becoming an instant must-play for lo-fi lovers.