When it comes to space horror,Dead Spaceis the undisputed king. It’s an iconic blend of claustrophobic corridors, grotesque aliens around every corner, and that signature spine-chilling atmosphere that’d have any astronaut running for the hills.
But outer space has always been fertile ground for fear, and plenty of other horror games have tapped into that same market with just as much success.
We Need More Horror Games That Embrace The Ordinary
As we enter a horror gaming Renaissance, more developers should incorporate the mundane.
Whether it’s an abandoned spacecraft crawling with unseen horrors, scientific experiments gone horribly wrong, or simple psychological warfare among the stars, the genre has far more to offer than just Necromorphs and neon-colored plasma cutters.
If you’re tired of hearing about Dead Space in the space horror genre, then you’re in good company. We’re not saying there’s anything wrong with the game, we all just think it’s high time it shared that spotlight. This list highlights the best space-based horror games that aren’t Dead Space, so you can finally come face-to-face with aliens thataren’tNecromophs.
When Science Goes Too Far
If you’re a fan of sci-fi movies that feature human colonies launching themselves into space, then you probably already loosely know the plot of Stasis. In Stasis, a group of humans boarded a spaceship and were put into “stasis” mode until they reached their destination (essentially, a coma that prevents them from aging or dying until they wake).
Of course, as with most “stasis” themed sci-fi movies, this doesn’t go well. The player character, John Maracheck, prematurely awakens from his stasis to find that the ship is in utter disarray, and the other people that were meant to be in stasis alongside him are missing, including his wife and daughter.
You’ll have to carefully crawl through blood-streaked corridors, flickering terminals, and overturned science labs to search for them (or, at least, whatever’s left of them). What you’ll find at the mystery’s core would horrify even the most hardened horror gamers, so we won’t blame you if you decide to pass on this one.
8We Went Back
Time-Looping Terror
Dead Thread Games
Release Date
April 3rd, 2020
Horror, Time-Loop
“Waking up alone in a space station” seems to be a common theme in space horror, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a classic for a reason. There’s something terrifying about floating through space all alone when you shouldn’t be, especially when the entire place looks like a tornado ran throughthe set of a slasher movie.
In We Went Back, you wake up all alone in a space station that definitelylooksempty, but based on the blood stains and general disarray, you’ve got a feeling thatsomethingis still lurking around in the shadows.
While trying to find a way out, you’ll find a lot more than just puddles of blood and piles of wrecked equipment. On your journey, you’ll find clues and objects that will help you piece together what happened, though as you begin to piece the story together, you might begin to wish you hadn’t…
7Deliver Us the Moon
Pre-Apocalypse Horror Done Right
Deliver Us The Moon
Sometimes, thescariest horror gamesare those that could be plausible in real life, and Deliver Us the Moon is one of the terrifying gems. Set in a pre-apocalyptic near future, Deliver Us the Moon drops players into a world where Earth’s natural resources have been entirely depleted, and humanity must look toward the stars for salvation.
After the Earth’s resources were used up, the world’s powers created the World Space Agency in a last-ditch attempt to try to find alternate energy sources on other planetary bodies.
They find one on the moon and the agency starts to operate entirely on the lunar surface, communicating regularly with the remaining inhabitants of Earth. Until one day, the communications ceased without warning, and all access to the life-saving energy source was lost.
You play asEarth’s last astronaut, on a mission to the moon to find out what happened. Launching yourself into space with no one by your side is a daunting task in itself, but it only gets worse once you reach the space station. At first, the silence is just eerie. Empty corridors, darkened control rooms, and the haunting remnants of a place that once buzzed with life.
But as you dig deeper, that eerie quiet slowly becomes something a lot more unsettling. Something happened here—and it wasn’t just a technical failure. With your high-tech equipment, it’s your job to figure out what happened and revive the power source… if you can.
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6Mouthwashing
Psychological Horror at its Best
Mouthwashing
When a Steam horror game has “God is not watching” in its description, you know you’ve found a good one. Mouthwashing is guaranteed to be the most disturbing, twisted psychological horror game you’ve ever played; this game will infect your brain and your everyday thoughts until the end of your days.
Mouthwashing takes place aboard a drifting spacecraft, stranded in the endless void without a savior in sight. The ship’s crew are forced to watch as their food and water supply slowly dwindles, and as their severely maimed, limbless and suicidal captain slowly dies from his self-inflicted wounds. You get the privilege of playing as one of these hopeless crew members.
Ironically, the only resource you have an ample supply of is boxes upon boxes of mouthwash. Desperate and delirious from the lack of food and water, you and your crewmates begin to drink every bottle you can find. Hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, andpsychotic inclinations begin to take over your mind, and soon, reality will seem as distant and impractical as survival.
Human Experimentation? Sure, Why Not.
Human experimentation rarely ever goes well in video games, and Prey is no exception. In this game, you play as a key subject in an experiment that’s meant to alter humanity as a whole, but things go downhill fast when aliens get involved.
Soon, the entire ship is overrun with bloodthirsty inhuman creatures, and your only hope for survival is getting the hell out as fast as you can. Unfortunately, that’s a whole lot easier said than done. These monsters come in all shapes and sizes, with some even possessing the ability to shapeshift into different objects at will, so you have no way of knowing what’s a threat until it’s too late.
Thankfully, those experiments you went under gave you some pretty handy mutations, like mind-bending powers and psychic abilities. But even with these upgrades, you’re still heavily outnumbered, and the powers these aliens have are as mysterious as they are powerful.
The horror here isn’t just in the jump scares (though those mimics definitely got me a few times); it’s in the slow realization of just what the scientists were doing, the disturbing ethics behind it, and the creeping sense that you might not even be who you think you are. Essentially, nothing is what you think it is in this game—it’s a psychological horror to end all psychological horrors.
4System Shock (2023)
The Remake of the Century
System Shock (2023)
System Shock redefinedthe survival horror genreall the way back in 1994, and it’s still making waves with its remake in 2023. Just like in the original, the remake has you play as a hacker who wakes up aboard Citadel Station, a massive space facility overrun by mutated crew members, rogue cyborgs, and a psychotic AI called SHODAN.
SHODAN has taken control of the entire station, and she plans to do the same with Earth, if you don’t stop her. Getting to her won’t be easy though; the station is a maze of bloodied hallways, flickering science labs, and twisted abominations so disturbing you’ll wish you’d kept your eyes shut.
The station has become a pocket dimension into hell, and escape is no longer an option. You’ll have to claw your way through, tooth and nail, if you want to have any chance of surviving. The blood, guts, and mutated corpses that you leave in your wake will harm your enemies, but they’ll haunt you for much longer, regardless of who comes out on top.
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3Aliens: Fireteam Elite
The Xenomorphs Return
Aliens: Fireteam Elite
The Alien franchise is well-known in the survival horror genre, and for good reason. This iconic franchise redefined space horror decades ago, and it’s not stopping any time soon.
But while many of the franchise’s earlier titles focused more on stealth and outsmarting the target to survive, Fireteam Elite drops its players straight into a warzone. Set 23 years after the original Alien trilogy, you play as a Colonial Marine sent to investigate a mysterious distress signal, only to find yourself neck deep in a horde of alien horrors.
The xenomorphs in this game are every bit as ruthless and terrifying as in the earlier titles, if not even more so. The xenomorphs here arerelentless; they don’t lurk—theyswarm, and watching them scramble along the walls and drop from ceilings like angry locusts is downright horrifying.
It’s less psychological horror and more “oh my god they’reeverywhere,” but that doesn’t make the horror any less effective. If you’re after pure, adrenaline-fueled terror with a sci-fi twist, then this one delivers.
2Lethal Company
The Best Option for Multiplayer Horror
Lethal Company
Even if you’ve never played it, you’re probably at least somewhat familiar with Lethal Company, whether it be from popular YouTubers or clips that come across your screen. Lethal Company is one of the most popular horror games for multiplayer, and it’s pretty easy to understand why.
Horror is a lot easier to process when you’ve got friends by your side, though the game does its best to nullify whatever comfort their presence brings you. Some of this game’s enemies can literally mimic your friends' voices, their characters, and even their mannerisms, so you never know who to trust.
In Lethal Company, you and your friends are employed by the Company, a somewhat evil corporation that forces you to scavenge abandoned moons for resources. Of course, these moons are neverentirelyabandoned, and the beings that are left behind aren’t exactly happy to see you.
There’s nothing you may do to prepare yourself for what you’ll face once you leave the ship. These creatures are pure nightmare fuel; some stalk, some scream, and some suddenly drop out of vents when you least expect it. You never quite know what you’re up against until it’s too late - and even with friends, that fear that hits you when the lights go out and your comms fall silent is unmatched.
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What is Humanity, Really?
Signalis is arguably one of the most popular space-based horror games out there, and after playing it, I fully understand why. Signalis is justone of those games that quietly sneaks under your skinandstaysthere; this game has, unprompted, infiltrated my daily thoughts since the day I finished it, and I don’t think it’s going to stop anytime soon.
Set in a cold, dystopian future where humanity has colonized the solar system, you play as Elster, a Replika technician who wakes from cryosleep on a wrecked vessel.
Stranded on a cold planet without your partner, what follows is a descent intoa surreal nightmare filled with cosmic horrors, truths better left buried, and monstrosities that feel like they’ve crawled straight out of a sleep paralysis seminar.
Literally everything about this game is unsettling. Everything feels off. The environments are eerie and desolate, the music is melancholic and strange, and the unraveling story gradually devolves into something deeply psychological and horrifying, something that we were never supposed to know.
Even the enemies are disturbing not just in how they look, but in what they represent. Signalis isn’t just about the surface-level fear of survival - it’s also about the dark depths of humanity, the fear of being alone, and the quiet horror of knowing the unknowable. It’s a must-play for anyone who loves cerebral horror, especially when combined with sci-fi dystopia.
