Guess one list of paranoia-inducing titles wasn’t enough! In this second collection of first-person horror games, fear doesn’t just rely on shadows and strange creatures. It experiments with the way you see, move, hear, and even speak.
Unease seeps slowly through ordinary tasks: trimming a garden, feeding zoo animals, or chatting with friends (in-game, or otherwise) before everything turns full-on weird. Some titles twist perspective with hybrid viewpoints, while others turn silence or even your microphone into a tool that could decide your survival.
For games with both modes, solo runs give you room to brood, but things truly turn unpredictable in multiplayer.
Take a gamble in these worlds, and see how long you last before doubt drowns out your senses.
Grunn
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck)
The beautiful Dutch countryside is carefully crafted by human hands as it is by nature. Lawns are typically kept neat and clean, with no hedges untrimmed and no leaves left astray.
And if you didn’t know: the Dutch take pride in blending in. Nothing should stand out too much. Over the course of a weekend, you’re hired by a client to preserve that delicate sense of order in their garden.
What starts as simple landscaping soon drifts into a scavenger hunt. You wander the village in search of missing gardening tools, which is totally not strange.
With its soft, nostalgic fuzz, Grunn is reminiscent of Fears to Fathom – Woodbury Getaway, in more ways than just the aesthetic. Expect puzzles and exploration that start out cozy. The grass won’t cut itself, so best get chopping.
Psychopomp GOLD
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck)
Mom, the sleep paralysis demons are back, but the soundtrack totally slaps! So I guess I’ll just stay here! Probably you, as you play the blue-eyed female protagonist whose name is part of the mystery in this dungeon crawler with conspiracies at every corner.
First released in January 2024, the updated GOLD release features deeper, stranger corridors and creepier characters. Like the first edition, both gameplay tips and real-world advice seem to point to a vaguely understood psycho-babble that heightens the sense that this is all a waking nightmare.
Take on tasks and explore the catacombs full of eerie symbolism. The second-guessing continues as the atmosphere closes in, despite trying to reassure yourself that the squirming, moving object in the dark is not real. Is not real. Is not real.
Finding Frankie
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck, PS5, Xbox Series X/S)
Finding Frankie opens like any dystopian survival show, with contestants gathered in one place as the ‘chosen ones’ for the promise of a reward. You’re one of the lucky contenders after finding a secret invitation through a box of cereal. Seemingly hopeful, until blood begins to pour like rain.
It’s parkour with extra steps where you’ll jump around, fall through, and run the halls. But also: racing the clock to survive brutal bosses.
The playhouse setting quickly turns into a blood-soaked nightmare, with survival hinging on escaping twisted versions of the cartoon mascots that lured you in, with their cheeky grins reminiscent of the 1960s-era Mickey Mouse and a hop to their steps large enough to crush you whole.
Its playful, grotesque playthrough is doubled down with another soundtrack shoutout that pairs with its adrenaline-fueled pace. It sounds like Anger Foot, if you had a fever dream in your old kindergarten.
Zoochosis
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck, PS4/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S)
We already had Extraneum, where your first day as security began with an alien attack. Now you’re tasked with taking care of animals, including mixing custom medicine darts for Penguins, Elephants, Zebras, and more.
But be wary, as the enclosures won’t be the only mess that needs dealing with. Some of the game’s glitches bite harder than tolerable. It is buggy. Some mechanics are a bit janky, and some tasks don’t work the way they should. Now if you can get past that…
As the Night Zookeeper, you have to feed several animals, tinker with computers, and work with equipment.
Throughout this routine, there will be no visitors. It’s mostly only you, the animals, and a mentor. As the night wears on, the secret of this zoo grows darker and harder to ignore.
Don’t Scream
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck)
This found footage-inspired horror builds on a tense but short-lived encounter. You have to survive a single night in the forest while entities try to make you scream through your microphone, which is required to play. Players do report that a mere squeak, a clacking keyboard, or pets in the background can trigger death. Make sure that the chip is soggy, not crunchy, or else snack-based death is imminent.
The jumpscares don’t always land, but the game is undeniably entertaining if you’ve got friends and family watching from the sidelines who also have to be quiet.
Zoochosis and Don’t Scream both land on this list for promising concepts that have gone viral, dragged down by lackluster execution and ending in mixed reviews. Whether updates and patches can elevate them both remains to be seen. But here’s to hoping.
Sorry We’re Closed
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck, Switch 1/2, PS4/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S)
This horror title mixes fixed camera angles with first-person shooters. (If you prefer your games committed to one perspective, the lists are already waiting for you.)
You play as Michelle in this story-driven survival with horror elements. After being cursed by a demon looking for love, you’re granted a Third Eye. This new viewpoint allows you to be present, to varying degrees, between your London neighborhood and the demon Underworld populated by celestial beings.
Everyone you encounter is going through some sort of inner turmoil, including the celestials. In combat within the Underworld, you have to aim for the heart, which can only be done standing still in first-person.
Several lives depend on the choices you make, amplifying the mechanics of dualities and multiplicities that are present in a game that cleverly allows you to shift perspectives in a heartbeat.
Threshold
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck)
From the same publisher as Mouthwashing comes another claustrophobic workplace where blowing a whistle becomes your main duty. There’s no room for watercooler chatter because oxygen is a sacred resource that can only be replenished by completing work tasks. Any movement expends precious energy needed to walk the expanse of the location.
Asking questions is a waste of breath. The only person in the entire industrial complex, Mo, talks to you using a notebook. Among the remaining noise includes the oncoming train loaded with strange cargo, the sharp shrill of your whistle, and your own labored breathing.
The endless labor is all towards an unclear end. Be forewarned that dying on duty will be permanent. And compensation for your untimely demise? Forget about it. So just breathe slowly, stay silent, and comply.
Murky Divers
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck)
Strap on your diving tanks and gather a few friends before plunging into this online co-op descent into the bottom of the sea. The mission? Recover corpses from an experimental lab your pharmaceutical employer conveniently abandoned, leaving only wreckage and secrets behind.
If you prefer to play alone, it can get somewhat peaceful. But if the chaos of diving with a full crew of up to eight is thrilling for you, then grab your mic because your team depends on it. You’ll need clear communication to chart safer routes, manage oxygen, and handle an endless stream of objects and creatures drifting your way, possibly crashing into your face or your teammates’.
The depths themselves are unsettling, magnified by the sheer scale of what you’ll encounter. And that’s on thalassophobia and megalophobia.
Sons of the Forest
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck)
You’re part of a team hired to search for a missing billionaire family on a remote island. When the chopper goes down in a less-than-smooth fashion, you’re left to rummage through the aftermath and scrape together survival from a randomized starting point. Luckily, Kelvin will always be there, no matter where you land. Although after the crash, his presence isn’t always… reliable.
This is a cannibal-infested island that can be attempted solo or with friends. As an open world, it offers countless distractions: hunting for food, building a base to withstand changing seasons, or simply testing how weird you can get with the locals.
Explore caves, forests, bunkers, and other locations to uncover key items. Staying alive with a little bit of sanity intact is necessary to find out if the island hides more than it lets on.
Buckshot Roulette
Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck)
Closing out this two-part series is another release from Critical Reflex (Mouthwashing, Threshold), though originally self-published on Itch.io by Mike Klubnika before finding its way to Steam.
Set in the grimy underbelly of a nightclub, you’re drawn into a game that promises only one thing: death. Alone, you face off against a sinister floating head, every ounce of tension landing squarely on you as the stakes rise round after round.
With friends, the rules are the same, but this time you know who you’re taunting, even if you can’t predict their next move.
Each round doles out a random set of items offering slivers of advantage. Choose wisely, and you might draw a blank. Choose poorly, and you’ll lose a life, along with dwindling odds to walk away alive. A few items, wit, and pure luck are all the chances you’ll have.
Win a suitcase of money at the end, at what cost?
Horror games that test both your sanity and senses turn every breath into a gamble with the unknown. Its first-person perspective proves that fear hits hardest when it feels like you’re right in the middle of the horror you willingly stepped in yourself.
Survival in these worlds needs bravery and just maybe a bit of paranoia to keep you alert. Rough edges and buggy execution sometimes undercut the ambition, but they also mark the rise of experimenting with horror in interesting ways.
Any best bet out of the 20 POV horror titles in this two-part list?
And if you missed the first half, Check Part 1 here.
