The genre of “horror games” is a broad church. There’s not just one way of scaring people, and the diverse catalogue of brilliant horror games available today is a testament to this fact. While some titles aim for big and bombastic gore scares which overwhelm a player’s senses with all measures of horridness, others take a more psychological approach, slowly instilling a sense of ceaseless dread, only to be punctuated with moment of genuine mind-bending terror.

The gameplay of horror video games is just as diverse as their scare methods. In recent years, there’s been a real uptake in survival-horror games, like Blair Witch or Outlast, which see the player tasked with evading trouble using a restricted control and action set – these games often have similarities with horror movies, which see the character restricted to acting as only a real person could. There are still those, like Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, which couple uber-modern VR technologies to stick to the player on a classic linear route, forcing the player to become immersed in all sorts of traditional jump scare nasties.

Whether you’re a desensitised gamer looking for some cynical comedy-gore, or genuine thrill seeker hoping to test their mettle, there’s sure to be something on this list to tickle your terror-stricken fancy.