The top 10 scariest RPGs I’ve ever played—and one I’m too afraid to try
PC Gamer has published a ranked list of the scariest RPGs the author has experienced, presented in escalating order of terror and culminating in a game the author fears enough to have avoided despite wanting to play it. This seasonal article is occasioned by Halloween and explores how RPGs, a genre typically focused on mechanical progression and power fantasies, can effectively deliver genuine scares and horror elements.
The author positions themselves as an RPG enthusiast at PC Gamer and notes that achieving real fear in a numbers-based, progression-focused genre is uncommonly difficult, making instances where it succeeds particularly noteworthy and worthy of examination.
The list begins at position #10 with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords, an Obsidian Entertainment title that the author counts among their favorite games despite its capacity to unsettle. The piece highlights the game’s overall grim atmosphere and dark tone as factors in its unsettling quality.
The listicle format promises to escalate toward increasingly frightening experiences, suggesting that horror elements in RPGs range from ambient dread and atmospheric design to narrative-driven psychological scares, with the final mystery entry representing the apex of the author’s fear threshold in the medium.