I don’t know if you know this, but Halloween is this week. Spooky! Scary! Frightening! I don’t know any other words, my vocabulary is limited. Anyways, there’s no better time than Halloween to play some scary Switch games.
We’ve already covered what spooky games you should play on PlayStation Plus and on Xbox this Halloween but now it’s the Switch’s turn to join in on the scary shit.
Whilst it may be a smaller screen (if you’re just playing it as a handheld console), I actually think the Switch is perfect for horror games. You’re a lot closer to the action so it feels more intrusive when something comes jumping out it feels like it’s coming to claw off your face and every bone in your body starts to shake.
Be warned though, playing some of these games caused me to jump and scream so intensely that I threw the Switch out of my hands. It didn’t break (thank goodness) but I do think it should come with a wristband like the Wii.
Also, because I’m Kotaku Australia’s resident Switch slut there is no one better than me to give you list spooky list. So let’s dive in.
Scary Nintendo Switch games
For reference, I am going to be ranking each game by how much it did make/will make me wet myself from the horror.
Dead by Daylight
Dead by Daylight is a really good game. I mean like, very, very good.
I am a massive fan of camp slasher horror movies so I especially love it when elements of that are incorporated into games and this is exactly that.
Something I especially love about Dead by Daylight is that you can either play as a team as a survivor or solo as the killer. Having a different POV is a really cool experience that not many games offer, especially when most of them you can only really play as one character who is trying to survive. There’s a completely different terror when you’re playing the killer.
Dead by Daylight is a unique scary Switch game because it incorporates other iconic characters from horror games/movies. For instance, you can play as Ghostface from Scream or Cheryl Mason from Silent Hill.
Pee rating: 7/10. People chasing me is terrifying, I don’t want to run. I screamed and was sweating from the stress of trying to survive.
Layers of Fear
Layers of Fear? More like layers of nope, no, no thank you, please no and not for me.
I hated this scary Switch game because of how scared it made me.
This is a different type of fear, one that is built up entirely by suspense. It’s different to Dead by Daylight where you know there is a killer coming for you and there’s a lot of blood. Layers of Fear: Legacy is a lot more psychologically damaging than that.
For those who haven’t played or heard of it before, Layers of Fear: Legacy is a walking simulator where you explore the house of a ‘mad’ painter who is striving to create his Magnum Opus. That might not sound that scary but the house is fucked up, to say the least.
I also want to commend the camera work in this game because a single pan of the environment changes everything completely and there’s something else to uncover and be completely terrified over. Every turn of the corner truly had me tensed up waiting for something to come at me.
Sidenote: THERE ARE SO MANY DOLLS!! WHY??? Why must every scary Switch game have dolls in some capacity?
Pee rating: 8.5/10. Mostly because dolls creep the heck out of me. Also because the panic the game caused me really didn’t help my bladder.
Hello Neighbour
Hello Neighbour is not okay with me. Not in the slightest.
Everything about this game makes my skin crawl. Playing it gave me actual chills and made my stomach drop. That might sound dramatic but this nasty little shit of a neighbour truly terrified me.
Hello Neighbour is a stealth horror game where you sneak into your suspicious neighbour’s house to find out what secrets he is hiding in the basement. Sure, you probably shouldn’t be invading someone’s space but there is definitely something sketchy about this guy.
It’s also a very hard game to beat because you’re playing against an advanced AI that learns from the moves you make. I thought I was being smart by escaping from the house the same way because the Neighbour didn’t catch me. When I went back there, he was standing there waiting for me. So that was fun.
It gives me Monster House energy, especially with the graphics and the suspense of having a creepy neighbour who might very well be capable of murder.
While it’s not often spoken about, Hello Neighbour should be on your list of scary Switch games to play.
Pee rating: 9/10. I can’t describe the way my stomach drops when I see the Neighbour’s face.
Outlast
Okay I know I said the other games scared me but the things in Outlast stayed with me even after I put the Switch down.
Developed and published by Red Barrels, Outlast revolves around a freelance investigative journalist (which is frightening itself) who decides to investigate a remote psychiatric hospital called Mount Massive Asylum. Bad name yes but horrifying just the same.
There are also religious themes in the game and that’s scary enough to me as someone who grew up in religious education.
One of my favourite scary movies is The Blair Witch Project because of the found footage element and Outlast has a similar concept but just a lot more terrifying.
Outlast is a cult classic too because it showed just how good indie scary games can be. If you have a Switch, I highly recommend playing this game and scaring yourself shitless.
Pee rating: 10/10. Nothing is chill about this game.
Detention
Detention is a little different from the other scary Switch games but it’s still very good at what it does.
First of all, it’s visually stunning and has a very particular style but still manages to bring the horror elements we all know and love. Secondly, you actually learn something about Taiwanese history through it, which we love to see.
Set in Taiwan in the 1960s, two students navigate their town which has been placed under martial law after it was infested with supernatural creatures.
The soundtrack will freak you out and the horror comes mostly from the atmosphere that is created.
Pee rating: 7/10. The horror is more subtle and less jumpscare filled but still gripping.
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