Silent Hill is a phycological thriller franchise first released in 1999 and published by the famed developers Konami. The Silent Hill games are set in the fictional town of Silent Hill in Maine.
The Silent Hill franchise focuses on the worst parts of humanity and portrays humans as monsters enshrouded by darkness. Silent Hill touches on several horror themes and real-life scenarios, helping the game achieve psychological horror unlike any other.
The series consists of eight main series games alongside several spin-off games, re-releases, films, and even print publications in comics. Thus, due to the popularity of the games, the series has exploded into other areas of entertainment, allowing the Silent Hill franchise to reach new audiences.
Thus the Silent Hill games helped to revolutionize horror in gaming, with psychological horror being at the forefront of the games rather than classic jump scares, gore, and horror tropes.
As a result, the silent Hill Games have been reviewed particularly well over the years, with most games ranging from the ’70s-’80s.
This article will outline 9 Great games like Silent Hill to play in 2022 that capture the same sense of psychological horror.
Best Games Like Silent Hill – Our Top Pick👌👌
- The Outlast Series
- Until Dawn
- Alien Isolation
- The Medium
- The Evil Within Series
- The Resident Evil Series
- Heavy Rain
- The Last Of Us Series
- Friday The 13th The Game
1. The Outlast Series
Outlast is one of the most popular horror series of the last generation of consoles—the first Outlast game released in 2013 and had you explore a psychiatric hospital as an undercover journalist.
The second game in the series also put you in the shoes of an undercover journalist but had you investigate the Arizona Desert this time. Both games in the series are terrifying, putting you on the edge of your seat as you seek to hide and run away from monsters.
In the first game, you must hide and find answers behind the crazy mutated human-like creatures of the psychiatric hospital.
In that game, you can’t retaliate nor defend yourself from the creatures but must run, hide, and strategies to keep yourself alive in the face of mortal peril. The mechanics of the second game are the same; with it crucial, you survive the monster threat.
Both games are psychological horrors, much like the Silent Hill franchise, and have similar themes, with both series touching on the horrors of humanity and the damage it can cause. As a result, the Outlast games are like Silent Hill in that both series use psychological horror in their gameplay.
Similarly, they both have similar horror themes. Although the Outlast games are more like traditional horror games, with classic jump scares and chase sequences, the series is similar to Silent Hill in many ways.
All in all, when the first Outlast game was released in 2013, it scored a strong score of 80 from Metacritic. Similarly, the second game in the series also scored well, with an average score of 79 from critics.
2. Until Dawn
Until Dawn is a games like silent hill, it is a first-party exclusive game developed for the PlayStation by Supermassive games and released in 2015 on the PlayStation 4.
Until Dawn is a narrative-driven horror game and one of the first exclusive horror games on the PlayStation. The game follows eight different protagonists as they seek to survive on a mountain from a killer.
Until Dawn mixes a unique form of narrative-driven gameplay with third-person live-action sequences, creating the perfect mix of fast-paced action gameplay and horror on the edge of your seat.
The game is unique in that every action you make determines how the game’s story will play out. One false move or brave step may make the difference between life and death.
Although Until Dawn is notably different from the Silent Hill franchise in its 3D third-person art style and survival mechanics, the series are alike in many ways. For example, Until Dawn uses phycological horror perfectly to drive its story and gameplay mechanics.
The Silent Hill series also uses psychological terror to make the player engage and push on with the narrative. Thus, both games use psychological hooks to draw the player in and keep them interested.
However, both games do this in different ways; both lean on similar themes. When Until Dawn was released in 2015, the game received great critic reviews with 79.
Overall, Until Dawn is a great game and one of the best horror games you can play on the PlayStation. It is also one of the best horror games of the last generation of consoles.
Thus, if you haven’t played this game and are a fan of psychological horror, pick up Until Dawn. It is sure to scare your socks off.
3. Alien Isolation – Survival horror games like silent hill
Although Alien Isolation and the Silent Hill franchise are two very different series, with both franchises having completely different takes on the horror genre, they are similar in many ways. Alien Isolation is a survival horror game based in the universe of Alien.
The game was first released in 2014 and followed Amanda Ripleys daughter, Ellen Ripley, to find her lost mother. However, Ellen quickly finds that finding her mother won’t be that easy as she is stalked by an Alien, a terrifying creature identical to the ones in the Alien movies.
Alien Isolation is an excellent game and one of the best survival horror action games on the market. The game features 3D survival action and narrative-focused gameplay, as well as classic horror tropes.
Alien Isolation is a survival game at its core, making your duck dive and weave your way out of trouble and from the Alien, the game allows you to craft and gather resources crucial to survival.
Thus, Alien Isolation features hardcore survival horror mechanics and is very similar to Dead by Daylight and game series like Outlast.
Likewise, Alien Isolation is also like Silent Hill in that both video game franchises are perfect representations of how to tell a story-driven narrative experience. Despite both series having very different influences, the series has a core focus of telling a story amongst all the horror chaos.
Thus, the games are very similar in many ways and lean on narrative to tell their individual horror stories. When Alien Isolation was released in 2014, the game scored an impressive 81 from critics. For any game, receiving an 81 is difficult to achieve, let alone a movie-based game which is often difficult to pull off.
Thus, Alien Isolation is one of the best movie-adapted games ever. It is a great game that makes you sweat, cry and scream as you try and avoid the Alien threat. It is therefore highly popular amongst streamers. Give this game a shot if you haven’t already!
4. The Medium
The Medium is a psychological horror game similar to Silent Hill. The game puts you in the shoes of a Medium, a being that can transcend between the real and spirit worlds seamlessly.
You travel to an abandoned hotel resort as you seek to uncover the truth behind a child’s murder. Due to being a medium, you can use your powers to transcend between the living and the dead to find clues behind the tragic death, having a wider perspective on what occurred at the resort.
The game is unique because it introduces a new concept, theme, and story to the already saturated horror gaming genre. But instead of the developers Bloober team pushing out a classic horror game, they focus their efforts on the concept of the Medium and how that concept can help tell new stories in horror.
The Medium is a great game and is currently available on Xbox Games Pass for free. It is also available on PC and other next-generation consoles.
The game is also optimized for the latest next-generation Xbox consoles and was one of the first Xbox exclusive games to show off the Xbox Series X and S. Currently.
The game can run at up to 120 frames per second on the console and has next-generation load times and graphical quality. Thus, the Medium is truly a next-generation horror experience.
It is so far one of the only big horror games to make use of next-generation hardware and is, therefore, one of the only horror games that are next generation.
Furthermore, although Medium is notably different from the Silent Hill franchise in terms of looks and concept, the games are very similar in that both games touch on tragedy and deal with tough ideas.
As a result, both series lean on psychological horror to tell their stories. When Blooper Team released The Medium in early 2021, it scored well, with critics scoring a respectable 75 on Metacritic and a user score of 7.2. Thus, despite being a completely new IP, the game scored well across the board.
It is likely due to the success of The Medium. The game will get a sequel. It offers a fresh new take on a classic genre of video games that is new and original. As a result, it is a breath of fresh air and should be played by fans of the horror genre of games.
5. The Evil Within Series
The Evil Within is a video game series developed by the esteemed video game developer and creator behind Resident Evil, Shinji Mikami.
The Evil Within follows the story of the protagonist Sebastion Castellanos, a detective who ends up trapped in a universe full of terrifying creatures. The story follows Sebastion as he goes to a crime scene full of mysterious deaths.
He quickly finds himself trapped in a living nightmare with evil creatures hellbent on destroying him. To escape the Nightmare, Sebastion must use all of his wit to escape and discover what is behind the evil.
The Evil Within is heavily inspired by the resident evil franchise but takes the series and adds a narrative twist. Unlike the Resident Evil games, The Evil Within has a more complex plot with deep survival mechanics, sure to put you on the edge of your seat. Thus, the game uniquely blends action and survival, unlike any other horror game.
Similarly, the game is also similar to the Silent Hill franchise in that both franchises use psychological horror and tell a story about the horrors of humankind.
The Evil Within touches on many of these elements similar to Silent Hill’s, with both franchises leaning on heavy themes. The game reviewed well when The Evil Within was released in 2014, with critics scoring 79 on Metacritic.
Although not as high as some of the other games in Shinji Mikami’s portfolio of games, The Evil Within is still a standout game that should be picked up by any fan of the Resident Evil Franchise.
The Evil Within also got a sequel in 2017, scoring notably higher than its predecessor with an average score of 82. Like the first game, The Evil Within 2 is similar to Silent Hill, leaning on psychological horror to tell its story. Both are games like Silent Hill.
6. The Resident Evil Series
The Resident Evil Series revolutionized the horror gaming genre for good when the first game in the franchise was released in 1996.
Since the first game’s release, its huge success within western markets and the East saw numerous main series games, films, and even TV series. Likewise, the series saw comic books, novels and expanded into other forms of entertainment.
The Resident Evil series consists of a blend of first and third-person shooting and survival horror and covers many stories, lore, and plot lines. The first game in the series dubbed “Resident Evil” was created by Tokuro Fujiwara and Shinji Mikami and released for the PlayStation in 1996.
The game revolutionized the horror genre of games, helping to revitalize and make zombies mainstream within entertainment, not just within gaming but also in films, TV shows, and other forms of entertainment.
Similarly, the Resident Evil games also helped push forward third-person shooting over the shoulder, changing games forever. Thus, the series has sold around 120 million units worldwide, making it the most successful video game horror series ever in terms of sales; likewise, it is also the highest-grossing live-action video game film series ever.
Although the Silent Hill franchise doesn’t quite match the sales of the Resident Evil franchise, both franchises are very similar to one another. Resident Evil touches on many different horror themes and psychological horror topics, making the series very similar to Silent Hill.
Likewise, the series has also expanded into novels and comics, much like Silent Hill, making both franchises the few series to develop into multimedia brands. Thus, the Resident Evil series titles are similar to Silent Hill.
Overall, the Resident Evil series of games has been reviewed well by critics over the years. The latest game in the series Resident Evil Village was released on previous and next-generation consoles and scored high with critics with an average score of 84 from critics on Metacritic.
7. Heavy Rain – Psychological thriller games like silent hill
One of the most popular psychological thriller games of all time is Heavy Rain. Heavy Rain is a narrative-driven action game developed by Quantic Dream, the developers behind Detroit: Become Human and Beyond Two Souls.
The game follows multiple different protagonists who all have unique connections to the game’s main antagonist, the Origami Killer, a nefarious individual shrouded in mystery and evil.
Much like other games developed by Quantic Dream and directed by David Cage, Heavy Rain features an extensive narrative-driven story filled with branching story trees and dialogue options.
Each character can choose from various dialogue options and decisions for each plot point or narrative scenario. There are multiple different ways for the characters to tackle issues and problems. Thus, the stakes are high when playing Heavy Rain; each character can change the game’s story dynamically through their decisions.
Similarly, each player can die in the game through permadeath, further increasing the game’s stakes.
Although the game features very different video game mechanics to Silent Hill, with a greater emphasis on complex narrative-driven gameplay in terms of Heavy Rain, both games are psychological thrillers and take you on a mad journey through the game’s psyche.
8. The Last Of Us Series
The Last of Us is one of the most popular games like silent hill and resident evil of all time. The series is a narrative-driven action-adventure series first released in 2013 and developed by the critically acclaimed developers Naughty Dog.
The Last of Us series consists of two main games, Last of Us 1 and Last of Us 2, alongside DLC and other multimedia adaptations. The games follow protagonists Joel and Ellie as they make their way across the US to find a cure for a virus that has wiped out most of humanity.
The Last of Us series has one of the best stories in video games, with the narrative driving ideas of family, sacrifice, change, and, of course, tragedy. Nothing can quite prepare you for the story of The Last of Us series, with the games holding a spot in the hearts of many gamers.
The first game in the series focuses on the adventures of Joel and Ellie, while the Last of Us 2 focuses primarily on Ellie and how she seeks to survive in a world full of anarchy.
The Last of Us titles are games like Silent Hill in that both series feature the tragedy and display some of the horrors of humanity. Likewise, both games are gritty filled with horror elements, with the second Last Of Us being notably more gruesome than the first.
Thus, the two video game series are very similar to one another. As mentioned, the Last of Us games are critically acclaimed, with the first game scoring a 95 on Metacritic and the second game scoring high with a 93.
9. Friday The 13th The Game – Survival horror games like silent hill
Friday the 13th The Game is a survival horror game developed by Illfonic and based in the same universe as the Friday The 13th horror series. Friday the 13th The Game is a survival game at its core and features classical survival mechanics similar to games like Predator: Hunting Grounds.
One player takes control of the classic Friday The 13th killer Jason, while other players control various characters that must escape from the rampant killer. Jason has a range of superhuman powers and abilities, while the other characters also have strengths.
Thus, Friday the 13th The Game requires intense strategic teamwork and tactics on both sides of the playing field, whether you are Jason or the innocent victims who are running away from him. Thus, the game is a lot of fun and one of the best survival games out there.
Friday the 13th The Game is very similar to Silent Hill in that both series feature brutal horror gameplay. Thus, although the games are dissimilar in many areas, both games feature classic horror themes and gameplay mechanics and are thus alike.
All in all, when Friday the 13th The Game was released, it scored a score of 69 on Metacritic.
Final Thoughts on Games like silent hill
Overall, this article has outlined 9 great games like Silent Hill to play in 2022. This article has highlighted that many video game titles and series like Silent Hill are quality.
Likewise, this article has shown that although the horror game genre is saturated, standout titles, mostly series, keep on giving. Horror franchises like Resident Evil have stood the test of time in terms of longevity and quality.
Similarly, this article has shown how impactful the horror genre of video games is. Smaller games, especially mega franchises such as Resident Evil, have helped transform the horror genre of games and gaming in general.
As a result, it shows how fast the horror genre of games evolves and how tough the competition is within the genre.
In the future, the horror genre of video games will evolve more with future iterations of the current generation and next-generation hardware, transforming how we see horror games today.
