The idea of introducing children to horror might feel counterproductive at first, but it turns out that developers have been making horror-themed games for kids for a while now, and the results are awesome.
Are you a kid or a parent who wants to introduce their kids to the beautiful world of horror without accidentally scaring them to death? Cool! I’ve compiled a list of great horror games that kids can enjoy, and I’m okay with you telling them it’s all my fault in case this experiment goes awry!
Luigi’s Mansion 3
Look no further than everyone’s favorite family-oriented gaming company to provide you with the best possible ways of scaring your kids.
Luigi’s Mansion 3 is the finest game in the series and it features a bunch of cool scary moments that combine beautifully with Nintendo’s trademark top-of-the-line gameplay.
The scariest thing about Luigi’s Mansion 3, or any of the games in that series, is that it isn’t where you’ll find Nintendo’s darkest materials. Those are mostly in regular Super Mario games that nobody suspects! The more you know!
Plants vs. Zombies
Looking at a franchise that began in the late ’00s with the name Plants vs. Zombies can make you go, “Uh, they could make money off of anything with the word zombie in the title back then.” And you’d be mostly right. A lot of crappy stuff found a lot of success back in those days because it was riding the wave of the zombie craze, but this is a genuinely great game.
Despite its otherworldly bonkers premise that seems to point out that someone completely misunderstood the concept of “biological warfare”, the Plants vs. Zombies series is one of the best efforts in the tower defense genre. It’s also a really, uh, original way of teaching your children the importance of gardening.
Hello Neighbor
Less is sometimes more when it comes to horror, and anyone playing Hello Neighbor will know that. Instead of having to deal with a zombie outbreak or a world-spanning demonic invasion, Hello Neighbor players only have to contend with a suspicious and possibly murderous man who lives close by.
It might not seem like much, but this concept is pure nightmare fuel for many kids who have neighbors who behave just slightly off, and Hello Neighbor plays with those fears in a masterful way.
Little Nightmares 2
Even though its cartoony appearance seems to convey a completely harmless experience, Little Nightmares 2 doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to spooky scary imagery and themes.
If you think your kid can stomach that, it’s one of the smartest, most immersive, and overall better adventures you can play right now. If you think your kid might not yet be ready for this one, remember that it’s completely okay to postpone it for a couple more years.
Slender: The Eight Pages
It doesn’t get any more cost-effective scare-wise than Slender: The Eight Pages. The game tasks players with venturing into some dark woods to retrieve eight pages of a book while attempting to avoid the titular monster. Even though it’s a simple game that features absolutely no gore whatsoever, it never falters in terms of atmosphere and jump scares, so maybe consider only showing this one to your kid if he’s an older kid.
Another thing that makes Slenderman great is his ability to scare kids but not their parents because parents all know that he’s just a character in an Internet creepypasta. No way that adults could ever be fooled by the Internet, right?
Costume Quest 2
If you’re looking for a game that’s horror-themed but that doesn’t stand to even mildly scare anyone, then Costume Quest 2 is a great pick. On top of it being very cute, it’s an RPG, meaning that it won’t force any kid to have their survival instincts at the ready in case they need to escape an enemy.
Costume Quest 2 looks a bit like South Park, but worry not. It has a lot of heart and tells a tale that most kids will likely enjoy.
The Legend Of Zelda Majora’s Mask
Even though human memories tend to play tricks on us, you’re not wrong in remembering Majora’s Mask as a way more messed-up game than any other in the series.
The main plot of the game revolves around a human-faced moon whose sole purpose is to crash into Link’s world, and that’s not even its darkest part. This one probably doesn’t require further recommendation as most parents already know this game and know that it’s awesome.
I find it absolutely wild that we live in a world where one of the greatest games ever made is a horror game made with kids in mind.
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
Is your kid into more vintage stuff, a possible game historian in the making? Then maybe they should try one of the classics. Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a surprisingly smart top-down shooter that takes players on a fun adventure that goes for a fun parody of genre tropes instead of focusing on gore.
It’s no Left 4 Dead 2, but it’s still a pretty good pick — especially now that you can play it with your kid on co-op on the Nintendo Switch.
