You probably thought that since Nintendo is such a family-friendly game company, there wouldn't be much in the way of horror for the Switch. However, there are a few solid horror titles available right now, with more iconic horror characters and brand new titles on the way. If you love horror games, these are the best ones available on Nintendo Switch.
Must-have
Discover the horror hiding within a small town as you investigate a suspicious death. Your choices will change the story as you uncover the truth behind mysteries in this small town. Your decisions will stop a cosmic horror or may unleash it on an unsuspecting world.
The classic
Resident Evil was the first horror game I ever played, and the first game I played all the way through to the end. Revelations and Revelations 2 are interim games that take place between the main titles. Revelations occurs between Resident Evil 4 and 5, following Jill Valentine on an abandoned cruise ship. Revelations 2 takes place between Resident Evil 5 and 6 and follows Claire Redfield on an abandoned prison island. The two games tie up some loose ends from the franchise and give you some more good old-fashioned Resident Evil fun.
Horror in the asylum
Nintendo Switch's re-release of this horror adventure game is not going to make things easy for you. As a journalist investigating a murder at an asylum, you're walking down dark hallways, revealing bloody scenes, and being chased by crazed inmates around every corner. The worst part is that you don't have any weapons to protect yourself — you're just a journalist, after all. When things go completely dark, you have your trusty camcorder to help you see the horror that awaits you. Don't overuse it though. Batteries don't last forever.
A Blood sucking adventure
Choose between martyr and monster as new vampyr, Dr. Jonathan Reid. Decide whether to help the citizens of London as they fall to plague, or feed off of them to enhance your vampiric abilities. Fight against vampire hunters, embrace your true nature and decide whether the living world deserves to be saved or destroyed.
Big adventure for a little person
When you wake up to an empty house, you'll need first to find your teddy bear, and then hunt down clues to figure out what has happened to your mother. As a toddler, the world is a gigantic and strange place without the people who love you. Discover the truth as you creep through a distorted world in this psychological horror game.
A lesson in horror
Detention takes cues from Asian horror to put you in the front seat of a disturbing chain of events that leads to some seriously dark stuff. Though the gameplay itself isn't particularly challenging, the atmosphere is completely immersive. It feels more like you're watching a horror movie than playing a game. You control a student trapped at a school that was recently evacuated due to a ... typhoon? Maybe. Typhoons don't turn people into a flesh-eating Lingered or leave curses on walls written in blood. Will you make it out of school alive? Or are you trapped in detention forever?
Blind terror
In Perception, you play the role of a blind woman trying to uncover the mystery of a recurring nightmare by exploring a haunted mansion. Through echolocation, you're able to see glimpses of your surroundings. Tapping your cane on the ground as you walk reveals outlines of objects. This creepy mansion also has a horrifying presence that will kill you if you make a sound when it's nearby. What to do? I'd recommend playing this game with headphones, or at least with the volume up on your TV set. It's a game meant to invoke fear through sound.
Haunted House
Possibly the best horror title to come to the Switch so far, Layers of Fear: Legacy traps you in a lonely Victorian-era house with a protagonist whose sanity is slowly deteriorating. As you move between the present and past, you'll see what it is that makes your POV protagonist lose his mind. Are those paintings moving, or are you just losing it? I'd keep the lights on for this one; it's going to scare you.
Games to chill you to the bone
There is nothing quite as fun as a video game that can scare the pants off of you. It's a bit like watching a horror movie, but you get to become a part of the terror! There are a variety of different horror games that are available on Nintendo Switch, and they run the gamut from zombies to psychological horror and encompass everything in between.
Out of all the options our number one pick is Call of Cthulu. This atmospheric horror game depends on investigation and the choices that you make will affect the outcome of the story. Try to solve the mysteries on this small island and pray you don't become the next victim in this cosmic horror.
If you prefer a game that's more physical than the Resident Evil Revelations Collection will have you gunning down infected. There are two games in one great package which means you get twice the terror for the same great price.
Last but not least is Layers of Fear: Legacy which delivers a psychological horror story that transports you between the present and the past. Wander through a deteriorating victorian home as you watch the protagonist lose his mind in this terrifying title.
