Horror has been a staple of videogames for decades. Of course, there are the classics like Resident Evil and Silent Hill that revolutionized horror to make gamers truly scared. Due to the ingenuity of those titles, gamers today have Five Nights At Freddy’s and Outlast. Before that, however, most horror games were mostly action games with horror themes.

Where did it all begin? Back in the 1980s when horror movies were going through their biggest resurgence; this resulted in a multitude of horror/horror-themed games. Some were better than others. So, what retro games stand out the most from this era?

10 Monster Party

Far from scary but Monster Party pays tribute to classic horror monster movies. Vampires, ghosts, and even carnivorous plants straight out of Little Shop Of Horror.

Monster Party is fairly simple: move left and right, defeat monster bosses, and collect items. Do this for several stages and then the player has one. Well, it’s simple in theory but Monster Party is surprisingly difficult.

9 Uninvited

Originally developed for PCs, Uninvited is a point-and-click horror game that managed to get a port on the NES. For its time, the visuals are genuinely creepy especially for the kids who likely ended up playing it.

The NES only featured a D-pad and two buttons so that version did not control well. For a much better experience, Uninvited is available on Steam. It is a much smoother and satisfying experience that way.

8 Chiller

Swapping to an arcade game, Chiller is quite the controversial one. Why? Well, it featured enough gore and torture to rival one of the later Saw movies. For a 1980s arcade game, it garnered a lot of backlash from people.

This resulted in Chiller becoming a cult-classic. While the gore may seem normal to today’s standards, it was ambitious for the time. Playing Chiller today is a bit more difficult these days since it requires a light-gun. If someone finds a way, enjoy playing a bloody fun experience!

7 Maniac Mansion

An adventure game in the same vein as Monkey Island or Hugo, Maniac Mansion is more cartoony in its design. In many ways, it acts more like a satire of the horror tropes at the time, especially of 80s horror movies.

The controls take a while to get used to. However, Maniac Mansion still provides a funny yet challenging experience for those who dare enter.

6 Soft & Cuddly

The most deceptive title to any video game ever. Soft & Cuddly was a horror arcade game that got a port to the ZX Spectrum and in many ways, the Spectrum version is scarier. The vibrant yet limited colors of the Spectrum combined with the visuals lead to some creepy designs.

Much like Chiller, Soft & Cuddly was ambitious for attempting so many gory and disturbing designs. For 1987, nobody would be blamed for getting nightmares as a result of Soft & Cuddly.

5 Project Firestart

Project Firestart is technically one of the first games that can be labeled as survival horror. It features multiple endings, branching paths, and cinematic storytelling and all on the Commodore 64.

With a freaky monster chasing the player and plenty of challenge, it’s surprising that Project Firestart doesn’t get more attention. It was way ahead of its time and is worth a revisit these days.

4 Haunted House

There were a few attempts at horror games on the Atari 2600. The most fondly remembered of them all would be Haunted House. With the player trekking through multiple levels and avoiding spooky enemies, Haunted House is just really fun.

Haunted House is a simple Atari game but it remains fun to this day. It’s also impressive how it uses the limitations to create lighting mechanics. Haunted House is also one of the few Atari games that can actually be beaten rather than just worrying about points.

3 Sweet Home

A horror RPG with survival aspects? Inventory management, quick-time events, and Metroidvania-style navigation? How has anyone never heard of this game? Well, unfortunately, Sweet Home was only released in Japan.

In many ways, Sweet Home is the 8-bit Resident Evil. It was even developed by Capcom, seemingly laying the groundwork for that title. Sweet Home is also based on a horror movie, making it one of the first good movie-licensed games. If a fan-made ROM with English translation can be found, check it out!

2 Splatterhouse

Despite Rick Taylor looking like a slasher villain straight out of a horror movie, he’s the hero of the story. Rick needs to mow through hordes of monsters to rescue his girlfriend.

Splatterhouse is an arcade classic that spawned a franchise. It’s not deep or complex, just move left to right slaughtering any monster in sight. Check out any of its sequels as well, they are all fun to play!

1 Castlevania

Is anyone surprised about this one? Of course, one cannot talk about 80s horror games without mentioning Castlevania! Mixing the classic Universal/Hammer monster movies with hints of Greek mythology, Castlevania remains an all-time classic.

The story of Simon Belmont hunting the evil Dracula ended up becoming one of gaming’s biggest franchises. There’s even an animated series on Netflix based on Castlevania and several reboots and spin-off games. All of it began with a fun yet incredibly difficult sidescroller for the original NES.

NEXT: Nightmare Creatures & 9 Other Forgotten Action-Horror Gems