October is horror season, and every year a lot of people feel left out of it. That's not a niche feeling. Researchers at Aarhus University's Recreational Fear Lab point to a Danish survey in which 21% of people said they don't enjoy horror at all, and another 32% only enjoy it in certain situations, such as with friends.
The good news is that there's a whole range of games that are spooky, eerie or macabre without being truly frightening. These ten are sorted from "not scary at all" to "you might jump once or twice," with a summary table at the end. Stop wherever your limit is.
Why a little fear can be fun
The Recreational Fear Lab has studied this directly. In one study, 110 visitors to a haunted house in Denmark wore heart-rate monitors, and the researchers found that enjoyment peaked at a moderate level of fear, not at the most or the least. As researcher Marc Malmdorf Andersen put it, a "'just-right' amount of fear is central for maximizing enjoyment."
The lab also found that horror fans aren't all the same. Some, which it calls "White Knucklers," prefer lower intensity and still get something real from it. If that sounds like you, this list is built for your sweet spot.
Not scary at all
Costume Quest
Double Fine's 2010 RPG follows kids trick-or-treating on Halloween night, and every costume turns into a giant version of itself in battle: a cardboard robot becomes a real robot. It's warm, funny and turn-based, with no scares at all. Expect about six or seven hours with the side quests.
Platforms: PC, Mac and Linux on Steam; Xbox via backward compatibility.
Luigi's Mansion 3
Nintendo's haunted hotel is all cartoon ghosts and slapstick, and Luigi is terrified the whole time so you don't have to be. A second player can join as Gooigi, a gooey green copy of Luigi, which makes it a great pick for playing with someone even more nervous than you. Reviewers clocked the campaign at around 10 to 13 hours.
Platforms: Switch.
Eerie, not frightening
Strange Antiquities
A 2025 puzzle game from the makers of Strange Horticulture. You run an occult curiosity shop in the town of Undermere, identifying cursed objects for customers with a cat for company. It's creepy in subject and cosy in feel, with nothing that can hurt you.
Platforms: PC, Switch.
Return of the Obra Dinn
Lucas Pope's deduction puzzle sends you aboard a ghost ship to work out how each of its crew died. The death scenes are frozen, 1-bit tableaux, so it's macabre but never chases you. A strong puzzler might finish in five to seven hours; most people take longer.
Platforms: PC, Mac, Switch, PS4, Xbox One.
DREDGE
By day, DREDGE is a cosy fishing game: sail between islands, sell your catch, upgrade your boat. At night the fog rolls in, strange shapes appear in the water and something is very wrong with the fish. The dread builds slowly, there are no jump scares, and you can avoid most of it by getting back to port before dark. The main story takes around 15 hours.
Platforms: PC, Mac, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, iOS, Android.
Oxenfree
A group of teenagers visit an island for a party and accidentally tune into something they shouldn't with a portable radio. It's a supernatural mystery built around conversation, with clever writing and a great soundtrack. One reviewer called it "just scary enough that it kept me on edge without dipping into horror." It's genuinely unsettling in places, but there's no combat and no jump scares. Allow about four hours, and don't rush it: hurrying can cost you the best ending.
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, iOS, Android.
A little scary
Inscryption
A card game played against a mysterious figure in a dark cabin. The atmosphere is tense and the game has many strange surprises, but it's more unnerving than frightening. If you like deckbuilders, it's one of the best ever made. Experienced players finish the story in 12 to 15 hours; newcomers may take much longer. Go in knowing as little as possible.
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch.
Pacific Drive
A survival driving game set in a strange, hostile zone in the Pacific Northwest. You patch up an old station wagon and head out on runs, trying to get back before things turn dangerous. The tension comes from storms and anomalies rather than monsters, and your car becomes a kind of companion. The developers estimate 15 to 20 hours for the story.
Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S.
Little Nightmares
You play Six, a small child in a yellow raincoat, escaping a vast ship full of grotesque adults. It has chase sequences and some real scares, so it's the most intense single-player pick here, but it's only about four hours long and the art style keeps it closer to a dark fairy tale than a slasher film. 2025's Little Nightmares III, made by Supermassive Games, is a little gentler and adds online co-op.
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, iOS, Android; an Enhanced Edition is on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2.
Lethal Company
The scariest game here, and also the funniest, as long as you play with friends. You're a team of up to four contractors scavenging abandoned moons for scrap. Proximity voice chat means you hear your friends' voices fade as they wander off, and their screams cut short. Reviewers have called it a "slapstick-fest": frightening for a minute at a time, then everyone's laughing. It has sold an estimated 10 million copies, almost entirely through word of mouth. Don't play it alone.
Platforms: PC (early access).
Not-too-scary horror games at a glance
| Game | Scare level | Length | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Costume Quest | None | 6–7 hours | PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox |
| Luigi's Mansion 3 | Very low | 10–13 hours | Switch |
| Strange Antiquities | Low | Varies | PC, Switch |
| Return of the Obra Dinn | Low | 5–7+ hours | PC, Mac, Switch, PS4, Xbox One |
| DREDGE | Low | ~15 hours | All major platforms and mobile |
| Oxenfree | Low to medium | ~4 hours | All major platforms and mobile |
| Inscryption | Medium | 12–15+ hours | All major platforms |
| Pacific Drive | Medium | 15–20 hours | PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S |
| Little Nightmares | Medium to high | ~4 hours | All major platforms and mobile |
| Lethal Company | Medium, but funny | Endless | PC |
How to play scary games when you scare easily
- Play in daylight with the lights on. It sounds obvious, but it works.
- Play with someone in the room. Even if they're not playing, it takes the edge off. Luigi's Mansion 3 and Lethal Company are built for it.
- Turn the volume down. Much of a horror game's fear is in the sound design. The Recreational Fear Lab notes this is one of the ways people naturally manage fear.
- Look up what's coming. There's no shame in knowing where the scary part is. Our guide on using a walkthrough without spoiling the game covers how to check without ruining the story.
If you want to go a step further this October, our roundup of Control Resonant and Silent Hill: Townfall reviews covers the season's two big atmospheric releases.
Sources
- Aarhus University: Recreational Fear Lab
- Recreational Fear Lab: Recreational Fear 101
- Association for Psychological Science: Playing with fear
- Aarhus University: The psychological benefits of scary play in three types of horror fans
- GamersNexus: Costume Quest review
- Nintendo World Report: Luigi's Mansion 3 review
- Den of Geek: Luigi's Mansion 3 review
- Strange Antiquities on Steam
- The Escape Roomer: Return of the Obra Dinn review
- Wikipedia: Dredge
- Margot Plays: Oxenfree review
- Room Escape Artist: Inscryption review
- Steam Community: Pacific Drive developer on game length
- Wikipedia: Little Nightmares
- GamingTrend: Little Nightmares III review
- Wikipedia: Lethal Company
