Summer this year has been killer. Between record breaking heat waves, humidity that matches running a hot shower with the door shut, and just overall unpleasantness, it would come as no surprise that some people are looking to get away. Be it a cabin in the mountains, a house on the beach shore, or if you’re anything like me a secluded desert getaway.
But how do you get your horror game fix on vacations? Nintendo solved this issue with the release of Nintendo Switch back in 2017. The tiny hybrid console has been no stranger to great horror experiences and today we’ll run through the best horror games you can currently play right now on the Nintendo Switch… on the road to Halloween!
Resident Evil (2002)
What hasn’t been said about this one? The 2002 remake of the Capcom game that invented the survival horror genre holds up exceptionally even after 20 years. After searching for the lost Bravo team, S.T.A.R.S. members Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine are thrust into a house of horrors when they take shelter in a secluded mansion filled with zombies. The first installment is perfectly suited for portable play with its focus on slower, more methodical play and gameplay centered around puzzle solving and exploration.
Friday the 13th
Based on the legendary horror franchise starring hockey mask wearing Jason Voorhees, the asymmetrical multiplayer game was at one time the go-to horror game. Though updates have stopped in recent years and the multiplayer crowd has moved on to other games, the single player challenges provide fun recreations of some of the best moments in the series and the single player/bot matches provide the ultimate power trip. There’s even a mode where you can explore a cabin filled with Friday the 13th easter eggs and unlock an insanely cool Jason X easter egg. It’s a shame this one is no longer getting updates, but legal issues are to blame for that.
Dying Light
Originally released in 2015, Dying Light was a unique take on the genre of open-world zombie games with a focus on free running/parkour and melee combat. Dying Light also saw an unprecedented amount of support from its developer that saw content drops and updates all the way to 2022, including a “better late than never” port to the Switch. Folks, I’m here to tell you this is by far and away one of the greatest ports to ever hit the system. With a rock steady framerate, visuals almost on par with the original release, and ALL of the content that other systems received, Dying Light is the one zombie horror game you should be getting for your Nintendo Switch for that portable gory goodness.
Darkest Dungeon: Ancestral Edition
Darkest Dungeon is a turn-based roguelite RPG inspired by the hardcore playstyle of early editions of Dungeons & Dragons where you threw a d20 and you were most likely killed. Darkest Dungeon applies that to video game form where you take a random group of adventurers and explore the depths where they can be ambushed by monsters, go mad because of the darkness, or straight up have a heart attack from stress. The Ancestral Edition gets a special shout out due to including The Crimson Court and Color of Madness expansions. Crimson Court as you can probably guess from the name is an endgame expansion that adds vampires and other gory surprises and Color of Madness is a Lovecraft-inspired expansion that adds eldritch horror beyond your wildest imagination. With fast load times and intuitive touch controls in portable mode, this is an easy recommendation (although seriously, beat the game before you even attempt The Crimson Court.)
Any Puppet Combo Game
Puppet Combo is the online moniker of a single developer who has a knack for creating PS1/PS2 type experiences inspired by famous slasher movies. The two horror games available on Nintendo Switch are Murder House, a fixed camera angle nightmare about a documentary crew filming a famous serial killer’s home only for the rabbit suit wearing maniac to return (sure sounds like Halloween: Resurrection don’t it), and Nun Massacre, an escape room of horror as you try to escape a run down catholic school with a killer nun on the loose. They’re cheap. They’re short. They’re a love letter to slashers and Puppet Combo himself has hinted that more are on the way to consoles soon. These are highly recommended.
Deadly Premonition: Origins
Going to cap this list off with not only one of the best horror games to ever grace the switch but one of the finest games ever to be released. Deadly Premonition often comes up in the conversation of “are video games art?” and is a prime example of an experience you can only get in this medium. Deadly Premonition plays like a cheap knock off of Resident Evil 4 with a story that can only be described as a cheap copy of Twin Peaks. The game follows FBI agent Francis York Morgan as he travels to the small town of Greenvale, Washington to investigate the murder of a young girl that has eerie similarities to murders that are happening all over the country. It is old, filled with glitches, has some questionable choices in its writing but it’s also filled with memorable characters, laugh out loud moments, fantastic music, and a jaw dropper of an ending. Origins presents the game as it was in its original release and not the inferior “Director’s Cut”. The game also has a Nintendo Switch exclusive sequel called Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise (though we don’t talk about that one).