The release of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard marked a significant return to form for the franchise, masterfully blending its signature survival horror elements with a deeply unsettling first-person perspective, primarily set within the terrifying confines of the Baker family plantation. This potent formula of claustrophobic exploration, resource management, puzzle-solving, and a palpable sense of vulnerability resonated strongly with players, leaving many hungry for similar experiences. If you’re one of those who found a macabre thrill in navigating eerie corridors, uncovering dark secrets within a single, menacing location, and feeling the constant threat of what lurks in the shadows, then this list is for you. We’ll explore a variety of horror games that echo RE7’s intense atmosphere and focus on in-depth, often terrifying, house exploration. 🏠
These games, much like the Baker estate, turn their settings into central characters, with every creaking floorboard and shadowy corner contributing to an overarching sense of dread. They often emphasize psychological horror over overt action, forcing players to confront their fears in environments that feel both intimately familiar and horrifyingly alien. Get ready to lock your doors and dim the lights as we venture into some of the most compelling and frightening house-centric horror games available.
Visage: A descent into a truly haunted house
If any game comes close to being a spiritual successor to the terrifying promise of P.T. while sharing DNA with Resident Evil 7’s domestic dread, it’s Visage. Set entirely within a sprawling, labyrinthine suburban home, this first-person psychological horror title is an unrelenting journey into madness and the paranormal. The house itself is a dynamic entity, its layout shifting and its secrets slowly unfurling as you piece together the tragic stories of those who previously dwelled within its cursed walls.
What makes Visage so effective is its masterful use of atmosphere and subtlety. Jump scares are present, but the game excels in building a pervasive sense of unease. 👻 You’ll explore dark rooms armed with little more than a flickering lighter or a camera flash, each step fraught with tension. The game features a sanity mechanic, where spending too much time in the dark or witnessing paranormal events will attract malevolent entities. Similar to RE7’s Baker house, the home in Visage feels lived-in yet deeply corrupted, with personal belongings and everyday objects twisted into instruments of terror. Puzzles are often environmental and require keen observation, much like deciphering the cryptic clues in the Baker residence. Resource management is crucial, particularly concerning light sources and sanity-restoring items, adding another layer to the survival experience. For players seeking a slow-burn horror that seeps under your skin, Visage is an essential and deeply disturbing exploration of a house that actively wants you gone.
Madison: The demonic lens of a cursed camera
Madison is another stellar example of first-person psychological horror that locks you inside a terrifying home, armed with a unique gameplay mechanic: an instant camera. This camera isn’t just for taking spooky pictures; it’s a crucial tool for interacting with the paranormal world, solving puzzles, and revealing hidden truths, reminiscent of how certain items or perspectives in RE7 unlock the next piece of the horrifying puzzle. The story revolves around Luca, who wakes up covered in blood, locked in a dark room by a demonic entity. His only way to understand what’s happening and survive is to explore his family’s eerie home, using the camera to bridge the gap between the physical and spectral realms.
The atmosphere in Madison is thick with dread, heavily leaning on claustrophobic environments and a constant sense of being watched. The house is filled with disturbing imagery, locked doors, and cryptic clues related to a decades-old demonic ritual. The sound design is exceptional, with every creak, whisper, and distant noise amplifying the terror. 😱 Much like RE7, Madison forces you to confront a deeply personal and familial horror within the confines of a home that should be a place of safety but has become a prison. The puzzles are intricate and often require developing photographs to see what the naked eye cannot, adding a clever twist to the exploration. If you enjoyed the intimate, oppressive horror of the Baker house and the feeling of being trapped with an unseen, malevolent force, Madison delivers a potent and memorable scare-fest.
Layers of Fear: Painting a portrait of madness
Bloober Team’s Layers of Fear offers a unique and artistic take on the haunted house subgenre. You step into the shoes of a tormented painter attempting to complete his magnum opus in a sprawling, constantly shifting Victorian mansion. 🖼️ This first-person psychological horror game is less about direct combat or resource management and more about an immersive, narrative-driven experience through a truly surreal and terrifying environment. As you explore the artist’s decaying home, the architecture itself warps and changes around you, reflecting his deteriorating mental state. Doors lead to different places, hallways stretch into impossible lengths, and paintings writhe with an unsettling life of their own.
The connection to Resident Evil 7 lies in the intricate exploration of a single, deeply personal space that holds dark secrets about its inhabitants. The mansion in Layers of Fear is a direct extension of the protagonist’s psyche, much like the Baker house is intrinsically linked to the family’s corruption. The game relies on atmospheric tension, disturbing imagery, and a gradually unfolding story pieced together through notes, objects, and environmental storytelling. While there are no traditional enemies to fight, the psychological torment and the ever-present sense of a lurking, unseen horror are palpable. It’s a game that excels in visual horror and creating a disorienting, dreamlike (or rather, nightmarish) experience. For those who appreciate a more story-focused, art-driven horror that plays with your perceptions within a haunted house, Layers of Fear is a masterpiece of the genre. Its influence can be seen in how it turns a familiar setting into a canvas for surreal horror, a technique that many modern horror games have adopted.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent – The grandfather of modern indie horror
While predating Resident Evil 7 by several years, Amnesia: The Dark Descent by Frictional Games is a cornerstone of modern first-person survival horror and laid much of the groundwork for the kind of helpless, exploration-focused terror that RE7 later revitalized in the AAA space. Set within the gloomy and expansive Brennenburg Castle, players awaken as Daniel, with no memory of his past and a chilling note urging him to descend into the castle’s inner sanctum to kill a man named Alexander. The castle, with its dark halls, hidden passages, and oppressive atmosphere, functions much like a massive, terrifying house.
Amnesia’s defining feature is its emphasis on vulnerability. There is no combat; encountering the grotesque Gatherers or other Lovecraftian horrors means you must run or hide. This helplessness is compounded by a sanity system – staring at monsters or lingering in darkness erodes Daniel’s mind, leading to visual and auditory hallucinations. 🕯️ Similar to RE7’s moments of pure dread when facing an unkillable Jack Baker, Amnesia constantly reminds you of your fragility. Exploration involves solving physics-based puzzles, managing limited tinderboxes for light, and uncovering the horrifying backstory through scattered notes and diary entries. The game masterfully builds tension through its sound design and the constant threat of the unseen. Its legacy in popularizing the „run and hide” mechanic in horror is undeniable and can be seen in many subsequent titles, including elements of RE7’s design philosophy, which prioritizes survival and evasion in its tensest moments. For a deep dive into the roots of modern claustrophobic horror and puzzle-solving under pressure, Amnesia remains an essential, terrifying experience.
Outlast: Found footage terror in a house of horrors
Red Barrels’ Outlast takes the found footage concept and translates it into an interactive nightmare. You play as investigative journalist Miles Upshur, who breaks into the remote Mount Massive Asylum based on an anonymous tip. 📹 Armed only with a night-vision camcorder with a rapidly draining battery, you must explore the asylum’s gore-streaked, corpse-laden halls, uncovering the horrific experiments that took place there. While an asylum isn’t a traditional house, its labyrinthine corridors, patient rooms, and administrative offices create a similarly claustrophobic and contained environment filled with deranged „inhabitants.”
The core gameplay loop of Outlast revolves around exploration, stealth, and evasion. Like RE7, particularly in its early hours or during encounters with Marguerite, the emphasis is on running and hiding from overwhelmingly powerful threats rather than direct confrontation. Your camcorder is your only tool, allowing you to see in the pitch-black environments, but also making you a more visible target. The scarcity of batteries creates constant tension, forcing risky decisions. Jump scares are plentiful and effective, but it’s the sustained atmosphere of dread and the grotesque designs of the Variants (the mutated patients) that truly make Outlast terrifying. The story unfolds through documents and Miles’s own notes, painting a grim picture of corporate malfeasance and scientific hubris. If you’re looking for a relentless, high-adrenaline horror experience that makes you feel utterly powerless within a sprawling, deadly „house,” Outlast and its sequel, Outlast 2 (which features more varied, though equally terrifying, environments including dilapidated houses), are top-tier choices.
Resident Evil Village: The terrifying legacy continues, especially in House Beneviento
It’s impossible to discuss games like RE7 without mentioning its direct sequel, Resident Evil Village. While Village incorporates larger, more open areas and a greater emphasis on action, it also features some of the most intense and memorable „house exploration” horror sequences in the entire series, directly building upon the strengths of its predecessor. The early game exploration of the desolate village and its creepy houses sets a foreboding tone. However, the standout section for fans of RE7’s focused horror is undoubtedly House Beneviento. 🎎
This segment strips Ethan Winters of all his weapons and plunges him into a deeply psychological and puzzle-centric nightmare within the Beneviento doll maker’s eerie home. The atmosphere is suffocating, relying on subtle scares, environmental storytelling, and a truly grotesque central antagonist. The focus on puzzle-solving under immense psychological pressure, with a deeply personal and unsettling theme, is a direct evolution of RE7’s best moments. Even Castle Dimitrescu, with its opulent yet decaying halls and stalking threat of Lady Dimitrescu and her daughters, evokes the feeling of being trapped in a grand, terrifying mansion, much like the Baker estate but on a grander scale. While Village expands the scope, its core horror often returns to the intimate, terrifying exploration of confined spaces filled with unspeakable dread, making it a must-play for those who loved the Baker house ordeal.
Observer: Cyberpunk dread in a decaying tenement
Bloober Team, the creators of Layers of Fear, also developed Observer (stylized as >observer_), a first-person cyberpunk horror game set in a dystopian Krakow in 2084. You play as Daniel Lazarski, an „Observer” – a neural detective who can hack into people’s minds – voiced by the late Rutger Hauer. The majority of the game takes place within a single, sprawling, dilapidated tenement building called „The Stacks,” which has been put under lockdown after a mysterious plague outbreak. This building, with its oppressive atmosphere, labyrinthine corridors, and glitching technology, becomes a character in itself, a vertical house of forgotten souls and digital ghosts. 🤖
While the setting is futuristic, the core experience shares similarities with RE7’s exploration of a confined, hostile environment filled with disturbing secrets. As Lazarski, you’ll investigate crime scenes, interrogate residents through their door intercoms, and dive into the chaotic, often terrifying, mindscapes of suspects and victims. These neural interrogations are surreal, fragmented, and deeply unsettling, offering a unique twist on environmental storytelling and psychological horror. The building itself is decaying, filled with grime, and haunted by technological decay and the desperation of its inhabitants. There’s a constant sense of unease and paranoia. The game blends detective work with atmospheric horror and philosophical questions about technology and humanity. If you’re intrigued by a „haunted house” story given a dark cyberpunk makeover, where the ghosts are digital and the house is a microcosm of a broken society, Observer offers a compelling and thought-provoking experience.
Phasmophobia: Become the ghost hunter in haunted houses
For a different flavor of house exploration horror, Phasmophobia offers a cooperative (or solo, for the truly brave) paranormal investigation experience. 👻🔍 While it lacks the narrative depth of RE7, it excels in creating palpable tension and genuine scares through its gameplay mechanics. Players take on the roles of ghost hunters, entering various haunted locations – primarily suburban houses, farmhouses, and even an asylum – to identify the type of ghost haunting the premises. Armed with equipment like EMF readers, spirit boxes, thermometers, and UV lights, you and your team must gather evidence while trying to survive the increasingly aggressive paranormal entity.
The brilliance of Phasmophobia lies in its immersive sound design, unpredictable ghost AI, and the vulnerability of the players. Each investigation feels unique, and the ghosts can interact with the environment (and you) in terrifying ways, from whispering through the spirit box to full-blown hunts where your only option is to hide. The houses themselves, though somewhat generic in appearance, become incredibly menacing once the lights go out and the paranormal activity begins. The game taps into that primal fear of the unknown lurking within an ordinary home. While the objective isn’t to escape a single, narrative-driven house like in RE7, the moment-to-moment gameplay of cautiously exploring dark rooms, listening for ghostly sounds, and hoping the fuse box doesn’t blow, captures a similar sense of dread and vulnerability. It’s a more systemic approach to haunted house horror, but one that consistently delivers scares.
Condemned: Criminal Origins – Urban decay as a house of horrors
Though an older title, Monolith Productions’ Condemned: Criminal Origins is a masterclass in first-person melee-focused horror set in decaying urban environments that often feel like twisted, malevolent houses. You play as Ethan Thomas, an SCU agent framed for murder, who must hunt down a serial killer through a series of terrifyingly derelict buildings. These aren’t traditional homes, but abandoned department stores, libraries, and subway tunnels that have become lairs for deranged and violent individuals. The game excels in creating an oppressive atmosphere of urban decay and psychological distress.
What makes Condemned relevant to fans of RE7’s unsettling environments is its focus on claustrophobic exploration, scarce resources (often improvised weapons like pipes and 2x4s), and intense, visceral encounters. The sound design is exceptional, with every distant shout, creak, or scuttling sound ratcheting up the tension. You’re constantly on edge, unsure what horrors await around the next corner or in the shadows of a dilapidated room. The forensic investigation elements, where you use tools to find clues, add a methodical layer to the exploration amidst the chaos. While more combat-oriented than some other games on this list, the raw, brutal nature of the encounters and the sheer oppressive dread of its environments make Condemned a memorable journey into urban nightmare landscapes that feel like corrupted, dangerous homes for the city’s forgotten. Its impact on atmospheric horror and environmental storytelling in first-person games is noteworthy.
The Enduring Appeal of the Haunted House
The „haunted house” or „claustrophobic single-location” subgenre of horror continues to thrive because it taps into something primal: the corruption of safety. A home is meant to be a sanctuary, and when that sanctuary becomes a source of terror, it’s deeply unsettling. Games like Resident Evil 7 revitalized this by grounding the horror in a relatable (albeit extreme) setting and focusing on vulnerability and atmospheric dread.
The titles explored above each offer their own unique spin on this formula, whether through psychological manipulation, unique gameplay mechanics, or terrifying enemy encounters. From the shifting corridors of Layers of Fear to the demonic presence in Madison, or the sheer helplessness in Amnesia, these games demonstrate the enduring power of a well-crafted, terrifying space. They prove that sometimes, the most effective scares come not from sprawling open worlds, but from the suffocating confines of a single, malevolent house. 🚪
As technology evolves, developers will undoubtedly find new ways to make these virtual houses even more immersive and terrifying, ensuring that the thrill of exploring dark, mysterious, and dangerous homes will continue to be a cornerstone of the horror genre for years to come.
