Horror can get a bit grisly. It's all about the darker side of storytelling, so it's not unusual for the protagonist to have to get their hands dirty before things are over. Even survival horror doesn't necessarily mean you're not armed at all.
This can't be said for every horror game, however. Sometimes removing the expectation that you'll need to fight back can be a relief, but in other situations, it can make everything so much worse. Whether you need to survive by subterfuge or whether you need to puzzle your way out of your situation, there's plenty of great horror for the pacifists out there.
10 Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Ever woken up with a sore head, wondering what on earth you did the night before? That is the premise of Amnesia: The Dark Descent in a nutshell. Instead of partying, though, you may have invoked the wrath of some cosmic horror and possibly killed some people. You are Daniel, a man who finds himself in a spooky German castle with no idea how he got there.
Horrible things wander its corridors, and you're powerless against them. Even hiding has its risks. Daniel has a horrendous fear of the dark, and hiding in gloomy places slowly erodes his sanity. To be fair, it is a pretty stressful situation.
9 Ib
Usually, when you go to look at art in a gallery, it isn't looking right back at you. The same cannot be said for the strange alternate painting world of Ib.
You take the role of the titular character, who goes with her parents to look at an art exhibition. On passing a particular painting, you find yourself pulled into a twisted alternate gallery, where the works of art have come to life and want you to stay permanently. The only way out is to solve puzzles, avoid hostile mannequins, and be very careful of who you trust.
8 Silent Hills: PT
A tragic reminder of what might have been, the short playable teaser for an unmade Silent Hill still sets a gold standard for psychological horror. You find yourself in a house. It's untidy and full of cockroaches. Someone is crying in the bathroom. You have no reason to want to be there, but you cannot leave.
Opening the door at the end of the hall will reveal the same hallway. Worse still, sometimes the corridor will be occupied when you loop through once more. There's nothing you can do except try to keep going, even if you really don't want to face what's ahead.
7 Outlast
The pen is mightier than the sword, but the pen isn't going to do much against a hulking cannibal who wants to break you in half. In Outlast, you play an investigative journalist trying to document the unethical treatment of inmates at the remote Mount Massive Asylum. Unfortunately, the chaos inside means that some of the inmates are ready to treat you unethically, and you have nothing but a night-vision camera and your wits.
The individuals you're up against are much stronger than you, so you will have to try and avoid them, or you'll be getting the perfect action shot of your own grisly end.
6 Iron Lung
There are times when you find yourself in situations that you're really not equipped to handle. When the situation is 'dive into an alien blood ocean' it's hard to imagine what would leave you properly equipped, but in Iron Lung, you are very ill-prepared.
Placed inside a badly-maintained junker of a submarine, which is not designed to operate at the depths, you are not going to be fighting anything that is waiting for you. In fact, you're barely even able to see your way around, as the viewing window is sealed shut so you do not drown. Take the photos your mission demands, and just hope whatever is outside leaves you alone.
5 Danganronpa Series
It's not often in horror that the killer gets a full and thorough trial - unfortunately, it's not happening here, either. In the Danganronpa series, murderer investigations will be carried out and killers convicted by a bunch of high school students, most of whom may be killers themselves.
Captured and forced to take part in a twisted game of whodunit by a megalomaniacal talking teddy bear, you won't be getting out of the situation through violence. The only way to survive is to collect evidence and convince the other students to vote to execute the guilty party. You can be sure an assortment of quirky, morally questionable teenagers will make fair and reasonable choices, right?
4 Knock-Knock
There's nothing worse than guests showing up unannounced. Well, perhaps it can get a little worse if they're malevolent creatures resembling ghosts with wheels for legs. This is what you face playing Knock-Knock.
You are awake at night in a house infested with disturbing-looking entities. You need to avoid them and turn on the lights to find things of use. The Guests, as they're called, will hunt you down and extinguish lamps if they get close. Grit your teeth and try to hold out until dawn. Hopefully, you don't have plans in the morning.
3 The Mortuary Assistant
It was supposed to be a normal job. Working in a mortuary, preparing the dead for viewing and burial might be a morbid career, but not a dangerous one. That is, until it turns out one of your deceased clients is diabolically possessed, and the demon in them is trying to hop into you. How can you fight something that's already dead? Well, you can't. What you can do is work your shift, watch for the signs, and find which cadaver is full of demons.
When you know and have figured out your uninvited guest's name, you can seal it in and burn the body. The demon will be pulling out all the stops to try and prevent this, so don't be shocked when the body hops up and tries to choke you.
2 The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter
The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter is definitely creepy, but it puts more stake into investigation than it does into all-out action. You play investigator Paul Prospero, a man with a strange talent. He is able to communicate with the dead. Using this power, you must try to track down Ethan Carter, a young man who has gone missing in the wake of a murder.
Prying into Ethan's life and the dark secrets of his family will send you down a rabbit hole, but even when you think you understand it all, prepare to be surprised.
1 Yume Nikki
Yume Nikki is a game unlike any others you're likely to play. It is a game about a girl named Madotsuki, who does not leave her room. You can walk onto the balcony or play on her games console, but she will refuse to walk out of the door. The game really takes a turn when you go to sleep.
In bed, you are plunged into a surreal dream world where you must wander the lonely landscape and find effects that can change the world around you. As you do so, some of the images you encounter give a chilling insight into Madotsuki's psyche. You also get to turn into a frog, so that's one plus.