Within any genre, in any medium, there are always a few works that completely changed the game and influenced everything going forward. Ghost in the Shell and The Matrix wouldn't be the same without Blade Runner's influence. Batman was created with the influence of The Shadow, and even Batman's first appearance in Detective Comics #27 was based on a Shadow story. For video games, it's no different.
While the survival horror genre name was first coined in 1996, many important horror games vital to the genre's development came prior. Many of the most important horror games influenced not only the horror genre but the whole landscape of gaming as well.
10 3D Monster Maze
In 1981, Malcolm Evans dropped the first horror gaming building block in the form of 3D Monster Maze. Judging by the introduction, you're likely at a carnival attraction where you must escape from a randomly generated maze and evade the T-Rex.
The game will constantly update you on the status of the T-Rex, with lines like "Rex has seen you" and "run. He is behind you." The staple horror mechanic of being hunted is still seen today and is incredibly effective when done right. Outlast offers the same feeling of panic whenever you're spotted, and you just have to run like heck to get out of there.
9 Sweet Home
Resident Evil popularized the horror genre, but co-creator Tokuro Fujiwara envisioned the title as a quasi-remake of one of his earlier NES games Sweet Home. Based on the 80s Japanese horror movie of the same name, Sweet Home is an RPG but offers many mechanics that would become a staple of survival horror. Rationing items, limited inventory, and RE-style puzzle solving were all included.
The mechanic of each character having their own unique abilities needed to progress also influenced games like Resident Evil 0. An awesome thing about the title that really adds to the tension is that once a character dies, they stay dead. There is no revive mechanic, which definitely makes the game feel more like survival horror than a traditional RPG.
8 Alone In The Dark
While Resident Evil took a lot of influence from Sweet Home, another game that was key to the development was Alone in the Dark. The infamous tank controls widely used in the early boom of the genre came from Alone in the Dark, not Resident Evil. The control scheme got implemented due to playing on a keyboard since Alone in the Dark was primarily developed for PCs.
As well, the puzzle-style death traps used commonly in early horror games were popularized here. A lot of the time, if you go blindly into a room, you can end up dead. That even happens in games like Silent Hill 3, which came at the tail end of the early survival horror era. Without Alone in the Dark, the horror genre would be completely different.
7 Resident Evil (1996)
The original Resident Evil in 1996 was the game that sparked the survival horror genre boom. Not only that, but RE was the first real killer app for the PS1 since the console was only out for six months at the time in the US. Many horror games prior created the genre staples RE popularized, but most played RE first.
Resident Evil is responsible for the mass influx of survival horror games for many years afterward. Silent Hill and many other horror games would not exist if it wasn't for Resident Evil. For many of you, RE was also the first game to give you a jump scare in the form of the infamous dog window sequence.
6 System Shock 2
Still cited as one of the greatest PC games ever made, if not the greatest game, period, is System Shock 2. This first-person RPG horror title set in space paved the way for many great games to come afterward. BioShock and, more recently, Arkane's Prey come from the same mold in how they tell their story, horror atmosphere, and RPG mechanics.
There are a lot of parallels you could draw between Shodan and Andrew Ryan in terms of how they're integrated into the narrative. System Shock 2 was also one of the first titles to popularize the space setting for horror games, and it's still highly used. So many horror games now take place in space, and that popularity likely wouldn't be the same without this title.
5 Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 4 is not only a game that impacted the horror genre but the entire industry. The third-person over-the-shoulder view has been a mainstay in tons of genres. Even in the current gen updates to The Witcher 3, the default view was changed to over-the-shoulder instead of a wide-angle viewpoint. While Resident Evil 4 didn't invent the view, it was likely the first title to use it for the entirety of the game.
Certain titles did the viewpoint prior, but it was only for specific bits, like when aiming a gun. RE4 was also the game to popularize the viewpoint and influenced titles from Gears of War to Dead Space. One of the most influential games from the 2000s has to be Resident Evil 4.
4 BioShock
When it comes to video game narratives, not many titles come closer in terms of their influence than the first BioShock. The intro blew everyone away the first time they played it, with how they introduced the world. The moment when they show off Rapture is an iconic scene in the medium.
How BioShock 1 implemented the world-building influenced many FPS games to come afterward, both horror and non-horror. In addition, the moral choice dilemma of a good and evil pathway that was common in the late 2000s and early 2010s was popularized by BioShock as well.
3 Left 4 Dead
When it comes to cooperative shooters, Left 4 Dead is definitely one of the most influential titles. The core gameplay loop of working together as a team against randomized enemy spawns that react to how well you're playing has been replicated by several horror games. World War Z and Back 4 Blood are a few examples.
Versus mode also popularized PvP gameplay that would become common in many multiplayer horror games, with you playing as either a survivor or one of the special infected. This core basis is used for titles like Dead by Daylight, The Evil Dead Game, and many more. Even Resident Evil 6 had similar multiplayer game modes. Multiplayer horror games would be entirely different if it weren't for Left 4 Dead.
2 Amnesia: The Dark Descent
In the late 2000s, the horror genre was in a weird period where many notable games were geared more toward action than horror. However, when Amnesia: The Dark Descent launched in 2010, it changed the genre. Instead of an arsenal of weapons, you had no defense against the monsters whatsoever.
You had to hide, run, or otherwise evade them in a manner similar to a stealth game. It worked incredibly well, and this became the gameplay style of many horror games from then on, especially indie titles. To this day, many horror games you'll see on Steam have the same stealth gameplay where you must hide and evade your pursuer.
1 Slender
When looking at new horror games on the market, indie titles make up a significant portion, and the game that started that train was Slender. One of the first titles to really benefit from the free marketing to come from let's play videos, Slender is a simple horror game where you need to collect all eight pages to win. Despite its simplicity, the game's terrifying.
Its low-budget look added to the scare factor and would be replicated by many indie horror games afterward. Before Slender, indie horror just wasn't in the mainstream. However, with the advent of YouTube, Slender and titles like SCP: Containment Breach got more noticed. Ever since, independent horror games have always been in the spotlight, with games like Signalis, becoming the highest-rated horror game of 2022.