Game Jargon Definition: “Horror Games”

Horror Games (noun) - hor ‧ ror games / ˈhôrər ɡāmz /

The majority of horror-themed board games center around one or more literary horror themes, tropes, or intellectual properties. Horror could involve post-apocalyptic consequences, drawn from various classical and pop mythologies, including specific monsters or monster categories. While there are many different tropes in the horror games space, the most common are themes of zombies and vampires, as well as characters and narratives based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

Many horror board games are either cooperative or semi-cooperative in nature as very often the human protagonists in the literary works and tropes that these horror games are drawn from will set their differences aside (at least temporarily) to band together and fight against whatever external threat is facing the group. However, fully competitive as well as solo horror games exist.

A number of horror-themed team games focus strictly on survival, while others focus on greater narrative depth, often asking players to think more holistically about existential horror such as ultimate loneliness, isolation, freedom, and death.

Examples of horror games include: Eldritch Horror (2013), Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game (2014), The Fury of Dracula: Third/Fourth Edition (2015), Mansions of Madness: Second Edition (2016), Arkham Horror Third Edition (2018), Nemesis (2018), Cthulhu: Death May Die (2019), Horrified (2019), Arkham Horror: The Card Game Revised Edition (2021), Final Girl (2021), Horrified: American Monsters (2021), Zombicide: 2nd Edition (2021), and Betrayal at House on the Hill: 3rd Edition (2022).