6 J-Horror Games to Play While We Wait For ‘Silent Hill f’

The late 90s and early 2000s were dominated by J-Horror. Be it through international home video sales or blockbuster remakes, franchises like The Grudge and The Ring became household names once horror fans realized that scary stories could come from places outside their own backyard. Unfortunately, things weren’t so simple when it came to mainstream horror gaming. While nearly all Survival Horror classics were produced in Japan, popular titles like Clock Tower and Resident Evil usually preferred to add a coat of Western paint to their stories, with only a handful of horror games daring to explore the regional terrors of East Asia itself.

That’s why it’s so surprising that NeoBards’ upcoming Silent Hill spin-off is finally embracing the franchise’s Japanese roots with a title that takes place far away from the Stephen-King-inspired terrors of Maine. And in honor of the title’s impending release later this month, we’ve decided to come up with a list highlighting six J-Horror games to play ahead of Silent Hill f! After all, there’s plenty of quality interactive J-Horror out there if you know where to look.

For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining J-Horror games as scary titles produced in Japan that also take place within the country. This means that we won’t be including western releases that just so happen to set their stories in Japan, such as J. R. Hudepohl’s excellent Labyrinth of the Demon King or even Paweł Koźmiński’s Junji-Ito-inspired World of Horror. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own J-Horror favorites if you think we missed a particularly memorable one.

With that out of the way, onto the list!

6. Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly (2003)

It would be a crime to publish a list recommending interactive East-Asian scares without bringing up the gold standard for J-Horror gaming, Tecmo’s masterpiece Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly. While the first Fatal Frame (originally known as Project Zero) is a classic and the later sequels are nothing to scoff at, the second entry really nailed that elusive balance between narrative, gameplay, and unexpected scares.

Crimson Butterfly is also one of the few horror games to make combat just as fun as it is frightening, as getting better at taking pictures of the ghosts and racking up damaging combos doesn’t necessarily make your encounters with them any less scary. To be honest, the only reason this title ranks so low on the list is the fact that you really should have played it by now if you’re into Survival Horror!

5. Siren (2003)

Another classic from the sixth console generation, Siren remains one of the scariest Survival Horror experiences out there, even two decades later. Putting players in control of an ensemble of desperate survivors as they attempt to navigate a supernatural disaster that has transformed the denizens of a rural town into immortal killing machines, this infamous title makes up for its janky controls and unforgiving difficulty with impeccable atmosphere and a riveting narrative!

In fact, I actually prefer the original game to its next-gen remake Siren: Blood Curse, and I appreciate the fact that Sony has made it easier for horror fans to play this one through their ever-expanding catalogue of remastered PS2 games. I’m also a fan of Siren’s uncanny live-action textures that are often pasted onto low-poly models – an idea that more contemporary developers should consider when making retro horror games!

4. Ao Oni (2008)

No list celebrating interactive J-Horror would be complete without mentioning noprop’s infamous RPG-Maker classic Ao Oni, the freeware horror game that took the internet by storm during the late 2000s due to the developer’s knack for extracting terror from primitive gameplay and uncanny graphics.

While the titular Blue Demon that pursues players within the game doesn’t seem that scary in retrospect (with its distorted facial features and exaggerated proportions looking downright comical out of context), I assure you that, if you allow yourself to become immersed in this minimalist experience, you’ll soon find that this blue face will haunt your nightmares for years to come.

It’s just a shame that the game’s movie adaptations aren’t as scary as their lo-fi source material!

3. Yomawari: Midnight Shadows (2017)

Despite its frequently frustrating levels of indie jank, the original Yomowari (Night Alone) is still one hell of a great survival horror experience. However, the developers over at Nippon Ichi Software really made an effort to turn the sequel into an all-out masterpiece. And with the game following a new pair of main characters that lose their way after attending a fireworks festival, you don’t even have to play the first title to enjoy its eerie follow-up!

Boasting improved gameplay and visuals as well as a more compelling narrative, Midnight Shadows is the way to go if you only plan on trying out one game in the Yomowari trilogy. Of course, I’d personally recommend playing through all three entries in this criminally underrated series.

2. Unsought (2024)

I’ve been a sucker for first-person point-and-click horror ever since I discovered free-to-play flash games like Exmortis and Goliath the Soothsayer during the 2000s. Unfortunately, this niche genre mostly disappeared alongside support for Adobe Flash Player back in 2020. One exception to this genre extinction is Uruta Kobito’s Unsought, a panoramic horror-adventure game that places you in an abandoned Japanese town during the 1990s.

Featuring atmospheric visuals inspired by vintage photographs and a genuinely interesting story that touches on themes of toxic nostalgia and childhood trauma, this is a must-play for horror fans who don’t mind slower-paced gameplay.

1. [Chilla’s Art] Aka Manto (2019)

To be honest, this entire list could be exclusively comprised of Chilla’s Art games, and every single entry would still be worth your time. However, in the interest of keeping things varied, we’ve decided to limit the developer to a single title. And while narrowing this decision down wasn’t an easy task, I’d argue that 2019’s Aka Manto (which literally translates to “Red Cloak”) is a great introduction to Chilla’s Art mythos.

Based on a Japanese urban legend about a masked phantom that stalks young women in public bathrooms, this feature-length experience is just as frightening as it is difficult, but it’s worth powering through the frustration in order to fully immerse yourself in Aka Manto’s deliciously crunchy atmosphere.

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