The atmosphere doesn’t mean scary. While there are games out there that are scary and can suck you in, any game can really. It just takes excellent world-building and something that’s not realistic but engaging, a world that you would want to be in.

Resident Evil 2

RE2 managed to nab the scary atmosphere this year, but also the heart-wrenching fear of being stuck in Raccoon City. The world in RE2 may be linear, but it’s downright frightening and one of the best horror games of the last decade. The most realistic zombies ever created sure helps a lot too.

Runner-Ups

Metro Exodus

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Disco Elysium

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

A Plague Tale: Innocence

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

The Outer Worlds

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————