Best Ghost Hunting Games

Key Takeaways

• Horror games featuring ghosts offer a unique and terrifying experience, from live-action elements in
  At Dead of Night
  to the iconic
  Ghostbusters
  game.
• Games like
  Phasmophobia
  and
  Ghost Exorcism Inc
  provide multiplayer ghost-hunting experiences, allowing players to work together to uncover paranormal activity.
• The
  Fatal Frame
  series and
  Luigi’s Mansion
  showcase innovative gameplay mechanics, such as using cameras to exorcise ghosts and sucking them up with a hoover, respectively.

Horror games have become a ubiquitous part of the gaming industry, pitting players against the stuff nightmares are made of, such as zombies, eldritch beings, mutated monsters, and ghosts. While the former has been stealing the spotlight lately in Capcom’s steady Resident Evil releases, there are plenty of games involving the latter that are deserving of love.

Ghost-hunting games have haunted the gaming scene since the early 2000s with releases such as Luigi’s Mansion and Fatal Frame, demonstrating the versatility developers could bring with their own take on spirits and how to oust them.

Updated November 24, 2024 by Mara Cowley: The colder months have truly rolled in now, but for those still looking for a little tingle down their spine, why not check out a ghost game or two? While not all titles define themselves as horror, these games still contain restless undead spirits, and not all will be friendly.

So saddle up, grab your proton pack or camera obscura, and take on these ghost hunting games, which have been updated to include more scarily good titles that are sure to haunt the memories of players.

1 Obsideo

Study The Disturbing Spirits To Determine Their Nature

Though still a work in progress, Obsideo is a game with great potential. It is another 4-player co-op game about using information on hand and evidence to determine what type of spirit haunts the property, and how best to banish it. Playing the roles of priests with all the equipment they should need, they are well-equipped. But are the players brave enough to survive what awaits them?

Rather than relying on context clues littered around them, players will need a more head-on approach to unveil the identity of the undead intruder. They need to witness its appearance, and exactly how it manipulates the surroundings, forcing them to confront the terrifying entity if they have any hope of succeeding.

2 DreadOut

A Vacation Gone Wrong Traps The Characters In A Nightmare

Hoping for a happy trip of rest and relaxation, a group of students instead find themselves in an old ghost town that is far from the picturesque getaway they were hoping for. But it only gets worse when they realize this place might be a literal ghost town. It now rests on the shoulders of Linda Meilinda to fend off the spirits, uncover the secrets, and see what destiny has in store for her.

Similar to Fatal Frame, the player’s only means of defense is her smartphone or digital camera she can use to investigate or defend herself against the ghosts. Tapping into some terrifying parts of Indonesian mythology, DreadOut is a ghost game unlike most others that players have experienced.

3 At Dead Of Night

The Spirits Have Horrifying Secrets To Reveal Regarding The Hotel’s Proprietor

FMV games are rare, especially in modern-day titles, but games such as At Dead of Night are keeping this genre well and truly alive. Adding this live-action element to horror games elevates the heights of horror, especially given the fantastic performance given by all the actors, particularly that of Jimmy/Hugo Punch, the main antagonist.

In contrast to most ghost-hunting games, the playable character Maya uses a box to track down and communicate with the spirits trapped inside the hotel, who have all fallen victim to Jimmy. The spirits provide hints to Maya to help her uncover more about Jimmy in hopes of escaping his machinations.

4 Ghostbusters The Video Game

Play As The Iconic Movie Characters

When it comes to hunting down ghosts, there are none more qualified than the Ghostbusters. Not only content with busting ghosts in movies, they also have appeared in video games to hunt down and bust those pesky spirits.

Based loosely on the movies, players take on the role of the Rookie, the latest recruit in the Ghostbusters team, seeking out paranormal activities and entities. Armed with a proton pack, players can live out their wildest Ghostbusting dreams by weakening and then capturing the ghosts. With a full-story campaign to play through, there is plenty of ghost-hunting goodness to enjoy.

5 Ghost Exile

Only The Brave Will Survive

For this ghost-hunting title, players should gather their bravest friends, as Ghost Exile is an experience too terrifying to go it alone. Armed with equipment, basic knowledge, and a can-do attitude, one to four intrepid ghost hunters will enter haunted premises and try to piece together what the entity is exactly.

Similar to other online ghost-hunting games, players will use specialized equipment to identify the type of ghost it is and then use that knowledge to perform an exorcism that will rid the domicile of the ghost. These elements of mystery give Ghost Exile an added layer of depth to make it even more exciting for its players.

6 Phasmophobia

Determine The Identity Of Spirits Before Joining Them In Death

For those who are afraid of stepping into the boots of paranormal investigators, fear not. Phasmophobia allows players to bring up to three friends with them to the various haunted locations available and aid them in their investigation so they don’t have to brave it alone.

With a rich variety of terrifying ghosts to encounter, multiple maps with varying themes and sizes, and an entire arsenal of ghost-hunting equipment, Phasmophobia is a fantastic multiplayer game and an excellent ghost-hunting game that provides genuine scares. Players must make use of their equipment to figure out which type of entity is haunting the location while managing their dwindling sanity and trying to survive deadly ghost encounters.

7 Ghostwire: Tokyo

Face Off Against The Dangerous Ghosts With Paranormal Powers

Set in the neon jungle of modern-day Tokyo, Ghostwire: Tokyo is an inventive and original game that brings hauntings and possessions to public open spaces rather than hidden away in remote locations. The player is given control of psychic and paranormal abilities to exorcise the spirits that are haunting the streets and possessing the bodies of others.

Unlike the majority of ghost-hunting games, the protagonist is also supernatural in nature thanks to the abilities they need that level the playing field, and although some spirits look terrifying in appearance, Ghostwire: Tokyo places more emphasis on action and adventure rather than horror.

8 Midnight Ghost Hunt

Hunt The Ghosts At Midnight, Or Become The Hunted

Another foray into ghost-hunting multiplayer is the more recent Midnight Ghost Hunt, an online game that invites players to suit up and boot up with friends. It sets itself apart from Phasmophobia with its more unique graphics style, the way players interact with ghosts, and the fact it’s a symmetrical multiplayer game pitting 4 hunters against 4 ghosts.

The objectives of both sides are simple. The hunters must confront and defeat the ghosts, and the ghosts must defeat the powers. Hunters are given a head-start as the ghosts can only hide and weaponize the environment, but at the stroke of midnight, the ghosts gain powers that can even the playing field or even tip the odds completely in their favor.

9 F.E.A.R.

Home To One Of Gaming’s Scariest Ghosts

A monolith among mid-2000s horror games, F.E.A.R. brought one of the most terrifying entities from horror games in the form of Alma, a spirit that assumes the form of a young girl with pale skin and long black hair, akin to Sadako from Ringu or Kayako from Ju-On, all of whom are relentlessly terrifying.

FE.A.R. straddles the line between horror and action, pitting the players against the members of a private military that have been tapping into paranormal powers and unleashing a new, devastating power they could not contain. Though most of the game will see Point-Man killing members of the group responsible, Alma will surface on occasion to terrify the player with her frightening appearance and oppressive powers.

10 Ghost Exorcism Inc

Brave It Alone Or With Friends

For gamers who want a similar experience to Phasmophobia, Ghost Exorcism Inc should satisfy that itch, as it has players conducting investigations of areas rumored to be hotbeds of paranormal activity, infiltrating these areas, gathering evidence, and then successfully performing an exorcism.

Players can choose to brave the maps solo, granting them additional lives to make up for them playing alone, or play with up to three friends to storm them as an organized group. They must find up to four clues to uncover which of the 8 variants of entities it is and then dispatch the entity. With several different modes, such as exorcism only or rescue, Ghost Exorcism Inc is a fun and engaging experience that is sure to keep players coming back for more.

11 Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly

One Of The Most Terrifying Ghost Experiences Of All Time

Fatal Frame, or Project Zero as it’s known in Europe and Australia, is without a doubt one of the most popular and well-known ghost-hunting games that have immortalized itself in the halls of horror games with its impressive catalog of entries.

In each game, the player controls a different protagonist for each entry as they find themselves in a haunted location, usually summoned by the ghosts within. They find an object called the camera obscura, a camera that is said to have the ability to exorcise harmful ghosts, capture lingering spirits, or even receive some hints from more friendly ghosts. Without the camera, the players are unable to see the spirits or defend themselves, a novel idea that has been replicated in other games to varying degrees of success.

12 Luigi’s Mansion

A More Fun And Novel Take On Ghost Hunting

This surprise hit title took the beloved Mario franchise and turned it on its head, breaking away from the platforming series and various sports spin-off games for a completely unique experience, starring Luigi as the playable character following the kidnapping of his brother Mario, who he agreed to meet up with at the mansion he supposedly won in a competition.

Luigi enters the mansion, only to see it is infested with hostile spirits. He is saved by Professor E. Gadd, who sucks up the spirits with a hoover and then entrusts the device to Luigi so that he can safely explore the mansion and save his brother. It is definitely one of Nintendo’s more unique entries, and while it may not be typically scary like other games involving ghosts, it’s full of charm, fun gameplay, and inventive bosses.