10 Horror Games That Don't Rely On Jump Scares

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem was first released on the Gamecube in 2002, and the psychological horror blended the lines between reality and gameplay with its patented sanity system.

It starts simple. Whenever the player is spotted by an enemy, their sanity meter starts slowly draining until the enemy has been dealt with. As the bar gets low then the player finds that gameplay is altered slightly.

Perhaps they'll leave a room only to find themselves back where they started. Maybe the camera angle shifts, skewing vision a little. Maybe the walls bleed or the heads of enemies and statues detach and start chasing you around the room.

Or maybe you die all of a sudden, the game asks you to load, you start to and then it asks if you want to delete all your save games. You panic, wondering what you've clicked wrong and hit no, but the box moves over to yes and the files start deleting in front of your eyes and... you're suddenly back where you were.

This can only occur so late that you've struggled to get there, and it's so terrifying that any player will be on edge for the rest of the game.