10 Indie Horror Games That Changed Everything
5. The Mortuary Assistant (DarkStone Digital)
The Mortuary Assistant made a splash not only for its interesting mechanics, but also for the big controversy it sparked about Youtube's uneven policies around censorship.
Besides that, however, The Mortuary Assistant is an interesting mix of strangely engaging task-based gameplay and standard (if often effective) horror jumpscares. The most effective scares are those that don't "jump" so much as wait for you to notice them out of your periphery before disappearing.
It could almost be marked a "cozy horror game" if not for how disturbing it is, but that's in its favour; the lull of achieving tasks helps relax the player so that the scares feel more effective.
Other similarly "cozy" horror games include Dredge, though that one's less scary and more full of subtle dread. The mix of ordinary tasks and horror elements has become an interesting mechanical trend in horror games in recent years, with a lot of unique spins to it that could very well be innovated.
With its smart puzzle elements and multiple endings, challenging you to pay attention even while you're stressed from the scares, DarkStone Digital's surprising 2022 title got a lot of well-earned attention.