10 Scariest Horror Video Games Of The 90s - Ranked

5. Sanitarium

Dino crisis
ASC Games

Another PC-exclusive point and click adventure game, Sanitarium came out in 1998 to widespread critical acclaim. With an incredibly deep, multi-layered story that is far too bizarre to succinctly summarise, Sanitarium captivated players with its creepy environments, unsettling dialogue, and surrealistic level design.

The story follows an amnesiac named Max who wakes up in a creepy sanitarium without any knowledge of how he got there or who he is. Over the course of the game, Max delves deeper into his own broken mind, being transported to various obscure and eerie environments like a town filled with deformed children and even an Aztec village.

Rather than relying on simple scare tactics, Phantasmagoria built up a creepy atmosphere through its highly mysterious and engaging story, challenging the player to make sense of surreal scenes and keep on pushing through one creepy encounter after another in order to uncover the truth.

It was very unsettling and remains one of the best examples of psychological horror in video games.

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