9 Horror games based on Creepypastas

There is a reason why the story about the person who lets the dog lick their fingers and the body of the young lover who scratches the car continues to circulate for generations around campfires, on the internet, and at slumber parties. Everyone enjoys a good urban legend, and that is actually the origin of creepypastas.

These stories circulating on the internet have developed a life of their own and have begun to inspire stories in a completely different medium: video games. Play the scariest, strangest, and creepiest games based on creepypastas. You will discover terrifying Easter eggs, navigate through dark rooms, and perhaps uncover more than just one dead body. When creepypastas and gaming blend, anything is possible.

9 The Midnight Game

Developed by Unicorn Studios, the Midnight Game is based on a creepypasta about an ancient pagan ritual. The ritual was used to summon the Midnight Man into the house of a person who has violated the laws of paganism. The person has until 3:33 a.m. to avoid the Midnight Man. The ritual is completed if the person is successful... or if the Midnight Man prevails.

In the game, you perform the ritual and bring the Midnight Man into your own home. You must escape and avoid him until time runs out. The game has a super eerie look, and you work with a handwritten notebook, which adds an element of reality to the game that is definitely frightening.

8 Polybius

Polybius is even older than creepypastas, as it was originally an urban legend that existed before the internet. According to the story, Polybius was an arcade game from the 1980s that could cause various symptoms, including memory loss. Government agents, possibly Men in Black, depending on which version of the legend you hear, monitored the game and the people who played it.

Of course, this game did not exist in the 1980s or for many years thereafter. Like many good ghost stories, it was pure fiction... but not forever. Polybius was eventually released by a programmer who turned the story into a cohesive narrative in 2017, and it is just as scary as you would expect.

7 Pony Island

Pony Island is based on a story about being trapped in a game. According to the background story, this game was created by the devil himself. And since he represents deception, everything starts off looking innocent at first. Pony Island is filled with pretty pastel colors and everything you would expect from a game with this title. But then it becomes dark.

You are trapped in the game, a kind of purgatory, and you must escape the clutches of the devil to get out. Before you make it to the end, you will start looking at ponies in a suspicious way.

6 Five Nights at Freddy's

It's always eerie to be inside any store after closing hours. The dimmed lights, the silence, that uncanny feeling of not being alone. All of that comes to life in this game based on a story about a security guard in a pizzeria after hours.

To heighten the creepiness factor, you are actually not alone. There are two animatronic robots here, and they get quite strange at night. In this game, you will experience the full role of a security guard. You will monitor surveillance cameras and ensure that everything stays safe... especially what may be lurking in the dark.

5 Pale Luna

This text-based adventure game is more challenging than it initially appears. Actually completing the game is incredibly difficult due to repeated crashes and other strange occurrences, all of which are part of the game itself. Along the way, you will experience a few small creepy moments, but the truly frightening stuff happens only at the end... if you make it that far.

The creepypasta story of the game states that it circulated within the San Francisco Bay area and has since been forgotten. Of course, it is more likely that the game never existed. Fortunately, however, there are now multiple versions of it. Many programmers have taken it upon themselves to recreate the game based on the story. You can find several versions of it online.

4 The Theater

The original version of The Theater was a PC game that you can still find on CD-ROMs. The game is most famous for its extremely eerie character, the Ticket Taker. He is very strange, and this game is famous for its creepy factor because of him.

It's a simple game, but the overall strangeness is hard to ignore. You will literally be inside a theater permeated with red, giving you chills right from the start. The theater is now playable online, and you can download the game as an app on mobile devices.

3 Control

Control puts you in the shoes of a secret, shadowy government agency that focuses on supernatural activities. There's something here, and you must stop it. The game takes you through dark and terrifying environments as you wander through the mysterious facility, where unknown horrors await.

The game is based on a creepypasta about a similar government agency and a conspiracy theory about what they are hiding, plot elements that have directly influenced Control. The game itself is extremely impressive and has won numerous awards for gameplay and design. Find it on Steam and see what happens when you take control.

2 Slender: The Eight Pages

You wake up in a dark forest, armed only with a flashlight that has limited battery life. You can jog for a short time before running out of breath. Good luck.

This game is absolutely gripping. You will experience a lot of fear as you wander through the dark forest. The game map is large enough to allow for plenty of exploration, so try to keep track of your position and conserve the battery of your flashlight.

Hopefully, you can avoid the Slender Man, the antagonist and a character straight out of a popular creepypasta and urban legend. If he can see you, he will try to get you.

1 Luna Game

In fact, there are nine games in the Luna series, and it's hard to say which one is the scariest. The game starts off simple, with a beautiful soundtrack... and then everything takes a turn. You will immediately get goosebumps, and from there on, you are simply hooked as you try to navigate through the various levels of the game.

While playing this game, all sorts of things will happen, including the fact that you won't be able to close the game. You might even be convinced at one point that you have a computer virus. There aren't many games that creep into your mind as much as this one does, which definitely makes it spooky. You can find this game online if you're ready for a strange adventure with a distorted My Little Pony theme.