Look, I like my complex horror. I like the monster as a rich, thematic entity, rife with allegorical significance. I like the tension of an expertly crafted and executed scare, with filmmaking that blows my mind. But sometimes…you just want to blow monsters apart and feel like an Ash Williams-style badass with a boomstick.

There are many asymmetric horror multiplayer games out there now (some would say too many, but that’s for another article), and tons of new survival horror games. But I felt that our July theme, Gorror, was the perfect time to highlight those gruesome games that are just fun for fun’s sake, and maybe haven’t gotten as much publicity as your Dead By Daylight’s or Poppy’s Playtime’s. So, today’s article is just that: we’re covering five gruesome action horror games you didn’t know you needed to play, and where to get them.

5 Hidden Horror Gems in Gaming You Should Try

MOTHER RUSSIA BLEEDS

This one is the oldest game on our list, and certainly the one coming from the most pedigree. Published by indie darling Devolver Digital, Mother Russia Bleeds was the closest we ever got to a third Hotline Miami game. However, this one was even more horror-oriented despite being a sidescrolling beat em up in the vein of Final Fight. But it never really got the explosion in popularity its predecessor did, probably because it’s on the shorter end of things with an estimated playtime of 4 hours, and is kind of way nastier.

It follows a group of Russian street fighters who are kidnapped and used as human test subjects for a line of experimental drugs called Nekro. What does Nekro do? Well, it can bring its users back from the dead, grant them superhuman strength and pain tolerance, cause hallucinations and madness, and kill the user (or victim) in the most horrendous ways possible. The game is a series of vicious grindhouse setpieces with unrelenting and increasingly creative forms of violence that doesn’t shy away from the insane. The gameplay loop isn’t half bad either.

It has a pretty good singleplayer experience, but it’s a beat em up, so unsurprisingly it’s the kind of game that is best played with friends. Which I’m sure is leading to the question, “Luis, time is money. Do you seriously think I can convince three friends to sink $15 each into a 4-hour-long beat ’em up?” To which I say, of course not! You’re going to spend $12 between all of you, because this game frequently goes on sale on GOG.com for $3. You can also find it on Steam if that’s your preferred platform.

FORGIVE ME FATHER

With the flow of time as unforgiving to our memories as the Great Old Ones are to mankind, it’s easy to lose track of all the games that came out during the past few years. Forgive Me Father released in 2021 to acclaim for its bevy of nasty, weird weapons, and even stranger enemies; it’s a heavily Lovecraft-inspired boomer shooter, and when it comes to its creatures and level design, there are plenty of unique eldritch horrors to blast apart in different dark locales.

The gameplay is very satisfying, and the enemies have fun gimmicks beyond their great designs. With zombies that replace their own blown-off heads, explosive barrel mimics, and teleporting abyssal demons, the game always keeps you on the backfoot remembering their patterns and tactics as you scramble for more ammo and build up Madness. The upgrade system also adds quite a bit of replayability with different weapons being morphed by your continued presence in the festering corruption of Pestisville. The comic book art style all of this is drawn in reminds you of the best of Mike Mignola’s work on B.P.R.D. and earlier Hellboy comics, with a dash of Darkest Dungeon for the more roguelike inclined of us. It’s a game I feel I was bound to fall in love with, and I think you will too.

You can find Forgive Me Father and its sequel on Steam, but you can also find it on GOG.com. At the time of writing this, it was 50% off for 10 bucks on GOG, and those deals happen pretty regularly, so be sure to keep an eye out for them.

SKER: RITUAL

Anybody who grew up whittling away whole weekends on Call of Duty: Zombies trying to get to round 100 or just unlocking those crazy intricate easter eggs will know, the franchise has changed quite a bit. The latest iterations have left simplicity at the door, and it’s far and away from the experience it used to be. For those who need the occasional nostalgia with their games of gunning down zombie hordes, Sker: Ritual is the answer.

Developed by Wales Interactive, the studio is mostly known for dramatic visual novels that read more like movies. Sker: Ritual is incredibly not that, since it’s pretty opaquely a spiritual successor to the Zombies series with everything that would entail: a focus on great feeling weapons, combat perks, and unique enemy rounds to complement the swarms of undead you’re mowing to bits with your weapons. The game also has those signature easter eggs you missed, but a whole new and much easier-to-follow story than what resulted from CoD’s expansive lore. (Remember when it was just about hell hounds and ghosts stuck in obelisks on the moon?)

The game has taken a small but lively community of fans captive, and they will give you plenty of company to play alongside as you go through story missions across 4 different fleshed-out maps. There’s a free demo of Sker: Ritual, which you can check out before you buy. You can find the full version on Steam here.

MORTAL SIN

Mortal Sin was making the rounds earlier this year among content creators and streamers, and its appeal is clear to see. It’s a straightforward hack-and-slash first-person combat game where you play as a medieval knight, crawling through procedurally generated dungeons, replacing constantly eroding ancient gear, and navigating dark domains. And if the knight in dusty armor experience doesn’t suit what you’re looking for, there’s a whopping 15 different classes to unlock so you can get ripped apart by demonic forces just how you’d like (seriously, try the Monk with high-speed items and tell me that doesn’t feel sick as hell.)

It’s a roguelike with not a whole bunch of lore, but the lack of story doesn’t bother me because it more than makes up for it in replayability, and its unique visuals. Fans of games like Killer 7 or Cruelty Squad will be used to the very high contrast look of the levels, and personally I think the aesthetic distinction is worth the cost of having to get used to the off-kilter color schemes.

The gameplay reminds me a bit of what a singleplayer Vermintide might look like, but with more depth to its combat and equipment system, and more overt horror. The combo strings you can pull off will take practice, but the learning curve is perfect, and it feels unbelievably good when you find gear that synergizes with your preferred playstyle and character class. This one is like jamming through a metal album cover, so put on some Slayer or Bolt Thrower to complement it and try your hand at this one.  

You can purchase Mortal Sin through Steam here.

WROUGHT FLESH

The premise alone should be enough to hook you immediately: Wrought Flesh is a biopunk first-person shooter game where you play as an assassin for a cult living on a space station, sent to a half-dead planet to hunt down your target. You’ll encounter bizarre creatures, enemies, and locals during your playthrough.

But you aren’t just any religious hitman: you’re a Frankenstein’s monster made of your dead ancestors’ body parts, and you’re really good at using the guts you find to enhance your already impressive abilities. Yes, you do get to rip out your enemy’s organs and put them inside yourself, replete with all the stat bonuses and cool abilities that entails. Or should I say, entrails?

Okay, sorry, bad pun.

Wrought Flesh was designed by Miziziziz, which eagle-eyed readers will recognize as the one-man game dev powerhouse behind Endoparasitic. Truth be told, this is the game that made me want to write this article, because it’s just so out there and puts a fresh spin on the past few years of movement focused shooters in a way nothing else really has. It’s got depth without being overly crunchy, and style without detracting from its substance. Beyond that, it has an endgame enemy that truly makes my skin crawl, but you’ll have to experience that genuinely terrifying part of the game yourself. You’ll have to play it for yourself to discover what the hype is all about.

You can buy Wrought Flesh on Steam here, and on Itch.io here.

Happy gaming horror fans! And for more articles on everything horror games, movies, television and more, stay tuned to Horror Press on Twitter and Instagram!