One of the core ingredients that makes horror truly unsettling is the feeling of powerlessness. While terrifying monsters and otherworldly dangers already raise the stakes, the dread intensifies when you’re unable to stop them. That’s why countless horror titles cast you as the helpless victim, forcing you to outwit or outrun a relentless threat. Yet every now and then, the narrative flips, letting you step into the shoes of the menace.
Some games turn the genre on its head by putting you behind the mask of a killer—be it a deranged slasher, a mythic creature, or a cold‑blooded machine. In these experiences you stalk unsuspecting civilians, satisfy a gruesome hunger, or simply revel in the sheer power fantasy. The opposition may be NPCs or even other players, but they’re typically little more than prey. While the challenge may feel lighter, the thrill of wielding terror yourself more than makes up for it, offering a fresh perspective on classic horror tropes.
Explore 10 Horror Games Where You Play as the Killer
10 Texas Chainsaw Massacre
It’s no coincidence that the first entry in this list stems from one of the most infamous horror movies ever made. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre follows a group of unsuspecting friends who take a wrong turn and stumble into a nightmarish situation. A brief pit stop brings them face‑to‑face with a cannibalistic family, and the most terrifying member is Leatherface—a hulking, silent figure wielding a roaring chainsaw and a mask stitched from human skin. You might think such graphic content would be impossible on an early Atari system, but the original actually pulls it off.
The Atari tie‑in puts you directly in Leatherface’s shoes, tasking you with a brutal killing spree. Gripping the chainsaw, you chase terrified civilians across the screen; colliding with them slices heads clean off, splattering pixelated blood everywhere. The gameplay loop is intentionally straightforward, because the fun lies in embodying the iconic slasher and doing exactly what he does best—wreaking havoc with a chainsaw.
If the retro aesthetic isn’t your cup of tea, the 2023 remake expands the experience with additional killers, upgraded graphics, and smoother controls, giving the classic concept a modern polish while keeping the original’s gruesome charm.
9 The Happyhills Homicide
Sticking with the pixel‑art vibe, The Happyhills Homicide introduces us to John Wade, a school janitor whose grotesque appearance earns him relentless bullying from both students and staff. After a devastating fire leaves him scarred and homeless, Wade decides to settle the score, turning his revenge into a meticulously planned campaign. The game forces you to root for the very monster you’d normally condemn.
Designed as a side‑scrolling puzzle, the title requires you to infiltrate victims’ homes, study their routines, and set up elaborate traps. You’ll rummage through objects, bypass obstacles, and time your attacks to catch targets off‑guard. The payoff isn’t just a quick kill; the game rewards you with outrageously creative ways to dispatch each foe, emphasizing patience, ingenuity, and a twisted sense of showmanship. Revenge, as they say, is best served cold—and in this case, pixel‑perfectly cold.
8 Dead by Daylight
This multiplayer horror experience pits a group of survivors against a single, masked killer. The survivors must cooperate to gather resources, craft tools, and repair generators that power the exit gates, all while racing against a relentless time limit. Their success hinges on teamwork, stealth, and quick thinking.
The lone killer, meanwhile, stalks the survivors, dragging them to sacrificial hooks and offering their bodies to a mysterious entity known simply as “the Entity.” If the killer manages to hook all survivors before they can escape, victory is theirs. The core loop is simple yet tense, pitting frantic escape attempts against a merciless hunter in a deadly game of cat‑and‑mouse.
7 Predator: Hunting Grounds
Borrowing heavily from the formula popularized by Dead by Daylight, Predator: Hunting Grounds drops four elite special‑ops soldiers into a hostile environment where they must complete military objectives such as reconnaissance or target elimination. The twist: a fifth player assumes the role of the alien Predator, hunting the squad with advanced stealth technology and near‑invulnerable biology.
The Predator’s arsenal—cloaking, plasma casters, and razor‑sharp blades—lets it ambush troops with terrifying efficiency, turning the battlefield into a lethal hunting ground. Meanwhile, the human squad must rely on coordination and firepower to survive, though they’re vastly outmatched by the extraterrestrial hunter’s superior capabilities.
6 Friday the 13th
Another multiplayer adaptation of a classic slasher franchise, Friday the 13th casts one player as the infamous Jason Voorhees, who stalks a remote summer camp in pursuit of terrified counselors. Jason’s supernatural agility and uncanny resilience make him a formidable predator, forcing the counselors to stay on their toes.
The counselors can fight back by setting traps, using projectile weapons, and exploiting Jason’s backstory—particularly his traumatic relationship with his mother—to create brief windows of vulnerability. While taking down Jason is a daunting task, clever use of the environment can buy enough time for a daring escape or a last‑stand until the match timer expires.
5 Jaws Unleashed
The iconic great white from Steven Spielberg’s classic film becomes the playable protagonist in Jaws Unleashed. Set around the fictional Amity Island, you control the massive shark as it prowls the coastal waters, hunting swimmers, capsizing boats, and fending off armed hunters.
As you consume prey and destroy human vessels, you earn experience that lets you upgrade your size, speed, and attack repertoire, enabling you to tackle ever‑larger targets. Human attempts to eradicate you become increasingly desperate, but each successful defense solidifies your place at the top of the marine food chain.
4 Vampyr
Set against the backdrop of a 1918 London plagued by a vampiric disease, Vampyr puts you in the role of Dr. Jonathan Reid—a physician who discovers he’s also a powerful vampire. The game forces you to balance your medical duties with an insatiable thirst for blood.
Feeding on patients fuels your vampiric abilities and is essential for leveling up, yet each kill reduces the number of civilians you can heal, creating a moral dilemma. By the end, your character may have become a greater menace than the very plague you were meant to cure, highlighting the dark allure of power.
3 Terminator: Resistance
The post‑apocalyptic world of the Terminator franchise is explored from both sides in Terminator: Resistance. While the base game follows a human resistance fighter battling relentless machines, the Infiltrator Mode DLC flips the script, allowing you to become a Terminator unit tasked with eliminating a key Resistance commander.
As an infiltrator, you scour the ruins of Los Angeles, breach Tech‑Com facilities, and mow down any human who stands in your way. The experience showcases the terrifying efficiency of a cybernetic assassin, reinforcing the series’ theme that machines are a formidable, almost unstoppable threat.
2 Rebel Without a Pulse
In Rebel Without a Pulse, you play as Stubbs, a zombie who defies the usual mindless horde archetype by actively hunting humans and devouring their brains to stay alive. The game blends vehicular combat, makeshift weaponry, and classic zombie mayhem.
Beyond personal carnage, Stubbs can infect victims, turning them into obedient zombie minions. As your undead army grows, you can command them to assault human strongholds, spreading the infection like a virus and eventually overwhelming the entire population.
1 Among Us
At first glance, Among Us appears to be a light‑hearted social deduction game, but its premise hides a lurking horror. Crewmates must maintain a deteriorating space station while an impostor—disguised as one of them—silently murders and sabotages their efforts.
The impostor’s goal is to blend in, strike when least expected, and sow distrust among the crew. Detecting the hidden killer becomes a tense exercise in paranoia, turning the simple act of teamwork into a nerve‑wracking battle for survival.