When horror and historical timelines intertwine, they often make for an impeccable and compelling narrative. Penny Dreadful, The Witch, Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak, and The Devil's Backbone are just some shows and films that couple the period and horror genres. But games have a pretty successful go at it too.

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Some games use the historical period they're set in rather loosely, while others take full advantage and focus on the themes and events to tie together the horror elements. From as early as ancient history to the more modern eras, these horror games seamlessly accomplish their terrifying historical goals.

10 Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Ninja Theory, best known for 2013's Devil May Cry and Heavenly Sword, decided to tell a dark, visceral tale set in the 8th-century Viking era of England's history with Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. It offers a mix of up-close and personal swordplay action with psychological horror and delves deeply into Norse culture.

Senua is a Pict warrior, a Celtic group that resided in what is now considered modern-day Scotland from approximately the fourth to the tenth century. Her village fell victim to a raid by Vikings, and now these Northmen haunt her every step of her journey. Senua's trauma is also demonstrated by her psychosis, effectively portrayed by the voices that consume her throughout the gameplay.

9 BioShock

The dystopian underwater city of Rapture, where the unspeakable horrors in BioShock take place, is ultimately the result of its historical period. BioShock is set post-WWII in 1960 during the Cold War when the threat of global communism loomed, and nuclear war seemed inevitable.

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The founder, Andrew Ryan, experienced it personally during the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and fled communism to the U.S. He constructed Rapture with a vision that everyone can express themselves freely and be far away from the moral corruption of society. Though, the introduction of ADAM may have done more harm than good.

8 The Medium

The Medium tells a haunting story where the main protagonist, Marianne, is pulled between the real world and a spirit realm that harbors mysterious demons tied to her unfamiliar past. The supernatural draws Marianne to a resort called Niwa in 1999 Poland, which was the site of a massacre that occurred years before.

It's set a decade since Poland ended its communist reign, much like it collapsed in Russia around 1991. However, the narrative's historical timeline goes back to WWII and Hitler's invasion of Poland. Marianne's father, Thomas, was experimented on by Nazis in his youth because of his same ability to visit the spirit world.

7 Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope

Including Until Dawn and The Quarry, branching narrative horror game developer Supermassive Games created an anthology series called The Dark Pictures. Little Hope was the second game in the series, and its theme centers around the Salem witch trials of 1692 in Massachusetts.

It's a horror mystery that bounces around three timelines, 1972, 2019, and 1692, all within the fictional town of Little Hope. A group of college students and their professor in 2019 find themselves trapped in Little Hope and begin receiving visits from demons tied to the execution practices of the trials, even traveling to the past where an enigmatic Puritan girl named Mary Milton lies at the center of it all.

6 A Plague Tale: Innocence

The events in A Plague Tale: Innocence are set against the backdrop of the Hundred Years' War, a conflict that plagued European history from 1337 to 1453. It spanned over a century between the warring kingdoms of France and England. And it also brought the bubonic plague, or Black Death, during the early part of the war in 1348 to Paris, France, long thought to be spread through rats.

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A Plague Tale: Innocence draws inspiration from the Black Plague of 1348 and envisions it as a giant swarm of rats that consume everything in their path. The game takes place the same year and follows a young brother and sister, Amicia and Hugo de Rune, as they flee from an ominous Inquisition force in the Aquitaine region.

5 Ikai

There have been many action-adventure games set in feudal Japan, most notably Ghost of Tsushima, Nioh, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. But Ikai utilizes the period setting for a stealthy horror experience rooted in Japanese folklore. Here you play as a priestess who looks after a sacred mountain shrine named Naoko.

It's filled with unique puzzles and allows you to wander around and explore feudal-era architecture, albeit in total trepidation. The gameplay may feel similar to titles from Frictional Games such as Amnesia or Soma, since you play from the first-person perspective of Naoko and are entirely defenseless from the eerie enemy yokai spirits coming your way.

4 Vampyr

In between the first two Life is Strange installments, Don't Nod ventured down the historical horror route with a Soulslike flair. Vampyr is a game set in 1918 London with RPG mechanics tied to the supernatural abilities of Dr. Jonathan Reid, a surgeon who served in WWI and has now been turned into a vampire.

Throughout the game, the signature choices are incorporated via Reid's struggles with the morality of saving lives versus draining lives. The streets of London are quarantined, and the hospital is flooded with patients gripped by Influenza. The year that followed the Great War saw the world succumb to the 1918 flu pandemic.

3 Martha Is Dead

Martha Is Dead is as disturbing as it can get when it comes to a psychological horror game, with some parts even needing to be censored on PlayStation consoles. Like Hellblade, the main character Giulia also struggles with her mental health amid an abusive family environment as well as the recent death of her twin sister, Martha.

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The traumatic and horrific events affecting Giulia's life are happening against the backdrop of WWII in fascist-occupied Italy in 1944. Her father is a Nazi general, and the context of WWII plays a more significant part in the narrative as a whole, as you can also explore the Tuscany scenery and engage with the era through the radio and newspapers you interact with.

2 Trenches

Remaining in early access, Trenches is a first-person survival horror game that puts you in the shoes of a soldier fighting in the First World War. The main objective is to navigate through a series of trenches and discover clues to make it out successfully, but an entity that can mimic the sound of your loved ones is not far behind you.

The trenches build a compelling atmosphere and incorporate elements of environmental storytelling. There's also some psychological horror suspense, especially since your mic can potentially give away your location to enemies if you breathe in their presence.

1 Dark Pictures Anthology: House Of Ashes

The second to last entry of the Dark Pictures Anthology, House of Ashes, features two distinct historical periods in its story. The game begins with a prologue in 2231 BC during the ancient rule of the Akkadian Empire in what was formerly Mesopotamia and is now the region of Iraq, as well as other parts of the Middle East.

The present time is set with the 2003 U.S. Invasion of Iraq well in motion and the war already underway. After a firefight with an enemy patrol goes awry, the team of U.S. operatives falls through a sinkhole and encounters a breed of winged vampire aliens dwelling underground since the time of the Akkadian Empire.

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