Games

Best Survival Horror Games With No Combat

Published

2 weeks ago

December 7, 2024

Christoph Rediske

a man wielding a cleaver in outlast and an animatronic in five nights at freddys

Key Takeaways

Table of Contents

Survival horror games with no combat challenge players with limited resources, traps, and hostile entities.
Games like Corpse Party and White Day emphasize exploration, management of items, and running from dangers.
Amnesia and Outlast require resource management for light sources, health, and sanity to survive terrifying encounters.

When it comes to horror, many gamers understandably prefer to go in guns-a-blazing; wielding a weapon offers players a safety blanket of sorts when facing their menacing foes. Games like Doom 3 allow players to mow down their enemies without worrying about running out of ammo, while others such as SOMA and the P.T. demo focus more on narrative and exploration. But what happens when these mechanics are stripped away?

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From the torture of Doki Doki Literature Club to the eerieness of Resident Evil and Silent Hill, here are the scariest horror video games of all time.

A survival horror game is defined, as the name suggests, by its survival elements, ranging from resource management to finite health bars and minimal supplies. While they can have combat (albeit restricted by sparse ammunition or limited inventory space), these are some of the best survival horror games with no combat for pacifists and challenge-seekers alike.

8 Corpse Party: Blood Drive

Make It Out Of Heavenly Host One Last Time

Platform: Windows, Android, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation Vita
Release Date: July 24, 2014
Developers: Team GrisGris, MAGES

Corpse Party: Blood Drive follows student Ayumi’s mission to revive those who met their fate at Heavenly Host school in a combination of exploration and visual novel gameplay. With new 3D visuals, Blood Drive offers a conclusion to the previous games and fleshes out the franchise’s backstory.

Players will encounter a variety of dangers ranging from traps to hostile dark shadows, meaning that they must find and collect bandages to heal, as well as talismans to fend them off; running won’t always pay off, as stamina is limited. Batteries are another consumable that must be managed to avoid being plunged into total darkness.

7 White Day: A Labyrinth Named School

Carefully Manage Items To Escape A Haunted School

Released: December 17, 2015
Developer(s): ROI Games , Gachyon Soft

White Day: A Labyrinth Named School began as a PC game in 2001 but has since been updated for consoles and mobile with improved gameplay and graphics. After sneaking into Yeondu High School to give his lover a box of chocolates, Hee-Min Lee finds himself trapped with ghosts and killers.

Stealth horror titles Manhunt, Dead By Daylight, Alien Isolation, The Outlast Trials from left to right

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Sometimes it is better to run and hide than fight, and that is especially the case for these stealth horror games.

While attempting to escape, the player can collect medkits or “Yeondu Coins” to purchase health items such as “Soy Milk” or “Lunch Box” from the vending machines. These can prove invaluable when encountering enemies, but players should be careful, as resources are not unlimited and the foes can be relentless.

6 Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

Navigate Between Reality And A Nightmare Dimension

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

Systems

Released: December 8, 2009
Developer: Climax Studios

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is one of the lesser talked about entries in the Silent Hill franchise, as it is not part of the main series. This being said, it still garnered positive reviews because of its disturbing plot and unsettling atmosphere in a successful combat-free re-imagining of the first game.

The game follows Harry Mason in search of his daughter. However, he suffers from memory loss and has an inconvenient habit of slipping into the Nightmare Dimension, where hostile monsters stalk him across an unforgiving icy version of reality. During these sequences, the player can only protect themselves by using a repellent flare, with the catch being that there are only ever a couple on hand.

5 Five Nights At Freddy’s

Fend Off Animatronics With Limited Electricity

Released: August 8, 2014
Developer(s): Scott Cawthon
OpenCritic Rating: Strong

Five Nights At Freddy’s is one of the most popular horror game franchises of all time, inspiring a number of both fan and spin-off games, graphic novels, and even a film. The success of the original 2014 game can be attributed to the combination of complex lore and simple mechanics.

The player takes on the role of a night guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, but things get desperate as they discover that the animatronics are autonomous, and the doors separating them have a limited supply of electricity. Players must use the cameras, lights, and doors sparingly or risk losing more than just power.

4 Phasmophobia

Hunt Hostile Ghosts As A Team

PC Release Date: September 18, 2020
Developer(s): Kinetic Games
OpenCritic Rating: Strong

The survival horror genre and co-op horror games are not mutually exclusive; Phasmophobia is a ghost hunting game that can be played solo or with up to three other people. In this title, players must find and record evidence of the paranormal to determine what haunts a series of different locations.

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While some equipment can be used repeatedly (the EMF reader and thermometer, for example), other items are single use. The crucifix and sanity medication are just a few of the items that can save players from certain death, but only if they are used wisely.

3 Amnesia: The Dark Descent

In Order To Make It Out, You Must Keep The Darkness At Bay

Survival Horror

Indie Games

Adventure

Action

Puzzle

Released: September 8, 2010

Grim surroundings and disturbing lore are both things that gamers expect and love about psychological horror games and, when combined with survival elements, can make for some truly awful experiences. Amnesia: The Dark Descent is one such game.

Dark Descent follows Daniel, a man suffering from memory loss and being guided only by a note that reveals he has erased his own memory and must kill the baron of Brennenberg Castle. Hunted down by the Shadow and disfigured monsters, the player must carefully manage Daniel’s resources to keep his lantern lit and his health full, or they will face life-threatening insanity.

2 Dead By Daylight

Increase Your Chances Of Survival By Playing With Others

Dead by Daylight is another multiplayer survival horror game that sees gamers taking on a host of iconic killers in an attempt to escape the map. Players must repair generators to open the gates while avoiding being maimed, captured, and impaled on a hook by the killer attempting to catch them.

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Needless to say, with such a brutal premise, Dead by Daylight does offer some useful items; medkits can heal injured players, firecrackers can stun the killer, and toolboxes can help speed up repairs. This said, there is no way to fight and permanently stop the killer, so players cannot totally rely on the usefulness of items; stealth and strategy are equally as important.

While playing as a killer, players will be able to slash at and injure the survivors they are hunting, but those who choose to play as a survivor will not be able to engage in combat.

1 Outlast

Batteries Are Your New Best Friend

Released: November 4, 2013
OpenCritic Rating: Strong

Outlast is notorious as one of the scariest survival horror games due to both the body horror elements featurd throughout and the limitations placed on the protagonist. The player can wield nothing but a camera, which has night vision, allowing them to navigate dark areas. The problem is that using night vision drains the battery.

Batteries can be found scattered around the map, but spotting them requires a keen eye and some avid exploration. As such, players are encouraged to be frugal with their use of the camera, frequently being forced to experience some of the game in total darkness. For a more brutal survival horror experience, players can increase the difficulty, pitting a weaker Miles against stronger, more alert enemies and further limiting the number of batteries he can find and carry.

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