It is not a surprise that I am fascinated by horror games rooted in the folklore of different countries. There is a mysterious feeling in being terrorised by something that people in the past, before the advent of technology or electric lights, believed was real. Previously, I wrote an article about the most interesting horror games based on the myths and traditions of East Asia, from Korea to the Philippines (you can check the article here: Horror games based on traditional Asian folklore [Update Oct 2021]). The article became one of the most visited on Surreal and Creepy, and since its beginning, I am constantly updating it with new and fitting games.
The idea of the following article is to follow a similar direction, but this time taking as example Europe. After all, Europe is the most common territory while thinking of folk-horror, at least in movies, especially classics such as The Wicker Man, or more recent releases including Midsommar. Europe is a land of ancient and disturbing traditions, rooted not only in religion but also in more ancient pagan rites and legends. From the violent lands of Northern Europe, and the complex Viking mythology, to the West with the extreme Spanish celebrations, reaching the further East with the spirits and the shamanism of ancient Russia, there are many countries with a fascinating background to cover.
Strangely, it was more difficult to find pure horror games rooted in European folklore compared to Asia. For this reason, some games in the article are not exactly horror titles, but they still show a horror-themed atmosphere and world-building. My objective here is to cover more countries possible, trying to provide multiple entries for each country, but in some cases this can be a challenge.
The article will also receive updates if more fitting games will be released, in the same way as for the previous article. Just to remember, the article about Asian folklore started covering eight games, and now it almost doubled with 14 games covered.
Also if you want to keep updated on games based on folklore around the world, not only Europe and horror, have a look at my STEAM Curator page: Games and Folklore.
Check also the map (made in amcharts) highlighting the countries covered in the article, with the associated games (in blank), plus other interesting suggestions not reported in the article.
Saturnalia – Italy
Saturnalia is definitively the surprise of Halloween 2022, an incredible gem of innovation, brilliant ideas, and great attention for details by the Italian team of Santa Ragione. But let’s go one step at the time. Saturnalia is a horror adventure set in Italy, specifically in a small fictional town in Sardinia: Gravoi. The adventure follows multiple characters exploring the mysterious town, from a woman going there to tell about her pregnancy to the future father, to a local kid hiding with her mask from a cult. Each character is not simply there, but they have peculiar abilities, from taking pictures to fit inside small gaps. And after unlocking a character, you can always switch to them by using pay phones around the town. Moreover, each character not only has their own objectives and sub-plots but also the interactions around town will change accordingly to the used character, creating a more deep and re-playable experience.
The exploration and the freedom is where Saturnalia truly stand off. It is a game that will never hold your hand, leaving the player with complete freedom on how or when to explore the different parts of the town, and to understand the many hidden mechanics. The player can explore the gigantic castle, the mysterious ruins, or the dark depths of the mines at any point. Of course, some specific tools are required to progress, including a hammer to break every glass or an electric tool to repair circuits.
The first thing that you will notice is how the art-style of the game is so unique and bizarre, a mix of 3D technology, rotoscope animation, and intense neon-like colors. You could think this style is unfitting for a folklore-inspired game set in a small Italian town, and you couldn’t be more wrong. This aesthetic creates an incredible dreamlike atmosphere, dense and palpable as the mutating changing colors that engulf the small streets, a well-crafted experience inspired by Italian Giallo movies. Because the atmosphere here is everything, and the town of Gravoi is a character itself, with its crooked and claustrophobic streets, the silent buildings, and the sudden sound of closing doors. The atmosphere is so dense and palpable, for example, often you will see random figures moving in the streets and then disappearing. Are they enemies or secondary characters? The choice is yours if following them or hide.
Because the streets are never safe in this long and dark night of ancient rituals and forbidden carnivals. Strange figures in mask, crawling abominations, and other mysterious beings roam the streets, accompanied by rhythmic rattling or creaking sounds. They are easily attracted by noise such as firecrackers or bells… but this also works against the player. And since Saturnalia employs a permanent death system, if a creature reaches one of the characters… well, it will die. There are ways to rescue a dead character, but if you lose all of them, the town will reset and reshuffle, kicking the player out like if it was an infection to get rid off.
Saturnalia does an incredible effort to mix fictional elements with Italian folklore and traditions, especially from Sardinia. While walking around the town, the player can easily see posters of local politicians of the time, or learn lore from pagan celebration or local boogeymen, such as the “Ammutadore.” Sardinia is also a land of many pagan carnivals and celebrations, often including handcrafted masks. And if you do not know about it, just have a look at some images or videos of the human-animal dichotomy of the masks “Su Merdule” and “Su Boe,” or the typical “Mamuthones” and their creepy bells. All these elements are portrayed especially in the masked enemies and the cultist inside the town. The developers of Santa Ragione even crafted an incredible press kit, also including, between the many goods, a limited handcrafted leather mask (and I cannot thanks them enough for sending me a copy). But it is also the sound component to benefit from this inspirations, including the disturbing sound of bells, which will soon become the warning of a creature approaching. The soundtrack is especially beautiful and fitting, with Italian melancholic songs, such as the one in the opening credits, or the terrifying lullaby that will creep you out each time you access the main menu.
Saturnalia is a deep, complex, and innovative game, a surprise and an excellent experiment in how to portray horror without sacrificing colors and aesthetic, together with an original Italian setting.
Blasphemous – Spain
Blasphemous is a metroidvania with gory and satisfying combat. The game is set in the cryptic world of Custodia, a land shaped after Catholicism, where an eldritch force known as the Miracle grants wishes to the worshippers. However, the wishes are a twisted parody of what was asked, creating a world full of horror and grotesque beings. Custodia is an incredible place, like nothing you have ever seen in a video game, extending from amazing church-like structures to the obtuse fanaticism of every character still living in this insane world.
The gameplay is a pure metroidvania, with a huge interconnected map to explore and many abilities to unlock. There is really a lot to do, from secret locations to cryptic secondary quests and collectables, and everything is beneficial to expand the world-building. The combat system is more Souls-like oriented, with tough and challenging boss fights, articulated around balancing the health items and the stamina bar.
The religious symbolism is permeating every detail, in a world shaped by spires, altars, and insane fanatics. Religious images clearly shaped the world of Custodia, from architectures typical of churches to classic religious art (find more in my article on Dark RPGs: https://darkrpgs.home.blog/2020/07/18/catholic-art-and-architecture-in-the-twisted-world-of-blasphemous-how-religious-iconography-can-build-nightmares/). Every creature embodies religious imaginary in their design, for example, it can be created after a classic painting, or a particular depiction of a saint. This is also reflected in the locations around the world, including the tomb of a gigantic archbishop dressed in gold, or a cloistered monastery on top of a cold mountain, where a cult of nuns is obsessed with disfiguring their faces with fire. Collected items are also drastically expanding the lore by providing several details behind their origin, including, for example, relics of saints. But Catholicism and art are not the only references to build this insane world, since also Spanish traditions and folklore are included in this complex pot. Legends and myths are integrated into the background of different secondary characters, while it is also common to see celebrations combined into creatures, such as the bull-like enemies encoding bull-fights. Moreover, a boss designed as a covenant of three witches is instead representing the Holy Week in the South of Spain, a celebration that can get quite creepy considering the hooded costumes of the participants.
Blasphemous built an amazing world, and one of the best examples of extrapolating the most creepy details from classic and religious art in order to create a unique nightmarish world.
Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice – Norway
Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice is probably the most known game in this article together with Blasphemous. Developed by Ninja Theory, Hellblade is an action-horror adventure set in a dark fantasy Norway, full of Norse folklore, violence, and death. The atmosphere is dark and intense, with mysterious woods, doomed shrines, and piles of bodies everywhere. The protagonist’s journey will bring her from a secluded island to the depths of Helheim, the legendary underworld of Viking myths.
The gameplay is very action-oriented, with sword fighting and dodging, a dance of death between the protagonist, Senua, and a variety of hellish soldiers. Even if the combat system is quite satisfying, it exists only in service of the plot, since Hellblade is a heavily story-driven game. Some segments also include puzzles to solve, huge boss battles against mythological creatures, and even some stealth or run-for-your-life sequences, creating a more variegated experience.
The story is very deep, moving, and interesting, a dramatic journey between life and death. The game touches some serious topics, especially regarding mental health and disorders, something so delicate and challenging even today, but when contextualized in Vikings’ era become a pure nightmare. Senua is a broken Celtic warrior trapped in a life of regret and sorrow, finding the most complicated way to search for answers: going directly inside Viking hell.
The grim and dark Viking era is amazingly painted in this horror and oppressive world, and legends are also explained and implemented through collectables. Some mythological figures, including Gods and creatures, make their appearance, exhibiting an insane horror appearance. For example, the Goddess of Death, Hel, is the main antagonist of the game, represented as a gigantic bold female figure with half of the body rottening, while the Fire Giant Surtr is a tough boss battle anticipated by an insane hellfire sequence.
Hellblade is an incredibly deep and disturbing game, a journey inside myths and psychological horrors.
Apsulov End of Gods – Sweden
The Swedish team of Angry Demon Studio accepted the challenge of creating an unconventional Viking game, and Apsulov is exactly what you would never expect: a horror sci-fi game based on Norse mythology. And you can trust me, this combination works extremely well, and for this reason, Apsulov deserves to be in this article. The game is set in a gigantic and claustrophobic underground station, a maze of steamy corridors and serpentine cables that will terrify even Alien fans. Of course, something there went terribly wrong, and now the station is a graveyard of dead bodies and insane naked people crying while wearing a skull mask. The atmosphere is dense and oppressive, an unexpected Dead Space connected with Vikings legends.
From the gameplay point of view, Apsulov is a classic stealth-horror game, where hiding in the shadow while waiting for the best opportunity to move is the best chance of surviving the enemies. But there are always unexpected changes to the formula, especially when the enemy is instead a colossal ice giant, and quickly avoiding its view-cone will be the only way of surviving. Because being spotted by an enemy usually means death. Moreover, gadgets collected during the game will help to solve puzzles and to create more dynamic gameplay, including a basic combat system. What instead is available since the early game is a sort of alternative vision, which is crucial to identify hidden runes, codes, and items, but also to better see in the darkness of the station.
The station can be imagined as a giant SCP facility focused on discovering artifacts connected with the Viking Gods. Because in this distant and terrifying future, Gods like Odin or Thor are real, together with creatures and worlds from the Viking universe. Audio files will help you to discover more about the surrounding, connecting old legends and myths with the sci-fi setting, including for example the shields of the Valkyries… which are far bigger than expected.
The Gods here are alien entities, and everything is far more horror than you would expect. For example, the legendary tree connecting the world, the Yggdrasill, here is a sort of eldritch tentacle abomination. And by travelling inside these tentacles, or roots, the main character will be teleported in one of the nine worlds composing the cosmology of the Viking folklore. Exploring the cold world inhabited by the colossal Ice Giants, for example, will offer a quite different change of pace and scenario compared with the underground station.
Apsulov is a brilliant experiment of fusing classic sci-fi horror atmosphere with old legends and folklore, creating a unique world where everything gets twisted together in a novel and interesting equation.
Mundaun – Switzerland
After watching a screenshot of Mundaun, you will already notice how peculiar and innovative it looks. The pencil made art-style is mesmerising and unique, creating a surreal and mysterious world in black and white. Between the beauty and the complete surrealism, the art-style helps to shape this unique experience of a horror game based on Swiss folklore and traditions.
Mundaun is a proper immersive simulation with freedom of exploration and interaction, including a combat system and also driving sessions. Pitchforks with low durability, and later on a rifle, can be used to face the nightmares roaming in the valley, while a truck collecting grass is the main vehicle to explore distant areas. In general, the experience is disseminated by dozens of small details, from the radio station that can be changed in the car, to the beautifully crafted diary where the protagonist will take notes. Another nice example is how the player can also find and prepare coffee, using logs and water in a very ancient way, creating probably one of the most traditional medkits ever in a game. The explorable valley is a place of secrets and impossible places, a surreal environment extending from the village to the skiing peaks submerged by snow. Different phases alternate nights and days, and is exactly when the sun is down that the most hideous beings will roam the valley.
The atmosphere is constantly uneasy and disturbing, every character is a bizarre mask acting in a dreamlike logic. And whatever is happening to the goats in Mundaun’s valley will stick in your head, creating such memorable, surreal, and unexpected characters. Seriously, bringing around in the inventory a talking goat head is not something easy to forget. There are so many David Lynch’s vibes in this game, that every scene will create a similar feeling to the most disturbing movies of the American director. And for a fan like me, this is a great compliment.
The game is a tribute to folk horror in every aspect. Set in the Swiss side of the Alps, Mundaun creates an introspective horror experience in bright light, taking a bucolic Valley and transforming it into a nightmare. Every isolated cabin is a eulogy of hidden lore and details, including posters, paintings, and masks. The game makes also great use of traditional masks from pagan Swiss carnivals, creating innovative enemies based on this design (and you can read more about here: The folkloric creatures inspired by Swiss carnivals in the pencil-made horror game Mundaun). Moreover, Switzerland, with its folklore and traditions, is filling every moment of the experience, not only in the surroundings but even in the language. In fact, Mundaun is narrated in Romansh, the least spoken language in Switzerland and heavily influenced by Italian, providing an even more authentic setting for such refined folk-horror experience.
Mundaun is an immersive adventure with a folk-horror atmosphere that you probably have never experienced before, which offers a disturbing side of the usually calm and peaceful Swiss mountains, and is one of the most fitting games for this article.
Black Book – Russia
Black Book is a very peculiar mix of different genres, including roguelike, RPG, card/deck, and horror. During the game, you will advance in randomly generated paths, facing moral choices and demons, while taking part in turn-based battles where different cards are associated with spells and hexes. Because in Black Book, you are in the 19th century Russia, specifically close to Cherdyn, a region not that far from East Europe and imbued in Slavic folklore, and you are playing as a witch. Or better, you play as a Koldun.
The game has a peculiar and very personal art-style, creating a colorful fairytale environment that knows how to shift toward darker territories. The witch will travel in randomly generated paths inside forests, secluded villages, or haunted mills, facing challenges and decisions along the way. When reaching the main areas, the game will switch toward a more point and click gameplay, including puzzle solving. All the elements combine very well together, creating a complex but satisfying game that will continue to evolve by adding more elements.
Regardless of every possible gameplay element mixed in the game, Black Book can be surely defined as a “witch simulator.” The player will learn how to deal with different dark topics while using her mystique knowledge to help or curse the villagers. There are many decisions related to how the villagers will see you, because if you earn their respect, they will bring you gifts and offerings. And of course, by gaining their fear, the consequences could be far more different. After recruiting familiar demons, for example, the player must decide every day how to keep them under control. On one side, they can be completely ignored, but in this case, they will torment the main character, causing serious negative effects for the next mission. On the other hand, the demons can be deployed to do mischievous missions in the village, such as stealing or tormenting people. This will negate any side effect, but the main character will collect “Sin,” which could affect the ending.
Black Book is one of the best games around for studying and understanding more Slavic folklore. Seriously, the game was developed in association with anthropologists, and it features an in-game encyclopedia cataloging all the lore collected. This feature is not only very interesting for the player to discover new things, but it has also value inside the game. Because in Black Book, arcane knowledge is power, and it is always rewarded. For example, when a villager will knock at the player’s door for a problem, the correct answer will provide a reward, and only by studying the encyclopedia, it will be possible to find the answer. There is a lot to discover about the traditions of rural Russia, for example how the Banya, or bathhouses, were important for the villagers. And everything has always its dark and creepy side here, so learning about a Banya will naturally bring to discover the Bannik, a hairy demon haunting the bathhouses.
Black Book is a complex and satisfying game, featuring strategic card battles and offering the possibility to manage the life and the work of a witch in 19th century Russia. It is also an encyclopedic game, and the best place to learn about Slavic folklore and traditions. Worth also specifying that this is a quite long game, able to offer more than 20 hours of play.
Heidelberg 1693 – Germany
Heidelberg is an action-platformer with strong horror and gory elements. The game is a callback to the root of the genre, with strong vibes from the original Castlevania, but without forgetting of providing also a more modern experience. The gameplay is tough but rewarding, and every scenario needs a strategy to finally succeed. The combat is focused on melee attacks and a slow but extremely powerful firearm, in this case, an old one-bullet musket. The weapons help to keep you rooted in the 17th century, with a lot of attention for details, especially in the complex animation of recharging the musket.
The enemy variety is also great, from gory zombies to very disturbing beings that probably escaped from twisted Hieronymus Bosch’s paintings. Killing the creatures is also very satisfying, considering the brutal and extremely rewarding combat system.
The pixel-art in Heidelberg is glorious, with a lot of details to describe both the brutality around you and the amazing environments. Moreover, the use of colours combined with gore and brutality creates a very peculiar atmosphere, somehow reminding Lucio Fulci’s movies.
Heidelberg also uses and portraits real locations of Germany. Even if the game is set in a fictional horror version of 17th century Europe, it tries to be quite historically accurate. For example, you can have an idea of the importance of these details from the gorgeous world map, showing Heidelberg and the surrounding countryside while shattered in pieces by a brutal demonic war. The beauty is that everything works quite well, and if on one side you have King Louis XIV sending you on a mission for the crown, on the other side such task is to slain a demon lord. Moreover, almost every boss is a grotesquely reanimated version of an existing historical figure of that time, and the boss bar even provides the date of birth and death of those figures… together with the date of their reanimation. The names are also included, so you can easily search them on Wikipedia if you want to know more about who they were.
Heidelberg is a challenging platformer with brutal combat and gorgeous pixel art, which brilliantly create a fictional Europe in the 17th century, especially Germany, by mixing historical characters and places with monsters and horror.
Kobolok – Ukraine
Kobolok is a short and simple game, mainly a walking simulator with a creepy PS1 aesthetic. This is probably not the most refined game on this list for gameplay or quality, but what makes Kobolok an interesting experience are the sources used to create the game. Because Kobolok is entirely set around a Slavic fairytale.
The gameplay puts you in a mysterious and surreal setting, nightmarish environments alternated by repentant jumping of scenes, in a very similar way to the most known Paratopic. Exploring and “feeling” the elements around you is the main reward for the player. There is a small amount of exploration, especially to discover some hidden scenes and elements, but in general, the game is quite linear.
What instead is very interesting about Kobolok is the idea behind it. The plot is focused on a mysterious bread-obsessed cult, with some disturbing hints about cannibalism. This is related to the ancient fairytale Kolobok, in theory quite famous in East Europe, including Ukraine (where also the developer is from). The fairytale tells the story of a living round bread, considered a child by its adoptive parents. One day, the round bread decided to run away from home, stepping into the dangerous outside world. On this journey, different animals tried to devour the sentient bread, which was clever enough to survive. And this is reflected in the game, where you will meet gigantic rabbits or wolves, and the disturbing round face of the smiling Kolobok. Yes, here things are definitively darker.
Kobolok is definitively a simple game, but in its short time, it offers a quite creepy and surreal atmosphere, while you wander around a nightmarish world, always under the spying eyes of gigantic creatures.
Depth of Fear Knossos – Greece
Greek mythology is quite exploited in modern games, especially considering AAA games such as God of War or Assassin Creed Odyssey. However, it is instead scarcely used as source material for horror games. And this is quite strange, considering how some creatures like Medusa can be terrifying, or how some legends have a clearly disturbing background, such as the Minotaur. Depth of Fear Knossos tries to fill this gap by creating a pure horror game directly inspired by Greek mythology. In the game, you are a hero thrown inside the labyrinth with the duty of slaying the Minotaur. However, this is a quite difficult task considering that in the dungeon there are also other eight mythological beasts.
The gameplay is a standard first-person horror focused on stealth, just in this case, the game is also a rogue-like since the labyrinth will change at each play. Hiding in the darkness is the best way to survive, especially early on, while collecting gold will open the possibility of buying new weapons, to then directly face the monsters inside the labyrinth. Every section of the labyrinth is guarded by one of the eight mythological monsters, including Medusa, a Centaur, and Cerberus. During the exploration, hiding from the monster is crucial, but after reaching the end of a specific section, there will be a proper arena boss battle.
A group of mythological characters also make their appearance in the game. To mention some of them, King Minos will welcome you before throwing you in the pit, Daedalus will sell you weapons inside the labyrinth, and Apollo will guide the player with his light toward the next objective.
The game is not the best example in the genre, but surely tries something new with such abused source material, creating one of the few examples of Greek horror games.
Incubus A ghost-hunters Tale – UK
The UK is a place with a rich culture of ghosts and haunted houses. For example, just think of Enfield Poltergeist and The Black Monk of Pontefract. Ghost-hunting is always a fascinating concept, using technology and devices, such as cameras and meters, to capture a glimpse of the paranormal. Playing a proper ghost-hunter in a simulation environment was always something that captured my interest, and Incubus A ghost-hunters Tale is probably one of the best examples of it. Developed by Darkling Room, a prolific studio behind many ghost-based horror adventures, Incubus is an adventure that puts you in the shoes of a rookie ghost-hunter exploring a haunted house in London.
The adventure spans 7 days and nights inside a peculiar haunted house. Every day, you can use different tools, including cameras, an EMF meter, or a thermal scanner, to identify 3 paranormal phenomena and the rooms they are infesting. In the game, there are 16 different ghosts and phenomena to identify, each with a peculiar signature, described inside an in-game manual to provide clues. For example, Touchers and Flamers appear as prints on the thermal scanner, Raspers have an EMF meter of 5 and appear as a disturbing whispering inside your ear, while Clickers like to mess up with electrical devices. Moreover, the gameplay adds a random component to the ghost hunts, where every day has different ghosts. And there are so many of them that even in a complete playthrough, you are not guaranteed to see all of them. This, together with well-thought-out achievements, builds a sort of collect-them-all fever where you want to see and identify all the ghosts. Interestingly, toward the end, when the gameplay starts to get a bit repetitive, Incubus is smart enough to play a huge twist changing everything.
House 6 is a real haunted house set somewhere in the infamous London’s East End. Yes, Incubus is set in a “real” haunted house, portrayed using pictures at 360 degrees. The team made a huge effort to scan the haunted house in every detail, taking every picture during night and day. Moreover, the soundtrack was also recorded in the place, providing an extra layer of creepy authenticity. The realistic setting and the background of the real UK haunted house create a quite frightening atmosphere. And the transition between day and night will only amplify this feeling, with every room and noise getting even creepier. Moreover, the team collected the actual testimony of the people living in this house and used the information to create the different phenomena. And when the eyewitness accounts are like this, you will understand the uneasy feeling of Incubus: “We all witnessed the ‘thing’. Hunched, hairy, snarling. It wasn’t a person, no way, it moved too quick, and it stank, like wet dog. A dead wet dog! No, there was nothing human about it. We all saw it, and then it disappeared. We didn’t wait to see if it came back.” Sarah, 1987
Feeling inside an existing haunted house was never so believable.
Surreal and Creepy 
Great analysis! I love folk-themed horror.
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