The Science of Scare Project scientifically determined the scariest horror game of all time by measuring participants' heart rates, with MADiSON being ranked as the scariest game.

Player-created horror games use various gameplay mechanics. They include Interactive Stories, Adventure Games, as well as more action-oriented survival horror games and wave shooter games. Many horror games use the room tags #horror and #scary. More specific tags include #scp, #fnaf, etc.