spooky month horror IF rec list, as promised!
to myself and like. one other person, lmao. ANYWAY. without further ado -!
the lonely shore by @thelonelyshore-if
an 18+ supernatural horror story (and mystery) inspired by works such as Midnight Mass, The Mist, Scarlet Hollow, and Gravity Falls. A story about how sometimes places can feel like people, how easy it is to do terrible things for those we love, and how small towns have a way of eating you alive.
thicker than by @barbwritesstuff
Play as a fledgling vampire turned undead lord surviving in the aftermath of a werewolf attack. Schemes, politics, and danger are around every corner.
greenwarden by @fiddles-ifs
an interactive horror game set in the Appalachian wilderness. Play as the Tracker, one of the best of the best, and make friends (or enemies), uncover the truth behind the disappearances of Warden, West Virginia, and try not to lose your mind.
it runs in the blood by @nyehilismwriting
an interactive erotic vampire story. take the role of a vampire hunter on the night of your last hunt, as it all goes terribly wrong.
the northern passage by @northern-passage
a horror fantasy CYOA, where you play as a Hunter sent up north to investigate a series of missing people along the border of your home country and in the port cities of the Blackwater. Working with your Watcher, Lea, you will travel north and discover that things are far worse than you ever could have imagined, and that there is something powerful lurking out in the deep, dark sea…
virtue's end by @virtues-end
an interactive dark fantasy horror story set in a gritty, medieval world. It is rated 18+ due to violence, strong language, explicit sexual content, and mature themes. Additionally, the story heavily features religious undertones. A comprehensive list of content warnings is available at the start of the game.
parasitical by @parasitical-if
His flesh, our sustenance. His blood, our drink. His bones, our foundation, His body, our haven.
Five hundred years ago, the Earth was dying. Water polluted, dirt infertile, forests and meadows crumbling to the wars of steel and fire. And so the Order called His Grace, the Lord of Communion, down from where He rested before and He allowed humanity to rest inside his body.
Or at least, that's the story the Order tells.
You grew up under the masked faces of their Exalted, under the stories of Earth past. Rusted metal and cracked plastic; His bone and His flesh. Conflicting worlds, conflicting times, and soon, it might all come to a head.
blood choke by @blood-choke
play as a reawakened vampire, with no memory of who you are or what you did to result in your entombment. Fumble your way through your first few days after waking up in a strange, overwhelming future– meet new friends and reunite with an old flame.
Navigate this new world and try to piece your past back together before it can catch up to you– and decide your future, before it’s too late.
sentience by @sentience-if
You do not know who you are.
Your memories only go five years back, to when you woke up in a subterranean tunnel system with nothing but a name. Now you reside in the Holy City, capital of a post-apocalyptic world ruled by a faction called the Religious.
After a near-death experience at the hands of a crazed angel, you're suddenly thrust into a building conspiracy surrounding a corpse-worshiping cult, divinely mad saints, and something buried far, far beneath the earth.
To top it all off, you're being plagued by nightmares you can't explain, as well as your rapidly returning memories.
Or… someone's memories, anyway.
panopticon by @panopticon-if
Trapped and alone inside a room, your only solace is the thousands of terminals you can connect to from the main operating center. Use the cameras to view strange, otherworldly places outside of your haven. Use the consoles to connect with the outside denizens– be they human, demonic, or something else entirely.
Remember: Never open the door.
What secrets can your prying eyes uncover? How will you cope with the horrors of the things you cannot unsee? How much can be taken from you before you lose yourself? Can you save yourself– much less the lives of others? Will you do your dishes today?
You keep having the same dreams over and over. It happened, years ago, before you left. You thought you had left Eastend behind for good.
It seems you can never truly escape your past. The Priest had warned you.
There's a girl you've never seen in your dreams. Yet, she seems so familiar - as a forgotten teddy bear you left in the attic of your home. She feels right, she looks wrong, she's wrong. Because she's not you, she says. And the two of you stand on the road...a bright light blinds you but the smell of iron reaches you. You do not need your eyes to deduce the ending of the nightmares.
Metaphorical dreams have never been your forte...except this is real. On the day you arrive, she's still alive. And smiling...laughing...walking with her friends. She looks like a normal girl of your age.
You black out - from the shock you think. The familiar iron smell being all too close, it makes you nauseous. At least, the earthen scent that lingers on your clothes counters it a little.
Why are you in the woods again?
....Why is there blood on your hands?
deerbourne by @deerbourne-if
Your sister is dead, and this is what she left you:
1. a young niece daughter;
2. incoherent ramblings about the three years she disappeared from your life;
3. and one final note beside her body. ‘Don’t follow.’
It’s been over a year now, and Kimberly’s death is a burr in your mind. In your very soul. You can’t shake the need to know - why did she run away at 16? Why did she come back three years later, battered and pregnant?
And, most haunting of all... where was she?
You have only one word to go off of,
DEERBOURNE
and you are willing to do anything to uncover what it meant to Kimberly - and to her your daughter.
...But are you really willing?
Are you sure?
In 1966, the world is ending. And in 1966, you find yourself inexplicably inhabiting an unknown to you human body, stuck in a gloomy little town on a mist-shrouded island in the middle of nowhere. You are something ancient, something vast, a cosmic entity wearing human flesh. But why here? And why now?
stillwater by @cosmic-writes-if
You wake up in a place that claims to know you.
The floors are warm, the tea tastes familiar, and the people smile like they’ve practiced it too many times. No one says the wrong thing. No one remembers the wrong thing. And when you start to notice the cracks, the world rearranges itself to keep you comfortable.
But comfort is a script. Repetition is a trap. And something in the walls is keeping score. The longer you stay, the more the town learns.
About your habits. About your mind. About who you used to be — and who you’re being rewritten to become.
sanguisuga by @sanguisuga-if
SANGUISUGA is an 18+ Vampiric Science Fiction-Paranormal-Apocalyptic-Horror IF that blends biopunk and the occult. It is a dying world of endless cruelty and madness, the rusty cogs that continue its cycle choking on the bloated flesh of those once innocent — fall into this machine-made hell, and try not to drown in the blood you drink. Heed the content warnings that follow.
please consider this an open invitation to add your own recommendations, as well!
