Does anyone know of any kid-friendly "horror" games out there for children ~7 years old?

My son loves the adrenaline rush of getting scared, particularly with jump scares, however, I have a lot of difficulty finding a game or show which is appropriate for him. He is prone to nightmares, and more adult-oriented “kid horror” is too much (Poppy’s Playtime, Cartoon Cat?) And others like Siren Head. His peers exposed him to those things and made my own nights pretty sleepless for a while.

It’s a tough plate to fill, but surely there’s gotta be something. He’s played Luigi’s Mansion and got a kick out of that. That game would be a good example I suppose.

Thanks for any suggestions!

luciole,
@luciole@beehaw.org avatar

OK hear me out: Minecraft in survival. For real. Nothing jump scares like a creeper going “psshht” in your back, telegraphing that you’re about to die in a destructive explosion. As you walk a narrow path over a chasm of lava in the Nether, the wail of the Ghast might make you fall out of sheer panic before it even shoots at you. The Warden is a special kind of scary too, as it’s nearly unkillable and will detect you by the noise you make. It sounds kind of silly but there’s plenty of players making the remark that Minecraft survival is basically horror.

And it’s all in a child friendly, non gory, voxel style.

tias,

Yeah that shit scared me when I played it at 40 years old. It kind of wears you down when you walk around in dark caves for hours on end.

Another alternative might be Subnautica. It has some jump scares but mostly it’s just the Deep Unknown that gives you chills. Few things in that game are actually dangerous.

BubblyMango,

+1 for minecraft.

You can try mineclone2 if you dont wanna pay.

nunchuk,
@nunchuk@lemmy.bigsecretwebsite.net avatar

+1 to this, when I was like 11-12 playing Minecraft, it took me a solid year or so to overcome my fear of going into caves.

sincle354,

Aw man, preparing for the nether and writing down my coordinates, terrified of ghasts and facing blazes for as long as I could stand it. I still prepare for any excursion from my base like a packrat.

Abnorc,

While we’re at it with non-horror games: the level that introduced the flood in Halo CE really gave me a scare. I don’t know what it says about me, but I invited a friend over to play that level with me, lol. It’s a bit of a reach not being a horror game, but a great game with some tension here and there.

hyorvenn,
@hyorvenn@jlai.lu avatar

Métro 2033, the library level will make him shit his pants. And the game is probably not going to make him have nightmares from gorish horror too

bjoern_tantau,
@bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de avatar

Maybe the 7th Guest. I played that as a kid.

WagesOf,

I think thats rated NC17 or something for nudity. I'm not worried about that for kids but many are.

inverimus,

7th Guest was rated T. You are probably thinking of Phantasmagoria which had a controversial rape scene and got an M rating.

LoamImprovement,

Shivers is also a very good example from this era. Excellent atmosphere in a spooky museum.

Catastrophic235,

Dead space 2, start him out on the school level for the optimal results.

rozPierog,

Make him fear optometrists for the rest of his life!

NaoPb,

How about Spookie’s House of Jumpscares?

At least I think that’s what it’s called?

CharlesReed,
@CharlesReed@kbin.social avatar

I second this one. It's pretty straight forward, and just as the name suggests, is filled with jumpscares.

BuboScandiacus,
@BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz avatar

Has he played the other Luigi’s mansion games ?

Sepix,
@Sepix@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Luigi’s Mansion on the Switch!

TheBest,

Such a good answer and game

SidewaysHighways,

Bendy and the ink machine.

BubblyMango,

Lego rock raiders.

Not horror, but can be scary and when monsters arrive it sometimes gave me a jumpscare.

Onihikage,
@Onihikage@beehaw.org avatar

More specifically, Manic Miners, the unofficially endorsed and completely free remake/remaster of Lego Rock Raiders 😉

520,

Would sonic.exe be too much?

StarkillerX42,

Limbo and the other one by the same devs

Ansis,

Inside

Smoke,

A Hat in Time has quite a spooky level in a swamp with a Deal with the Devil involved: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIrPsJMRJmoI also suggest Little Nightmares if the little guy’s tougher than he looks: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ6Jcftf-c4

Player2,

FNaF is a classic, there’s no gore or anything like that and a lot of jump scares

dutchkimble,

Plants vs zombies maybe?

ZombieBait,

Ghostwire: Tokyo is a good game about ghosts that's not actually that scary. The school DLC for it can get a bit creepy though. Also, Subnautica is one of the scariest non-horror games out there.

all-knight-party,
all-knight-party avatar

That's how you get your kid to never go to the beach with you

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