The Best Horror Titles for Your Nintendo DS

Dementium: The Ward

The first game on the list is Dementium, a game that was praised for its lighting effects at the time of its original release.

Dementium: The Ward is a combination of survival horror and first-person shooter, where you’ll have to play as an amnesiac who just woke up in a hospital. It probably wouldn’t be that bad if the place wasn’t overrun by monsters, but that’s exactly the situation you’ll find yourself in.

Fighting for survival and trying to piece together important bits of information to get a better idea of what’s going on, you’ll have to find your way out to safety. You’re not a soldier, nor an experienced fighter though, so tread carefully and resort to using your trusty nightstick or a gun with limited ammo only if there’s no other way around.

Nanashi no Game

A surprisingly scary Japanese production you wouldn’t expect to find on Nintendo DS.

It’s a well-known fact that the Japanese are the masters of horror and it’s been proved once more with Nanashi no Game. A truly scary horror can’t rely on cheap jumpscares, but should rather build the tension and keep the player in a sense of constant fear and uncertainty – and that’s how it’s like here. In Nanashi no Game, even such a simple action as walking around a well-lit room can evoke the feeling of something not being right, making you somewhat paranoid, expecting something scary to happen any second.

Corpse Party

Continuing on Japanese games, one can’t forget about Corpse Party.

Corpse Party is a survival horror game that puts emphasis on the story and narrative. As far as the dialogues go, the game resembles a Japanese visual novel with adorable drawings of the starring characters, but don’t let that and occasional humorous dialogue lines deceive you – Corpse Party can be quite terrifying at times.

Gameplay-wise it’s a 2D pixel-art game where you’ll be tasked with exploring the haunted school while trying to find your missing classmates and, most importantly, survive. The atmosphere in the game is just what you’d like to see in a horror game. Add to that professional voice acting, and you get a little masterpiece.

Last Window: The Secret of Cape West

For another story-driven adventure, you could try Last Window.

Last Window continues the story of former detective Kyle Hyde from Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and presents players with a new mystery to solve. The game is heavily focused on the storyline and offers players meaningful choices that can influence the outcomes. A big part of the game lies in questioning the people and learning useful information that can be of use to help the detective solve the case.

The game is played vertically and makes smart use of both displays. During dialogues, participants are shown on opposite screens, and during the exploration, one display shows the 2D map, while the other shows the 3D view of the environment.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

From a less scary side of the spectrum of games to recommend, there’s Castlevania.

Dawn of Sorrow is not exactly a horror game, as there’s nothing to be scared of when you’re a powerful vampire hunter who can easily face any possible challenge head-on. With that being said, the game features all kinds of demonic creatures that will try to tear you apart if you’re not careful.

It turns out that defeating Dracula wasn’t enough to stop the catastrophe; the disastrous fate needs a new master, and you’re the obstacle that prevents it from happening. As such, you’re the primary target of all evil – eliminating you means a new beginning for the demonic forces. The dark lord will return once you’re dead.

Theresia: Dear Emile

Here’s one of the very few games that managed to get an M for Mature score for ESRB on Nintendo DS.

Theresia is mainly a visual novel game with exploration presented in a way that reminds retro turn-based 3D RPG games, where players had to navigate through labyrinths and tight corridors and were only able to either move forward or make a turn, one step at a time.

The game is heavily driven by the two stories that meet and intertwine, allowing the player to get a better understanding of what’s going on and why they’re trapped in an unfamiliar place that reeks of danger and evil influence.

Touch the Dead

Rail shooters were quite popular back in the day, and so here’s an example of an exclusive one for Nintendo DS.

Touch the Dead is a rail shooter with a self-explanatory title, where you’ll have to, you guessed it, touch the dead. The protagonist moves on their own in a 3D environment, exploring the rooms and corridors, and your job is to tap the zombie creatures as they appear on the screen to shoot them down.

The game offers an easy-to-learn, fast-paced experience that serves as a great test for one’s reflex and reaction time. You’ll have to learn how to cleverly time your actions to quickly dispose of waves of incoming enemies; switching weapons and reloading are done manually, and mastering both of these things will be crucial to your success.

Resident Evil: Deadly Silence

Finally, a Resident Evil game – a part of the quite challenging survival horror series.

Deadly Silence is a Nintendo DS port of the original Resident Evil game with numerous enhancements. It was released as a part of the tenth anniversary of the franchise, allowing Nintendo DS owners to immerse and experience the genius behind the classic horror.

Old-school Resident Evil games were known for their static camera system, which made it look like you’re watching the action through CCTV cameras. In combination with the so-called tank controls, navigating in the world was quite a challenge itself, especially when you were facing an enemy – there was no aim assistance and the monsters were often off the screen, forcing you to shoot blindly and praying for a hit.