2017 turned out to be a fantastic year for horror games. A beloved old franchise returned to its roots in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. The 2015 hit SOMA finally launched on Xbox One and unveiled its all-new Safe Mode, making it a great time for new players to dive in. More than a handful of smaller indie gems shined through the big-name franchises, and a few even housed secrets darker than we could've imagined.

Here are the best horror games of 2017.

Cuphead got all the love this year for its painstaking recreation of old-timey animation, but Bendy and the Ink Machine also put a new spin on vintage cartoons. Set partially in an abandoned animator’s workshop, the episodic series (which has yet to conclude) promises to “forever ruin your childhood love of cartoons.”

Pulling from a mix of real-world Taiwanese history and mythology, and effortlessly nailing the heavy, atmospheric terror of classic survival horror games, Detention is an absolute gem. Not only is it truly frightening — it’s also unique, clever, and hauntingly beautiful.

To say much about Doki Doki Literature Club! would spoil its best elements, so if you’re looking for a game that will surprise you as much as it will unnerve you, just go out and play it. (Seriously — it was nominated for four of IGN’s Best of 2017 game awards.) It’s free on Steam, but if you want to support the developers, you can pay what you want for it on itch.io.

Scarcer resources, a nightmarish open world, scarier monsters, and a more emotionally-driven story makes the Evil Within 2 more ambitious, more terrifying, and even more bizarre than its predecessor.

FAITH combines the very best elements of the ZX Spectrum-era and occult horror for some spooky low-res fun. Add to that some excellent use of sound, genuinely surprising moments, an accessible 1-2 hours of playtime, and the fact that it’s a free download and you don’t really have a reason not to check it out.

If the name Freddy Fazbear means anything to you, just play this.

Despite our review’s issues with “lopsided” and buggy gameplay, Friday the 13th: The Game still had plenty of thrilling and admittedly very silly asymmetrical multiplayer action to enjoy.

Not a conventional horror game by any means, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice invites you in with its promise of a dark and sinister Viking adventure and transfixes you with its haunting exploration of mental illness and personal perseverance. It’s also gorgeous.

Little Nightmares may be short, but the two or so hours spent on that dreaded sea vessel are among some of the most haunting this year. It’s as eerie as a scary children’s book, but even more shockingly gruesome. Its stealth-based sequences are incredibly well done, and it boasts one of the most thrilling and beautifully-framed chase scenes in a game, period.

If there’s one thing Layers of Fear did well, it was twisting and changing the environment in new and clever ways, all in real-time. With Observer, that same clever distortion of the game world goes several steps further, set this time in a neon-drenched cyberpunk dystopia, where you play a detective responsible for hacking into criminal minds.

Religious cults have been done and done again in horror, but Outlast 2 puts a few clever spins on the old formula. With the familiar found footage inspirations stronger than ever and some unnerving flashback usage for good measure, Outlast 2 manages to tell a much better story than the first game without abandoning what made the first game so distinct.

More psychological than horror, Prey is worth a go if you want some solid jump scares with your first-person shooting. Not only does it keep you on edge with its constant deception, it has a genuinely dark sci-fi tale at its core.

Resident Evil reinvented itself in many ways with Resident Evil 7 — a first-person game playable entirely in VR, it introduced a host of new characters at first seemingly unrelated to the usual Umbrella conspiracy drama of previous installations. But the changes were all a ruse. Resident Evil 7 is the closest Resident Evil has felt to its survival horror roots in quite a long time: slow, thoughtful, and brimming with tension.

The cerebral deep sea horror SOMA originally launched in 2015 on PC and PlayStation 4. Its brand new Xbox One version not only brings the game to an all new audience — it also introduces Safe Mode, an optional game mode that removes death as a fail state. Considering the occasional chase scene was hardly the creepiest thing about the psychologically haunting SOMA, you’re sure to get a great experience with Safe Mode on or off.

Stories Untold isn’t just an achievement for horror games, but the adventure genre as well. Its clever experimentation with structure and form, its strong writing, and its smart puzzles all work together to create an experience that is genuinely unique. To say more would spoil it.

You don’t need to play Yomawari: Night Alone to appreciate its sequel, Yomawari: Midnight Shadows, which improves on what made its predecessor a cult hit without losing its strange, terrifying charm.

Did we miss anything? Tell us about your favorite horror games from 2017, and what you're looking forward to next year.