In 2025, the landscape of AAA horror games predominantly featured settings within a narrow range of familiar environments, creating a sense of uniformity among titles. Many of the year’s notable releases, including Dying Light: The Beast and Cronos: The New Dawn, shared themes of post-apocalyptic and modern dystopias, lacking historical diversity. While these games showcased impressive mechanics and production values, they often drew from similar timelines, limiting the exploration of more varied and unsettling locales.
Among the year's highlights, Routine stood out as a notable exception, taking players to a futuristic lunar base with retro technology. However, even this title did not stray far from contemporary fears, reflecting a trend where horror increasingly relies on familiar tropes and settings. Other releases, such as Hell is Us and Silent Hill f, also adhered to modern themes, with the latter offering a slight nod to the 1960s but ultimately remaining within familiar territory.
This pattern raises concerns about the future of the horror genre, as it appears to be retreating from the unknown and instead opting for well-trodden narratives. As the year concludes, the AAA horror category seems to have settled into a comfort zone that may stifle creativity and exploration of more diverse historical contexts.