If you're the type to flip on arachnophobia mode in games like Grounded 2 and Monster Hunter Wilds, turn away now and run. Run far, far away, because we're talking about a new survival horror game all about giant, killer spiders.
Lurking, from indie developer Ctrl Freak, exists in defiance of arachnophobia modes. Spiders were obviously explicitly designed by god to be as scary as possible. The eight legs. The multitude of eyes. The venom. Spiders are not serious creatures. Their sole purpose on this planet is to evoke horror, making them pretty ideal antagonists for a horror game.
Likewise, the premise here is simply horrifying: You play as one of those weirdos that keeps spiders as pets, when one day the inevitable happens. The spiders' carefully constructed plan to escape finally succeeds and sure enough, your whole apartment and the surrounding building are crawling with ginormous killer spiders. I'm not sure how they became giant, but it doesn't matter now, the only thing you need to worry about now is survival.
"Stay low. Stay quiet. Stick to the shadows," advises Ctrl Freak in Lurking's Steam description. "You're trapped, but if you can keep it together, you might still find a way out."
"If it bleeds, you can kill it. But does it bleed?"
Assuming Google hasn't failed me, I'm pretty sure spiders do bleed, so yeah, kill those suckers. The above trailer shows the player character putting a homebrewed flamethrower to excellent use on one six-legged freak, so you're definitely not completely defenseless. That said, Ctrl Freak says enemy AI will exhibit "dynamic spider behavior that reacts to your actions" as well as "highly realistic spider movement," which sounds like a genuine nightmare. There are also "multiple endings based on your choices," which definitely implies there's a few ways this all can go sideways.
The best part, for me, is that Lurking only has "approximately 2 hours of gameplay." I don't have a spider phobia, but I do have a fear of long games as someone in his mid-30s who's becoming increasingly aware of The Big Clock. Seriously, if you're in games PR and you want a pitch to grab my attention, go ahead and put "short game" in the subject line and you're pretty much guaranteed to be successful.
Anyway, Lurking is very obviously and explicitly inspired by Resident Evil, and it features low poly visuals reminiscent of the series' origins, which is always a bonus in these kinds of games. It's out on Steam at some point in 2026.
In the meantime, here are the best horror games to play in 2026.
