25 Dark games like Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders that you should try

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Ranking compiled by Lluis Enric Mayans, Founder & Head of ContentUpdated May 19, 2026How this is calculatedOrdered by an attribute-similarity model, not editorial opinion.

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We filtered the 48 games similar to Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders down to the 25 that fit the “Dark” category. Hexen: Beyond Heretic, Quake II and DOOM 3 top the list, ranked by affinity and similarity score to Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders.

iRank84/ 100

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GenreShooterSubgenreFPS

The best dark games like Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders

25 similar games foundUpdated May 2026

Handpicked by our similarity algorithm, these are the titles with the highest gameplay match to Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders. Each one has been evaluated across 11 real attributes — from combat style and progression mechanics to world structure and visual perspective — so every recommendation is based on how the game actually plays, not just its genre label.

#1Hexen: Beyond HereticClosest overall match

iRank72

GenreShooterSubgenreFPS

SoloMultiplayerMeleeRangedDarkFantasyFirst Person

Steam👍 87%· 757RAWG👍 75%· 110IGDB37· 2

Year 1995Dev Raven Software · id SoftwarePlaytime ~1hOn PC · PS · Apple Macintosh

✓ Fits the first-person shooters cluster, with shooter, first-person shooting and deep RPG systems

≠ Stands apart with puzzle design, combat magic and horror setting, while skipping co op

While you were battling the evil forces of D'Sparil, the other Serpent Riders were busy sowing the seeds of destruction in other dimensions. One such dimension is the decaying world where Hexen takes place.

Genre100Tone100Visuals100Combat84Setting68Game mode52

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Steam GOG

#2Quake IIClosest on combat

iRank89

GenreShooterSubgenreFPS

SoloMultiplayerCo-opRangedMeleeDarkFirst Person

OC89· 25

Dev Head Games PublishingOn PC

✓ Same family of first-person shooters: shooter, first-person shooting and dark, oppressive atmosphere

≠ Its own twist: horror setting and setting scifi, while skipping deep RPG systems

Where it drifts furthest from Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders: setting.

Genre100Combat100Game mode100Tone100Visuals100Setting0

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Steam

#3DOOM 3

iRank85

GenreShooterSubgenreFPS

SoloMultiplayerCo-opMeleeRangedDarkFirst Person

Steam👍 89%· 8.3KRAWG👍 77%· 632MC87IGDB86· 6

Year 2004Dev id Software · Bethesda SoftworksPlaytime ~1hOn PC · PS · Xbox

✓ Fits the first-person shooters cluster, with shooter, first-person shooting and dark, oppressive atmosphere

≠ Stands apart with horror tension, survival mechanics and tower defense planning, while skipping deep RPG systems

DOOM 3 is a first-person shooter, the third installment in the series, serving as a reboot to the previous games. ###Plot As the game is set in a science fiction universe, the events span accordingly.

Where it drifts furthest from Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders: setting.

Same studio: id Software.

Genre100Combat100Game mode100Visuals100Tone78Setting0

GenreShooterSubgenreFPS

MultiplayerCo-opSoloRangedMeleeDarkFirst Person

Steam👍 98%· 1.0MRAWG👍 85%· 3.4KMC89IGDB89· 5

Year 2009Dev Valve Software · Electronic ArtsPlaytime ~9hOn PC · Xbox · Apple Macintosh

✓ Same family of first-person shooters: shooter, first-person shooting and dark, oppressive atmosphere

≠ Stands apart with survival mechanics, horror tension and horror setting, while skipping deep RPG systems

Everything the first game did plus melee weapons, daylight campaigns and special infected that force the team apart rather than just damage it. The AI Director still shapes every run. It absorbed the original so completely that the community split never healed, and the campaigns lean on finale set pieces that become rote once you know the safe corners.

Where it drifts furthest from Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders: setting.

Released 15 years after Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders.

Genre100Combat100Tone100Visuals100Game mode85Setting0

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Steam Xbox

#5Aliens vs. Predator

iRank76

GenreShooterSubgenreFPS

SoloMultiplayerCo-opMeleeRangedDarkFirst Person

Steam👍 91%· 21KRAWG👍 62%· 422MC68IGDB74· 4

Year 2010Dev SEGAPlaytime ~3hOn PC · PS · Xbox

✓ Same family of first-person shooters: shooter, first-person shooting and dark, oppressive atmosphere

≠ Its own twist: survival mechanics, horror tension and adventure storytelling, while skipping deep RPG systems

Three separate campaigns — Marine, Alien and Predator — each rebuilding the game around a different body: the Marine's motion tracker and dread, the Alien's wall-crawling, the Predator's cloak and vision modes. The Marine campaign is the one that holds up. The other two are short and thin by comparison, and the multiplayer that carried it in 2010 is long dead.

Where it drifts furthest from Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders: setting.

Released 16 years after Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders.

Genre100Game mode100Visuals100Combat86Tone81Setting0

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Steam Xbox PS

#6Quake

iRank92

GenreShooterSubgenreFPS

SoloMultiplayerCo-opRangedMeleeDarkFirst Person

Steam👍 97%· 15KRAWG👍 88%· 487MC94OC87· 37

Year 1996Dev id Software · SEGAPlaytime ~1hOn PC · PS · Xbox

✓ Same family of first-person shooters: shooter, first-person shooting and dark, oppressive atmosphere

≠ Where it differs: brings horror tension, strong narrative focus and horror setting, while skipping deep RPG systems

id's follow-up to Doom, and the first with true 3D movement — rocket jumps, full vertical aim, and a Lovecraftian gloom scored by Nine Inch Nails. The movement still feels quicker than most modern shooters. Long-time players tend to prefer a source port to the official re-release, which quietly altered difficulty tuning and is treated as a compromised preservation job.

Where it drifts furthest from Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders: setting.

Same studio: id Software.

Genre100Combat100Visuals100Game mode87Tone84Setting0

GenreShooterSubgenreFPS

SoloMultiplayerCo-opMeleeRangedDarkFirst Person

Steam👍 96%· 67KRAWG👍 87%· 1.7KMC89IGDB85· 7

Year 2008Dev Valve Software · Electronic ArtsPlaytime ~5hOn PC · Xbox · Apple Macintosh

✓ Fits the first-person shooters cluster, with shooter, first-person shooting and dark, oppressive atmosphere

≠ Stands apart with survival mechanics, horror tension and strong narrative focus, while skipping deep RPG systems

The AI Director is the whole design: it places hordes and items based on how well you are doing, so no two runs of a campaign play the same and tension stays authored without being scripted. Four campaigns only, which is thin, and the sequel superseded it so completely that finding populated servers now takes patience.

Where it drifts furthest from Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders: setting.

Released 14 years after Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders.

Genre100Combat100Visuals100Game mode88Tone80Setting0

GenreShooterSubgenreFPS

SoloMultiplayerCo-opMeleeRangedDarkFirst Person

Steam👍 83%· 31KIGDB74· 12OC71· 129

Year 2019Dev Saber Interactive · Focus EntertainmentOn PS4 · PC · Xbox

✓ Both are first-person shooters — sharing shooter, first-person shooting and dark, oppressive atmosphere

≠ Its own twist: third-person shooting, adventure storytelling and survival mechanics, while skipping deep RPG systems

A co-op horde shooter whose swarm tech is the draw: hundreds of zombies climb over each other into structures, and the class system rewards coordinating rather than scattering. Levels are short and replayable. The shooting itself is functional but unremarkable, and the campaign chapters are thin connective tissue between the set-piece swarm moments.

Where it drifts furthest from Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders: setting.

Released 25 years after Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders.

Genre100Combat100Tone100Game mode80Visuals61Setting0

GenreShooterSubgenreFPS

Co-opSoloMultiplayerRangedMeleeDarkFirst Person

Steam👍 95%· 69KRAWG👍 59%· 856MC72IGDB68· 5

Year 2009Dev Tripwire InteractivePlaytime ~5hOn PC · Apple Macintosh · Linux

✓ Both are first-person shooters — sharing shooter, first-person shooting and dark, oppressive atmosphere

≠ Stands apart with survival mechanics, horror tension and strong narrative focus, while skipping deep RPG systems

Wave-based co-op against slow, heavy specimens, built around a between-round shop and perks that level by playstyle rather than by menu. Weapon feedback is meaty. It shows its origins as a mod — level design is functional rather than crafted, and later waves come down to holding one corridor while a friend welds the door behind you.

Where it drifts furthest from Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders: setting.

Released 15 years after Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders.

Genre100Combat100Visuals86Game mode83Tone82Setting0

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Steam

#10Heretic

GenreShooterSubgenreFPS

SoloMultiplayerCo-opMeleeDarkFantasyFirst Person

Year 1994Dev Raven Software · id SoftwareOn PC · Mac

✓ Same family of first-person shooters: shooter, first-person shooting and dark, oppressive atmosphere

≠ Stands apart with combat magic, historical setting and setting medieval, while skipping deep RPG systems

Where it drifts furthest from Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders: combat and setting.

Genre100Game mode100Tone100Visuals100Setting46Combat33

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#11Shadowgrounds

iRank65

GenreShooterSubgenreFPS

SoloMultiplayerCo-opRangedMeleeDark

Steam👍 81%· 1.6KRAWG👍 28%· 94MC74IGDB75· 2

Year 2005Dev FrozenbytePlaytime ~2hOn PC · Apple Macintosh

✓ Same family of first-person shooters: shooter, first-person shooting and dark, oppressive atmosphere

≠ Its own twist: horror tension, adventure storytelling and setting scifi, while skipping deep RPG systems

Shadowgrounds breathes fresh air into the action genre with explosive combat sequences, an innovative weapon upgrade system, and an intriguing storyline.

Where it drifts furthest from Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders: setting and visuals.

Released 11 years after Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders.

Genre100Combat100Tone100Game mode87Setting0Visuals0

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Steam GOG

#12Singularity

iRank85

GenreShooterSubgenreFPS

SoloMultiplayerRangedMeleeDarkFantasyFirst Person

Steam👍 93%· 5.9KRAWG👍 82%· 447MC76IGDB80· 4

Year 2010Dev Raven Software · ActivisonPlaytime ~5hOn PC · PS · Xbox

✓ Both are first-person shooters — sharing shooter, first-person shooting and dark, oppressive atmosphere

≠ Where it differs: brings puzzle design, horror tension and adventure storytelling, while skipping deep RPG systems

Time manipulation applied to objects rather than the whole world: you age a crate to dust or restore a collapsed staircase, and it is used cleverly in traversal and combat. A tight, short campaign. It borrows heavily and openly from BioShock and Half-Life 2, and the shooting itself is unremarkable once the time device stops surprising you.

Where it drifts furthest from Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders: setting.

Released 16 years after Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders.

Genre100Combat100Visuals100Game mode72Tone71Setting34

GenreShooterSubgenreFPS

SoloMultiplayerCo-opDarkFantasyFirst Person

IGDB87· 8

Year 2008Dev Insomniac Games · Sony Computer EntertainmentOn PlayStation 3

✓ Fits the first-person shooters cluster, with shooter, first-person shooting and dark, oppressive atmosphere

≠ Stands apart with survival mechanics, horror setting and historical setting, while skipping deep RPG systems

Where it drifts furthest from Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders: setting.

Released 14 years after Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders.

Genre100Tone100Visuals100Game mode77Setting37

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#14Painkiller Overdose

iRank61

GenreShooterSubgenreFPS

SoloMultiplayerMeleeRangedDarkFirst Person

Steam👍 71%· 1.2KRAWG👍 52%· 115MC65IGDB50· 3

Year 2007Dev Mindware Studios · THQ NordicPlaytime ~1hOn PC

✓ Same family of first-person shooters: shooter, first-person shooting and dark, oppressive atmosphere

≠ Its own twist: horror tension and horror setting, while skipping deep RPG systems

Painkiller Overdose is a first-person shooter, the first stand-alone expansion for 2004 People Can Fly game Painkiller.

Where it drifts furthest from Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders: setting.

On reception: its Steam reviews are mostly positive, against very positive for Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders.

Released 13 years after Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders.

Genre100Combat100Tone100Visuals100Game mode72Setting0

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Steam GOG

#15Doom II: Hell on Earth

iRank91

GenreShooterSubgenreFPS

SoloMultiplayerCo-opMeleeDarkFirst Person

Steam👍 95%· 9.1KIGDB84· 2

Year 1994Dev id Software · ImagineerOn PC · Mac

✓ Both are first-person shooters — sharing shooter, first-person shooting and dark, oppressive atmosphere

≠ Stands apart with puzzle design, horror tension and horror setting, while skipping deep RPG systems

Where it drifts furthest from Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders: setting and combat.

Same studio: id Software.

Genre100Game mode100Tone100Visuals80Combat48Setting0

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Steam

Complete list of dark games like Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders

The full catalog of games sharing gameplay DNA with Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, ordered from highest to lowest similarity score. Use the filters above to narrow down by genre, setting or game mode and find the alternative that best fits your playstyle.