The Horror Game Awards to celebrate its 5th year with live show at iconic 26 Leake Street
London, UK - 5 June 2026 - The Horror Game Awards is celebrating its fifth year, and after the success of 2025’s live, in-person event, the awards will be live again at the iconic 26 Leake Street in Waterloo, London, UK!
Tucked beneath the tracks at Waterloo, 26 Leake Street is an industrial events venue carved into one of the capital’s most iconic cultural spaces – the Leake Street graffiti tunnel. The perfect space to celebrate the best and bloodiest that horror games have to offer in 2026!
Games will compete in 21 categories this year, including the Game of the Year for the coveted HGA Claw trophy:
Game of the Year brought to you by Creative Assembly
Players’ Choice
New for 2026: Critics’ Choice
New for 2026: Scariest Horror Game of the Year
Most Accessible Horror Game
Most Anticipated Horror Game
Best Indie Horror Game
New for 2026: Best Cosy Horror Game
New for 2026: Best Ongoing Horror Game
New for 2026: Best New Multiplayer Game
Best VR Horror Game
Horror Content Creator of the Year
Best Indie Developer
Best Developer
Technical Achievement Award
Lifetime Achievement Award
Best Art Direction
Best Soundtrack
Best Narrative
Best Performance
New for 2026: Best Adaptation
As in previous years, two awards categories - the Players’ Choice and Horror Content Creator of the Year - are entirely nominated and voted for by the public.
Fifteen categories are nominated by our jury members, which currently boasts over 60 content creators in our main selection. We also have a specialist jury of game developers for our Technical Achievement and Lifetime Achievement awards, a jury of accessibility experts for our Most Accessible Horror Game award, and for the first time in 2026 a jury of critics for our new Critics Choice Award.
In addition, we will also be including new Spotlight features to highlight those that might not always get heard, including developer communities across the globe, smaller horror content creators, and studios and games working to amplify under-represented voices.
The night will be hosted by awards co-creators Phil Dickens and Will Penkeyman, alongside co-producer Ash Millman.
There are still plenty more details to be announced in the coming months, including the full lineup of this year’s jury, our award presenters, and the dates for announcing nominations and subsequent public votes.
But our next big announcement will be on how you can get tickets to attend the show, so save the date and watch this space!
Key Points
The Horror Game Awards returns on Friday 20th November.
This fifth annual awards ceremony will be broadcast LIVE from 26 Leake Street in London at 19:00 GMT.
The awards will expand to 21 categories, including a Critics’ Choice with a new critics jury.
Three special spotlight features will aim to make more voices heard in the world of horror gaming.
Full jury lineup, award presenters and more still to be announced.
Details on how to attend the awards will be coming very soon.
About The Horror Game Awards
The Horror Game Awards was brought to life in 2022, born from a dire lack of representation and appreciation for horror games in mainstream award shows. Believing the innovation, experimentation, and provocation in horror games deserved more appreciation, co-creators Will Penkeyman and Phil Dickens took the genre snub personally, and so they created their own virtual space to praise at the altar of the dark side of gaming.
The aim of The Horror Game Awards is simple: to celebrate horror as one of the most varied, ingenious genres in video games, and to recognise the year’s greatest horror games alongside the developers who make them. Constantly increasing in ambition and scope, the show has come a long way from what originally aired as just a single category; now boasting a huge jury of passionate horror fans, developer collaborations, and star talent appearances. Even with this massive growth, the Horror Game Awards will always champion the DIY spirit of its inception, the same that lies at the black heart of all things horror.