I agree. Today, what we have, is not terror or fear - it's surprise, startlement, discomfort.

There ARE a few legitimately terrifying horror games I've played, or terrifying segments - most notably, a fan "remake" of Killswitch, a creepypasta of a possibly demonic game that deleted itself and the data on it's floppy upon failure (which is why it's not available today according to the myth - no one thought of copying it over to anywhere else, and they didn't expect the deletion). Hilariously (and relevantly enough), I can't find it anywhere right now.

What makes terror, however, is things that are wrong usually. And not like "I killed a puppy" wrong. Like, ever so subtly yet so definitely incorrect (like TheVenerableCain 's comment about Kuon). Amnesia: The Dark Descent had some aspects of this, but still relied too much on the panic and startling of something appearing and running at you to entice a reaction.

Another example (it's not horror technically, but with just a few minor tweaks could become): Jawson's Bog in Bastion. Those who played might know what I'm talking about. But for those who haven't (spoilers ahead): at one point you pass out (I can't remember why). The game makes you think you start at the beginning. But already then something felt off. As you progressed, the narrator, instead of being somewhat gleeful and positive, was negative and remorseful, making the character look like a terrible murderer instead of a victim of circumstances (and at that point I thought maybe this was like, the real point of view of the game). Twist that a little and it can become the stuff of nightmares.

Another example of what I consider to be horror (and I'm sure most would agree): No Russian.

Or in games that allow it, pushing yourself to do a true Evil quest and systematically killing everyone can delve there.

There was for me, as well, the ending to StarDrive. You discover all of the advanced technologies. You build a fleet that could break anyone else - not like there is anyone else to oppose you except the Remnant, because your empire spans the whole galaxy. Then you finally find more ancient tech... in the form of a mother ship that most likely blows up the scouts that found the planet where it was hidden, and a good portion if not all of the fleet you most likely have stationed around a non-colonized world (unless you, for some reason, happened to use that system as a rally point for your whole fleet or, bless your crazy heart, decided to colonize that whole system). You finally manage to break that ship... and what do you get? It sends a last signal, and the whole galaxy gets flooded with ships just as advanced as your mothership, destroying one by one your fringe colony... and the only way for you to survive? Rally every single ship you have around your core empire, have all worlds that are not your most reinforced, powerful world produce as many warships as they can pull off, and hope it'll be enough to buy you enough time to construct an ascension array... to ascend to another dimension/existence, alone, while fully knowing that whoever doesn't also manage to get the array to work will be annihilated by the Remnant to make a clean-slate galaxy once more. The endgame specifically tells you that you left a whole galaxy to die to save yourself and ascend.

Then again, in my opinion, TRUE horror is a very niche thing. Today's horror is more of an adrenaline hit - the same type of thrill you get riding a rollercoaster. True horror makes you think, and you don't feel right for a while afterwards. In true horror, you are the monster, and you terrify yourself.

Tropes TL;DR: Games use too much of Horror Tropes while they should be using primal fears or creating nightmare fuel.