Looking to get spooky? These are the Xbox One games for you!
Games are capable of making us feel a wide range of emotions and the games on this list will make you feel panic, fear, dread, and eternal thanks that it's not really real. We've compiled a list of the most terrifying games available to play on Xbox One, from action-packed scares to the spookiest of haunted houses. Turn off your lights, crank the sound up high and bring a towel for your sweaty brow; you're in for a bumpy night.
Update 18 March 2017: We've updated this list with Capcom's latest survival horror game, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard!
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Undeniably one of the best horror games of this generation, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard hoped to capture the terror of survival horror which gained the series its reputation. Taking inspiration from recent successes in the genre, the game pushes the Resident Evil franchise into a first-person perspective with new gameplay mechanics to take advantage of the point of view.
Embarking on a search for his missing wife, Resident Evil 7 takes Ethan Winters into the run-down plantation of the Baker Family. With the family on his tail, Winters must rescue his wife while escaping alive. Offering tense cinematic experiences mixed in with some well-suited combat, Resident Evil 7 sits among the best horror games this decade.
Layers of Fear
Layers of Fear makes the case for combatless horror experiences once again, focusing heavily atmospheric tension and the world it creates. Telling the psychedelic tale of an artist descending into insanity, Layers of Fear perfectly captures the chilling aspects of its narrative.
The artist's house is a maze of corridors and doors that appear out of nowhere or vanish and turn back on themselves, giving you the impression there's more than meets the eye. Genuinely in a class of its own, Layers of Fear deserves its place simply for how unexpectedly thrilling it can be.
Outlast
There are things I like to be chased by, and big, naked, murderously violent men with no lips are not one of them. Outlast has you stepping into the shoes of an investigative journalist who has been tipped off to some weird goings-on at a mental asylum. Being the astute and eager young man he is, he rushes off to the asylum with nothing but his night-vision camcorder in hand. Played most often through that night-vision, Outlast is dark, stressful, atmospheric, and scary enough that the likelihood if it being played in short bursts is quite high.
The real kicker is that you have absolutely no way to protect yourself from attack. Should you alert an enemy, your only option is to run away and hide and hope they don't find you. The higher your difficulty setting, the more hiding places enemies will check, and the fewer batteries you will have at your disposal to recharge your camcorder.
Resident Evil Remastered
Hailed as the very first game of the survivor horror genre, Resident Evil recently reached its 20th birthday. 20 whole years of fright over stupid dogs jumping through windows, houses with a labyrinth of rooms and zombies, lickers, sharks, giant snakes... and that tell-tale squishy sound effect that meant you could hear zombies before you saw them.
Resident Evil tells the story of the Racoon City S.T.A.R.S team investigating the missing Bravo Team who had been last seen in the mountainous region. With a Resident Evil 2 remake also in the works, and Resident Evil 7 launching in 2017, we may be seeing S.T.A.R.S for a while yet.
Dead Space
Dead Space isn't for the faint of heart — or the faint-bladdered, for that matter. My personal experience with the Dead Space franchise compels me to add it to this list because those necromorphs will haunt you forever.. Heavily atmospheric environments will have you jumping at every little noise, and believe me, the jumps come thick and fast. Exploring the depths of space and facing off against the horrific necromorphs is enough to put me off from volunteering for any missions to Mars anytime soon.
Dead Space can be grabbed via Backwards Compatibility for Xbox One. Remember: in space, no-one can hear you soil yourself as you curl into a ball, weeping.
The Evil Within
Directed by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, The Evil Within is a 'return-to-genre' comeback. As with all survival horror games, learning when to fight, and when to run the heck away are paramount, and you'll certainly have a hard time deciding which you should do. The Evil Within boasts even mild RPG elements, as collecting vials of Green Gel allows you to upgrade protagonist Sebastian Castellanos's health, stamina and ammo capacity.
Among the Sleep
Among The Sleep is a psychological horror game where you take control of a young boy as he collects memories of his mother with the help of his teddy bear guide. With a sad twist, and plenty of diving from creepy tree monsters, Among The Sleep holds more adult themes than first meets the eye.
Metro Redux
If you prefer shooting over skulking, Metro Redux has you covered. Metro Redux contains Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light in one great package. Nuclear war and radiactive mutations are real threats in Metro. It has wonderful horror elements, detailed environments and an engaging plot, each making this a great action-packed, but equally hostile experience.
Alien: Isolation
Many people might put this in the top spot. Xenomorphs are everyone's favorite "horror movie monster", and Alien: Isolation really upped the ante. Previous 'Alien' games weren't know for being scary or even enjoyable, but Isolation is truly terrifying. Rather than getting swamped with black shiny skinned, eyeless, murderous humanoids, Isolation features a single xenomorph who antagonises you for the duration of the game.
Dead Rising 4
If you feel like going to town on a zombie horde, Dead Rising 4 is an unmissable experience for the Xbox One. The game takes mass zombie slaughter to new heights, offering more weapons gadgets and zombies than ever before.
Set shortly after a zombie outbreak hits festive holiday-season Colorado, Dead Rising 4 puts players into the shoes of the series' iconic protagonist, Frank West. With a fully-realized open world spanning the game's single player campaign and cooperative multiplayer modes, the game offers hours of hectic, but equally violent chaos. With its slapstick humor, the game is a great choice for those with a faint heart when it comes to horror.
Are there any other horror games you think should be on this list? What would your list look like? Make sure to let us know in the comments!
Reader comments
Best Horror Games for Xbox One
Agony
I wish some of these older games like Dead Space and Alien would get released on the Windows Store. I'd be all over them.
Slender : the Arrival is a worthy mention
The first Bioshock terrified me.
Too bad they never ported SOMA
One the most dangerous horror #Agony#...
Don't forget to play Alien Isolation with Kinect, if you have.
Add's so much to the gameplay =)
The condemned was my favorite on 360, would be nice to see a remaster of that one.
Ohh, it's backward compat on Xbox One too! Will have to give that another go!
I have the The Evil Within but, never even dropped it in yet.... in the pile of games that I want to get to but never the time.
Reviews were pretty good for it, so I just gota play it...
Got about a third of the way through and gave up, slow paced and boring
Dead space? Really?
Didn't think it was horror myself but an awesome franchise regardless
Dead rising 4, Really? Lol
Dead Space and Dead Space 2 had me going with some great shivers as it doesn't rely on jump scares. The creepy atmosphere of USG Ishimura and The Sprawl in Dead Space 2 made me tense. This combined with the nature of Necromorphs who are constantly trying to ambush the living or outright outnumber them...Makes for a terrifying experience, especially since you must cut off limbs due to headshots cause the buggers to freak out. Flailing dangerously around and becoming more unpredictable.
What helped was the kill technique and gun variety. Severing limbs with some of the weapons was both satisfying and very necessary.
This is what I appreciated as well, as each repurposed tools and weapons that can be effectively used to combat the Necromorphs! Upgrading actually significantly helped the performance of all the weapons, I found myself using a variety of them.
Played the game through several times too. The only thing that I didn't like was the fact that, and Borderlands and loads others do this, the fact that when you pick stuff up, or find stuff, it generates a 3D, in game menu that changes angle and stuff. I just hate them. I seem to recall that The Division may also do the same. Give me a flat option any day.
To be fair my only in-depth experiences with FPS games is Dead Space and a scant few others. The 3D in-game menu thing doesn't bother me remotely, game performance usually bothers me the most if it is poorly optimized and laggy. As I am running a reasonable PC so it should be able to handle a wide variety of games with settings tweaks.
I understand why this might be annoying, i loved it for the immersion factor as it actually puts the menu into the game but yeah, it can be jarring.
Yeah, historically we've only included non-BC games, but I think it's fair to start including them when we do the next wave of updates.
I don't do console gaming and I don't do non-FPS. It would be nice to know if any of those are also PC and FPS.
There's something called Bing or Google that looks stuff up on the Interwebbs. Try it out.
Dead Space...hands down the best horror FPS ever made.
Pretty sure dead space is third person and not first person. But great game!
Agreed. Dead Space-One of the best FPS-period , IMO
System Shock 2 was the best when it came out, still pretty scary and the atmosphere, still gets me going.....Silence the dischord! The many sing to us!
Outlast is. There is also the likes of Penumbra and Amnesia on PC.
And SOMA
All of those are on PC.
The Park, Emily wants to play, The Condemned.
Condemned was killer.
Ummmmmm.......... Dying Light. Nothing is more tense than having 4 or 5 freshly turned zombies running full speed at you, when you've just run into a horde of zombies on the street. Or having a gang of volotiles chasing you in a thunderstorm at night. Good times.
I just finished Dying Light, and yes there are some scary parts, specially when you don't have goods enough weapons but that simply fades later on...
Right now I'm half way through Outlast, half way through SOMA and about 1/4 way in Alien: Isolation.... Horror survival is definitely my favorite genre...
I loved Amnesia and community mods for it...
Alan Wake. Yes its on BC, but it's still great after all this time.
It has weird performance issues on W10 nowadays.
Dead Space rocked my world on the 360, a true shocker. Some of these look pretty sweet, but I'm struggling to get myself off Battlefield. Almost bought Pang tonight.... Not a scare fest though.
I still get SO nervous when I play it. Even knowing when something is going to happen doesn't make it any easier :')
Yes, I jumped so many times on my first play through. That nailed the ever present impending doom. I can think of several areas where I was chased, and my hot almost burst through my chest.
Dead Space: Reckon its my number one favorite franchise, awesome games.
And available on EA Access. Nice.
Since you guys recommended it I am downloading it now. I think with the EA Pass and work schedule I have saved a ton of money on game purchases (well for myself) my kids well....
Be interested to hear what you think. Feel free to drop me a line on Xbox Live, or even reply to this comment. My gamer tag is the same as my name here. Remember to play with the lights off, and also with a stereo headset on...
These were my favorite survival horror games since resident evil and the silent Hill series. They should remaster them.
Silent Hill is Konami and they are done with AAA games.
It's an awesome trilogy but your favorite one?
Dead Space.. If only they'd revisit their origins for DS4. The creepy enviromentals had me stressed more than the actual encounters.
Reminded me of the film, Event Horizon. That film spooked me out years ago.
John Carpenters remake of the thing scared the living crap out of me. I still remember that chest opening up, and the head stretching off and falling on the floor, sprouting legs. "You got to be kidding me" lol. I lived in California at the time, and the entire neighborhood had a rat problem, the used to play in the attic, and my mind went wild lol. Thank god for blankets.
Good on ya. This is my favorite classic horror movie. There was an xbox or 360 game made after this movie that was excellent.