The horror genre is not a new concept in the various forms of media. Along with the inception of film, movies, and video games, soon followed the jumpscare-filled, nightmare fuel of a genre we all masochistically love.
Especially in video games, horror has seen massive improvements over the years. No longer do games featuring crass and shallow jumpscares along with third-grade writing and a skeleton of a plot make it into the hearts of horror game enthusiasts.
And with the quality of new-gen horror video games increasing with every release, finding the best of the best is no easy task. This is why we have talked about some of the best horror games available today.
Below is the list of the best horror games on the Xbox Series X|S, ranked.
List of the best horror games on the Xbox Series X|S, ranked
10) Alan Wake Remastered
Since we know that Alan Wake 2 is on its way, there’s no better time than the present to catch up with the original title. One of Remedy’s best creations, going through Alan Wake and the titular character’s journey on the current-gen Xbox consoles through its remastered version is one of the best ways to experience the game.
The story sees the titular author Alan Wake on a retreat with his wife Alice when a mysterious darkness begins spreading and infecting the town’s inhabitants. Alice is then kidnapped, and Wake has somehow lost a week of his memory.
With some of Remedy’s best writing, a remastered 4K 60 FPS experience, new character models, and improved textures over the original game, Alan Wake is a title that you do not want to miss.
9) Simulacra
Horror does not always need to be about unfamiliar and supernatural concepts. Sometimes, the most disturbing kind of horror is the kind that integrates regular everyday concepts into eerie, terrifying horror. This is exactly what Simulacra attempts and achieves ever so beautifully.
This unique horror game sees players play through a smartphone interface, with the phone you use being a phone that was lost and discovered by you. The further you dig in and play detective to find out the answers, the more the game begins taking messed-up turns.
You eventually realize that the phone belongs to a lady named Anna, leading you down a rabbit hole of a colorful variety of jumpscares that have been done tastefully, solid writing, and a pacing that will keep you on the edge of your seats at all times. If you are a true horror fan, this one-of-a-kind horror experience is something you would not want to miss.
8) Resident Evil 2
The 2019 game Resident Evil 2 is a remake of the original title, keeping a lot of original elements of the game while putting a fresh twist on it. The game sees players experiencing the story of Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield, where the gore is masterfully rendered with the RE Engine at 60 FPS, as well as shifting from tank controls and fixed camera angles to a third-person camera.
Whether you’re a Resident Evil virgin or a veteran of the franchise, this title is a must to explore as it is simply a wonderfully crafted horror title and is an amazing place to start with the franchise. Once you’re done with the campaign as one of the protagonists, you can go through it again playing as the other one to experience bits of the story that you hadn’t previously.
7) The Medium
A game that is sure to send shivers down your spine each time you play through it, The Medium is truly a unique experience on the Xbox Series X|S. Although the game has borrowed a lot from the style of the slowly-paced Silent Hill franchise, The Medium still feels incredibly original.
Set in Poland in the late ‘90s, the game sees you play as Marianne, a woman who can seemingly communicate with spirits. The plot follows her investigation into one of her visions that involves the killing of a young female. The Medium is daring, intermingling complex puzzles with traditional horror exploration, often allowing the player to tackle mirrored split screens to escape the clutches of antagonists in their way.
6) Resident Evil: Village
Resident Evil: Village keeps the first-person perspective introduced in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard from the franchise while giving protagonist Ethan Winters more of a voice. The game borrows the formula of the previous game in the franchise and adds in a European gothic setting filled with werewolves, vampires, and other terrifying fictional creatures.
Resident Evil: Village performs swimmingly on the current-gen Xbox consoles, with amazing image quality and ray-traced shadows, along with running at a solid 60 FPS.
The story mode of the game has high replayability, with an array of unlockable weapons and secrets hidden across the towering castle and titular village. Resident Evil: Village also marks the return of the Mercenaries mode, introducing time trials aimed at players that want to challenge themselves.
5) Dying Light 2: Staying Human
In a world largely taken over by zombies, you play as a man named Aiden Caldwell who is on a life-threatening mission to find his sister. While maneuvering your way through the undead city, you will have to face off against deadly humans as well as hive-minded zombies. Other than being a fantastic horror game, Dying Light 2: Staying Human also acts as an open-world action title.
In Staying Human, you don’t always have to choose the route of violence. You can either use physical combat to take care of the zombies, or you can simply choose to be passive and use your parkour techniques to avoid them. Another important gameplay feature is the meter found on top of the screen which almost always keeps depleting. You need to spend time in UV light to keep it from emptying completely and turning you into a part of the infected as well.
4) Little Nightmares 2
Little Nightmares 2 is sort of what it would look like if Junji Ito made a horror game. While this may be a 2D horror game, it doesn’t take away from the appeal of the genre, and arguably, only adds to it.
Being the representation of a child’s nightmare, you roam a world filled with overexaggerated monsters whom you—the tiny paper bag-wearing Mono—have no way of fighting directly. Similar to the first game, the environment and characters are just odd enough to make you uncomfortable from start to finish.
This is another game where you don’t fight and are just meant to make it out alive. The game has a ton of well-crafted puzzles, along with sound design and an OST that is simply unforgettable.
3) Alien: Isolation
Alien: Isolation puts players in the shoes of Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen Ripley from the Alien films, where players will have to pitch their scantily resources together as they make their way through the dysfunctional Sevastopol station.
While this may be Creative Assembly’s first venture into the horror scene, it is a surefire hit. The Alien in the game intelligently stalks and tracks the player through each of the levels in the game, while the ‘Working Joe’ androids are sure to make you feel all things but pleasant. The station also looks and sounds like it came straight from the movies, with visuals that will always keep you on the edge of your seat.
Additionally, if you’re playing this on the Xbox Series S or Series X, you can use the Xbox FPS Boost to lock the game into 60 FPS. Pretty neat.
2) A Plague Tale: Innocence
This dark medieval horror game was a bold shot in the dark by Asobo Studio, which evidently managed to hit a home run. A Plague Tale: Innocence combines two lovable children in the French countryside with an age-old conspiracy and the horrifying threat of the Inquisition. Did we mention the rats? There are a lot of rats too. Hordes of them.
The game sees you play as Amicia de Rune, an elder sister that struggles to care for her younger brother Hugo, navigating the bleak and unforgiving world you’ve been thrust into.
Although the game does not follow the typical tropes of a horror game with jumpscares and supernatural foes, the game’s grounded immersion in a 14th century France filled to the brim with disease, widespread death, and soul-crushing antagonists are plenty capable of giving players the true essence of what a survival horror game is.
1) Outlast
Outlast is one of those titles that instantly cater to a horror video game enthusiast’s innate love for the genre. The game does everything right and how. With the setting in an abandoned mental asylum, players take on the role of freelance investigative journalist, Miles Upshur, and are given the task of investigating the disused center to unearth strange rumors that have cropped up with regard to the state of the institution, located deep in the mountains of Lake County, Colorado.
Equipped with nothing but your quick wit and a night vision camera, Outlast pushes the player into deadly encounters with ruthless murderers, unspeakable human experiments, hungry cannibals, and anything else you can think of that screams ‘horror.’ Truly a masterpiece in the horror genre, executed near flawlessly to modern gaming standards.
