The 12 Best Horror Games On PS Plus
There are plenty of great horror games on PlayStation, and a bunch of them can be played for free if you’re already a paid PS Plus subscriber at the Extra tier or above. Ever since Sony expanded the program to emulate Game Pass’ Netflix-style library of downloadable and streaming games, fans of zombies, slasher flicks, and murder mysteries have had plenty of classics to choose from that are just a few button presses away. Here are our recommendations:
Dead by Daylight
Within the horror genre, there are some go-to gameplay types, and “asymmetric multiplayer game” is one of them. Fortunately, Dead by Daylight is one of the best. It revolves around a group of players called survivors escaping a map before the person playing as a killer manages to impale them all on hooks as part of a ritual summoning sacrifice.
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Somewhat barebones back when Behavior Interactive released it in 2016. Dead by Daylight has continued to get new updates and improvements. There’s also plenty of licensed crossovers with villains ranging from Halloween’s Michael Myers to Silent Hill’s Pyramid Head. Even if the killer doesn’t manage to hook you, the game certainly will!
Until Dawn
Until Dawn is a great horror game for people who love corny horror movies. It’s laden with genre tropes and familiar character archetypes, but delivered by studio Supermassive Games in a way that lets you in on the joke. “Anyone who’s spent time with horror movies knows how much fun (and frustrating) it is to yell at the screen when characters are doing increasingly stupid things in the face of imminent and obvious danger,” Patrick Klepek wrote in his Kotaku review at the time. “Until Dawn lets you be those people—finally, you can do more than yell at the screen!”
It’s fun enough to play alone, but better enjoyed with someone else to turn to on the couch and go “lmao are you kidding me?!”
Deadlight
Want a blast from the downloadable past? Deadlight is a 2D zombie survival platformer from 2012 that combined moody, shadowy vibes with satisfying headshots. You’ll traverse a horde-infested Seattle through residential backyards and rain-pounded office buildings in search of your family. It feels like a mostly forgotten gem, and while some of the action can be clunky and the platforming puzzles unintuitive, it’s second to none when it comes to 2D atmospheric dread.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Another indie darling from back in the day, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is an autumnal murder mystery wrapped up in an intimate tale of childhood whimsy and familial tragedy. A paranormal investigator goes to search for a missing 12-year-old boy and uncovers moments both dark and beautiful in the process. The game doesn’t hold your hand through its rambling start, and while the organic exploration implodes by the end, the journey is still worth it. Want something a little lighter on the jump scares and heavier on the slowburn existential horrors of growing up? The Vanishing of Ethan Carter has you covered.
Little Nightmares
While not as good as its sequel, 2017’s Little Nightmares still has plenty of spooky charm rambling about its puzzle-filled adventure levels. Help a little girl in a bright yellow raincoat escape a horror-filled underwater dungeon and encounter creatures both cute and morbid in the process. While the gameplay occasionally stumbles, the art direction and storytelling are top notch, letting you tap back into that feeling of being seven years old and sure as hell that some monster is hiding just out of sight under the bed.
Resident Evil
When it comes to horror games, there’s nothing more classic than the original Resident Evil. Players have the option of both the HD remaster and the Director’s Cut of the PS1 game through PS Plus Premium. The tank controls and jagged polygonal graphics don’t hold up, but everything else does. If you were too afraid to play it when it first came out, or haven’t revisited since, there’s no better time.
Bonus round: If you have a PS5, PS Plus automatically gives you access to the PS Plus Collection, which includes Resident Evil 7, the start of the game’s modern renaissance.
Observer
Bloober Team’s horror games can be more miss than hit, but Observer deserves to stay in the rotation. Starring the late Rutger Hauer of Blade Runner fame, the cyberpunk thriller tells the story of an aging detective charged with solving murders by hacking the brians of corpses. It’s a grizzly mashup of futuristic sci-fi and old-school film noir that mostly works. The stealth sequences can be annoying, but Hauer’s lowkey delivery helps keep the heady concept grounded.
Observation
Observation is another game that whizzes between sci-fi and horror, putting the player behind the controls of a space station AI responsible for monitoring systems and helping the crew. There are missing crew members, mysterious transmissions, and plenty of subterfuge swirling about, and developer No Code limits you to monitor screens to solve problems and try to make sense of it all. One of the more innovative horror puzzle games in recent years, Observation is also a perfect place to start for those who want to prepare for No Code’s upcoming take on Silent Hill, Townfall.
Limbo & Inside
Ready for a double feature? There’s no better pair than Playdead’s dual platformers, Limbo and Inside. The first game is a black-and-white adventure about hopping out of the frying pan and into the fire. The second is a more cinematic journey through the industrial decay of a totalitarian state. They are both ridiculously clever and deeply haunting. While Limbo’s puzzles are downright devilish at times, Inside won’t make you think too hard in order to progress through its evocative labyrinth.
Vampyr
What’s more frightening than blood-sucking immortals? The grimy, smoky black heart of Britain’s industrial-age empire. Vampyr puts you in the shoes of a doctor trying to cure the sick who also happens to be a vampire. The RPG combat is clunky, and most of the things in this game are done better elsewhere, but it has a clear and irresistible sense of place—post-Great War London—and intriguing NPCs who will occasionally make you feel bad about harvesting their flesh.
Bloodborne
Look, Bloodborne should be on every video game list, full-stop. It might not have all the elements of a classic horror game, but what’s more macabre than slicing eldritch horrors with a scythe while wearing a tri-corner hat? FromSoftware’s fast-paced, blood-soaked one-off is creepy, brooding, and will make you scream as much as any clunky, over-the-shoulder shooter ever has. Don’t let its reputation scare you away, the environments and lore entries alone are worth the trouble.
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