The gameplay is surprisingly challenging too, balancing survival and gunplay elements well. Hearing the haunting Xenomorph rattle through ducts above your head or stalk the hallway ahead is a truly terrifying ordeal. Its aesthetics are closely sketched from the designs of the first movie, taking us to a time just after the Nostromo’s demise and Amanda Ripley is beginning her search of her mother. And many have flopped before they even began, but Alien: Isolation is the exception. There have been many horror games adapted from movies over the years. The perfect way to go back to the very roots of the survival horror genre. It’s a time-honoured retelling of Leon and Claire’s horrifying journey through a zombie-filled Raccoon City with more gore, clever puzzles, and smooth gunplay. Not only does Resident Evil 2 look flipping gorgeous, but the whole game has been rebuilt from the ground up. Now the classic Resident Evil 2 is back and it has had a facelift. Over 20 years ago, one of the greatest and first true survival horror games was released on the PS1. The entire Dead Space franchise is currently available as part of Xbox Game Pass. Its popularity and initiative in drafting a blueprint for sci-fi horror is undeniable and everlasting. With plenty of firepower at your disposal, it certainly leans into more FPS territory than survival horror at times, but it absolutely nails the core elements of the genre. Isaac Clarke is investigating a deep space mining ship that has been infested with monsters known as Necromorphs and the void of space is the perfect setting for grotesque horror. You play Simon who has to escape from an existential nightmare of strangely human robots before the sea crushes you completely.ĭead Space is the progenitor to all modern sci-for horror games and breathed new life into the dormant genre. The gripping atmosphere of an underwater labyrinth known as PATHOS-II is openly reminiscent of Bioshock’s Rapture in all the best ways.

Frictional Games – the minds behind Amnesia – prove they are still the masters of survival horror, offering you no weapons but your legs to run with. The Evil Win is available on PS4, plus PC and Xbox via Game Pass.īlurring the lines between humanity and technology, SOMA is a horror game with a deeply philosophical underpinning. Horror mastermind Shinji Mikami created some truly grotesque creatures into The Evil Within and the pervading anxiety of having only one shotgun shell never eases until after the credits roll. While most modern survival horror games understandably adopt a first-person perspective, The Evil Within pays respect to the genre’s pioneers like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, and the over shoulder view is awesomely terrifying as the story unravels.

James sutherland silent hill