It’s tricky to find the best horror games on PlayStation Plus Premium With the launch of PlayStation Plus Premium. Players now have access to over 300 different games from a variety of different Sony consoles. This can make the service a little overwhelming, as no one wants to waste time (or hard drive space) on games they won’t like. This is especially true for horror which can be quite hit or miss in the modern age.
Depressingly, the genre has a pretty limited selection of genuinely great games available on PlayStation Plus Premium at launch. Fatal Frame and Siren, for example, are nowhere to be found. Despite having digital re-releases on past PlayStation hardware. Though there are still some decent pickings! For those looking for a good scare, here are 10 of the best horror games you can play right now on PlayStation Plus Premium.
The 10 Best PlayStation Plus Premium Horror Games
Resident Evil (Remake)
I’m going to adhere to just one entry per franchise on this list, so let’s start with the 2002 remake of the survival horror classic: Resident Evil. While you can play the original on PlayStation Plus Premium, I’ve always found the remake far superior. Along with updated graphics, the remake introduces several new mechanics and quality-of-life changes. This makes it a terrific combination of new and old — allowing the game to deliver some truly terrifying and tense moments.
It’s also a true classic survival horror, thrusting players into confined battles and forcing them to make critical choices due to limited inventory. This recaptures the magic of the original by staying extremely true to the source material. At the same time, its reliance on fixed camera angles let developer Capcom go buck wild with the graphics. That’s why the 2002 game still looks amazing 20 years later. If you’ve never played a Resident Evil game, or only have experience with some of the later entries, I strongly recommend you give this one a try.
F.E.A.R.
Boy, this brings me back. Released in 2005 during the height of Hollywood’s love for remaking Japanese horror movies, F.E.A.R. is a supernatural shooter that sees you stalked by a terrifying little girl. One who bears a striking resemblance to Sadako and/or Kayako from the Ring and Grudge movies.
You play as a nameless, voiceless elite soldier that’s tasked with hunting down paranormal threats in the United States. You’re meant to hunt down a psychopathic (and psychic) super-soldier named Paxton Vettel who’s taken control of a clone army. The story swiftly unravels into an unsettling journey that melds quiet horror with high-octane action. It’s an odd balance, but F.E.A.R. does a great job of managing both halves of its identity. So, if you’re looking for a spooky game but also want to blast enemies in slow motion with a shotgun, F.E.A.R. is for you!
Little Nightmares
One of my personal favorite independent horror games of all time: Little Nightmares melds platforming, puzzle-solving, and running for your life from humanoid abominations. Boasting a terrific sense of scale and vulnerability, the small child you command is virtually helpless against the terrors stalking this ship. While you do need to run and hide, Little Nightmares focuses more on using the environment to your advantage. Thus, there are a ton of great puzzles. Many of which never detract from the foreboding atmosphere and terrifying themes. Though there’s still a playfulness to Little Nightmares that’s akin to films like Coraline or Corpse Bride. Plus, the game is fairly short and sweet, so it won’t take a lot of time to actually finish!
Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare
Shifting gears to something bigger and flashier, Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmares is a zombie-killing extravaganza. It’s old west Walking Dead with Halloween-ready schlock. Despite being set in the world of Red Dead Redemption, this is also a standalone experience set in an alternate timeline from the base game. You can enjoy it without ever playing another entry in the franchise.
Tasked with trying to find a cure for your infected family, you get to explore the zombie-filled wild west while watching hapless citizens get eaten. The whole thing is very tongue-in-cheek — constantly taking jabs at itself or the ridiculous situations you find yourself in. From clearing out churches full of ghouls, to hunting Bigfoot, to riding a literal horse of the apocalypse, Undead Nightmares is perfect for anyone who loves zombie games.
For a similar vibe, you can also check out Infamous: Festival of Blood as an honorable mention. That’s another horror-centric alternate universe expansion to Infamous 2. One in which you swap the game’s traditional lightning powers for vampire abilities.
Until Dawn
Have you ever watched a scary movie and complained about the characters making dumb choices? Well, developer Supermassive Games has made entire careers out of putting players’ horror film survival skills to the test. You might know them now from The Dark Pictures Anthology and/or The Quarry. Yet it all started with Until Dawn — which is arguably still the studio’s best stab at the formula.
This is another narrative-driven experience that places heavy emphasis on the choices you make. Everything you do has consequences that are either immediate or impact the overall outcome of the story. It can be as simple as deciding to apologize to someone or as critical as deciding which person to help. There’s a dark gleefulness to Until Dawn, as it masterfully weaves familiar horror tropes that make you feel like you’re watching a movie.
Friday the 13th: The Game
If you want to enjoy some scares (or inflict them) with friends, then Friday the 13th: The Game is worth trying. Set in the infamous Camp Crystal Lake, players get to either control Jason or one of the survivors. Those controlling survivors need to run around camp, completing puzzles or finding key items to help them escape. Inversely, your job as Jason is to track down these rambunctious kids and brutally murder every single one of them. There’s a nice balance between the tools available to survivors and the supernatural abilities that Jason wields, which can craft some entertaining moments. While it has its quirks and bugs, Friday the 13th: The Game can be a great time if you have some friends to play with.
SOMA
This is for those looking for something akin to games like Outlast, Layers of Fear, or Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Basically: games where you run and hide but can’t fight back against unstoppable monsters. In fact, SOMA is by the same folks who made the original Amnesia. Yet this one is a tense sci-fi horror game that sees you trying to escape an underwater research station.
The hide-and-seek gameplay isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but SOMA boasts a terrific story from start to finish. There’s a lot of moral ambiguity surrounding the world and your character, which makes uncovering the big mystery of SOMA even more rewarding. When you’re not running from the monsters stalking the dilapidated halls, you’ll be solving tricky puzzles that do a nice job of breaking up the scares. SOMA may not be perfect, but it’s a solid choice if you want something a bit more futuristic.
For those that just want the story, too, the developers eventually patched in a narrative mode that makes monsters nonviolent. They’re still creepy, but they won’t kill you and interrupt the flow of the plot as you go through the game.
Metro 2033 Redux
Metro 2033 Redux is the remastered version of a 2010 FPS-horror hybrid based on a classic Russian post-apocalyptic novel. Set in the underground tunnels of the Russian metro, following a nuclear holocaust, players control a soldier named Artyom. Caught in a war between multiple factions vying for control of the tunnels, Metro 2033 tells a terrific, intimate story that heavily leans on the great characters and world.
Yes, you will spend a lot of time shooting regular humans, but there are also quite a lot of mutated horrors skulking around the dark tunnels. Metro does a terrific job of immersing you in its world, delivering a claustrophobic experience that will have you constantly looking over your shoulder. Unlike horror-action games like F.E.A.R., Metro 2033 prioritizes its atmosphere or traditional jump scares.
2Dark
Following the death of his wife and the kidnapping of his children, 2Dark places players in the role of detective “Mr. Smith.” Don’t let 2Dark’s retro art style fool you, though. This game doesn’t pull its punches. Instead, it delivers some truly gut-wrenching narrative and visual moments with its limited art style.
While you can fight back against what’s happening, 2Dark is a stealth game at its core. You will spend a lot of time hiding in the shadows or sneaking by enemies in an attempt to gather evidence or free captured children. It’s a short, entertaining mystery that treads into some horrific territory if you decide to uncover its larger story.
Control
I am twisting the rules a little since Control isn’t really a traditional horror game. However, this mind-bending third-person action game feels ripped from particularly spooky episodes of The Twilight Zone or The X-Files. It also dips into SCP horror fiction territory (directly borrowing its redacted government document aesthetic at times).
Developer Remedy Entertainment has done an incredible job weaving a weird, yet a deeply intriguing story that will constantly keep you on your toes. Supporting this is fantastic combat that has you utilizing supernatural abilities to battle horrific beings scattered throughout this ever-changing office building. Control’s horror is not the type to reach out and grab you, but it instead slowly festers, making you question everything around you and the people you come across.
