Well, after a fair few months of anticipation, the atmospheric horror adventure that is Scorn has finally arrived on Xbox Game Pass. While the reception so far has been mixed to say the least, we enjoyed our time with Ebb Software's title, especially when it comes to the spooky scary squelchy bits that are arguably the most important in a game of this nature.
Scorn's Xbox Game Pass arrival, just ahead of Halloween might we add, has also got us thinking about some of the horror greats to have graced Xbox in recent years. The genre has seen a bit of a resurgence as of late, and we'd like to highlight some of our favourites over the last few years, along with hearing about some of your top horror titles of course - from any era!
First up, let's talk Resident Evil. This writer was never a huge fan of the series back in the day, especially when anything involved 'tank controls', as the kids say. However, we'd like to report that has been more than rectified in recent years! Resident Evil 7 marked a massive comeback story for Capcom's blockbuster franchise, which has only gone from strength to strength in the years since. Resident Evil 2 Remake is one of the finest horror games of the last decade we'd argue, and both RE3 and Village aren't too shabby either. Long live Resident Evil's return to form!
Branching off Resident Evil here, we can't forget about The Evil Within series. Tango's two last-gen horror titles are bloody brilliant and downright weird, especially the first game, which could have only come from the mind of Shinji Mikami; the creator of Resident Evil. Its sequel, The Evil Within 2, is also a great horror romp, backed up by more solid foundations on a technical level, making it the more fun entry to actually play through in 2022. We're very much looking forward to what's next for this team, especially as it's now an Xbox first-party developer!
As for some titles that get a little closer to what Scorn is aiming for, we're big fans of developer Bloober Team's output in recent years as well. Both Layers of Fear titles are solidly psychedelic efforts, and along with the team's spooky Blair Witch adaptation and the atmospheric adventure that is The Medium, their track record has been pretty great over the last few years. Bloober has room to improve for sure, but we've enjoyed pretty much everything they've served up so far.
We could reel off a bunch more if we're honest, especially if we start going further back to the Xbox 360 era (Condemned, you the real G), but alas, we'd probably be here all day. We'd like to hear from you guys though, what are some of your favourite Xbox horror adventures of all time? If it's on Xbox, we want to know about it!
Let us know some of your top horror picks down below in the comments.
Comments 51
I've honestly not played many horror games on Xbox, most of them have been on PlayStation. I've played Blair Witch and The Medium in the past on Xbox. The former was meh, but The Medium was great.
Now I'm playing through Scorn and FEAR. Scorn gets better the more you play and FEAR is an absolute blast. Fun gameplay, plenty of jump scares, it's genuinely a great horror experience. I highly recommend it.
1. Doom 2016
2. Resident evil village
3. Evil within
4. Dead space
5. Left 4 Dead 2
Shout out to the dark pictures Anthology house of ashes. I was surprised how much I enjoyed that one.
Horror is one of my favorite genres. I would agree with most of what the article says except I never played Blair Witch so I cannot agree to that one. I also didn’t finish the Medium, I’ll probably wait for a sale and then finally finish that game.
I do love the resurgence of the RE franchise again. The franchise is doing so well and really brought horror back into popularity in gaming.
Others not in the article from recent years, I’d have to go with Fatal Frame: Maiden of the Blackwater. LOVE the franchise and so good to see it coming back. The game was very creepy with an interesting story. Friday the 13, I know this one probably isn’t popular, but I loved it. I’m not much of a multiplayer gamer but I thought it just worked. I know it was buggy but I think the developers being a smaller team and paying so much attention the series, they captured the feel and spirit of the movies. It’s a shame the lawsuit stopped them from continuing as I think they would have only improved the game. Alien Isolation, this was intense. Loved the movies and it tied in so well. They did an amazing job with the game.
Now unlike the article writer, I don’t mind older titles with tank controls. The old RE games, Silent Hill series, and Fatal Frame series are some of the best horror games. I’d throw in Condemned, BioShock, and Eternal Darkness.
@EvilSilentFrame I'm glad you brought up Condemned, it's a great game with a unique combat system. The sequel is very good as well but I always enjoyed the first game the most.
I think Bioshock definitely deserves a mention - though not 'officially' a horror, I think we can all agree it gets quite terrifying at times 🙂
Outlast Trinity!! Excellent collection of games
I never found Any games to be that scary to be honest, having grown up watching 'horror' movies and by the time the graphics were 'good' enough to actually scare, I was a desensitised adult.
That being said, there are a number of great games in the genre - Dead Space, Alan Wake, Condemned, RE, Silent Hills, Evil Within, Alien Isolation, Bioshock etc are all well known - some more Action than Horror - and there are LOTS of games that have 'classic' horror characters - Vampires, Zombies, Aliens (inc the Alien from the Horror film), Monsters etc although not always 'scary'.
So many games also do the 'grotesque' monster/alien/beast type creature that wouldn't be out of place in a Horror movie - from giant Ogres, mutant beasts etc to Skeletons, Spiders etc - staples of Halloween. Numerous games also turn up the gore factor too but not necessarily a 'horror' game.
Alan Wake and Bioshock are two of my all-time favorites. Also really liked Resident Evil 7 and 8.
I've only played three horror games on xbox which were Dark pictures Anthology man of Medan and house of ashes, both to me were pretty good, and the Medium which to me was decent but nothing special
Clive Barker's Jericho is an underrated gem, IMHO. The main complaint I've heard about that game is that it's frustrating to keep your squadmates from getting downed because the A.I. is so incompetent. Well, you don't HAVE to keep them alive, so if you just ignore them and let them be downed, it's a lot of fun! Just lame it's not X1/Series compatible...
I'm not sure if they are on XboX, but they are on PC.
Amnesia was certainly creepy, at the very least.
@BAMozzy
Have you played Amnesia: The Dark Descent?
Love me some horror games. With that said, this is my top 5:
1. Condemned 1/2
2. FEAR 1/2
3. Dead Space 1/2
4. SOMA
5. Resident Evil 7
Honorable mentions (not necessarily on Xbox): Penumbra trilogy, Vampire: Bloodlines, Doom 3, Until Dawn, Clive Barker's Undying, Alice Madness Returns.
Extra honorable mention: Insurgency Sandstorm, when you're the last man standing, enemy artillery is bombing the hell out of the objective, you can hear the enemy close by and you're down to a few bullets...
Resident Evil 4. Perfect mix of action and horror.
Or REmake.
fatal frame 1,2 and 3 are the scariest games I played. it's the atmosphere that give me the creeps. I recommend playing those games at night in a dark room and believe me you won't last one minute before you turn on the light. lol
Another Pure Xbox article ignoring Project Zero/Fatal Frame, one of the very best horror franchises ever.
Alien isolation
they nailed the alien look of the first film and was so tense i spent hours hiding in lockers
evil within 2
and great game they everyone seemed to ignore for some reason
two of the best survival horror games available
I'd give another shoutout for Clive Barker's Jericho (wish it was backwards compatible!)
Also FEAR trilogy
Condemned
Evil Within
Dead Space 1
Darkness
@Kaloudz We really need a Code Veronica remake, the most fascinating story of Resident Evil.
Resident evil , resident evil , resident evil... Silent hill hd collection & the evil within lol (tormented souls & remothered are good too)
Edit* Dead space aswell
Scorn was a incredible experience just finished it. FEAR, Condemned, Dead Space, Amnesia, Silent Hill, Resident Evil are my favourites
Alien isolation is the one that made me go crazy the most.
In any other horror game the horror sequences are predictable and you can mentally prepare yourself. You also often get room to breathe. But alien isolation is quite unpredictable and you are under constant pressure. The save spots are also not always in “safe zones”, so you might get killed trying to save.
Really enjoyed STILL LIFE 2 on the original Xbox. Had a great story and enjoyable puzzles. You can still get it on Steam, and I would recommend it.
@Solidchief condemned was terrifying back in the day. I was never a fan of games in first person, but it worked for that game and only heightened the horror. I never played the second. Always meant to get around to it, but I fell out of gaming at that time for awhile. Maybe one day I’ll go back and play the second one.
@EvilSilentFrame if horror games are your fav you should really get a PS5. The Last of Us 1 an 2 are the best horror games i ever played. Then there’s Days Gone which is the next best.
@sjbsixpack I probably will get one in time. Though I tend to gravitate more towards horror and single player games, I rarely touch my PS4 and they specialize in single player experiences. It’s strange, I have nothing against PS, I just play games more on my Xbox and Switch. But yes, I need to check those games out, I’ve heard nothing but good things on those games.
The first Walking Dead was probably my favorite. Man that game was so well written, made a grown man cry. Little Nightmares was probably my 2nd favorite with Dead Space 1&2 close behind.
Games I played this year, I liked The Medium. Playing Scorn right now and it's pretty good, plus I always wanted to escape room in hell, so check that off the bucket list. I would consider Immortality and Plague Tale to be horror as well and both of those were great.
I loved Dying Light and the night was truly scary, haven't played the 2nd one yet, waiting for complete edition.
Hellblade is also arguably horror and that game really surprised me. Can't wait for 2.
Peppa Pig was the stuff of nightmares.
The one game I loved, but hated actually playing it, was Alien Isolation. Hate stealth, and it was too terrifying. I would find a place to hide and put the controller down for long periods of time. But the game was awesome, I just couldn't handle it.
@EvilSilentFrame honestly mate, TLOU Part 1, the remake, is mind blowing.
@Kalvort The 2 Outlast games were very good horror games, looking forward to the third, very good atmosphere, Deadspace of course and Alien Isolation also fot the atmosphere , and Resident Evil 7 on PSVR was very good.
@Spider-Kev No I haven't but I don't really enjoy games like that - not because they are 'scary' but because of the game-play loop. The Sanity management is more about managing your characters 'programmed' fear - not mine - so I find things like that to be more annoying than scary.
The Alien in Alien Isolation isn't particularly scary and at times can be extremely annoying and frustrating. Not moving far enough to risk leaving the storage locker so stuck in there for 5mins or more, restarts that spawn the Alien next to you over and over again and other such issues that these type of games tend to have. If you have 'enemies' you can't kill and have to constantly 'run' and/or 'hide' to progress, I really don't enjoy those games. It's not 'scary', its just frustrating, annoying, tedious etc over a long-ish game. Its basically an instant fail Stealth section but instead of just 1 section, its the entire game and I never liked them either...
@Dr_Luigi Don't get me wrong, it had its moments and some very good ones too. The Atmosphere was great and the visuals were superb but there were too many annoying, frustrating and tedious moments too.
The recreation of visiting the planet and the crashed ship from 'Alien' was incredibly well done - but the Androids were completely unnecessary and didn't enhance the game play and I've already spoken about the issues of an 'unbeatable' opponent and its random spawning. I don't know how many times I'd wait for the Alien to move away, then go in the opposite direction through a door straight into the Alien, die, reload the last save point and the Alien is right there in the room when it wasn't at the point of saving. Its just inconsistent and frustrating. Another time, you hide in a storage locker and the Alien gets stuck in a loop of walking around the room, going into the next room and then straight back into your room, never giving you time or opportunity to leave the storage locker. Waiting for 5mins+ in a Storage locker for the games systems, AI programming etc to 'let me play' again is not what I want from a game.
@Kaloudz Ha ha. One of my favourite female voices is Jill's in Remake, especially because most actresses overact or have high-pitched voices and Jill sounds all right. Fortunately, Jill's new voice in Remake 3 is almost as good, so I trust Capcom in choosing the right English voices. Steve is an interesting character so I hope he is well remade. I really hope that after Remake 4, Code Veronica is next.
@EvilSilentFrame Looks like you've met our resident Sony representative 🤣. I was very disappointed with The Last of Us.
@Dr_Luigi Just another overrated Sony exclusive...
Not Scorn. What a boring game.
@Solidchief Condemed gave my chills
@Spazmonic Same! I'm gonna have to install it now and play it through again
@Banjo- I mean, it's hardly a series heavily associated with Xbox is it
@sjbsixpack I’ve been behind in gaming for awhile as I fell out of it for years. One day I will play those games. There’s a few others from Sony I wanted to try as well.
@Banjo- I’ve heard from a few others they didn’t like The Last of Us either, but the majority I’ve heard good things from. Hopefully I’ll like it.
I too want a Veronica remake. I’m excited that 4 is almost out. Not that I’m excited to play it (which I will play it) but I’m excited that they’ll clear it out of the way to possibly make Veronica next.
@Kezelpaso That's a very poor excuse, considering that the first and second entries got enhanced Xbox ports, not to mention that Series S/X are getting two remasters (the latest one looks more like a remake). Supporting them wouldn't hurt, would it?
@EvilSilentFrame Same here, let's get that one next.
@BAMozzy @Dr_Luigi
I haven't played much of Alien Isolation.
It was nice, had decent "atmosphere,' but it was boring.
As for the Sanity Meter in Amnesia... You can keep it at bay with light so it never got to be too bad. But I only played about an hour. The "interaction" with objects was horrible.
The only reason I mentioned it, was because, again, the atmosphere of the game.
As far as Sanity Meters go, I still think the best one was in Eternal Darkness for the GameCube.
It messed with the Player more than the In-Game Character.
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Some good mentions already, but I’ve always had a soft-spot for The Suffering - possibly as it was my first Xbox game! But it was pretty fun; shame sequel was a but lacklustre
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