It's the Halloween season, which means gamers are looking for horror or Halloween-themed games to play to celebrate. One way that horror game fans can access a slew of great horror titles all at once is through the Xbox Game Pass serivce, which gives players access to some of the most critically-acclaimed horror games in the last couple of decades on PC, console, and the Cloud.
The Xbox Game Pass subscription service has over 100 games for subscribers to try, including plenty of titles that would be perfect to play for Halloween. There is quite the variety of horror games available for subscribers to check out, so someone who wants to try a bunch of different horror games this Halloween without outright buying them all should definitely consider signing up for Xbox Game Pass.
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Here are some of the most notable horror games for Xbox Game Pass subscribers to play this Halloween season. This is not necessarily an exhaustive list as one's definition of "horror" can be different from others, but these are the horror titles that subscribers will want to give priority to for sure.
Xbox Game Pass Horror Games List
- Alien: Isolation
- Carrion
- The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan
- DayZ
- Dead by Daylight
- Dead Space (Xbox Game Pass Ultimate/EA Play)
- Dead Space 2 (Xbox Game Pass Ultimate/EA Play)
- Dead Space 3 (Xbox Game Pass Ultimate/EA Play)
- Dead Space: Ignition (XBox Game Pass Ultimate/EA Play)
- Doom 3
- LIMBO
- The Evil Within
- The Evil Within 2
- Five Nights at Freddy's
- Five Nights at Freddy's 2
- Five Nights at Freddy's 3
- Five Nights at Freddy's 4
- Five Nights at Freddy's 1-4
- The Medium
- Outlast 2
- Resident Evil 7
- Secret Neighbor
- State of Decay
- State of Decay 2
- Visage
- The Walking Dead: A Telltale Game Series
- The Walking Dead: Season Two
- The Walking Dead: Michonne
- The Walking Dead: A New Frontier
- We Happy Few
- World War Z
- Zombie Army 4: Dead War
Horror games of all kinds are represented on Xbox Game Pass. Alien: Isolation and the recently added Visage are examples of hardcore horror gaming experiences, while Carrion is a more casual kind of horror experience. It's not really trying to scare the player, but instead puts them in the role of the monster and sends them on a power trip. Carrion has been called a reverse-horror game for this reason, which can offer subscribers something different to check out.
There are plenty of options for those looking for single-player horror experiences, with some standouts including terrifying games like Outlast 2 and the record-breaking Resident Evil 7. Resident Evil 7 is definitely one of the must-play horror games on Xbox Game Pass, especially for people that have never played it before. It translates classic Resident Evil gameplay to a first-person viewpoint and is absolutely packed to the brim with scares, disturbing imagery, and unsettling moments.
While the bulk of the Xbox Game Pass horror games are single-player experiences, there are some multiplayer games for subscribers to check out as well. Those looking for an asymmetric multiplayer experience can try Dead by Daylight, which features an extensive roster of classic horror movie monsters along with original killers for players to terrorize others with. There's also The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan, which offers an Until Dawn-style experience with multiplayer capability for added replay value.
The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan is a choice-based narrative horror game, though the king of that kind of game is also available through Xbox Game Pass. With an Xbox Game Pass subscription, subscribers can experience the entirety of Telltale's Walking Dead series, experiencing Clementine's journey from the beginning all the way to the end, as well as the Michonne-based spin-off that came in-between. And even after fans have tried out all these games, it's really just scratching the surface of what Xbox Game Pass has to offer subscribers this Halloween season.
This list doesn't even include horror-adjacent games that subscribers may be interested in trying out as well. The Doom video games are not really horror besides Doom 3, but they can still scratch the same itch. Likewise, Remedy Entertainment's Control is not an outright horror game either, but it has enough horror elements to make it worth considering for subscribers looking for something to play this Halloween.
Someone that really wants to take full advantage of the Xbox Game Pass horror game offerings will want to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. It's slightly more expensive, yes, but it grants access to games available in the EA Play Vault. This means that subscribers can try the entire Dead Space trilogy of games for the price of their subscription. The Dead Space games are considered some of the best horror games of the last couple decades, and checking out the originals could be the perfect way for fans to prepare themselves for the upcoming Dead Space remake that's currently in development at EA Motive.
It's possible Microsoft will add even more horror games to the Xbox Game Pass lineup. We already know that Left 4 Dead spiritual successor Back 4 Blood is coming to Xbox Game Pass on October 12, but subscribers may have even more scares in store for them beyond the extensive list of titles that are already available.
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