Thesurvival horrorgenre is a tricky one for many reasons. These titles need to find the right balance between engaging gameplay and a good amount of terrifying moments. Tipping the scales too much in either direction can quickly turn a scary game into a caricature of an action title or a terrifying, yet boring, walking simulator.
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Thankfully, the PS4 and Xbox One console generation had no shortage of amazing horror experiences. It may have not reached the heights of the genre’s heyday back in the late ’90s/early ’00s, but players were still treated to a decent roster of terrifying games that were also a blast to play through. Which are the bestsurvival horror gamesfrom the last generation?
Note:Any game available on the PS4 or Xbox One will be considered. It doesn’t matter if it was also released on the PS3 or Xbox Series X/S.
Updated Jun 06, 2025 by Mark Sammut:Survival horror is the gift that keeps on giving. A lot has changed since the era of Alone in the Dark, Clock Tower, and Silent Hill, however, one thing that has remained consistent is the public’s love for a good fright. Consequently, there will always be room for this subgenre, and that was certainly the case in the last console generation. The PS4 and Xbox One are still chugging along, but their days in the spotlight are done and dusted; on the other hand, the Switch looks like it has a few more years left in it before a replacement comes along. Regardless, all of these consoles have plenty of terrifying experiences in their libraries. This article has been expanded to include a few more of thebest survival horror games on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
16Fatal Frame: Maiden Of Black Water
The first threeFatal Framegames are some of the scariest survival horror titles of all time, and while they show their ages in some ways, they are still worth seeking out nowadays.Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Wateris the most forgiving and hand-holding main entry in the series; consequently, it is arguably the worst game of the bunch.
While it doesn’t come close to reaching the heights of its predecessors,Maiden of Black Waterstill delivers its share of memorable scares andterrifying ghost designs. It is not a must-play for horror fans likeFatal FrameandFatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly, butMaiden of Black Wateris a reliable choice if someone is seeking a good scare.
Get it on Amazon here!
15Prey
Arkane Studios’Preyhas survival horror elements, although the game can be played as a more conventional shooter if the player prefers to go that route. That said, the game’s premise is pure horror territory: Morgan Yu wakes up in a seemingly deserted space station that has an unwanted guest roaming the halls. Survive and learn what happened on Talos 1.
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Preyis a tense and atmospheric game that blendsengaging first-person gunplaywith engrossing storytelling. It is not an especially scary game, but it has all the ingredients of a survival horror experience.
14Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs
Initially developed as a DLC to the firstAmnesiagame,The Dark Descent,A Machine For Pigshas exceeded the expectations of its publisher, Frictional Games, and so they decided to release it as a standalone sequel. As it turned out, it was definitely the right move.
The secondAmnesiatitle improved upon most of its predecessor’s shortcomings, while at the same time managing to capture everything that made the previous game a great survival horror title. With smoother gameplay and an engaging, mysterious story,A Machine For Pigsis a must-play for any fan of the genre.
13Outlast 2
The core gameplay ofOutlast 2remained largely unchanged when comparing the game to its predecessor. Players still roamed around eerie locations with a night-vision camera illuminating the path ahead, but changes to the setting have given the second entry in this critically-acclaimed series a completely different feeling.
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Setting the game in an abandoned backwater town in rural Arizona forced the developers to establish a different atmosphere than in the firstOutlast.Whereas the Mount Massive asylum from the original game was a ripe setting for plentiful jump scares and gory encounters, the second entry takes a different approach towards making itself scary, relying on an unsettling aura and environmental storytelling to terrify the players.
Get Outlast Trinity on Amazon here!
12The Evil Within
When the news of a Bethesda-published, linear survival horror game first broke out, many players were skeptical of what the game will have to offer. Bethesda has a reputation for creating games with some particularly annoying bugs, and while these kinds of issues are excusable in massive, open-world franchises likeThe Elder ScrollsorFallout,they could turn out to be immersion-breaking in a game likeThe Evil Within.
Thankfully, the bugs were a non-issue in the game that ended up being an excellent homage to the bygone era of third-person action/horror titles likeResident Evil 4orAlan Wake.The burden of creating the game was placed upon Tango Gameworks, a Japanese studio, who stood up to the task of creating an immersive, scary, and (perhaps most importantly) smooth experience.The Evil Withindid not reinvent the genre by any means. Instead, it took everything that makes it great and gave gamers asolid game with an engaging storyline.
11Blair Witch
Games based on well-known movie franchises are very tricky to get right. Constantly compared to the source material and relentlessly criticized for being either not faithful enough, or lacking innovation, these types of titles oftentimes end up being lazy attempts at capitalizing on any given movie’s box office success.
Thankfully, this was not the case withBlair Witch.Released well over a decade after the peak popularity of theBlair Witch Projectseries (and three years after the lousy remake), it was free from any sort of hype, allowing the Polish developers from Bloober Team to focus on realizing their vision. The result? A terrifying 6-8 hour single-player game with difficult but engaging puzzles and one of the best dog companions in recent years.
10Tormented Souls
One of the lastsurvival horror gamesto grace the PS4 and Xbox One,Tormented Soulsopts to return to the good old days of the late ’90s. This is a survival horror experience heavily inspired by the fixed-camera classics of yesteryear, especially the earlyResident Evilgames. Consequently, someone’s mileage with this release could depend on whether they feel any nostalgia whatsoever for those PS1 masterpieces.
Tormented Soulsfollows Caroline Walker as she heads to a spooky hospital in search of two missing girls. The premise is simple and does not provide too much in the way of surprises, however, it serves its purpose as a catalyst to drive players into a location filled with horrifying entities. The gameplay is restrictive and periodically frustrating, although this does help heighten the tension during encounters.
9Visage
Apsychological horror gameinspired byP.T.,Visageteleports players to a haunted house that yearns to creep under people’s skin as it makes them fear what (may) await in the dark. The concrete and the absurd blend together, demolishing any hope someone might have of clinging to reality as they explore a realm that is anything but ordinary.
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Narratively,Visageleaves players to learn the house’s secrets on their own, and most discoveries are drenched in pain and anguish. Across the approximately 8-hour campaign, the survival horror game explores a myriad of characters while frequently shaking things up to ensure nobody has an opportunity to get comfortable with their surroundings.
8Darkwood
Survival horror is all about managing limited resources to withstand the threat imposed by the environment and its other inhabitants.Darkwood’s top-down perspective might limit its potential for evoking genuine fear in players, but the game is perhaps the purest survival horror project to grace eighth-generation consoles.
The goal is to simply survive, although that is far from a simple task. During the day, players can scavenge, craft, and speak to NPCs. At night, it is all about persevering against deadly threats to hopefully see the next morning.Darkwoodcrafts a sense of dread that death could arrive at any minute. It is excellent.
7The Evil Within 2
The trajectory ofThe Evil Withinfranchise is reminiscent of theOutlastseries. Both sequels are more open-ended than their predecessors and add more gameplay features to the mix.The Evil Within 2focused on polishing the gameplay, and with the inclusion of three difficulty settings, Tango Gameworks answered the plight of gamers who complained about the difficulty of the first game.
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The atmosphere, setting, and an expanded stealth system came together to create a scarier experience than 2014’sThe Evil Within,despite many players complaining about theplot being slightly genericin comparison to its predecessor. However, given the franchise’s relative success, fans can expect a sequel that builds upon the improvements ofThe Evil Within 2with a better-written story.
