Halloween is right around the corner and everyone is in a celebratory mood this holiday season. With less than 2 weeks remaining now everyone has started binging on horror and spooky-themed novels, movies, series, and games.
Today we are going to talk about horror games that you can find on Xbox Game Pass for both Console and Pc. Since Xbox Game Pass is a steal deal on its own, trying out these games will be a great way to get into the spooky Halloween spirit with your friends, family, or alone without breaking the bank.
Without prolonging the tension, let’s take a look at the Best Horror Games on Xbox Game Pass.
1. A Plague Tale: Requiem
Released on 18th October, the sequel to the award-winning A Plague Tale: Innocence, again takes you through the story of siblings Amicia and Hugo de Rune now traveling to Southern France to look for an island that may provide a cure for Hugo’s mysterious blood disease while fleeing from soldiers of the Inquisition and hordes of rats that are spreading the black plague.
The story follows up 6 months after the events of the first game. Aside from the story similarities, the Gameplay remains largely similar to the first game, though the combat system is significantly expanded and now includes various new weapons and recipes. The game is still largely stealth-oriented action-adventure, but now there are several other supernatural elements that are in play which makes lethal gameplay a viable option.
Available on: Xbox Game Pass Console And PC
2. Scorn
Scorn is a first-person biopunk survival horror adventure video game developed by Ebb Software as an exclusive Xbox and Microsoft Windows platform game. The game was released on 14th October 2022 and is available only on Microsoft platforms.
The story of the game mainly revolves around two silent protagonists where the first awakens and attempts to cross a wasteland heading towards a tower seen in the distance before falling down a massive crevasse. The second emerges from an egg-like structure, the player escapes a massive egg chamber before entering a transportation hub that has been infested with parasitic entities. During the gameplay, the protagonist is attacked and infested by a parasite, which allows the player to use several machines and weapons, but regularly wounds the player and apparently grows tendrils that gradually cover the player’s body. The player must reach a temple to remove the parasite before it fully consumes the player’s body and merges with it.
Available on: Xbox Game Pass Console And PC
3. Alien: Isolation
Notably one of the best horror story game on the list, this 2014-released game still has one of the strongest story and a solid gameplay.
Based on the Alien film series, the game is set 15 years after the events of the original 1979 film Alien and follows engineer Amanda Ripley, daughter of Alien protagonist Ellen Ripley. Amanda finds herself aboard the space station Sevastopol where she is looking for clues about the disappearance of her mother who was once abroad on the same space station. Once inside Sevastopol, Amanda discovers that the station has fallen into disarray due to an Alien creature on the loose and must find a way to escape. The game emphasizes stealth and survival horror gameplay, requiring the player to avoid, outsmart, and fight enemies with tools such as a motion tracker and flamethrower.
Available on: Xbox Game Pass Console And PC
4. Dead Space Series
A science fiction/horror game series owned and published by EA, the Dead Space franchise follows the story of a bleak future where humanity had used up all the resources on earth and had to flee the planet to colonize other “suitable” planets. A new world governing body, EarthGov is set up to help humanity is colonizing other planets. The EarthGov has fleets of “planet crackers”, giant mining spaceships that harvest resources by breaking apart other planets, to gather materials for humanity to sustain itself.
While mining EarthGov discovers an artifact that they call “Marker”. Top secret work beings on reverse engineering the Marker to use it as an infinite energy source. But the lead researcher Michael Altman leaks its existence to the world. EarthGov assassinates Altman hoping to quell the news but they are too late in their response as a new cult-like religion, Unitology rapidly spreads across Earth and the colonies. Unitology sees Altman as a martyr and believes that by worshipping the Marker, they will discover the true origin and meaning of human life. They also believe that the Marker grants eternal life and will help to unify humanity, as to “make us whole”, in an event known as the “Convergence”.
From this point on the story of the first game in the series, Dead Space (2008) beings, and subsequent sequels build up upon the same narrative.
Available on: Xbox Game Pass Console And PC (EA Play)
5. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
A psychological horror-based melee combat game that follows the story of Senua, a Pict warrior who must make her way to Helheim by defeating otherworldly entities and facing their challenges, in order to rescue the soul of her dead lover from the goddess Hela. The game is set in a dark fantasy world inspired by Norse mythology and Celtic culture.
Hellblade does not feature any heads-up display or tutorials. Instead, Druth, Furies, or the Darkness, which are part of the condition from which Senua is suffering provide audio indications on game mechanics, and how to progress through levels and puzzles. The Furies provide Senua advice in battle, notably warning her if an enemy is attacking from her back. They react when Senua takes damage, and panic heavily if she is close to death: how nervous they are when she takes a hit is representative of how much damage she can still take.
The game is a masterpiece in storytelling and has several horrors and psychological scenes that you will wish to end quickly as you will be too scared.
Available on: Xbox Game Pass Console And PC
