The Best PS4 Games To Play At Halloween

With Halloween just around the corner, everyone is getting in the mood for spooky stories and adrenaline-pumping scary experiences. If you own a PS4, you have access to a slew of terrifying games that are best played in the middle of the night with all the lights turned off, perhaps with a pumpkin glowing in the background. Gone are such times when movies were the only digital outlet for Halloween enjoyment. After all, we now live in the virtual reality age – perfect for engaging in some thrilling experiences.

The following list of games is a great place to start if you’re looking to get your heart pumping and skin crawling, and if you’re still in the mood for a frightfully good time even after the holiday is over, then we present you with the perfect list of games to enjoy come October the 31st. Let’s begin.

Until Dawn Rush of Blood

At first glance, you may see Until Dawn as a stereotypical “group of teens stranded in a cabin in the woods” story, but you’d be very wrong. This game certainly hits on a few of the cliché horror story notes that we’ve grown used to over time, but when it really gets going, it introduces elements that take the fear factor up a whole ‘nother level. Until Dawn’s primary draw is its “butterfly effect” feature, which changes the outcome of the game based on little, seemingly-meaningless decisions that you make throughout. The consequences are real, too- characters can die because of careless choices, and it’s possible to either whittle the cast away over the course of the game or hit the end credits with the majority of your group still intact- it’s all up to you.

The atmosphere is excellent and the voice acting is phenomenal, and even the gameplay doesn’t feel as limiting as you might imagine considering this follows the Heavy Rain style of leaving action to QTEs, restricting camera movement and limiting your control over characters to just traversing the environment. Until Dawn Rush of Blood was released for PlayStation VR, and is also worth expericing.

Friday the 13th: The Game

This title has its flaws and didn’t live up to the bloated expectations from many fans. With that said, it does a number of things really well. It’s a unique game that pulls you into the movie script allowing you to play as Jason or one of the characters. Jason’s super-powers certainly make it difficult to escape or survive the round, which is the goal of gameplay. What’s more, the action takes place online – it’s a multiplayer only game. With a variety of escape routes, a tense mix of chasing, hiding and teamwork play a key roll in the overall outcome. As mentioned, the game does contain bugs, which are very annoying and detract from what stands – a decent game. Be sure to consider playing this one over the Halloween period – don’t forget to watch the movie too.

Alien: Isolation

After the godawful release of Aliens: Colonial Marines, many gamers were worried that they’d never get to play a really good title based on a franchise practically made for video game spinoffs. Those fears can be put to rest thanks to Alien: Isolation, which is hands-down one of the scariest and most tense gaming experiences we’ve seen in a very long time. Unlike the badass action of the movie Aliens, Isolation draws on what made the first Alien so good- primal fear. You are being hunted by a single xenomorph who will rip you to shreds within seconds of spotting you, and you can’t kill it. Instead, you have to rely on stealth and a few rudimentary gadgets to survive as you try to escape a creepy space station.

In addition to the xenomorph, you’ll end up fighting human enemies and androids, but you never know when the alien will show up- instead of following a predetermined path, it will actively search the environment based on sights and sounds that capture its attention, meaning it can pop out at any time to start wreaking havoc.

The Last of Us Remastered

If you still haven’t played The Last of Us: Remastered, you’re running out of excuses. While not as overly scary, it definitely has its fair share of terrifying moments, and the gameplay can absolutely be described as edge-of-your-seat. It’s a survival horror game after all, and many people tend to forget that simply because everyone’s favorite memory is the story and the relationship between the game’s two main characters. When you find yourself up against a group of zombies and you only have two bullets left in your revolver and no med-kits to save you, though… yeah, you’re going to be scared. Just wait until you have to start a deafening generator in a room full of one-shotting enemies who hunt based on sound.

Outlast

The less said about this series the better, because it’s best to go into the experience with no idea what you’re going to encounter. All you need to know is that you’re an investigative journalist exploring an abandoned psychiatric hospital in the Colorado Rockies, and you will be terrified the entire way through. Seriously, if you only play one game on this list, make it Outlast. And don’t read anything else about it first. Outlast 2 was released April 2017, and progresses onwards from the found footage characteristics from the first game. Containting plenty of gore, these are two games that you should delve into this October.

Grand Theft Auto V

The world of Las Santos is already fairly hectic, with daily murders and car-jackings. However, come Halloween, Rockstar delivers a host of exciting new features, outfits, masks, themes and other goodies – just as they do at Christmas. Ultimately, it creates the perfect atmosphere for fans come Halloween. Thus, Grand Theft Auto V is on our list of games to play at Halloween.

Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul

If this game doesn’t make it and release before Halloween, then the developers have certainly made a mistake. Virtual reality was practically made for horror games, and the PSVR already has a plethora of them coming its way. With that being said, though, Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul looks to be one of the spookiest… and any fan of horror should definitely consider picking up a copy once the game itself finally drops. The first-person experience will offer ten hours of gameplay, but we imagine it’ll take a lot longer to actually finish, as a number of breaks will no doubt be needed to clean the sweat from your palms and let your heart rate get back to normal. The story is not tied to any one specific PA movie, but it fits right in with the poltergeist theme of the films. In one gameplay demo, players are tasked with moving through a possessed house, and as things start getting weird, people start freaking out- tears have been shed over how scary this game is!

The Evil Within 2

If you are a fan of the Resident Evil series, then you be pleased to note that The Evil Within was directed and inspired by that very series creator. In other words, you are assured of some great horror gameplay and a spooky-driven atmosphere. The sequel was released October 13^th 2017 and continues on three years after the events at Beacon Mental Hospital – but you’ll have to play the first game before delving into the second, that’s if you want a full understanding of how the story unfolds. Both games deliver a solid horror experience.

P.T

You might be wondering what P.T even means, since it’s a rather strange name for a game. Well, it translates to Playable Teaser. Sadly, that’s all it ever was, after the developer decided to cancel progressing onwards with a direct game release, which was set to be called Silent Hills.  It was released as a free download on the PlayStation Network on 12 August 2014. The game’s theme is set in a haunted corridor from where the player is encouraged to investigate devilish events and solve cryptic puzzles. Since this game isn’t available, you’ll struggle to garner the opportunity to play it – it’s so rare that some gamers are willing to pay big money to purchase older consoles with it installed on the HDD. This is a must play if you are one of the lucky few.

Bloodborne

It’s not just award-winning, but an exclusive too. Bloodborne covers many of the ingredients needed when it comes to a horror title, hence its gothic style. Whilst not a flat-out horror experience, you are always aware that the environment is spooky and perfect for Halloween. You will need a PS4 to play this game, but you won’t find another RPG title anywhere else that captives just as Bloodborne achieves.  As for the visuals, they’re simply stunning, yet the gameplay is where the real entertainment value excels.

Simply put, the PS4 has an amazing collection of titles available within the horror genre, better than the alternatives, and this Halloween is specifically special for anyone who owns a PlayStation 4.