Best Horror Games On Xbox Game Pass (November 2023)

Horror titles are no longer the niche genre they used to be, with terrors and frights now a remarkably popular medium for both films and games. Luckily for fans of fear and Xbox Game Pass owners, there is a downright treasure trove of horror games available on the Xbox Game Pass library.

Related: Everything You Need To Know About Xbox Game Pass

From gritty survival experiences to jump-scare-filled co-op adventures, this collection presents a more than decent offering to players. Steeled nerves and a willingness to be terrified are the only things needed (aside from a Game Pass subscription) to dive right in.

22 Dead Space (2023)

If you want to experience a more modern take on one of the greatest horror games of all time, the 2023 version of Dead Space is now available to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, courtesy of EA Play. The necromorphs are back, baby, and they’re more gruesome than ever. Every time you shoot one of them with the plasma cutter, you can see their flesh get blasted off their limbs one chunk at a time. The eerie environments of Dead Space have also been enhanced to perfection.

The lighting is creepily poignant, and don’t get me started on the sound design; I can’t even begin to describe how perfectly horrifying it all is. No longer is the USG Ishimura cut up into sections by loading screens and new chapters. Plus, you can traverse nearly the entirety of the ship without a single interruption, barring a few locked doors, of course. The Dead Space remake is now the definitive way to play the game and experience the harrowing journey of one Isaac Clarke.

21 Lies of P

Lies of P feels like a puppet-themed successor to FromSoftware’s Bloodborne, and just as with Bloodborne, though the game does not include a myriad of jump scares, its creep factor stems from its gorgeously rendered environments. You wander through the rain-soaked streets of Krat, a city that has come under siege from its previously docile puppet automatons. Known as the Puppet Frenzy, the slaughter of Krat’s citizens by these Victorian-attired, string-less marionettes is apparent everywhere.

From bodies piled on the streets to the shambling puppets themselves, horrific details of what happened are around every corner. So while you might start Lies of P for that delicious Soulslike gameplay that both thrills and infuriates, you’ll stay for the horror of which disfigured, twitching puppet boss is going to destroy you in a beautifully decrepit cobblestone arena.

20 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

A fantastic horror game addition to Xbox Game Pass’ library, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is an asymmetrical-multiplayer love letter to the film franchise. Players are either victims trying to escape from the murderous members of Leatherface’s family, or they play as these monstrous killers themselves.

These games of cat and mouse are tense affairs, with potential victims silently creeping through fields or hiding in sheds as they wait for the prime opportunity to escape, always fearing that the titular chain saw is looming behind them. Multiplayer horror games can be difficult to come by, but The Texas Chain Saw Massacre takes the Dead By Daylight formula and applies extra layers of suspense to it. Fans of that game would do well to give this a try.

19 Bramble: The Mountain King

The gorgeous soundtrack and enchanting environments of Bramble: The Mountain King are a facade. Trust us when we say at its core, Bramble is about horror. In the same way Limbo and Little Nightmares terrified (and delighted) players, Bramble: The Mountain King accomplishes the same thing. You play as a little boy who has to contend with an eerie world that is literally and figuratively bigger than him as he attempts to retrieve his sister from this mythological nightmare-scape.

Did you think garden gnomes following you around a la Pikmin would be cute? Prepare to have them die gruesome deaths. Did you think traversing through a woodland meadow would be picturesque? It is, but there are monsters lurking in the shadows waiting to kill you. Did you think hopping across lily pads would be awesome? Awesomely horrifying, maybe. Bramble: The Mountain King is beautiful, no doubt, but it is also one of the most bone-chilling horror titles currently on Xbox Game Pass. You should definitely play it.

18 Amnesia: The Bunker

This is not the only Amnesia game we have on this list, and that just goes to show what a master of horror Frictional Games is. However, what sets The Bunker apart from The Dark Descent and Rebirth is its deviation from Frictional’s linear roots. Where the other Amnesia games have a heavy focus on story as you trudge from section to section, vainly attempting to maintain your sanity meter, The Bunker gives you almost immersive-sim-like freedom when it comes to approaching your objectives.

If a locked door stands in your way, you can throw a chunk of brick at it multiple times to break it (if you can find a large enough block), you can blow it up with a grenade (if you want to risk attracting the monster with the explosion), or you can fumble in the nearby dark rooms to look for a key (if there even is one). The unforgiving save system also heightens the terror as you wonder whether or not you should risk making noise to progress. Having to return to a single safe room to save in the titular bunker makes each venture out one of risk versus reward.

It’s an overall shorter experience than what you might be used to, but it is also a challenging new take on Frictional’s style that is well worth the effort.

17 Ghostwire: Tokyo

To be clear, Ghostwire: Tokyo is not as terrifying an experience as you might have assumed after seeing its trailers. Despite covering a wide array of monsters and myths from Japanese folklore, the game itself does not reach the heights of horror that some other titles on this list do. That said, the action and creepy atmosphere packed within this game are enough to satisfy most horror fans. It’s a beautiful game in terms of visuals, and environments more than anything will be what ups the tension and draws you into those moments of perfect unease.

You play as a hapless young man who has to partner up with a spirit in order to uncover the mystery (and combat it) as to why Tokyo’s denizens have gone missing, leaving nothing but abandoned buildings and pieces of clothing floating in the fog. If that premise alone isn’t enough to draw you in, the satisfying combat courtesy of Tango Gameworks (the developers behind The Evil Within and Hi-Fi Rush) should at least pique your interest.

16 Darkest Dungeon

Darkest Dungeon’s core is that of a roguelike RPG, but it wears its Lovecraftian dark fantasy trappings so well that it’s sure to sate any horror hound’s thirst for thrills both corporeal and psychological. As the unlucky inheritor of a cursed estate, the player’s job is to hire, manage, and guide an initially hardy band of adventurers as they purge the recently-acquired lands of an ancient evil awakened by their ancestor.

However, battling unnamable cosmic horrors takes tolls both physical and mental. The heroes can become unwound by the stresses of combat, falling to madness as often as they fall to blades, teeth, and tentacles. The art style of Darkest Dungeon is worthy of enough praise, but the voice talent of the narrator and game’s roguelike nature serve to really drive home the horror aspects in a way that’s entirely unique.

15 Amnesia: Rebirth

Amnesia: Rebirth perfectly bookends the collection of Amnesia titles you can play on Xbox Game Pass. If you’ve played through The Dark Descent, Justine, and A Machine for Pigs already, then Rebirth is the obvious next stop. One of the greatest things about this title is the emotional depth it gives its terrifying story. It would have been easy to just slap on a few more jumpscares and just lean into the your-light-source-is-a-quivering-matchstick mechanic, but Amnesia: Rebirth goes the extra mile when it comes to its narrative.

Protagonist Tasi Trianon is going through horrific circumstances, but her overarching desire to see her unborn child live a fruitful life is the emotional backbone of the entire story. Not only can you follow this theme of hope to the end, fans of the original game get a lot of lore info about the series, such as how vitae works and what that ever-present orb can do.

14 Amnesia: Collection

One of the finest horror additions to the Xbox Game Pass library arrives in the form of the Amnesia: Collection. This install comes with The Dark Descent, A Machine for Pigs, and Justine, so that’s basically three terrifying horror games in one package.

Obviously, the jewel of the collection is The Dark Descent, which is a genre-defining title. Millions of people flocked to watch Let’s Plays of their favorite streamers and YouTubers attempting to uncover the secret of the Orb and relearn why they had to kill Alexander. The scares in Amnesia are expertly crafted, bringing a perfect balance of tension and fright. If you haven’t played these classic games, now’s the time to give them a try.

13 Soma

Soma is another one of Frictional Games’ masterpieces. It controls very similarly to Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but the narrative takes a definite upward turn. Philosophical questions about the exact meaning of consciousness are presented to you thanks to a narrative that deals with humanity’s attempt to cope with an extinction event.

Related: Best Horror Games That Don’t Rely On Jump Scares

However, despite these grandiose leanings, Soma does not wholly abandon its horror roots. Set in a dilapidated deep-sea research facility, Soma features deformed creatures kept alive by the area’s general AI, and they shamble after your character in these creaking and leaking hallways. If you love pondering the meaning of life while dipping into a fantastic horror experience, Soma is just for you.

12 Inside

A game does not need to be riddled with bloody scenes or heartstopping jumpscares in order to be a top-notch horror game. As a matter of fact, the most important thing a game needs to have to be one with this genre is the right atmosphere. And Inside has atmosphere in spades. Without ever having a character in the game utter a word, Inside tells a gripping story of a boy running from hostile forces that are out to capture him, murder him, or worse. It does this by amazing environmental story-telling techniques.

Even though gameplay mechanics deal with platforming and puzzle-solving, excellent sound design, camera placement, and backgrounds clue players in to what’s going on. Inside never directly tells you about the world, and the ending is ambiguous as heck, but it keeps you riveted right through to the astounding conclusion.

11 7 Days To Die

Straightforwardly building itself as a “survival horde crafting game,” 7 Days to Die definitely leans pretty hard into the “survival” aspect of survival horror — but that goes for miles in terms of ratcheting up the tension of the horror aspect. The premise is simple: contend with the elements, your needs, and hordes of shambling zombies to eke out a living and survive.

Related: Best Games On PC Game Pass

While the zombies themselves are easy enough to evade during the day, nighttime is an entirely different story — when the sun sets, these brain-hungry horrors don’t just shamble, they sprint after you and don’t tire out. Your best bet is to huddle behind closed doors and keep quiet, which is much easier said than done, especially when you can hear them stomping around and groaning mere feet from your chosen hidey hole. Nothing says horror quite like waiting in the dark, with one errant noise or motion being all that separates you from seeing the sun rise one more time or meeting a grisly end in the night.

10 Prey

Of course, Prey is solidly within the purview of Arkane’s distinct brand of immersive sim before it’s anything else, but there’s a pretty solid case to be made concerning its survival horror elements. Largely following protagonist Morgan Yu’s struggle to survive aboard remote space station Talos I after a hostile, phantom-like alien species known as “Typhon” have slaughtered most of the people living there, Prey channels both psychological and sci-fi horror elements over the course of its run.

Supplies are scarce, Morgan’s mortality is well-emphasized, and it’s difficult to not find oneself incredibly unsettled over the very nature of the alien threat overtaking the installation. Prey’s sure to satisfy any horror aficionado’s craving for tense, hair-raising encounters and the occasional jumpscare.

9 The Evil Within 2

While the successor to the first Evil Within is not as grimly horrific as the original, it still maintains the same gruesome, nightmare-like visuals. Detective Sebastian Castellanos is back, but this time it’s personal. In an attempt to rescue his daughter, he must dive into the world of STEM once more. A purportedly idyllic mental community has been overrun by a sadist’s imaginings, and players have to trudge alongside Sebastian as he navigates through these horrors.

Related:Horror Games That Have Incredible Combat

There is a campiness to The Evil Within 2 that is mostly missing from the first game, making it arguably less frightening. While you might guffaw at Sebastian participating in an arcade shooting minigame while his daughter remains in mortal peril, you’ll also cower in terror whenever ghost-lady Anima decides to show up for a visit.

8 Dead Space 2

The first Dead Space was frightening enough, but Visceral Games decided to outdo themselves with the sequel. Players return into the engineering shoes of Isaac Clarke as he struggles with horrific visions of his dead girlfriend and the rise of the gruesome Necromorphs. Even though Clarke is more than capable of tackling these monsters, the horrors that await him, from an abandoned, bloody elementary school to a Unitologist church are still terrifying.

And the return to the Ishimura is as fright-packed as you remember. Its availability on the Xbox Game Pass library is a horror lover’s dream. The sequel brings back everything you liked about the original, and then some. New Necromorph types, new weapons, new armor for Isaac, you name it, it’s got it. And the best part? Dead Space 2 improved the zero-G controls from the last game. ‘Nuff said.

7 Back 4 Blood

The world’s been waiting for a cooperative zombie survival experience that, at minimum, holds a candle to Left 4 Dead’s distinct brand of horde-slaying, run-and-gun madness for roughly eleven years — and that game has finally arrived with the fittingly titled Back 4 Blood. What’s more is that it’s a day-one full release on Xbox Game Pass.

Jump into the role of a “Cleaner” whose sole job is to dispose of endless amounts of “Ridden” that practically fall over themselves in the rush to swipe at you. Back 4 Blood’s campaign can be a breeze on the easiest difficulty setting and with three competent friends at your side, but the higher levels and intriguing card system ensure no two playthroughs will ever be the same.

6 Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

The immersion found in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is top-notch. Players are placed in control of Senua as she seeks to save the soul of her dead lover by traveling to Helheim. However, her mental illness and its accompanying symptoms continually plague her, and players are given the opportunity to see what it is like to experience auditory hallucinations and visual disorientation as a result.

Related: Games That Are Intense From Start To Finish

Senua’s journey is harrowing, and that’s the point. Grotesque figures attack Senua, and, whether they be real or figments of her mind, their danger to her is quite real. The horror of her struggles is quite unlike anything seen in other titles of the genre.

5 Dead Space

Something about mashing up the genres of science-fiction and horror has always managed to yield desirable results, and Dead Space is no exception to this rule. Guiding Isaac Clarke through the derelict halls of the USG Ishimura after a particularly unfortunate space-fender-bender is nothing short of tense, and the design direction of the Necromorphs is appropriately horrifying. In the interest of avoiding spoilers, let’s just say that the narrative presented in Dead Space has the psychological trappings of a horror classic, making it a must-play for survival-horror aficionados.

4 The Evil Within

Horror has a way of getting into a player’s head, and The Evil Within showcases this literally. Psychological horror is the name of the game, as players spend the entirety of the narrative wandering through the mind of a killer.

RELATED: Best Local Co-Op & Split-Screen Games On Xbox Game Pass

Walls shift into floors, landscapes change in the blink of an eye, and enemies are grotesque shapes that stem from the tortured past of the villain that created them. Fair warning: The Evil Within is not for the faint of stomach.

3 Doom 3

After a decade-long lull in mainline releases, Doom 3 brought a distinctly different flavor to the table by leaning hard into a survival-horror take on the genre-defining FPS franchise. This would prove divisive, but it’s hard to argue that it wasn’t impressive.

Stepping into the familiar role of a lone space marine stranded on Mars after a portal to hell is ripped open by the overly ambitious scientists of the UAC, it’s up to the player to stop the demonic onslaught by journeying into Hell — and hopefully back again. The measured, tense pacing and emphatic horror setpieces are a far cry from Doom 2016’s breakneck, adrenaline-fueled extravagance, but it’s still a worthy experience that strikes an interesting middle ground between first-person action and horror thrills.