PS Plus Premium and Extra cover most genres, and horror is no exception. However, since the service contains so many games, it can be challenging to narrow down the selection to the cream of the crop. Consequently, here are the best horror games on PS Plus Extra and Premium.
Updated November 6, 2022, by Ben Grindle: Despite the fact that Halloween has come and gone for another year, Sony has continued to reinforce its multi-tiered subscription service’s library with spooky content. The horror games on PS Plus that are now available to Premium and Extra subscribers do a good job of covering the different niches that the genre has to offer too. That means there’s an even bigger list of games that horror fans should not miss out on.
The Medium
When it comes to horror games on PlayStation Plus, Bloober Team’s The Medium arguably topped its latest update. Having made a name for itself with titles like Layers of Fear and Blair Witch, the indie studio’s most recent game is the accumulation of everything it’s learned up until now. As a result of this, the psychological horrors that haunt its protagonist Marianne are truly nightmarish and thought-provoking.
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Among all of PS Plus’ horror games, The Medium has taken on an extra layer of significance over the last month, though. After plenty of insider leaks and rumors, it’s been confirmed that Bloober Team is currently remaking Silent Hill 2 for Konami. The Medium shares a lot in common with the iconic horror game, which means fans will want to check it out before diving into the remake.
Limbo
When Limbo debuted in 2010, the indie platformer broke the mold for several reasons. Beyond showing off the creativity of the gaming industry’s indie scene, the puzzle-platformer gained acclaim for its creepy setting and unnerving atmosphere. Despite being held up as an example of games being art, Playdead’s title is still a terrifying affair.
Thanks to how it blends together elements from some of the genre’s most iconic b-movies, Limbo is now one of the best horror games on PS Plus. It’s also fairly unique within the subscription service’s library. At the time of its release, Limbo was arguably the first platformer game to truly tackle the genre, which makes it a must-play for horror fans with a Premium subscription.
Bloodborne
Since the release of Demon’s Souls in 2009, FromSoftware has developed a reputation for creating games with brutal difficulty spikes and addictive action mechanics. While that combination can often serve up scary times in most of its titles, Bloodborne represents the studio’s most overt attempt at creating something within the horror genre. Even though its gameplay will entice many players, horror fans in particular with PS Plus Extra won’t want to miss out either.
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Inspired heavily by gothic literature, exploring the streets of Bloodborne’s Yharnam is an atmospheric experience all in itself. The fact that the city’s alleyways are home to monsters and entities that H.P. Lovecraft would have been proud to have created, makes Bloodborne all the more terrifying. FromSoftware’s title is still revered for plenty of good reasons to this day, and can now claim to be one of the best PS Plus horror games as well.
Resident Evil: Director’s Cut
Not only is Resident Evil: Director’s Cut one of the best horror games on PS Plus, it’s arguably the most influential as well. Released in 1997 on the original PlayStation, the updated version of Capcom’s iconic survival horror game has gone on to shape every corner of the genre. Countless horror games, shows, and movies, can all attribute its zombie-infested hallways as a source of nightmarish inspiration.
Despite hitting store shelves in 1997, Resident Evil: Director’s Cut still holds up from a playable perspective too. The slow movement and desperate fight for resources that Capcom built the game around ensure players will have a tense time if they choose to revisit Raccoon City’s Mansion. In a lot of ways, the game is subsequently the poster child for horror games on PlayStation Plus Premium.
Dead By Daylight
Since its debut back in 2016, Behaviour Interactive’s Dead by Daylight has steadily grown into something of a horror game phenomenon. Throughout that time it should be noted that its key gameplay principles have remained largely intact. Four teammates are still forced to desperately fight for survival against another solo player, who’s able to control a supernatural entity. The setup for the game is simple yet effective, to the point that it’s easy to imagine it receiving a player-base boost via its recent arrival on PS Plus Extra.
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Something that has helped Dead by Daylight to stand out from other multiplayer horror contemporaries, and has become its biggest selling point, is its ever-growing list of crossovers. Thanks to a steady stream of downloadable content drops over the last few years, the title now features an extensive roster of playable horror movie and game icons. Between tie-ins with the Halloween series, Stranger Things, and Silent Hill, players can enjoy a multiplayer horror experience that’s arguably one of the best horror games on PS Plus Premium and Extra.
Metro 2033 Redux
Based on Dmitry Glukhovsky’s series of acclaimed novels, Metro 2033 Redux is set within an alternate version of the early 21st century. Thanks to an all-out nuclear war, players find themselves thrust into the shoes of Artyom as he struggles to survive the post-apocalyptic landscape and the nightmarish mutants that roam it. Even though Ukrainian studio 4A Games’ adaptation has been compared to Bethesda’s Fallout series, that comparison only tells part of the story.
While their apocalyptic settings and themes are similar, Metro 2033 Redux is a far grittier and overall scarier experience. The tunnels and locales that populate Metro 2033 Redux, for example, have a decidedly claustrophobic feel to them. This atmosphere is enhanced even further thanks to the game’s notorious difficulty options and complex survival mechanics. Thanks to PS Plus Extra’s August update, and the addition of Metro Exodus, players on the Premium tier of Sony’s subscription service can now experience all three parts of the horror series.
Observation
Created by Scottish indie studio No Code and published by Devolver Digital, Observation is a scary experience that’s unlike anything else that subscribers can access on PlayStation Plus right now. Stylized as a sci-fi-themed thriller, the adventure game revolves around the mysterious disappearance of a space station’s crew. In a similar vein to the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise, players interact with their environment and uncover a suspenseful mystery via a series of cameras.
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If that mechanical setup wasn’t intriguing enough on its own though, Observation has several other quirks up its metaphorical sleeves. One of which is the fact that, in a break from genre tradition, players actually play as a sentient artificial intelligence known as SAM. That design decision opens the door for several other surprises and twists on the horror genre, that PS Plus subscribers won’t want to miss out on.
Observer: System Redux
Bloober Team’s Observer debuted in 2017, but the System Redux version is the one to play. Along with improving the visuals and performance, this iteration expands the gameplay to offer more variety and less frustration, all the while enhancing the atmospheric intensity that defined the vanilla release.
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Observer: System Redux envisions a dystopian sci-fi future where technology allows the minds of people to be infiltrated, a procedure used extensively by the detective protagonist. Set within a single building, this horror game gradually builds tension as the central character investigates a murder, and the title prioritizes its story and tone above anything else. Permitting someone is not searching for an action-leaning experience, Observer is one of the best horror games on PS Plus Premium and Extra.
Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition
It almost goes without saying but one of the more obvious charms of a Netflix-style service like PlayStation Plus Premium and Extra, is the fact that it puts a diverse array of games at the fingertips of its subscribers. As a result, alongside traditional psychological and survival horror titles, Sony’s outgoing service also includes several scary games that have been built specifically around social elements. One of these that shouldn’t be overlooked in particular is Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition.
Developed by Housemarque over a decade before the studio turned its hand to Returnal, Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition is a rare co-op-centric horror experience. While it’s true that the arcade twin-stick shooter can be played as a single-player game, adding a second person to the mix arguably enhances its horror potential. More players also mean more zombies, which when combined with the naturally chaotic nature of the aforementioned genre, creates some truly tense encounters.
Friday The 13th
Out of all the horror games in PlayStation Plus’s library, Friday the 13th stands apart from the rest. That’s because, beyond being a licensed tie-in for an iconic horror film series, the title is also a primarily multiplayer experience. While it’s true that other scary PvP games can be played through Sony’s subscription service, the uniqueness of what’s on offer in Friday the 13th means that fans of the genre will want to see what it’s all about.
Developed initially by IllFonic, Friday the 13th is an asymmetrical multiplayer survival horror game that can be played by up to eight people online. Like most of the studio’s subsequent creations, players are funneled into two distinct groups at the start of each round. While the majority become Camp Counselors, one individual is given the opportunity to hunt them down as the supernatural Jason Voorhees. Often matches devolve into desperate fights for survival, fueled by the fact that it’s another human who’s doing the hunting instead of an AI.
Resident Evil Revelations
Over the last few console generations, it’s fair to say that Capcom’s Resident Evil series has undergone something of a renaissance. Following the polarizing action-centric Resident Evil 6 the series has slowly returned to its terrifying survival horror roots. Recent remakes and new numbered entries have all been met with varying degrees of praise from fans as well, although entries like 2019’s Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil Village are not part of PS Plus.
Created initially for the Nintendo 3DS, Resident Evil: Revelations was viewed as a welcome return to form for the franchise even before it was ported to the PS3 in 2013. Set primarily on a dilapidated ship, players are thrust back into the shoes of Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield as they investigate a terrorist organization’s attempts to infect the world’s water supplies. Spooky environments, excellent sound design, and desperate resource scavenging, all headline an experience that evokes the series’ glory days.
Bioshock Remastered
If recent insider leaks are to be believed, the Bioshock series could be about to return to the spotlight after being in the wilderness for nearly a decade. With a fourth entry in the franchise potentially on the horizon for PS5, now is the perfect time to look back at the game that started it all. Released in 2007 as a spiritual successor to System Shock 2, the original Bioshock was a groundbreaking first-person shooter from both a narrative and mechanical perspective.
While it’s been debated by fans whether it should be classed as a traditional horror game, there’s no denying that the first Bioshock features some truly terrifying concepts. Between the prevalence of zombie-like drug addict enemies and the genetic monsters that are the Big Daddies, there are a lot of threats lurking around Rapture that could easily rattle players. Thanks to PlayStation Plus Premium, subscribers can dive into the debate for themselves, via the excellent Bioshock Remastered.
Until Dawn
With PS Plus Extra and Premium, players have the option to download and play games directly from their console’s internal storage. This benefits several horror experiences that can be found on the subscription service, which would otherwise suffer from lag induced by slow internet connection speeds. Supermassive Games’ Until Dawn is perhaps the biggest benefactor of this, due to the rapid twitch gameplay players will often find themselves experiencing while they’re desperately fighting to see the sun again.
Until Dawn calls back to the horror genre’s classic use of jump-scares, as it follows the story of a group of friends who are being haunted by their past. Crucially the narrative carries on whenever a character is killed by the player’s actions, creating a sense of dreadful permanence. Because of this, Supermassive’s cinematic story is an excellent depiction of interactive choose-your-own-adventure gameplay and is arguably still the studio’s best work to this day.
The Last Of Us Remastered
Thanks to Naughty Dog’s trademark cinematic pedigree, it’s sometimes easy to forget that The Last of Us is actually a horror game. A testament to the engaging characters found at its core, the zombies that haunt the game’s streets sometimes take a back seat when fans talk about the franchise. That’s not to say that the hordes of the transformed are to be taken for granted though, as throughout the experience they’ll provide more than enough scares.
The Last of Us hits a sweet spot when it comes to horror in this way. At times, the game offers palpable physical nightmares like any strong piece of zombie media, whilst also never forgetting to embody the psychological element of the genre at every other opportunity. The world that Naughty Dog has built is packed with such attention to detail that it ensures the presence and threat of the infected is a constant thought in the mind of the player, whether they’re on-screen or not.
Forbidden Siren
In the depths of PS Plus Premium’s library, fans of the horror genre can find a handful of retro cult-classic games that are still capable of scaring the unsuspecting. Often forgotten about by Sony itself, the Siren franchise was once the publisher’s premiere internally developed horror IP. Following a cast of 10 interconnected survivors cursed with the power of second sight, the original Forbidden Siren offers players the chance to experience a terrifying stealth-orientated nightmare.
Being eligible for the moniker of a retro game, Forbidden Siren is notoriously difficult even by old-school standards. From a technical perspective, its clunky controls can be particularly frustrating, yet fans shouldn’t discount Forbidden Siren’s ability to haunt them. Those who beat the game might also be intrigued by its more polished episodic PS3 ancestor, Siren: Blood Curse, which is also streamable via PS Plus Premium.
Little Nightmares
PS Plus Premium and Extra subscribers looking for a unique take on the horror genre need to look no further than the deceptively charming Little Nightmares. Developed by Tarsier Studios, the puzzle-platforming horror adventure is more than capable of eliciting both jump and psychological scares despite its cartoony 2.5D appearance.
Following the yellow-coated 6, Little Nightmares charts the child’s journey to escape the monsters she finds herself surrounded by. Throughout the relatively short experience, the patience of players will be tested thanks to challenging puzzles as the creeping sense of suspense and claustrophobia never eases.
Bonus: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Only On PS5)
This is a special case since Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is part of the PlayStation Plus Collection but is not included in Premium or Extra’s library. Any PS5 owner with a PS Plus subscription of any tier is granted access to 19 PS4 titles, with RE7 being part of that selection.
While not the only horror game included in this curated library, Capcom’s 2017 masterpiece is arguably the best and scariest. This entry helped heal the mainline series’ reputation following a string of over-the-top action romps. Shifting to a first-person perspective, RE7 is unsettling, grimy, and haunting. The opening section in the Baker residence ranks among the franchise’s greatest work, and the rest of the campaign is pretty strong as well.
PS Plus is available for PS5, PS4, and PC.
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