7 Best Horror Video Games to Play Ahead of Halloween in the UAE, for 2024

Get ready to grab your controllers, dim the lights and prepare for a heart-pounding journey into the darkness. Here are the best horror video games to dive into this Halloween – each promising to deliver a wickedly good time! To help us with this list, we spoke to several avid gamers and scoured Amazon’s reviews and top-rated games.

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Set in a remote, haunted European village, this first-person survival horror game puts you back in the shoes of Ethan Winters, who is searching for his kidnapped daughter. But with this new edition, Capcom has introduced layers of terror and new experiences for players who want to delve deeper into the world of Resident Evil Village. Set 16 years after the main story, this DLC (downloadable content) follows Ethan’s daughter, Rosemary ‘Rose’ Winters, as she deals with the effects of her own mysterious powers. The Shadows of Rose chapter shifts to a third-person perspective, giving it a classic Resident Evil feel. Amartya Sinha, a Dubai-based marketing professional and avid gamer, breaks it down for us: Players must navigate terrifying and twisted locations while unlocking the secrets of Rose’s abilities. The game explores a more psychological horror tone and adds depth to the world introduced in the main game. The Gold Edition retains the thrilling, survival-oriented gameplay that defines the Resident Evil series. With limited resources, Ethan must fight several twisted enemies, each more dangerous than the last. The inclusion of several playable characters with unique abilities in The Mercenaries Extra Orders allows players to experiment with new combat approaches and strategies. With fresh locations and spooky castles, this game is perfect for the Halloween season.

Another of Sinha’s recommendations, the Silent Hill HD Collection brings two of the most terrifying and iconic titles in horror gaming – Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 – to the Xbox 360, combining eerie psychological horror with updated graphics for a new generation. This remastered collection not only serves as a throwback to the golden age of survival horror, but also attempts to bring cult classics to life, with high-definition visuals, a new voice cast and gameplay improvements. The HD collection features enhanced textures, lighting and high-definition visuals to modernize the look of the classic titles. Each game’s environment has been updated to deliver sharper detail, especially in character models and textures, breathing new life into the misty town of Silent Hill. Improved textures help bring out some of the finer details in the environments, such as graffiti-covered walls, blood-stained hallways, and fog-laden streets. For fans of psychological horror, survival horror, or video game history, the Silent Hill HD Collection offers a valuable – albeit imperfect – opportunity to immerse yourself in two of the genre’s most popular titles.

Arshiya Faraghat, also known as xArshyy in the gaming community, where she organizes professional esports tournaments in the UAE, streams on Twitch and is a content and community manager at Four04 Esports in Dubai. She recommended Dead by Daylight as a great multiplayer game for Halloween, explaining that it cuts down on the horror by adding more playable characters. The main draw of the game lies in the intense multiplayer matches where one player takes on the role of a terrifying assassin while the other four players become survivors and try to escape. Survivors must work together to repair generators that clear the way to escape, while hiding and evading the killer. The tension in every match keeps players on edge, as every choice could mean life or death. The Nintendo Switch version of Dead by Daylight may not be as visually polished as its PC or other console counterparts, but it captures the essence of the original game’s terrifying environments. The graphics, while slightly toned down, still convey the dark, chilling atmosphere that’s crucial to the experience. Visual elements such as fog, shadows and lighting are still effectively creepy, with settings that transport players to nightmare scenarios. The Switch’s portable mode makes it easy to dive into horror on the go, in both handheld and docked modes, allowing players to dive into the action anywhere.

A chilling horror compilation that brings together three of the most intense survival horror experiences in recent gaming history: Outlast, Outlast: Whistleblower and Outlast II. This game bundle is ready to keep you awake at night. Outlast Trinity immerses players in a world of terror, where survival requires stealth, sharp instincts and nerves of steel. Each game in the trilogy offers a unique storyline, but they all share the overarching themes of fear, helplessness and the struggle for survival. Sinha explains, “Players have no defenses and rely solely on hiding and dodging to survive. This heightens the sense of vulnerability and fear as players are left defenseless against grotesque, violent enemies.” As players navigate each game, they must be strategic, finding safe hiding places or using their night vision camera to navigate the darkest hallways. It’s truly every horror lover’s dream!

Horror games can also be fun for the whole family! Consider firing up the free-roam survival title Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach on the living room television. “You’re basically a kid stuck in a mall that’s closed at night, and you have to avoid robot security. It has very creepy underground scenes,” says Elias Dib, a 28-year-old avid PC gamer from Sharjah. The story follows a young boy, Gregory, and his attempts to evade hostile animatronics in the mall by solving missions. Your enemies become stronger as the night progresses, while your stamina becomes weaker the more you run. The shopping center is a huge complex, so there is no end to your exploration.

This one is for sci-fi horror fans. Alien: Isolation bases its premise on the Alien film series (1979), combining stealth and survival horror gameplay into one. It is a first-person survival horror game that follows Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen Ripley, as she searches for answers to her mother’s disappearance. 15 years after the events of Alien, Amanda finds herself on the isolated Sevastopol station, where something far more sinister lurks: a Xenomorph that is nearly unstoppable. The Nostromo Edition offers the base game plus additional content that allows players to relive iconic scenes from the film with crew members like Dallas, Lambert and of course Ellen Ripley herself. The game’s visuals capture the raw, analog sci-fi aesthetic of Ridley Scott’s original film. Additionally, the CRT monitors, 80s-style futuristic technology, and shade-draped hallways immerse players in a world that feels both lived-in and isolated.

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood takes the beloved Until Dawn series in a new, pulse-pounding direction with a PS4 virtual reality-exclusive experience that combines horror and action with a dash of terrifying carnival thrills. Set in the same horror universe as Until Dawn, Rush of Blood is a standalone game that keeps fans on their toes with a fresh experience designed specifically for PlayStation VR, immersing players in a creepy, unforgettable thrill ride. Set on a spooky rollercoaster, the game lures players through hair-raising environments filled with disturbing creatures, haunted locations and a relentless sense of dread. Although connected to Until Dawn by universe and atmosphere, Rush of Blood requires no knowledge of the original story. Instead, it serves as a distinct, nightmarish adventure built to test even the most die-hard horror fans. As players go deeper, the ‘ride’ becomes more and more intense, drawing them into different worlds that make the VR experience deeply immersive.

Our recommendations are independently chosen by Gulf News editors. If you decide to shop through links on our website, we may earn an affiliate commission as we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates program.