20 Creepy Games You Can Play on Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus Extra This Halloween
Reading Time: 9 minutesWhether you want intense scares, chill Fall vibes, or moody mysteries, these are the best games to play during spooky season.
The Halloween season is the perfect excuse to catch up on the best scary and horror-themed video games. While there are plenty of excellent horror games on every platform, we’ve rounded up our picks for the best Halloween games on Xbox/PC Games Pass and PlayStation Plus Extra, since these subscription services include massive libraries of games you can download and play for free. That way, you can stock up on a bunch of spooky titles to play over the rest of the month.
We made sure to pick games from a variety of genres, gameplay styles, and themes—everything from tense survival horror games, multiplayer interactive slashers, and family-friendly Halloween adventures are on our list. Every game on this list is playable with either Game Pass or PlayStation Plus Extra, but we’ve also included any additional platforms they’re playable on if you don’t subscribe to a particular service or own the right console.
This canonical story takes place 15 years after the events of the original Alien film and follows Amanda Ripley, daughter of the Alien franchise’s main protagonist, Ellen Ripley. Amanda finds herself trapped on the Sevastopol space station with hostile androids, humans, and—of course—a Xenomorph. Unlike enemies in other games, the Xenomorph stalks the space station unpredictably and actively hunts the player and other NPCs. Alien Isolation‘s tense gameplay, terrifying AI, and faithful continuation of the Alien storyline earned it critical praise when it was originally released in 2014, and it still remains the best game in the Alien franchise.
Free on: Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC via Game Pass
Also available on: Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5
Blasphemous is a painstakingly crafted 2D platformer, featuring baroque pixel art that’s as beautiful as it is grotesque. The game takes place in the dark fantasy world of Cvstodia, with art, architecture, and mythology inspired by Spanish Catholicism—just, y’know, way more profane and unsettling. As for gameplay, Blasphemous takes cues from Dark Souls, Metroid, and Castlevania in its combat and level design. The various regions of Cvstodia intersect in interesting ways and are filled with equipment, hidden power-ups, and zealous enemies hellbent on your demise.
Free on: PS4/PS5 via PlayStation Plus Extra
Also available on: Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
While FromSoftware’s Bloodborne is an action RPG akin to the studio’s other games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring, the difficult combat, grotesque monsters, and gothic horror setting are perfect for players that want a Halloween-appropriate challenge. As a Hunter, you’ll battle through the bloody streets of Yharnam, uncovering the mysteries of the city’s enigmatic Healing Church and come face-to-face with otherworldly beings. Bloodborne was never ported from the PS4 to other consoles, but it’s fully playable on PS5 thanks to backward compatibility.
Free on: PS4/PS5 via PlayStation Plus Extra
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is an exploration-focused platformer from famed developer Koji Igarashi, and serves as the spiritual successor of the Castlevania series. Like Castlevania, Bloodstained features classic horror enemies like zombies, werewolves, and witches, and a gothic art style. But instead of a survival horror like many of the games on this list, Ritual of the Night is a ‘metroidvania’ platformer where the players explore non-linear levels inside a giant castle, uncovering keys and special abilities that help them progress, once again evoking the specter of classic Castlevania titles like Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow.
Free on: PS4/PS5 via PlayStation Plus Extra
Also available on: Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
This RPG casts you as Edward Pierce, a private investigator plagued by disturbing dreams. Pierce is sent to Darkwater Island to investigate a sudden string of deaths that rocked the small town. Of course, this is a Lovecraftian story, so things are far stranger than they first appear. The game toys with Pierce’s sanity: Are the strange visions you encounter just sleep-deprived hallucinations, or are they real? Managing Pierce’s sanity as you explore the island and uncover clues becomes the central mechanic of the game, much like the Call of Cthulu tabletop RPG the game is based on.
Free on: PS4/PS5 via PlayStation Plus Extra.
Also available on: Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X.
In this third-person action-adventure game, you’ll explore the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC) headquarters, aka ‘The Oldest House,’ a government organization that investigates, catalogs, and contains all manner of supernatural phenomena. A dangerous entity known as The Hiss has escaped and is now ensnaring the minds of the FBC agents. Jessie Faden—the new acting director of the FBC and the only person immune to The Hiss’s psychic powers—must stop the extra-dimensional being and save her fellow agents. Players will find many strange artifacts within The Old House that help them explore the building’s mind-bending layout, and earn new weapons and special combat powers to defend themselves against the Hiss-possessed FBC agents. Control is the perfect choice for those that want to live out their inner Mulder and Scully this Halloween.
Free on: PS5 via PlayStation Plus Extra
Also available on: PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
The Dark Pictures Anthology is a collection of cinematic adventure games that let players control the flow and ultimate outcome of the story each time they play. There are several games in the collection, but PlayStation Plus Extra members can play two for free as part of their subscription: Man of Medan and Little Hope.
In Man of Medan, five friends are trapped on a ghost ship adrift at sea, and in Little Hope, a group of four college students finds themselves stranded in an abandoned town. Both games let players control each character, putting their ultimate fates in your hands. Each game in the anthology also features online and offline multiplayer modes, so you can experience these interactive thrillers with your friends.
Free on: PS4/PS5 via PlayStation Plus Extra
Also available on: Xbox One/Series X, PC
The Dead Space trilogy is among the best the survival horror genre has to offer. In the first game, engineer Isaac Clarke finds himself at the center of a horrific event where the entire crew of the USG Ishimura space mining vessel has turned into mutated undead creatures called ‘Necromorphs.’ The sequel delves further into the mystery of the Necromorphs, and their connection to the mysterious religious group known as Unitology. In the final game, Isaac teams up with John Carver, a soldier from Earth, to explore the origin of the Necromorphs on the frozen planet Tau Volantis.
All three games feature third-person shooting gameplay, but instead of the usual sci-fi firearms you’d expect, Isaac uses high-tech mining and construction tools to dismember the multi-limbed Necromorph abominations that pursue him through derelict space stations, abandoned mining facilities, and other spooky locales. The third game includes an optional co-op multiplayer mode.
A remake of the first game is also set to release on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on January 27, 2023.
Free on: PC and Xbox One/Xbox Series X via Game Pass or EA Play
Dead By Daylight is an excellent choice for something scary to play with your friends. Players are split into two teams: One player acts a killer from a first-person perspective, and the rest of the players control a squad of survivors in third person. The game features multiple maps and game modes with unique objectives. Killers, for example, must find, capture, and ultimately ‘hook’ the survivors onto environmental hazards. The survivors work co-operatively to avoid the killer and repair broken machinery that impede your escape. The base game includes numerous original characters for survivors and kills to play as, and you can expand the roster with iconic characters from other horror movies and video games like Resident Evil, Evil Dead, Scream, and more.
Free on: PS4/PS5 via PlayStation Plus Extra; PC and Xbox One/Series X via Game Pass
Also available on: Nintendo Switch
Death Stranding isn’t a horror game, but it’s still worth playing during spooky season. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic U.S. where the spirits of the dead (referred to as ‘beached things’ or ‘BTs’ in-game) have broken through from the other side, causing myriad cataclysic events like rain that fast-forwards time, and massive explosions on par with nuclear bombs. The story is filled with strange (often over-explained) concepts like this, which is to be expected from the game’s director, Hideo Kojima, who previously created the Metal Gear series.
Gameplay is equally idiosyncratic. While there are elements of crafting, base-building, combat, and even asynchronous multiplayer, the core gameplay loop involves delivering packages to various settlements across the abandoned landscape. Balance, momentum, and cargo weight must be carefully managed to keep your footing—all while silently avoiding raiders and the ghostly BTs—making the act of simply walking to your destination a tense and engaging objective.
Free on: PS4/PS5 via PlayStation Plus Extra; PC via Game Pass
The entire Doom franchise features a heavy metal aesthetic and demonic monsters that are perfect for Halloween, but Doom 3 is the one to play during the spookiest of seasons. While the original 90s-era Doom games always had a few jumpscares and plenty of frightening imagery, Doom 3 slows the action down and dials up the survival horror aspects. You still mow down hordes of zombies, but the levels are darker and more claustrophobic, and the sound design is far creepier than the rest of the series.
Luckily, all six mainline Doom games are free to play for Xbox and PC Game Pass members, so you can blast through the entire franchise if you want. The 2016 reboot, DOOM, is also free to play on PS4/PS5 as part of the Plus Station Plus Extra game catalog.
Free on: Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC via Game Pass
Also available on: Nintendo Switch, PS4/PS5
This survival horror game retells the events of the original Friday the 13th movie as a survival horror game with singleplayer and multiplayer modes. In multiplayer, one player controls Jason Voorhees—the hockey-masked killer from the Friday the 13th movies—while all the other players act as the Crystal Lake counselors from the original film. The single-player mode lets you play as either the counselors or as Jason, with the game’s AI handling the other characters.
Each side has its own objective: Jason must find and kill the other players before the match is over, and the camp counselor must survive the night to win. There are numerous tools at both Jason’s and the counselors’ disposals, and players can continually upgrade their character for better chances of survival.
Free on: PS4/PS5 via PlayStation Plus Extra
Also available on: Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC
This 2019 remake of the classic PS1 action-adventure game MediEvil has excellent cartoony Halloween vibes without the scares, making it perfect for families, younger players, and anyone looking for a more lighthearted game to play this season.
The evil necromancer Zarok has returned and raises an undead army to take over the Kingdom of Gallowmere—but his spell unwittingly resurrects Sir Dan, a knight celebrated throughout the kingdom as a hero. Unfortunately, those heroic tales got history wrong, and Sir Dan is actually a bit of a goober who was killed by a stray arrow years ago. Nevertheless, he’s Gallowmere’s best chance against Zarok. This version is a faithful recreation of the original game’s story and levels with an all-new graphics engine, a remastered soundtrack, and a modernized control scheme, along with new content.
Free on: PS4/PS5 via PlayStation Plus Extra
After crash-landing on an alien planet, Selene Vossos finds herself stranded in the ruins of a long-dead civilization. If that wasn’t strange enough, she soon makes a horrific discovery: She’s stuck in a time loop, forced back to the crash whenever she’s killed by the planet’s hostile lifeforms.
Returnal‘s unsettling alien ruins and mind-bending premise certainly give spooky vibes, but the game’s frenetic shooter gameplay and roguelite structure make it more of a tense thriller than outright horror. Still, it’s a great game to play on PS5 to fulfill your sci-fi horror fix this Halloween—or any time, really. Returnal is a tough game, but it’s also one of the best games on PS5, period.
Free on: PS5 via PlayStation Plus Extra
Scorn plays unlike anything else on this list. It’s an atmospheric survival horror game that focuses more on puzzle-solving and navigating eerie environments than combat (though there are still a few enemies to contend with), and instead of jumpscares, Scorn‘s horror comes from its visuals and sound design.
Fair warning: Scorn is gross and can be upsetting. The art direction is heavily inspired by artists like H.R. Gieger and Wayne Barlowe, so even mundane objects like doors or levers are visually arresting, and the few living creatures you encounter in-game are often subject to cruel and unusual events. Scorn wants to gross players out, and it’s definitely not for everyone, but it’s worth checking out if you have a taste for weird, dark fantasy worlds.
Free on: PC and Xbox Series X via Game Pass
Signalis is set in the far future after humans have colonized the solar system; Elster, a ‘Replika’ android, awakens on a strange planet full of mysteries and monsters. The game blends ‘cassette-futurism’ technology, a dream-like narrative, and classic survival horror gameplay reminiscent of the earliest Resident Evil and Silent Hill games on PS1.
Signalis isn’t actually available at the time of writing, but between hands-on demo impressions and early preview buzz, we’re confident this could be one of the year’s best horror games. Signalis launches on Oct. 27.
Free on: Xbox Series X via Game Pass; PC via Game Pass and Humble Bundle (available Oct. 27)
Also available on: Nintendo Switch, PS4/PS5 (available Oct. 27)
Until Dawn is a cinematic adventure game that plays like you’re controlling a horror movie in real time. The game’s familiar horror setting—eight friends trapped in a mountain getaway gone bad—is surprisingly affecting, thanks in large part to the excellent mocap and voice acting performances by the cast. You’ll control each character in the story at various points throughout the night as they try to survive the murderous onslaught of a flamethrower-toting killer. Each play through can change drastically depending on the choices you make and how well you respond to button prompts.
Free on: PS4/5 via PlayStation Plus Extra
Set in London in 1918, this action RPG casts you as Dr. Jonathan Reid, a physician who awakens to find he recently died and was turned into a vampire. Now, Jonathan must use his skills as a healer and newfound vampiric powers to protect the citizen of London from all manner of deadly undead creatures and a virulent plague. Players control Jonathan’s actions in combat, leveling up his supernatural skills to suit their play style, while also controlling his dialog options and even moral choices throughout the branching storyline.
Free on: PS4/PS5 via PlayStation Plus Extra
Also available on: Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One/Series X
This story-focused adventure game is set in the same world as the long-running The Walking Dead comic series, but it tells an all-new story that takes place concurrently with the graphic novel. Players control Lee Everett, a survivor of the recent zombie apocalypse, and Clementine, a young girl Lee saves early in the story. Gameplay primarily plays out through conversations between Lee, Clementine, and various characters they meet throughout the game, as well as quick-time events that can alter the storyline dramatically. The Walking Dead is widely considered one of the best-written games of all time, and one of the most influential adventure games ever made.
Free on: PC and Xbox One/Series X via Game Pass
Also available on: Android, iOS, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4/PS5,
There are plenty of scary and gross games on this list, so let’s wrap things up with a charming crafting game.
Wytchwood is a hand-drawn adventure game where you play as the Old Witch of The Woods, wandering through a storybook world filled with ingredients you need to concoct potions and create various items. Every objective in the game—whether that be completing a quest for another character or simply your desire to make a new potion recipe—boils down to exploring the land, harvesting materials, and turning them into something new. It’s a relaxing, low-stakes game to chill out with on the scariest night of the year.
Free on: PS4/PS5 via PlayStation Plus Extra
Also available on: Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One/Series X