Top Five Horror Games to Buy and Play for Halloween 2014

The year 2014 was a strong period for horror games, offering a variety of experiences from psychological thrillers to survival-action. For players looking for a scary game during the Halloween season of that year, several recent releases stood out. Here are five of the top horror titles that defined 2014.

5. The Walking Dead: Season Two

Telltale Games’ follow-up to its 2012 Game of the Year winner, The Walking Dead: Season Two, continued the story of Clementine in a world ravaged by the undead. While not a traditional survival horror game focused on jump scares or combat, its horror stems from the constant tension and the difficult moral choices players are forced to make. The narrative-heavy experience, driven by player action and dialogue, creates an engrossing and often emotionally draining story.

The season’s episodes were released throughout 2014, concluding just before a retail disc version containing all five parts was made available. A key feature for returning players was the ability to carry over saves from the first season and its 400 Days DLC, ensuring that past decisions had a tangible impact on Clementine’s continuing journey. The game was released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC.

4. Alien: Isolation

Following the critically panned Alien: Colonial Marines, Sega handed the license to The Creative Assembly, a studio primarily known for its Total War strategy series. The result was Alien: Isolation, a survival horror game that succeeded by being remarkably faithful to the tone of the original 1979 film. The game’s simple premise—being trapped on a desolate space station while being stalked by a single, relentless Xenomorph—is executed with terrifying precision.

Unlike many horror games that empower the player, Alien: Isolation emphasizes vulnerability. The alien cannot be killed and is highly intelligent, learning from the player’s behavior. This creates a persistent and dynamic threat that forces a reliance on stealth, distraction, and quick thinking. Lacking powerful weapons, especially in the early hours, players must use their wits and the environment to survive not only the alien but also the station’s other hostile inhabitants. The constant sense of being hunted makes it a uniquely tense experience.

3. The Evil Within

From Shinji Mikami, the director of the original Resident Evil, came The Evil Within. The game was a return to the roots of survival horror, blending elements from Mikami’s previous works into a new intellectual property. It adopted the over-the-shoulder perspective popularized by Resident Evil 4, but with a much greater emphasis on resource scarcity and overwhelming odds. Players had access to powerful weapons, but ammunition was extremely limited, making every shot count.

A notable mechanic required players to burn defeated enemies to prevent them from reviving into more formidable creatures, a concept reminiscent of the Crimson Heads from the Resident Evil remake. This added a strategic layer to combat, forcing players to manage a limited supply of matches. The game balanced intense action sequences with moments where fleeing was the only viable option, keeping players on edge throughout its lengthy campaign. The Evil Within was released for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

2. The Last of Us Remastered

Naughty Dog’s celebrated 2013 masterpiece, The Last of Us, was brought to the PlayStation 4 in 2014 with a host of technical enhancements. The Last of Us Remastered featured improved graphics, a higher resolution, and a smoother frame rate, making the visceral and emotional experience even more impactful. The re-release also bundled all the DLC from the original, including the acclaimed single-player campaign, Left Behind.

The game’s horror is multifaceted. Encounters with the Infected are terrifying, requiring stealth and careful resource management to overcome the various stages of the cordyceps infection. At the same time, the conflicts with other human survivors in the post-apocalyptic world are often just as brutal and suspenseful. The combination of intense survival gameplay and a powerful, character-driven story made the PS4 version a definitive edition, offering a compelling reason for both new and returning players to experience it.

1. P.T.

The most talked-about horror experience of 2014 was not a full game but a free demo released on the PlayStation 4. During the Gamescom conference in August, a mysterious title called P.T. appeared on the PlayStation Store without any prior announcement. The name stood for “Playable Teaser,” and players who managed to solve its cryptic puzzles and survive its horrors were rewarded with a cinematic reveal for Silent Hills, a new project from Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro.

P.T.’s effectiveness came from its suffocating atmosphere and psychological dread. The entire experience took place in a single, looping L-shaped hallway in a suburban home. With each loop, subtle and sometimes dramatic changes occurred, building an unbearable sense of anticipation. Ominous noises, ghostly apparitions, and a deeply unsettling backstory created a terrifying experience using minimal mechanics. Its surprise release and viral popularity made it the perfect game to share with friends for a scare during the Halloween season.