Top 10 Console Games: Horror Games You Must Play in 2026
From legendary remakes to grotesque new nightmares, prepare your PS5 and Xbox Series X for a golden age of terror.
The horror genre is currently enjoying a renaissance. We’ve moved past the era of cheap jump-scare YouTube bait and settled into a rich landscape of psychological dread, complex survival mechanics, and narrative-driven terror.
For console gamers, the horizon is looking exceptionally grim—in the best way possible. The next 18 months are stacked with titles designed to make you clutch your controller until your knuckles turn white. We are looking at the return of industry titans, ambitious new IPs from legendary creators, and indie darlings making the leap to the big screen.
If you’re ready to lose some sleep, here are the top 10 console horror games coming out soon that need to be on your radar.
1. Silent Hill 2 Remake
- Developer: Bloober Team
- Platforms: PS5 (PC)
- Release Window: 2024 (Rumored)
This is the main event. The original Silent Hill 2 is often cited as the greatest horror game ever made—a masterclass in psychological symbolism and atmospheric dread. The remake is being handled by Bloober Team (known for Layers of Fear and The Medium), a studio that excels at atmosphere but sometimes struggles with subtlety. The pressure is immense.
Early glimpses show stunning visuals powered by Unreal Engine 5 and a shift to an over-the-shoulder camera, modernizing the gameplay while attempting to preserve the suffocating fog and emotional decay of James Sunderland’s journey. If they nail the tone, this could be the definitive survival horror experience of the generation.
2. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
- Developer: GSC Game World
- Platforms: Xbox Series X/S (PC, Game Pass day one)
- Release Date: September 5, 2024
While technically an FPS/immersive sim, few games understand true horror like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.. The Zone is a character itself—an irradiated, anomalous wasteland where physics are broken and grotesque mutants hunt you in the tall grass.
Developed amidst a literal war in Ukraine, the team at GSC Game World has poured their soul into this massive sequel. Expect brutal survival mechanics, terrifying encounters in dark underground labs, and an atmosphere so thick with radiation and dread you’ll feel like you need a real gas mask. It’s a massive get for Xbox owners.
3. Little Nightmares III
- Developer: Supermassive Games
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PS4, Xbox One (PC)
- Release Window: 2025
The Little Nightmares franchise is beloved for its “childhood fears brought to life” aesthetic, mixing grotesque imagery with charming puzzle-platforming. For the third entry, original creators Tarsier Studios have handed the reins to Supermassive Games (famous for Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures Anthology).
The biggest hook this time is online co-op. You and a friend can play as new protagonists Low and Alone, navigating the disturbing world of “The Spiral.” Don’t let the cute protagonists fool you; this series is deeply unsettling, and facing it with a friend might be the only comfort you get.
4. Slitterhead
- Developer: Bokeh Game Studio
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S (PC)
- Release Window: TBC (Likely late 2024/early 2025)
When Keiichiro Toyama, the creator of the original Silent Hill, announces a new horror IP, you pay attention. Slitterhead is not subtle psychological horror; it is aggressive, grotesque, body-horror action.
Set in a dense, neon-lit Asian city, the game features monstrous creatures that disguise themselves as humans before their heads split open to reveal horrifying appendages. The gameplay looks frantic, involving melee combat and a unique mechanic where the player seems to possess different human bodies to keep fighting. It looks weird, chaotic, and wonderfully disgusting.
5. Still Wakes the Deep
- Developer: The Chinese Room
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S (PC, Game Pass day one)
- Release Date: June 18, 2024
The Chinese Room are masters of environmental storytelling (Dear Esther, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture), but they also know horror (Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs). Their latest effort returns to the genre with a claustrophobic premise.
Set in 1975, you play as a worker on an oil rig off the coast of Scotland. A catastrophic event strikes, communication is cut off, the rig is sinking into the freezing North Sea, and… something else is on board with you. With no weapons and nowhere to run, this promises to be an intense, narrative-heavy experience focused on isolation and the fear of the unknown deep.
6. The Casting of Frank Stone
- Developer: Supermassive Games
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S (PC)
- Release Window: 2024
This is a fascinating collaboration. It’s a single-player, narrative-driven horror game developed by Supermassive, set within the rich lore of the multiplayer juggernaut Dead by Daylight.
The game takes place in the town of Cedar Hills, a place haunted by the legacy of a brutal killer named Frank Stone. You control a group of young friends whose choices will determine their fate. Expect the classic Supermassive formula—branching paths, life-or-death QTEs, and intense character drama—but with the added layer of the cosmic, Entity-driven horror that DbD fans love.
7. Tormented Souls II
- Developer: Dual Effect
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S (PC)
- Release Window: 2024
The original Tormented Souls was a sleeper hit—a love letter to classic Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark, complete with fixed camera angles, tank controls (optional), and obtuse puzzles. It was janky, but incredibly charming and genuinely scary.
The sequel looks to up the ante significantly. Protagonist Caroline Walker returns, this time searching for a cure for her cursed sister in remote South American communities. The developers are promising a bigger world, more complex puzzles, and a deeper combat system, all while retaining that classic PS1/PS2-era survival horror vibe.
8. A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead
- Developer: Stormind Games
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S (PC)
- Release Window: 2024
Movie tie-in games are usually cursed, but the premise of A Quiet Place is tailor-made for a tension-based horror game. This single-player adventure tells an original story set in the film universe, following a young survivor trying to navigate the apocalypse.
Naturally, the core mechanic is sound. You must scavenge and survive without making a noise, as the indestructible alien creatures hunt entirely by hearing. If the developers can nail audio design and AI behavior, this could be one of the most stressful stealth-horror experiences since Alien: Isolation.
9. Post Trauma
- Developer: Red Soul Games
- Platforms: Consoles TBA (likely PS5/Xbox), PC
- Release Window: 2024
Another title riding the wave of “classic survival horror revival,” Post Trauma looks incredibly promising. It blends the fixed camera angles of old-school Silent Hill with modern graphical fidelity, creating a surreal and unsettling atmosphere.
You play as Roman, a middle-aged train conductor trapped in a panicky reality full of impossible architecture and grotesque monsters. The vibes shown in trailers are immaculate, leaning heavily into psychological distress and dream logic.
10. Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game
- Developer: Teravision Games / IllFonic
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S (PC)
- Release Date: June 4, 2024
Horror doesn’t always have to be serious; sometimes it should just be campy fun. Based on the iconic 80s cult classic movie, this is an asymmetrical multiplayer game (think Dead by Daylight or Friday the 13th).
A team of three Klowns armed with popcorn bazookas and cotton candy cocoons hunt down a team of seven humans trying to escape Crescent Cove. It embraces the absurdity of the source material wholeheartedly. If you’re looking for a horror game to laugh at with friends rather than cower from alone, this is the one.
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