7 scariest horror games to play in 2025

The best horror games to play in 2025 can give you the most bone-chilling experiences with their brutal gameplay and psychologically disturbing storylines. While some of these titles rely on jump scares and horrific scenery to make you feel uncomfortable, others do so by featuring a dark and gritty atmosphere.

With hundreds of such titles available on the marketplace, finding the truly haunting ones can be challenging when many such games fail to make you genuinely scared. As such, here are seven of the scariest horror games to play in 2025 that will continue giving you nightmares well after you finish them.

Note: This list is subjective and reflects the writer’s personal opinion. The entries presented here are not ranked in any order.

---

Best horror games to play in 2025

1) Silent Hill 2 Remake

Silent Hill 2 remake is one of the best horror games to play in 2025 (Image via Konami)

• Release Date: October 8, 2024
• Platforms: Windows, PS5

Silent Hill 2 is often regarded as one of the best horror games ever made. The game’s popularity stems from the haunting story of protagonist James Sunderland, who decided to explore the dreary town of Silent Hills after he received a letter from his dead wife. What follows next is the descent of a traumatized man into depravity.

Silent Hill 2 Remake was praised by fans and critics for preserving the atmosphere of the original 2001 PS2 classic. Moreover, the weighty melee combat and gunplay have been improved to bring them up to modern standards. Overall, this is among the best horror games to play in 2025 while waiting for Silent Hill f for its haunting atmosphere and tragic storyline.

---

2) Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

• Release Date: January 24, 2017
• Platforms: Windows, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, iOS, iPadOS, macOS

Ever since the Resident Evil 9: Requiem release date was announced at Summer Game Fest 2025, playing Resident Evil 7 should be on your to-do list if you are a fan of the series. While Resident Evil 4 is undoubtedly the most famous game of this franchise, Biohazard was the first in the series to amp up the horror by shifting the gameplay from a third-person view to a first-person POV.

This change made the game’s unsettling atmosphere creep up on you better than before, with every encounter with the Baker family feeling like a tense life-and-death situation. Overall, this is among the spookiest horror games to play in 2025 if you enjoy (or dread) horror more than action.

---

3) Alien: Isolation

Xenomorphs in Alien: Isolation make you fear every dark room (Image via SEGA)

• Release Date: October 7, 2014
• Platforms: Windows, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS, macOS

Ridley Scott’s Alien introduced the terrific Xenomorphs as a deadly force to be reckoned with. They feature a huge exoskeleton that spews acid and love to bury eggs in your abdomen. This interpretation of aliens soon became one of the most horrific in pop culture.

Now imagine that you are trapped in a dark and derelict spaceship with a Xenomorph who can kill you in one hit. This is exactly what Alien: Isolation is — a game where you constantly escape from a singular entity using all the tools you have at your disposal.

Being among the best horror games to play in 2025, this game will constantly make you think twice about accidentally bumping into the Xenomorph in the dark. Now is the best time to play this game since the Alien: Earth web series will soon be released on August 12, 2025.

---

4) Dead Space Remake

Dead Space Remake is hauntingly gorgeous (Image via Electronic Arts)

• Release Date: January 27, 2023
• Platforms: Windows, PS5, Xbox Series X/S

The original Dead Space from 2008, like our first entry, is also widely regarded as one of the best horror games ever made. Set in a dilapidated mining spaceship called the USG Ishimura in 2058, you play as engineer Isaac Clark. You must use mining tools to fight and escape from extraterrestrial Necromorphs as they rip and tear everyone in the ship.

While this game has enough action to keep you entertained between jump scares, it’s Clark’s growing psychosis that poses a real threat since you will often hallucinate corpses, guts, and gore everywhere. Moreover, this game probably has the best combat of any horror game, featuring the bloody dismemberment system where you can slice the limbs of Necromorphs one at a time to kill them.

If you wish to experience a horror game that relies on expertly crafted jump scares and an explorable haunted spaceship with no HUD, you must play Dead Space Remake, since it has better graphics and enhanced gameplay.

---

5) The Outlast Trials

• Release Date: March 5, 2024
• Platforms: Windows, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

Set in 1959 during the Cold War, The Outlast Trials is a great way to transform a single-player game into a co-op campaign. You play as a Reagent, where you must undergo "Initiation Trials” to destroy your public and private records in several trials. You get chased by psychotic failed experiments known as the “Experimental Population.”

While many might argue that The Outlast and The Outlast 2 are the best in this franchise, this game is by far one of the best online co-op horror games to play in 2025, inspired by titles like Dead by Daylight.

Every trial in this game features haunting places you must explore while being chased by gruesome enemies that can terrify even the most battle-hardened veterans. Overall, this is one of the best horror games to play in 2025 with friends.

---

6) Little Nightmares 1 & 2

Little Nightmares 3 is coming soon to be among the best horror games to play in 2025 (Image via Bandai Namco)

• Release Date: February 11, 2021
• Platforms: Windows, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch

Since Little Nightmares 3's release date inches closer each day, now is a great time to experience two of the best adventure-horror games ever made — Little Nightmares and its sequel. The first game follows the story of Six, who must escape the Maw, a monster-infested iron vessel. The second game sees him team up with Mono to explore the horrific Pale City and uncover its darkest secrets.

The gameplay of both these games is very simple — you simply use your wits to solve puzzles and clear platforming sequences to escape from all forms of monstrosity. Since there is no combat, you must rely on stealth to make it out alive.

If you love platforming horror games like Limbo and Inside, these two horror games to play in 2025 are necessary before Little Nightmares 3 comes out a few months later.

---

7) Alan Wake 2

• Release Date: October 27, 2023
• Platforms: Windows, PS5, Xbox Series X/S

Alan Wake 2 was a surprising release since no one expected 2010’s Alan Wake to get a sequel. While everyone was initially skeptical of its release, the title subverted all expectations, making it among the best horror games to play in 2025.

The story takes place 13 years after the previous game, following the life of novelist Alan Wake as he’s trapped in an alternate dark dimension. As such, you must use another playable character — FBI agent Saga Anderson.

This title features a cinematic, dark, twisted story with realistic gunplay that makes you fear everything that comes next.

For more gaming news and guides, check out these articles:

• 7 best free games on PC you should play right now (July 2025)
• Top 5 games releasing in July 2025
• 7 best action RPGs to play in 2025
• 5 best open-world crime games to play while waiting for Mafia: The Old Country
• 7 best underrated RPGs that you need to try out in 2025
• 5 best JRPGs that do not feature turn-based combat