Horror fans have seen the genre across movies, shows, and video games. Recently, jump scares and monsters reached a new level of dread. And if you’ve got the headset and the PlayStation, you’re also ready to see it.
Selecting the Best PSVR Horror Titles
The library of PSVR games is not as extensive as you’d think. Moreover, the range of horror titles is short, but some easily stand above the others. We can all recognize horror titles, and it’s even easier to identify these games on VR. The genre is actively looking to scare us. That may be through jump scares, slow-burn mysteries, environmental dread, unforeseen dangers, and horrible monsters like zombies and werewolves. The titles we chose made noise. They gather positive scores from both the audience and the critics. And at the top of the list, you may find some that can encourage people to buy VR gear and try the platform for the first time. Besides that, we’re considering how smooth these games feel on VR. The mechanics, gameplay, and story must combine and deliver a fluid experience. VR shouldn’t feel like a hindrance, a mechanical nuisance. Rather, it should be a way to make you feel closer to the story. And if we’re talking about horror, VR can “help” you feel the hazard as a personal matter.
Best PSVR Horror Titles
Resident Evil 4 VR
What are you buying? Is it Resident Evil VR? If that’s so, prepare to play perhaps the best survival horror game in the industry. The title has jumped towards every platform, so it was only a matter of time until it reached PSVR. This is a port where you play in first-person via the VR headset. That is a huge change, though: the original game has an over-the-shoulder perspective. Other changes include moving and shooting simultaneously, using a knife and grenades off-hand, and seeing your ammo and health on a wristwatch. Everything else stays the same. So, once again, you can play Leon Kennedy in search of the president’s daughter in 2004. The linear puzzle/action adventure takes you to a rural village in Spain, where you find a spread of a malicious virus across the Los Illuminados cult.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard VR
Resident Evil 7 changed the series’ formula to deliver a first-person horror perspective. Also, the entire setting is claustrophobic, as it happens around a haunted mansion with little action and plenty of puzzles. It’s a genuinely refined and scary game and a high-budget experience for VR. However, it doesn’t take full advantage of VR controllers, as you still play with the game-pad. Still, bringing the story to life via the headset is a memorable experience. You play as Ethan Winters, a civilian on a quest to find his wife. The enemy is the Baker family alongside humanoid creatures, the “Molded.” Combat relies on blocking attacks, shooting, and attacking in melee. However, most gameplay revolves around hiding, running away, and sneaking past enemies.
The Exorcist: Legion VR
The Exorcist movie franchise is arguably one of the scariest content you can watch. Partly because true events inspire it, the horrors it conveys happened to someone. The video-game adaptation is horrible, although the first-person VR port tones down the mechanics. The story doesn’t take any chances, though, and it’s as good as the best movies in the saga. You play as an investigator, and your research is a series of strange events that started in a chapel. It’s an episodic plot full of tension, dread, and blockbuster horror. There’s nothing off the table here: even mannequin dolls will chill your bones.
Blair Witch
The Blair game follows a story two years after the events of the 1999 film. So, in-game, the year is 1996. The setting opens up a first-person survival exploration game available for VR. As the movie, it follows an untrained civilian, scared and alone in a haunted forest. Also, like the movie, the story mixes gameplay, found footage, and cassettes to convey the story. And through a terrifying atmospheric and sound design, it represents true horror. The gameplay focuses on stealth, but you must use a camera, a flashlight, a cellphone, and your dog Bullet. Your mission is to find a missing nine-year-old boy. And while you’re exploring the area, mysterious shadow creatures will hunt you, whisper in your ears, and pursue you across the trees.
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood
Until Dawn is an interactive horror game, a predecessor to the Dark Anthology series. Rush of Blood is a spin-off, a VR rail shooter featuring a horror-themed roller coaster. The ride is about shooting objects and living enemies. It’s all about the shock, jump scares, and unpredictable dangers. Its arcade nature makes it significantly less scary than the original title. But it’s exciting. Still, you’ll need some decision-making to survive the horror carnival park. As the story continues, the setting grows more intense, forcing you to think faster. The campaign covers seven rollercoasters; you can use various firearms to survive.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice VR Edition
Senua’s Sacrifice is a terrifying action-adventure title. It emulates psychosis through a personal journey where darkness within reflects itself as enemies. And the journey happens in a Viking setting, so fight with slashes, blocks, and dodges. The experience becomes greater in VR. You’ll question your character’s sanity as your own through whispers, voices, visions, and shadows. However, both the VR and non-VR versions happen from a third-person perspective. So, the gameplay is the same as the original game. You explore a linear world through combat, traversal, and puzzle sections. The story is about defeating ancient darkness, sickness in your mind.
The Inpatient
The Inpatient is a prequel to Until Dawn, but it was released various years later. So, it introduces the story in the Blackwood Sanatorium, 1952, 63 years before the original game’s events. Here, you play in a first-person perspective. The setting is dark, like any other mental institution in a horror movie, show, or game. There’s hardly any combat, as the experience revolves around exploring, sneaking, and surviving. The plot follows Jefferson Bragg, a character who woke up in the institution. His memory is weak, and it’s your job to reconstruct your life and the events that lead you to Blackwood.
Here They Lie
Here They Lie is a first-person VR horror thriller with a unique setting. The story delves into the psychological genre, taking you to a surreal world where bizarre evil creatures live. They lurk on every corner, ready to do unspeakable horrors. As an unarmed being, you explore the world’s mystery to understand your origins and nature. The narrative is the focus, so there’s no combat. Instead, you’re to hide, run, sneak, and use your wits to stay alive and find information. The game has no dialogue, though. The animal/humanoid creatures in the world can only grunt and make noises. So, you’ll get the story through archives, clues, screams, blood, and torture.
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
Saints & Sinners is a first-person survival horror VR game within The Walking Dead series and perhaps the best. We chose it because it blends an eerie setting with fluid stealth/combat/exploration mechanics. The title delivers an original story, but you play as Daryl Dixon. The experience relies on stealth and careful attacks. If you’re not careful, entire hordes will consume you. The story is about scavenging items, crafting, and surviving. Still, you can scale, ambush enemies, attack from a distance with bows and throwing weapons, or use firearms. There’s also a physics-based system to control how melee weapons function. All in all, combat feels realistic and similar to the AMC show.
The Walking Dead: Onslaught
Unlike The Walking Dead games by Telltale, Onslaught is not an interactive graphic novel. Instead, it’s a first-person survival horror shooter within the franchise’s universe. You play as an original survivor, struggling in the post-apocalyptic world. You meet characters in the Alexandria community, like Daryl Dixon and Michonne. Alongside your newfound allies, you craft your place in the world. This is a native VR game, so it works with full hand gestures. Actions like aiming, shooter, reloading, and picking up stuff require specific gestures. Then, you play through missions that revolve around scavenging resources in a bizarre world.
The Brookhaven Experiment
The Brookhaven Experiment is a first-person horror shooter game available in VR. The enemies are creatures akin to zombies, and the gameplay is fast-paced and fun. So, the title leans into horror by making you play in lonely, dark, and dangerous corridors and buildings. The sound, atmosphere, and setting design follow the same ideas. The story follows an alternate reality where an experiment ruined humanity. You’re in a post-apocalyptic setting, fighting for bullets, batteries, and survival. So, you use the few tools and weapons you encounter to survive monster waves.
Wraith: The Oblivion- Afterlife
The Oblivion – Afterlife is a VR horror game. It’s an adaptation of 1994’s table-top game Wraith: The Oblivion. So, it’s part of the World of Darkness shared universe, like Vampires – The Masquerade series. Here, you play as a Wratigh who recently died. You’re exploring the Barclay Mansions, slowly uncovering the mystery of the afterlife. So, gameplay revolves around exploration and a few combat segments. Mostly, though, it’s a slow-burn where you interact with the environment to solve puzzles. You also have sharpened senses, which allow you to hear whispers and find other spirits.
Five Nights at Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted
Help Wanted is the ninth entry in Freddy’s saga. It’s available as a VR title and retains past games’ survival horror formula. In other words, the experience is about hiding and escaping areas or letting yourself be captured by murderous animatronics. The plot revolves around the Fazbear Entertainment corporation. They are looking to improve the public image of the animatronic toys. Within the game, an indie game developer, creates a VR experience you get to play. So, the game within the game has forty mini-games, which you can access from a hub. These mini-games recreate past mechanics with 3D environments. Losing any of them results in a jumpscare.
Red Matter
Red Matter is a Sci-Fi horror VR game, You play as Agent Epsilon, and the setting is one of Saturn’s moons, Rhea. Your mission is to explore a “Volgravian” base. It’s part of an alternate universe where Russia won the cold war, and space exploration became normal. The horror comes through the game’s atmospheric design. The gameplay then revolves around puzzle solving and exploration. On the downside, some of the puzzles are not very intuitive. Your guide is your suit’s AI, reminiscent of relevant sci-fi movies such as Space Odyssey and Interstellar. The relationship with your companion grows increasingly tense, and your discoveries unearth off putting dangers.
Dead Secret
Dead Secret is a first-person VR horror mystery game. It debuted for Samsung VR at first and reached the PSVR platform years later. We chose it because it offers a thrilling mystery and simple game mechanics. Here, you play as a reporter. Your job is researching Harris Bullard’s murder. The setting is an isolated farmhouse in Kansas, which is cramped, dense, and full of locked areas. The gameplay revolves around exploration, puzzles, finding keys, and unlocking areas. There’re many clues around the area, but the plot is complicated and full of twists. So, your mission is to find all clues to find the right ending. And if you make a mistake, you’ll suffer a cruel death.
