5 best Xbox Game Pass horror games for Halloween 2023

❘ Updated: 2023-10-24T14:11:26

Rose Engine/Microsoft

If you want to get into the Halloween spirit this spooky season but you’ve got a budget when it comes to new games, there are some fantastic horror games available on Xbox Game Pass this year. Here are 5 great scary titles to play in Xbox Game Pass in 2023.

With Halloween fast approaching, it’s the perfect time of year for horror games, and for Xbox Game Pass subscribers there are some great options on the streaming service. If you want to immersive yourself in a scary gaming experience but don’t want to part ways with your cash, Game Pass has got you covered with a variety of spooky titles.

With so much choice on Game Pass however, it can be difficult to browse through everything and figure out what the best games on offer are, especially when you’re focused on a specific genre! So, we’re here to help with our curated very best horror games on Xbox Game Pass in 2023.

Without further ado, here are 5 great horror games you can play on Xbox Game Pass this Halloween.

Dead Space Remake

The highly praised Dead Space Remake will be arriving on Xbox Game Pass on October 26, 2023, and if you haven’t played this current-gen version of the classic survival game then this Halloween is the perfect time to dive in.

Set on a mining spaceship overrun by deadly creatures known as Necromorphs, you step into the shoes of engineer Isaac Clarke as he has to navigate the ship, and fight off the monsters all while grappling with his growing state of psychosis. The result of this setup is a truly intense and chilling experience that has cemented Dead Space as a classic of the genre.

With an average playtime of 11 – 12 hours, you could easily binge through this remake in a few spooky nights. Although we’d recommend diving back in to experience the multiple endings!

The Evil Within 2

The Evil Within 2 is such a standout within its genre that it also made our list of must-play survival horror games across every platform, and for good reason. While the first Evil Within is also on Game Pass (and worth playing in its own right), its sequel is far superior both in gameplay and in how the scares are delivered.

Where an open world could take away from the horror aspects of a game if implemented poorly, The Evil Within 2 uses this structure to great effect. When playing on harder difficulties, staying alive and topped up on resources is a serious challenge while traversing the shattered and constantly shifting landscape in which this game takes place.

The Evil Within 2 is a pretty lengthy adventure filled with horrific abominations, an immensely satisfying sense of progression, and a variety of mind-bending locales. If you’re looking for one of the best survival horror experiences of the last decade, look no further than The Evil Within 2.

Signalis

At a time when horror games like the Dead Space remake and Resident Evil remakes are dead set on modernizing classic horror games, Signalis is a game that revels in the past. It’s a love letter to the long-gone era of blocky, low-poly PS1 horror games like the original Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Those familiar with Resident Evil’s original tank controls will feel right at home with Signalis.

Cryptic puzzles, immersive sound design, and a retro-future aesthetic akin to the Alien franchise give Signalis an immaculately crafted and deeply unsettling atmosphere despite the game’s simple graphic style. Not to mention, it’s a day 1 Game Pass release that came out on October 27, 2022, just in time for Halloween.

For those who enjoy horror classics in both film and video games, Signalis is a must-play indie gem.

Alien: Isolation

Speaking of Alien, the best and most immersive Alien game ever created is also on Game Pass. Despite coming out all the way back in 2014, Alien: Isolation holds up incredibly well in the modern day on both Xbox and PC. For fans of this franchise, there are few better ways to experience it than Alien: Isolation. This game also made our list for best survival horror games alongside The Evil Within 2.

While there are some run-and-hide style games on Game Pass like the Amensia series, Alien: Isolation has a much higher level of interaction.

You eventually gain tools that allow you to fend off whatever threats come your way, but not tools that are powerful enough to stave off that sense of danger and impending doom that comes with getting stalked by a xenomorph. It’s undoubtedly one of, if not the scariest game on Game Pass.

Scorn

Scorn is a very difficult game to describe in conventional terms, as it feels like it was made to deliver an experience more so than to be a traditional video game. It’s a very tense, disgusting, grimy horror game with a great deal of puzzles to solve and mysteries to uncover.

The way that the world of Scorn is presented, both from a graphical and artistic standpoint, is near unrivaled in both quality and originality.

With breathtaking art direction, jaw-dropping vistas, and some really gross body horror, Scorn is a very memorable experience for all the right reasons.

Not to mention, Scorn is a fairly short venture that can be completed in around 4-5 hours. With the title being on Game Pass, it’s worth giving a shot.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

When it was released, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice was a game that took critics and audiences by surprise. It was a departure from the character action games that developer Ninja Theory was known for, and instead set out to give a deeply personal and harrowing look into the mind of Senua, a celtic warrior suffering from severe psychosis.

Ninja Theory went to great lengths in order to create an accurate depiction of psychosis in-game by working directly with neuroscientists, and the fruits of their labor are unlike any other game. The voice is a constant. Sometimes it helps you and lets you know where enemies are attacking from. Other times, it purposely misleads you and plays tricks on you.

If you’ve got the itch to play a melee action game this Halloween season, Hellblade will scratch that itch while providing a fully realized and immersive horror experience.

These are the absolute best horror experiences you can have on Game Pass right now. Games don’t stay on Game Pass forever, so make sure to play these spooky titles while you still can.

For more game recommendations, Game Pass or otherwise, check out some of our other lists: