Alan Wake 2 tops list of best Halloween horror games

Until Dawn 2 arrives on PlayStation 5 Jan. 28, 2027

United Press International published its ranking of the five best horror games to play this Halloween on Oct. 30, presenting the picks, in its words, as a way “to experience terror on a new interactive level.”

The outlet wrote that scary video games have existed since the release of 3D Monster Maze in 1982 and have evolved over time to rival the best that Hollywood has to offer. As graphics have improved, UPI said, frightening images seen in films such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Night of the Living Dead have come alive in video games that make scary experiences more real while paying homage to horror films that came before them.

Until Dawn, ranked No. 5 and available on PlayStation and Steam, is an interactive survival game featuring the voice talents and likenesses of Rami Malek and the late Hayden Panettiere. In the game, UPI wrote, “choices that the player makes determine who makes it out alive.” The outlet described the title as a “send-up of teen slasher films” in which eight teenagers, controlled by the player at various times, fight to survive the night against a crazed killer and supernatural elements while staying in a cabin in the snowy, deserted mountains of Canada. UPI wrote that the game “plays out like horror films such as Halloween or Friday the 13th,” making it a fit for the Halloween season. A remake with improved graphics was released in 2024, and UPI noted that a sequel, Until Dawn 2, is coming to PlayStation 5 on January 28, 2027.

Telltale’s The Walking Dead Season 1, ranked No. 4 and available on PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, and Nintendo Switch, is an interactive adventure based on Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead comic book series. UPI called it a “living and breathing visual novel” that follows main character Lee and 8-year-old Clementine, whom he has taken upon himself to protect. While not the most frightening or scary game on the list, the outlet wrote, it features “plenty of moments of dread and despair” as players attempt to navigate a world overtaken by zombies. It “leaves players on the edge of their seats,” UPI wrote, and the wrong decision can lead to a character’s death. Originally released in 2012 before receiving a graphical update in 2019, the game is, UPI wrote, “one of the greatest and most heartbreaking zombie video games ever made.”

Dead Space, ranked No. 3 and available on PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam, is an eerie, sometimes claustrophobic venture into an abandoned space station where danger lurks around every corner, in much the same vein as classic sci-fi horror film Alien. UPI described the game as horrifying, gory, and filled with jump scares. Trapped in deep space where no one can hear you scream, main protagonist Isaac Clarke must fight the abandoned station’s deranged crew, transformed into horrible monsters by an ancient, alien artifact discovered on a distant planet, while searching for his girlfriend — a mission that, the outlet wrote, “starts to affect his psyche.” The original Dead Space was released in 2008, with a remake arriving in 2023.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, available on PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, and Nintendo Switch, took the No. 2 spot. UPI described Resident Evil as the most recognizable horror franchise in gaming and wrote that the series “returned in 2017 with a vengeance,” going back to its roots with an adventure set on a derelict plantation in the swamps of Louisiana owned by the crazed Baker family. The outlet singled out the game’s switch to a first-person perspective, placing players in the role of protagonist Ethan, who must fight mutated zombies and the seemingly immortal Bakers as he uncovers a dark and sinister plot. The shift, UPI wrote, allows the game to “scare players in new ways” as every step down a narrow corridor or encounter with a zombie feels more terrifying than ever.

Alan Wake 2, available on PlayStation, Xbox, and the Epic Games Store, took the No. 1 spot. UPI called Remedy Entertainment’s 2023 sequel “one of the greatest survival horror games of all time,” noting that the seemingly dormant series returned with a game in which players take control of Alan Wake, a troubled novelist trapped in a nightmare version of New York City who is trying to re-enter the real world, and of Saga Anderson, an FBI agent investigating grisly murders in the Pacific Northwest with connections to Wake’s predicament.

Players who have not experienced the first game, from 2010, need not worry, UPI wrote, because Alan Wake 2 “eases gamers in with its intriguing and suspenseful plot.” The outlet wrote that what puts the game among the best in the genre is how it weaves its interwoven story with unique gameplay mechanics, including Saga’s mind palace, where players piece together the evidence they have collected in order to solve the murders, and moments in which the titular author navigates the hellish version of New York while dealing with enemies that appear as shadows and can strike at any time. UPI wrote that the game blends live-action cut scenes and surreal imagery to deliver a mind-bending experience that “brings together the worlds of film and video games.”