The Best PS4 Games For an Ultra Scary Halloween

Ah, Halloween…what dedicated, self-respecting gamer doesn’t love this holiday, eh?  Why not check our 2015 PS4 Halloween themed games guide? While you might think that the PlayStation 4 is still too young to have any decent (and bone-chillingly scary) games available for it, the exact opposite is actually true.  Yes, there are a number of terrifying titles currently out which would make for great Halloween entertainment; some will likely leave an indelible mark on you.  Anyway, you’ve been warned, here they are, presented in no particular order…

The Evil Within

Currently (as of the time that this was written – October 4^th, 2014), “The Evil Within” is scheduled to be released pre-Halloween (October 14^th – 16^th) this year.  For those unaware as to what it’s all about, you only need to know that it appears to be equal parts rollercoaster ride, horror funhouse and is being spearheaded by the mastermind behind the Resident Evil series, Shinji Mikami.  Let’s be honest here, all the details about should be enough to get your blood pumping, but then again, if you’ve even glanced at any of the available gameplay footage or teaser / trailers then you’d already know that this is one horror game for the PS4 which should be on your pre-order list.

Daylight

Although it has received quite a lot of negative publicity, rest assured Zombie Studios’ “Daylight” is definitely a good Halloween-centric selection.  First off, all the elements are there – the dark, scary passageways, jump scares galore, completely spooky ambience and relentless demonic entities which chase you around freaking you out.  Oh yeah, did we mention that this game also utilizes procedural generation?  In other words, subsequently playthroughs will feature different map layouts.  Even if you don’t get into the title’s general concept the prospect of picking up a game which allows for variation like this is definitely a major plus (i.e. – you’ll be able to load it up for a fright next Halloween as well, with entirely fresh maps, hint, hint).

Outlast (including additional “Whistleblower” DLC)

To put it bluntly, of all the titles on this list, “Outlast” should be your immediate go-to game, assuming you haven’t already played through it multiple times, that is.  Nearly every aspect is spot on here, from the graphics, gameplay, story, etc.  Developer Red Barrels just really nailed things with this one, there’s not much else to say.  It should be obvious of course that this game is pretty scary, even to the jaded gamer who things they’ve seen it all.  Roaming around a large, derelict insane asylum on a mysterious hunch only to discover that it’s not so abandoned after all…yeah, what could be more thrilling?  Even better, assuming you make it through the original game / episode intact, you can load up the DLC, Outlast: Whistleblower, which takes place both before and after the main plotline featured in the main game’s story.

Alien: Isolation

You don’t have to be a big fan of Ridley Scott’s “Alien” movie franchise to get into The Creative Assembly’s “Alien: Isolation”, but it certainly helps.  The game itself is a dead-on send off of various elements of the aforementioned film series, but with a whole new original story instead of some lame rehashing.  Simply put, they seemed to have nailed down the classic survival horror feel of helplessness and dread with this one, the fact that it relies exclusively on stealth and evasion mechanics in lieu of any type of combat is perhaps one of its more notable features.  Because of this the game ends up feeling much more alive and threatening that it might otherwise.  The AI of the game’s main enemy character, a lone Xenomorph actually tracks you via sight, sound and smell and as you move forward it actually appears to “learn”, thus making it harder for you to avoid being killed and so forth.  It’s scheduled for an October 7^th, 2014 release, so be sure to look for it in stores this holiday.

…Worth a quick mention:

The game “Pure Chess”® has some Halloween Chess Set add-ons available for PS4 which you might want to check out if you own the game and would like to spruce it up a bit for the late October festivities.

A look to the future

It should also come as no surprise that there are plenty of excellently scary titles headed our way in the near future.   Naturally, a lot of the big heavy-hitters which will probably end up dropping next year (to lots of public acclaim, of course), so be on the lookout….  Some of the more noteworthy entries include games such as:

• DayZ
• Dying Light
• H1Z1
• SOMA
• The Resident Evil 1 HD: Remaster
• Home: A Unique Horror Adventure
• Silent Hills
• Call of Cthulhu
• Dead Island 2
• Forgotten Memories
• Human Element
• …and more

As always, happy gaming and have a spooktacular Halloween.