PlayStation has brought us some of the best games ever. best horror games For five generations. The selection of terrifying tales is so wide that it’s tough narrowing down what the scariest games on PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, and PS5 are. Our picks below all had us sleeping with the lights on at one point, and we’d love to hear your choices in the comments below.
Silent Hill is the most frightening PS1 game
The fifth generation consoles brought out video game horror, and the PS1 has a plethora of experiences that are sure to scare off unsuspecting gamers. Konami’s Silent Hill remains chilling to this day, but upon its 1999 release, it delivered an unprecedented psychological horror experience.
Harry Mason’s search for his lost daughter continues to be a masterwork of lighting and sound. Dark corridors and obscure camera angles disorient and confuse players. The screeching sound of a broken radio crescendos signals the arrival of the next creepy creature. It’s a game that is still worth playing today, though it’s challenging to get ahold of since Sony changed how the PS3 Store works last year.
Runner-up: Planet Laika
There’s a point where the surreal and bizarre blend to become a unique form of scary. Planet Laika, a story about an astronaut team sent to investigate problems at a Martian colony, is an example of this. The weird part is that all the “humans” have dog heads because of some war against the Martians. Also, the main character, Laika, has Dissociative Identity Disorder, and you’ll have to use their three personalities, Ernest, Yolanda, and Spacer, to solve puzzles and try to survive the absolute wackiness you’ll encounter in this game.
Planet Laika is just one of many imaginative and unique PS1 games that have never been released outside of Japan. A team of passionate fans created an English patch earlier this year.
Silent Hill 4: The Room is the most terrifying PS2 game
Silent Hill 4: The Room deviated from the formula seen in the first three by making a single room the game’s focal point. Sure, you’ll visit quite a few locations through the strange hole in your bathroom, but Henry’s apartment is the beating heart of this game. Team Silent deserves credit for managing to keep this small space so unsettling over many hours.
Runner-up: Resident Evil Outbreak (and File #2)
It’s strange that Capcom is struggling to make a decent Resident Evil multiplayer game because it got it right way back in 2004 with Resident Evil Outbreak. The classic RE experience was perfectly translated into a multiplayer environment that can be enjoyed by up to four players with File #2, the standalone expansion.
Outbreak is exciting because everyone has the freedom to do what they wish. You can group up, or each player can go it alone, and you’re not forced to work together. Every playthrough will be different. Zombies might be the least of your worries, if one of them is only after their own survival.
Dead Space: The Most Scariest PS3 Game
We don’t have long to wait for the Dead Space remake, but the original is still worth playing. It’s the perfect blend of action and puzzle-solving and is one of the few games that manages to be scary while still giving the player plenty of tools to defend themselves.
The Evil Within is the Runner-up
The Evil Within, though it was directed by Resident Evil creator Shinji Miami, is more like Silent Hill. The asylum’s unreal world can be oppressive and foreboding. It also has formidable enemies, which can make it feel helpless. This was one of the PS3’s swansongs and gave a great taste of survival horror during a time that the genre had an identity crisis.
Scariest PS4 Game
The Playable Teaser for Silent Hills has scarier content than most full-games. It is a story about the murder by her husband of a pregnant woman. The narrative unfolds in a surreal ride through the same hall over and over.
Konami delisted P.T. after it canceled Silent Hills. You can redownload it if you’ve already downloaded it. Otherwise, you’ll have to experience it through YouTube or a fan remake.
Runner-up : The Dark Pictures Anthology : Man of Medan
While the Dark Pictures Anthology is a mixed bag of horror stories, the first one was horror gold. Exploring the abandoned freighter, Man of Medan, you’ll find many a ghastly sight, and no character is safe from the reaper. This horror game offers more replayability than many other horror games due to the multitude of possible story paths. You can even play the spooks multiplayer with your loved ones.
Scariest PS5 game
P.T. Visage is one of many spiritual successors to P.T. It also borrows cues form Eternal Darkness’ sanity-meter. The game’s main rule is to avoid the shadows. You can lose your sanity if you stay too long in the darkness. This could lead to supernatural events. If you lose too much sanity, an entity might gain enough power and manifest to kill you. It’s a constant fight to replace light bulbs and find lighters and candles to keep the darkness at bay.
Runner-up: Observer: System Redux
The thing that makes Observer so chilling isn’t the murders you’re investigating but the environment itself. Krakow, Poland in 2084 is a very dark place. You’ll find sad stories inside the abandoned tenement buildings you explore. Body horror abounds here, and you’ll feel a constant dread as you trudge from apartment to apartment, trying to find your missing son.
