The days are getting shorter, the leaves are falling, and there are aisles upon aisles of candy on display in every grocery store. You know what that means: Spooky season is finally here! The Epic Games Store has no shortage of new and classic horror games to suit every mood, whether you’re more into cosmic nightmares, blood and guts, jump scares, or atmospheric horror.

If you’re not sure where to start, let this list be your guide through 31 days of Halloween horrors. Put on your costume, grab your pillowcase, and let’s get started.
 

The best horror games for creeping dread

SILENT HILL 2

For over 25 years, SILENT HILL 2 has been regarded as one of the scariest games of all time, and it’s not hard to see why. A largely abandoned town shrouded in fog? Check. Limited resources? Check. The most unhinged nurses you’ve ever seen? Double check. Thanks to a 2024 remake, gamers can enjoy a modernized version of the classic, though we’re not sure if “enjoy” is the right synonym for “get eviscerated by Pyramid Head.” SILENT HILL 2 balances quiet exploration and puzzle-solving with horrific enemies and brutal murders, resulting in one of the most atmospheric horror games ever.

Alien: Isolation

There are few things scarier than knowing Pyramid Head is out there somewhere looking for you…but a Xenomorph comes close. Alien: Isolation continues the story of the original Alien film trilogy, following Ellen Ripley’s daughter Amanda onto a space station as she tries to solve the mystery of her mother’s disappearance. Naturally, the situation soon turns hostile, and among the game’s enemies is an unkillable alien creature that tends to pop up at inopportune moments. Surviving requires stealth and quick wits, recreating the tense atmosphere of the original Alien. When will this family learn to stop going into space?
 

The best horror games for jump scares

Outlast

Boo! Few things say “horror” more than a sudden scare popping out of nowhere. If you’re a fan of the adrenaline rush that comes with being jolted out of your comfort zone, Outlast and Outlast 2 are sure to get your blood pressure rising. The first game in the survival horror series follows a freelance journalist in an abandoned psychiatric hospital, a setting that’s just begging for scares. The sequel takes its cameraman protagonist to a delirious cult just outside of the Grand Canyon. What makes the jump scares in the first two Outlast games particularly chilling is that the player is armed only with a video camera, giving them no way to defend themselves from the horrors they encounter.

Alan Wake 2

While the first Alan Wake game certainly had its share of scary moments, the sequel Alan Wake 2 takes a hard turn straight into horror. It’s got a little bit of everything: a chilling atmosphere, otherworldly terrors, horrifying creatures. But it’s Alan Wake 2’s jump scares that will really stick with you. As the title character fights to free himself from his own personal hell, newcomer Saga Anderson works to uncover the truth of Alan’s disappearance and figure out what the heck is going on in Cauldron Lake. Spoiler: It’s not a friendly picnic.
 

The best cosmic horror games

Call of Cthulhu

Cosmic horror is also known as Lovecraftian horror, so it makes sense that the author’s most famous creation is front and center in this category. Call of Cthulhu brings otherworldly madness to Darkwater, a Boston-area island town. Set in the 1920s, protagonist and private investigator Edward Pierce arrives in Darkwater to solve the mystery of a local family’s deaths. Naturally, he’s plagued by his own nightmares as well. The further he goes down the rabbit hole, the weirder things get. Keeping Pierce’s sanity intact directly impacts the game’s ending, so whether or not he ends up summoning the Great Old One is up to the player.

The Sinking City

In a similar vein, The Sinking City is another Lovecraft-inspired horror title set in 1920s Massachusetts. What sets it apart is the fact that, as the title suggests, the setting of Oakmont is largely flooded with monster-infested waters. This requires the player to use boats to traverse the city’s districts while fighting otherworldly foes and dealing with constant hallucinations. Meanwhile, the Great Old Ones are plotting to purge humanity—because what else would they do in their spare time?
 

The best horror games for blood and guts

Alice: Madness Returns

If you’d rather face your twisted enemies head-on than resort to stealth (or running away in terror), Alice: Madness Returns is a bloody satisfying change of pace. Armed with the Vorpal Blade, which slices Wonderland’s twisted denizens into ribbons, this version of Alice is most definitely not living in a fairy tale. Instead, she’s an orphan haunted by memories of her dead family and finds herself once again falling down the rabbit hole. Chilling imagery mixed with gory hack-and-slash fighting makes this a memorably spooky adventure, even if it’s almost certainly not what Lewis Carroll had in mind.

The Evil Within

You only need to hear “Directed by Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami” to know The Evil Within and its sequel The Evil Within 2 are going to be violent. Chainsaw-wielding enemies, spilled entrails, children with missing faces, and literal waves of blood are just a few of the horrors to be found in this Tango Gameworks series.
 

The best multiplayer horror games

Dead Island 2

There’s no shame in being afraid to face these horrors alone. If you’d rather experience the scares with a friend or two, hop into Dead Island 2’s co-op mode, grab a melee weapon, and mow down zombies throughout the streets of an infected Los Angeles. 

Dead by Daylight

You could also load up Dead by Daylight’s four-on-one multiplayer mode and take down some of the most notorious fictional killers in history. The most terrifying part is realizing that your party has abandoned you right as you come face-to-face with Michael Myers or Ghost Face.
 

The best horror games for tough choices

Until Dawn

In Until Dawn, the player's choices ultimately decide who lives and who dies, making it all the more terrifying. The story follows a group of friends trapped in a mountain lodge in winter. When everything goes wrong, you'll be forced to make split-second choices that often have horrific consequences. Good luck getting your entire clique out of there alive!

Heavy Rain

Heavy Rain is another game that puts characters' fates in your hands. Developed by Quantic Dream, it's a tense psychological thriller about a father’s search for his missing child. One wrong move could lead to a tragic outcome, so choose carefully.

The Walking Dead

Speaking of cruel choices, Telltale’s The Walking Dead series is built on them. The narrative adventure expands on Robert Kirkman’s zombie apocalypse with a new cast of characters who are constantly forced to make the hardest decisions of their lives. While not a traditional horror game, it’s certainly a heartbreaking one, and the choices you make will haunt you until you’ve finished Clementine’s story.

Check out the Epic Games Store for even more games—horror and otherwise—and stay tuned to the Epic Games Store news page for more spooky stories all month long.