I’ll take a new horror game any day of the year, but I love it when a studio releases one specifically in October. For a few years now, I’ve been highlighting the new horror games launching every October, and there’s always an exciting handful thanks to the teams that feel as I do; Halloween season just feels so right for sinking into a new horror game.
October 2026 is much like past iterations, with lots of new experiences ready to give you bad dreams. Below, you can check out a calendar of new horror games debuting over the next few weeks, along with highlights from earlier this year that you may have missed. Don’t let the season pass you by. Turn off your lights, throw on a headset, and enjoy.
Earlier 2026 favorites
First, let’s recap some standout horror games you may have overlooked earlier this year. Since it’s horror season, I’d bet many, if not all, of these will be on sale soon.
Destined to be the biggest horror game of the year is Resident Evil Requiem, Capcom’s latest in a series that hasn’t missed in many years. I’m far from the biggest Resident Evil fan in the world, but I also can’t imagine ever skipping out on a new one.
Reanimal was another early one this year, and if you like Little Nightmares, it’s an absolute must-play, coming from the same team that made the first two games in that series.
2026 was finally the year I played Fatal Frame for more than a few minutes, and I ended up loving the remake of Fatal Frame 2. You don’t need to have played the first one to enjoy this one; I can confirm.
Fans of World War Z should check out John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, a first-person zombie shooter built with WWZ’s horde tech but wrapped up in B-movie vibes. I didn’t love it, but it’s good mindless fun if you can catch it on sale.
My favorite zombie game from this year is actually No More Room In Hell 2, which doubles the size of a Left 4 Dead lobby but slows combat way down and makes it harder, giving it all a lovely Romero-movie vibe.
One of my favorites flying under the radar is The Mound: Call of Cthulhu, a co-op horror game that takes the general loop of Lethal Company, but instead of a “friendslop” kind of experience, it sets it in a more detailed (and hauntingly hallucinogenic) forest of monsters.
Silent Hill: Townfall just came out and marks another great entry in a series that seems to be all the way back from the brink of irrelevance.
Halloween is the latest asymmetrical multiplayer horror game from the team behind several others like Predator: Hunting Grounds and Friday the 13th. It’s a great time, though a bit comically janky, like these games tend to be.
I haven’t played them yet, so I can’t recommend them myself, but I’ve also heard good things about The Sinking City 2, The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival, and Love Eternal. I’m going to check them out myself before the month is over.
New horror games for October 2026
With those earlier highlights settled, here’s what else may unsettle you this month.
End of Abyss – October 1
October wastes no time, as End of Abyss launches right when our virtual calendars turn over. Created by former Little Nightmares developers, End of Abyss is an isometric third-person shooter set in a dark sci-fi world where you explore a derelict ship after a disaster. I’ve played demos of it over the past few years, and the vibes have always felt strong.
Play it on PC (exclusive to Epic Games Store), PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Don’t Fret – October 1
Even in a genre as frequently weird as horror, Don’t Fret’s premise is especially odd. In it, you play an anthropomorphized guitar exploring Harmonic Heights, a music school turned hellscape for instruments, apparently. I’m not knocking it. In fact, I’ll surely be playing it. I appreciate the out-there story setup.
Play it on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Hellraiser: Revival – October 8
Clive Barker’s grotesque horror series is the next to get turned into a video game. However, unlike so many others in that space, this is a single-player game. It tells a new story set after the movie but before modern day. Based on the demo I played, it feels like Resident Evil, but with a lot more nudity, which helps it stay true to the series.
Play it on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2.
Silver Pines – October 8
Silver Pines is the first one on this list I have no hands-on experience with, but looking at it suggests it’s like a 2D metroidvania version of Alan Wake. There are shadowy creatures to fight, a Twin Peaks-y town to explore, and mysteries to uncover. I can be pretty picky about which metroidvanias I play, but this one easily makes the cut if it’s going to be so reminiscent of one of my favorite games.
Play it on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, and Switch 2.
Tenebris Somnia – October 16
Only one game on this list will look quite like this. Tenebris Somnia’s unconventional art style combines retro 2D visuals with hard cuts to live-action scenes. Those scenes are so uncanny and bizarre that its small studio had to fend off accusations that it was made with generative AI. In actuality, the team said it’s all been done by skilled human artists. The end result is a style that recalls a method used decades ago, with some eye-catching modern touches, too.
Play it on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2.
Blue Ridge Hunting – October 20
Created by Jade Meadows, a solo developer not even of legal drinking age yet, Blue Ridge Hunting is a co-op horror game where you and your friends gear up and hunt down cryptids in the Appalachia region. In trailers, you can see how it’s inspired by Phasmophobia, with its crew quarters full of gear that you equip before heading out, and my hope is that it can be similarly terrifying.
Play it on PC via Steam Early Access.
Escape from Playtime – October 21
You may not have heard of Poppy Playtime, but I bet your kids and/or younger siblings have. In the vein of Five Nights at Freddy’s, the Playtime series is a dark subversion of kid-centric entertainment. Escape from Playtime is essentially the franchise’s “friendslop” installment, giving players a new way to explore that creepy universe.
Play it on PC via Steam Early Access.
Mimic – October 26
A few years ago, Alien Earth showrunner Noah Hawley told me how, in his mind, the Alien franchise has always been about the horror of our alien past and our robotic future flanking humanity from both sides. Mimic reminds me of that dichotomy. In this asymmetrical social-deduction game for up to 10 players, you’ll need to evade both a killer android and a shape-shifting (and player-controlled) alien. Think Among Us but in first-person and with a lot more blood.
Play it on PC via Steam Early Access.
Night Plane – October 26
Job sims and horror have been attached at the hip for years now. I’m going to ignore the broader implications this trend has on society and just focus on Night Plane, a game where you work as a flight attendant and try to keep shape-shifting monsters left behind in the terminal. If you like the sound of that, the same studio released the similar Night Bus in 2024.
Play it on PC.
Remothered: Red Nun’s Legacy – October 27
As we await this third installment in the Remothered series, I hope it’s the one I fully immerse myself in. Past games in the third-person stealth-horror series have actually unsettled me, something that isn’t very common after 30+ years of genre desensitization, but some janky bits in each have left me wanting. If Red Nun’s Legacy can be the one to put it all together, I’ll be thrilled to have it mess me up in a way the others only hinted at.
Play it on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. Switch 2 version releases on December 3.
Spooky Ride – October 29
Spooky Ride is least likely to haunt you of all those mentioned here, but only because it’s not really trying to. It’s another co-op game akin to Content Warning or REPO, but in this one, you and your pals are biking a baby Bigfoot back to their home, while trying not to upset them along the way. It looks like a great gateway horror experience if you want something horror-flavored but nothing too upsetting.
Play it on PC.
That’s everything in this year’s installment of GameSpot’s horror calendar, though I dare say that’s plenty anyway. Happy hauntings!
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