The 8 most anticipated horror games for 2024

Survival horror, unspeakable evil, creepy children and Pyramid Head. We like our halloween terror all year round.

It’s halloween. You’ve spent the weekend wearing greasy black and white makeup that won’t wash off. You laughed at that tasteless costume your friend wore that will get him cancelled if those pics end up on social media. You’ve watched Halloween 3: Season of the Witch because it’s the best one. And you’ve been left a little jittery playing weird horror thriller Alan Wake 2.

But just as eggnog isn’t only a Christmas drink, horror isn’t just for halloween. We like the bejesus scared out of us on a regular basis, exorcising our own existential dread through cheap jump scares. Looking forward to next year, because lordy, 2023 has been awful, we can see plenty of escapism and entrails. Here then, are our most anticipated horror games for 2024.

Alone in the Dark

It feels like a return of the old school horror franchise has been on the tarot cards for years. Remember that rumour about David Harbour and Jodie Comer working on a spooky game project a while ago? This is it.

Due on January 16, this new Alone in the Dark is a reimagining of the original 1992 game, with players taking on the role of Edward Carnby or Emily Hartwood, staring at the back of their famous heads as they investigate the secrets of the gothic American south. Will proper Hollywood a-listers manage to add a level of class to this survival horror? We hope so - you can check out the playable prologue on PS5 right now to get you in the mood.

Still Wakes The Deep

We’d forgotten about The Chinese Room’s Still Wakes The Deep until it reappeared last week at the Xbox Partner Showcase, with a trailer finally revealing more of the gameplay. It looks like an atmospheric and claustrophobic shuffle around a dilapidated oil rig, with whispering voices and barely coherent threats helping to ramp up the tension. You’ll be able to get your white knuckles on it early next year, as part of Xbox Game Pass.

Killer Klowns From Outer Space: The Game

Another asymmetrical horror game following in the bloody footsteps of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but this time with a less revered movie property. It’s sure to be trashy and violent, as you play as either the Killer Klowns and their “zany” weapons or the residents of Crescent Cove. It’s developed by the team behind the okay-ish Predator: Hunting Grounds and much better Friday The 13th: The Game, so we’re hoping they’ve perfected their hunt or be hunted craft.

Little Nightmares 3

The Little Nightmares series has grown into a creepy combo of horror, puzzles and platforming, with publisher Namco Bandai encouraging it to grow into its own thing. Little Nightmares 3 changes developer from Tarsier Studios to Supermassive Games, which sounds like a great move after their work on Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures Anthology. The introduction of two-player online play is very welcome, so we have high hopes for our return to the very weird world of The Nowhere.

Paranormal Tales

We don’t know a lot about Paranormal Tales, but what we have seen is very interesting. And spooky. Playing through found footage on mobile phones, bodycams, and video cameras, players relive the experience of victims haunted by what looks like a very Blair Witch inspired entity. All I know is, if you find a house with a single rocking chair in it, you should probably run away and never come back.

ILL

ILL promises body horror, gore, tendrils and dismemberment. We’re getting Lovecraft meets Resident Evil vibes from early footage, and that’s never a bad thing. Developer Team Clout is promising dynamic behaviour from enemies that feel pain, react to your actions and events, and generally become unpredictable foes. Coupled with a crafting system and weapons that malfunction, this survival horror could be a surprise hit with horror aficionados. 

Slitterhead

Originally due for release this year, we’ve heard little from Slitterhead since it first appeared in 2021. Created by Silent Hill and Forbidden Siren’s Keiichiro Toyama, this new horror title certainly comes from a warped mind with impeccable credentials. The first trailer starts with a young woman’s head splitting open and something freaky crawling out, followed by a city being overrun and someone, presumably our hero, fighting back with a vengeance. Early indications are that this isn’t going to be a plodding survival horror, more of a buckle-up and bring it on kind of experience. We’re here for it.

Silent Hill 2 Remake

There’s a lot going on with Silent Hill, although agonisingly none of it is available just yet. A spin-off 1960s set Silent Hill f has us intrigued, and Silent Hill: Townfall is in development by Observation and Stories Untold team No Code. Oh, and there’s the odd Silent Hill: Ascensions interactive series that debuts this week.

But it’s the Silent Hill 2 Remake that has us salivating like a blood-thirsty hound. Developed by Bloober Team (Layers of Fear, The Medium, Blair Witch), the PS5 remake retells the story of James Sunderland, as he seeks out his supposedly dead wife. The original is rightly considered a survival horror classic, influenced by David Lynch, Jacob’s Ladder and the art of Francis Bacon, exploring psychological terror, sexual frustration and grief. It also introduced us to the iconic Pyramid Head, possibly one of the most terrifying enemies to ever shuffle across your screen. 

If you're after more games to look forward to, here's every game releasing in 2024 and when you can play them.