The Best Video Games Based on Horror Movies, Ranked

Game console: Atari 2600

Not only was Halloween one of the first slasher films in Hollywood, but the game developed by Atari was one of the earliest slasher video games ever made. In this early romp, you control a babysitter protecting children in a house while Michael Myers stalks the hallways.

Despite it being an Atari game, the violence was pretty graphic for the time, as Myers decapitates his victims with blood spraying everywhere. While it’s a fun game if you are an Atari fan, its simplistic, shallow gameplay earns it a pretty low ranking on the list.

Game console: Nintendo Entertainment System

The box art alone gives this game legendary status. Another early horror game from LJN, you control six camp counselors at Crystal Lake as you try to survive three days of Jason Voorhees attacks while protecting the campers you are responsible for.

Each counselor has different skills and fighting capabilities against Jason, which you will need as the camp is swarmed not just with Jason, but with wolves, bats, and zombies for whatever reason.

Despite the attempt at innovation, this is sadly considered one of the worst NES games of all time because of its hard-to-navigate levels, unforgiving difficulty, and lack of a tutorial on how to play the damn thing whatsoever.

Game console: Nintendo Entertainment System

In 1990, the people at LJN tried to bring Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street to home consoles with a side-scrolling platformer on the NES. In this title, you play as one of a few teens exploring a dark Elm Street, searching for Freddy’s bones scattered throughout the game. You battle various monsters and supernatural enemies before confronting Freddy himself, but you have to watch your sleep meter because if it runs out, you are transported to the dream world, and then you’re on Krueger’s turf.

While the game had some fun ideas such as the dream meter and the collect-a-thon to finally fight Freddy, there were a myriad of other problems such as repetitive enemies, tough-to-navigate levels, and the lack of Freddy himself.

Game console: Commodore 64

Despite being on an early machine, Aliens (the Activision version) is praised for doing a lot with not much bandwidth, technologically speaking. The game takes you through key parts of the movie it’s based on, including piloting the dropship, fighting xenomorphs on foot with the Colonial Marines, and finally taking on the Alien Queen herself. These stages gave the game plenty of variety, as the controls and gameplay shifted almost every level. While this was a great concept, the game itself still received mixed reviews.

Critics respected the ambition, but many felt the individual mini-games were too simplistic and repetitive.

Game console: Amiga

It’s shocking this movie got an entire video game adaptation due to the fact that the film is a cult classic at best, but it made for a very interesting addition to the genre.

In a twist, you play as the villain, Jerry Dandridge, a vampire trying to continue your reign of bloodlust instead of stopping it. As Dandridge, you hunt victims throughout the mansion while avoiding supernatural enemies such as crucifixes, snakes, and other hazards, and if you fail to return to your coffin before sunrise, the game is over. While the game looked great, with bright colors and strong character design, there wasn’t much to do, and it became overly repetitive very quickly.

Gaming console: Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis

After watching Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of Dracula, one would have a hard time believing a video game adaptation was necessary for this type of film that took itself very seriously, but surprisingly it got not one, but two for the SNES and the Sega Genesis. In this side-scrolling adventure, you play as Jonathan Harker, Keanu Reeves goofy accent and all, and you set out to battle the supernatural in your attempt to thwart Count Dracula.

The game is a solid platformer, and the controls are fine, but there’s not much meat on the bone beyond that. The atmosphere and music were there, but in a game based on Dracula, the horror and villains weren’t really there, whereas a similar game like Castlevania pulled it off with ease. You are probably better off playing those games instead of this mid attempt.

Game console: Xbox / PlayStation 2

One of the few examples where the movie tie-in is actually better than the movie itself. Van Helsing may not have been a perfect game, but it was a serviceable ride that let you take on legendary monsters from horror history.

A poor man’s Devil May Cry, you control Hugh Jackman’s Van Helsing as you work through Transylvania, encountering many a famous monster in your journey to stop Count Dracula. This game had plenty of action and rewarded an itchy trigger finger as you blasted enemies with pistols, shotguns, and crossbows, mowing down hordes of supernatural foes.

While fun, most critics weren’t happy with its blatant Devil May Cry copying, lack of polish, and overall shortness. A fun afternoon, but that’s about it.

Gaming console: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC

When Halloween was announced for release in September of 2026, this game seemingly had a lot going for it. Asymmetrical horror games are currently all the rage; the same people behind the cult hit game based on Friday the 13th were making it, and the developers seemed to be writing a love letter to the series, including iconic scores, costumes, and locations. You could either play the solo campaign as Michael Myers himself, or you could play online where are assigned either as Myers, or a citizen of Haddonfield trying to escape the clutches of the Boogeyman.

While people loved its faithfulness to the source material, critics lambasted the decent number of bugs, technical issues, idiotic NPCs, and a very limited solo campaign. A game like this can be saved by DLC and updates, but it didn’t have the best showing out the gate.

Gaming console: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC

Being that Jigsaw literally tells all his potential victims that he “wants to play a game,” it was only right that this franchise also got its own series of video games, of varying quality.

The player is put in the shoes of Detective Tapp, made famous by Danny Glover in the original movie, as Tapp obsessively tries to find and arrest Jigsaw. This original story takes place between the first and second film and uses a lot of callbacks to both entries in the series. This is all well and good, but we all know a Saw game is nothing without elaborate traps and gruesome death scenes, and for better or worse, this game delivered on that promise. How effectively they did this is up to you.

While the game had incredible aesthetics akin to the films and the death traps and scenes were always fun, the gameplay is where it lost points. The combat is atrocious, the level designs get increasingly repetitive, and some puzzles don’t give you enough time to solve them, leading to numerous game overs.

All in all, a great attempt but doesn’t live up to its full potential.

Gaming console: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC

Another entry in the hit sub-genre of asymmetrical horror games, the cult classic movie is adapted into a delightful multiplayer game where you can become one of three Klowns and hunt down various humans using ridiculous weapons of destruction and murder.

While other games of the ilk focused on pure horror, this one embraces the film’s ridiculousness and lets you dispatch opponents in a multitude of darkly humorous ways. You can also play as one of seven humans trying to escape these harlequin monsters.

This game had a decent run when it came out and drew quite a few players into the madness that is the world of Killer Klowns From Outer Space, but as most games do, it had some drawbacks. For one, the game could get repetitive quickly, and the lack of gameplay modes hurt replayability. All the same, drew quite a few players into the game and should be studied for its faithfulness to the source material and commitment to a bloody good time.

Gaming console: PlayStation 2, Xbox 360

For being initially a cult classic, it’s so interesting to see the franchise that the Evil Dead series would eventually become. Not only have there been numerous movies and a TV show, but there have also been a plethora of video games.

One specific video game that captured the essence pretty well was Evil Dead: Fistful of Boomstick. You get to play as Ash (voiced, of course, by Bruce Campbell) as you take on legions of Deadites with your chainsaw hand and, as always, your trusty shotgun. After a TV broadcast accidentally plays the words from the Book of the Dead, Deadites threaten Dearborn, Michigan once again, and it’s up to you to shoot and slash your way through gross monsters varying in grotesque forms.

This was more of an arcade-style game than anything else, as it didn’t require much skill to progress, which worked for some people and turned others away. If you are looking for some brainless fun in the world of Evil Dead, this is a good choice.

Gaming console: PlayStation 5, Xbox, PC

Here we go again, more asymmetrical madness. This time, let’s head on down to Texas and visit our friend Leatherface and his cannibal family. In this game, you can either be one of the members of Leatherface’s family or one of the victims, as you either try to hunt down and brutally kill your opponent or try to escape the compound.

What makes these games fun is the attention to detail, which captures the original movie’s vibe excellently. This game didn’t have the easiest learning curve, and it took a while for some to get the hang of it, but once you did, the gameplay had a lot to offer. As with most one-mode games, this could get tedious at times, but the chance to pick up a chainsaw was hard to pass up. 

Gaming console: PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, PC

For some reason, we had to wait until 2006, but finally we could play as Jaws and unleash bloody havoc upon Amity Island.

As Jaws (or Bruce, whichever you prefer), you had free rein to do as you pleased with the people and animals of Amity. Eating people was as fun as you can imagine, and destroying boats and other predators in the ocean was oddly satisfying. The deaths were gruesome, the action was intense, and the sandbox-style exploration kept the gameplay going on for hours on end.

While this game was fun without a doubt, it did suffer from some technical problems, such as a terrible camera, framerate drops, and cumbersome shark control at times, but all in all, this game is a classic, and if you find a way to play it today, you should definitely take the opportunity to become one of the greatest killers in cinema.

Gaming console: TK

The first asymmetrical—yes, this word has popped up quite a bit on this list—horror game based on a horror IP, Friday the 13th was a smash hit with gamers for years until it was shut down due to copyright issues. Once again, you could either control one of seven camp counselors at Crystal Lake, or you don the hockey mask as Jason Voorhees himself.

This game was developed with a lot of love and dedication to the source material, and you can see the end result right away. The game features a plethora of references to the movies, action figures, and past video games, along with a great selection of skins for Jason to wear that reflect his history of murdering teenagers. The authenticity was there; the music, the aesthetic, and the various ways to kill captured the heart of the franchise.

Gaming console: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Setting out to capture the daunting feeling of being trapped in a haunted forest isn’t an easy goal, but this was largely accomplished in the Blair Witch video game.

Set two years after the disappearance of the three original filmmakers from the first movie, you control Ellis Lynch, who enters the forest to search for a young boy who also vanishes into the forest. Much like the movie, the deeper Lynch goes, the more time, space, and reality are altered, and it’s up to you and your faithful German Shepard, Bullet, to find a way out. The emphasis on your mental state, rather than straightforward combat, makes for an interesting gameplay experience, and the terror of being lost in a never-ending dark labyrinth of trees is perfectly captured.

Gaming console: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC

Let’s say it again, all together now, ASYMMETRICAL! Yes, another wonderful entry in the gaming subgenre; this time, we once again enter the world of The Evil Dead.

This game lets you play as various versions of Ash as well as other popular characters from the franchise’s vast history, as you go up against the Kandarian Demon. If you control the Demon, you gain immense power, letting you set traps, summon monsters and bosses, possess players, and cause all sorts of hell for your opponents. As the game progresses, the Demon grows stronger and can summon hordes of Deadites, making it harder for survivors to make it out alive.

While the multiplayer was praised for its creative kills, humorous dialogue, and engaging combat, the single-player was extremely limited and didn’t offer much for people trying to play by themselves. Despite all this, it’s a great variation on other asymmetrical games.

Gaming console: PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC

The John Carpenter classic was faithfully adapted into a surprisingly deep and engaging video game back in 2002.

Serving as a direct sequel to the John Carpenter remake, you lead a squad investigating the Arctic research facility where all sorts of Hell went down in the film, and yes, the monster from the film is still there waiting to enact chaos upon our unsuspecting heroes once again.

The game is filled with tension and terror, along with an engaging “fear and trust system” that makes you feel like you are living in the movie. As the squad leader, you have to maintain your teammates’ morale while also wondering whether any of them have already been infected by the creatures.

Probably one of the greatest film adaptations in gaming history, you can play it today, as it was recently remastered for current consoles. 

Gaming console: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC

Not enough can be said about this game and how fantastic it is. As a third entry in the original Ghostbusters timeline, you play as a new Ghostbusters recruit and are thrown headfirst into the deep end as you immediately face a new threat to New York. Thankfully, you aren’t alone in your adventure as the original Ghostbusters have your back.

Not only is the gameplay fantastic, but the game amazingly features the return of the OG cast of Ghostbusters to voice their characters. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson are all here giving it their all, plus Aykroyd and Ramis helped write the story, so you are essentially playing a third authentic film.

It’s available to download on most current platforms, so you have no excuse to miss out on this greatness.

Gaming console: PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Among many legendary games in the Alien franchise history, Alien: Isolation perfectly captures the feeling of living in an Alien movie.

You play as Amanda Ripley, the daughter of series hero Ellen Ripley, as you board a remote space station to investigate your mother’s disappearance. Once aboard, a deadly Xenomorph stalks you throughout the game. You cannot kill the monster, and most attempts to engage it directly will end in a grisly death, so your only option is to hide, run, and outsmart the horrifyingly smart Alien.

The game nails the aesthetic of the in-movie technology and surroundings, the sound effects, the music, and the overall feeling of being in the world of the Alien movies. The best part of the game is the Alien AI, which is overhauled to make it a horrifying experience for the player. It’s nearly impossible to predict what the Alien will do, which makes this game particularly scary.