Horror games have had a real boost in popularity lately. Perhaps it’s thanks to the 1,000’s of YouTube videos of people being scared whilst playing something, perhaps it’s just because we’re lucky to have plenty of options when it comes to quality horror games.

The PS4, in particular, has got more than its fair share of horror titles to choose from. So we’ve spent some time thinking about what are our top 10 horror games available for the PS4. With Halloween coming in the not so distant future, we’ve come up with the following list which should please even the hardest to scare.

Everyone can see that Outlast took its cues from Amnesia, but that’s no bad thing. A first-person horror adventure, Outlast has you play as a reporter that’s trapped in an ‘abandoned’ psychiatric hospital.

The story won’t win any awards or surprise you as you find out that bad things happened in this hospital and bad things still live there. The real joy of playing Outlast comes from its creepy atmosphere, numerous jump-scares and the fact you have to rely on the low-quality night vision of your camera.

There’s no real combat to speak of, so you’ll be doing plenty of running, hiding and, more likely than not, screaming. Outlast is a real PS4 classic.

Less scary than some of the games on the list, Until Dawn is like an interactive teen-horror movies. A bunch of stereotypical adolescents decided to take a break and spend a weekend at an old lodge one of their friends own. This lodge is also the place where two of their friends disappeared exactly a year ago. I’m sure it will end well.

Throughout the game you’ll control multiple characters and make numerous decisions. Your decisions will naturally have an impact on how the story plays out and who lives and dies. It’s apparently possible to make it through the end of the game without anyone perishing, though I wouldn’t know about this as my playthrough involved many, many deaths. Whoops.

Until Dawn is good popcorn fun with a few creepy moments and some real tense QTE moments.

Soma

A brilliant blend of horror and sci-fi, Soma has you wake-up on an abandoned facility of some kind. It appears that it’s an underwater base of some kind and it also looks like there’s a bunch of robots scattered about the place.

To go into too much detail about what’s happening, where it’s happening and why it’s happening would be to spoil the fun. I will say that eventually you’ll find creatures that aren’t too friendly and you’ll need to hide from them and use stealth as your main weapon.

Soma is full of elements that might not make you jump but will certainly make you uncomfortable. Billing itself as a ‘psychological horror’ game, it’s safe to say Soma contains plenty of visuals and ideas that you’ll be left thinking about long after you finish the game.

P.T.

I’m sorry to put this on the list but P.T. was an absolute phenomenon when it launched. Standing for ‘Playable Teaser’, P.T. was a taster of what Hideo Kojima had in mind for his Silent Hill game. It was a simple game, where you walked through a that impossibly looped on itself, with each new loop changing things ever so slightly that at first you won’t notice the differences.

Pretty soon you’ll notice cracks in the wall, pictures hanging at funny angles and eventually foetuses singing in the sink. What?

P.T. was a creepy glimpse into the mind of Hideo Kojima and it now serves as a reminder of what could have been. Sadly, Kojima and the publisher that owns the Silent Hill franchise, Konami, had a massive falling out. Kojima doesn’t work at Konami anymore, the Silent Hill game got cancelled and Konami have no plans to do anything with the Silent Hill series for the foreseeable future.

We all have to suffer for our art, right? Layers of Fear has you taking the role of a troubled painter who’s going through a rough patch. Trying to complete their Magnus Opus your character wanders through a Victorian mansion and tries to work on their painting too.

After each ‘layer’ they add to their painting the artist (you) will suffer from hallucinations and flashbacks, all of which offer plenty of jump scares and offer you information as to the painter’s past.

The game doesn’t have you fighting ghouls or hiding from monsters. Instead you’ll be fighting with your own mind, solving simple puzzles and piecing together the story for yourself.

Some may argue that this is an action game but I’d argue those people are playing it wrong. The Last of Us takes place after a terrible disease has turned people into, what are essentially, zombies. A spore that’s able to take home in people’s brains has turned a large number of the population into murderous mushroom zombies. The creatures are dangerous and horrific to look at, so you’ll do well to avoid fighting them head on.

This is because resources are scarce. If you can creep past a killer mushroom-man, than that’s your best bet. More dangerous than anything else though is the other survivors. In this world people have been driven to the brink of extinction and as a result gangs roam the streets and they’ll shoot you dead for a loaf of bread.

The Last of Us is a brilliant game that has an amazing and emotionally affecting story.

As previously mentioned, Silent Hill is a beloved horror series that’s sadly not likely to see the light of day again thanks to Konami’s seeming collapse. The closest thing we’ve had to a Silent Hill is Lone Survivor, a 2D horror game that takes its influences from both Silent Hill and Resident Evil alike.

You play as a survivor, of what we don’t know, and you appear to be on your own except for some monsters that also share the apartment building with you. You’ll need to look after your ammo, as it’s pretty sparse and you’ll also need to look after your own mental health. Going back to your room to sleep and keeping yourself well fed will keep your character in a better mood.

This mood mechanic isn’t just for fun as the decisions you make and the state you’re in will determine the ending you get. With plenty of psychological horror elements as well as good old fashioned jump scares, Lone Survivor is a must for PS4 horror fans.

If you’ve ever seen any of the Alien films (except for maybe Resurrection or anything AvP) you know that H.R. Giger’s famous xenomorph is a terrifying creature that’s likely to scare even the hardest of videogame players.

Playing a lot like Outlast (which plays a lot like Amnesia) you take the role of Rippley’s daughter, Amanda. As you’d imagine, things go very wrong when you try and find out what happened to an outer space outpost. You soon discover that the reason no-one’s answering the phone is because there’s a nasty xenomorph on the loose.

What makes Alien: Isolation so scary and so tense is the fact that you can’t defeat the xenomorph and its AI is so unpredictable you’ll be on your toes and on edge the whole way through.

This isn’t on this list as a sign of respect. Resident Evil HD Remaster (yes, that’s it’s full title) is an update of the Resident Evil that came out originally on the Gamecube and that was an update of Resident Evil that originally came out on the Playstation 1.

With Resident Evil being one of the original horror videogames, it’s great to see that the game holds up in terms of creating a creepy atmosphere as you try and uncover the secrets of the Spencer Mansion. If you don’t know already, the Spencer Mansion is home to all manner of zombies and other creatures. How did they get there? What’s the story behind this mansion’s outbreak of the undead? You’ll have to find out… or Google it.

We’ve all been there as kids. You hear things go bump in the night and you naturally assume it’s a monster, alien, ghost or a combination of all three. Among the Sleep has you play as a young toddler who wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to get to their parent’s bedroom.

As you can imagine, being such a small character and seeing the world from such a small person’s perspective makes those things that go bump in the night even scarier. Where the story goes, I don’t want to say, but I’m fairly confident you’ll be impressed by just how creepy it is to be a toddler again.

That’s it. That’s our 10 best horror games on the PS4. If you think there’s something we’ve missed then let us know in the comments.