Halloween lurks just ’round the corner, and there’s no shortage of great VR horror games to make you shiver and scream in your headset. For this spooky season, we’ve conjured up a ghoulish list of ten scary games worth playing today.
James’ Picks
When it comes to games, I’m a coward. I’ve said it enough times on our podcast that listeners will know I’m not usually interested in scary games. Still, over the years I’ve had quite a few gruesome and frightful experiences in a VR headset that are simply too good to resist.
Here are five of my favorite frightening VR games.
The 7th Guest VR
My first recommendation is probably the least outright terrifying game on the list, but that doesn’t make it any less spooky. The 7th Guest VR is about as Halloween-y as it gets.
The game drops you inside the infamous Stauf Mansion, where you’ll explore its haunted halls, uncover its buried secrets, and solve a collection of puzzles, all while supernatural forces make their ominous presence increasingly apparent.
The 7th Guest VR is a VR re-imagining of the classic point-and-click adventure The 7th Guest which first debuted on MS-DOS in 1993. As such, the new version has a delightfully old-school atmosphere. With full motion video actors playing the parts of the ghostly guests, and the haunted mansion itself acting as the star of the show, The 7th Guest is both nostalgic and unsettling.
The 7th Guest VR is available on Quest, PlayStation VR2, and Steam. Note: Purchasing the VR version will grant you access to the flat screen Remake, and vice versa, on PlayStation and Steam.
Dread Meridian
This atmospheric horror story has all the trappings of the best spooky fiction: abandoned research stations, frozen wastelands, and the uncomfortable feeling that you’re seeing things no mortal was ever meant to see.
Released in January 2026 on Quest and Steam, Dread Meridian is a VR survival-horror game inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, specifically his 1931 penned cosmic horror novella At the Mountains of Madness. You play as Daniela, searching for her missing twin on the frozen island of Oglanbyen, only to instead find mutated researchers and twisted nightmares.
True to its name, Dread Meridian is all about building dread. Its isolated setting and ominous atmosphere, plus the literary roots of its inspiration, give the game a particularly haunting feel while tropes like puzzle-solving, scavenging rare supplies, and dispatching hostile creatures with limited weaponry add that classic survival-horror touch.
Dread Meridian is available on Quest and Steam.
Metro Awakening
Dreadful horror games are nice. But every now and then you want one that makes some concessions to action. Metro Awakening is as scary and creepy as the best horror games, but it also lets you blast things with an arsenal of cobbled weaponry.
You play as a doctor searching for his missing wife (and the medicine she needs) in the underground Moscow Metro in the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse. You’ll navigate tunnels filled with radiation, mutants, bandits, and supernatural nemeses.
The VR format takes the series’ trademark survival mechanics and makes them considerably more immersive. You’ll physically manage your weapons, ammunition, gas mask, and flashlight. When your resources start running low, so too will your nerves, as the darkness in VR becomes even more intimidating.
Metro Awakening is available on Quest, PlayStation VR2, and Steam.
MADiSON VR
If ever there was a game that made me regret putting on my headset, it’s MADiSON VR. Remember when I said I’m a coward? This game may be the reason.
MADiSON VR is the VR version of MADiSON, a flat screen game that’s often described as the scariest game ever made available upon any platform. It’s a psychological horror game with extremely oppressive environments, violently disturbing scenarios and imagery, and an unshakable feeling of constant dread. In VR, it’s the most disturbing game ever made.
You’ll explore terribly frightening environments with nothing but a supernatural instant camera that allows you to capture but a glimpse of the nightmares lurking in the shadows. Of all the games on this list, this is the one for people who are seeking nothing but pure terror. It’s a game for horror sickos (complimentary).
You can get MADiSON VR on Quest, but it’s a definite downgrade over its PC VR and PlayStation VR2 counterparts. Grab it on PSVR2 or Steam if possible.
The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR
Switchback VR is less terror and more spooky fun. It takes the concept of a haunted house theme park attraction and turns it into a VR rollercoaster.
The premise is simple: you’re strapped into a roller coaster and sent hurtling through a series of horror scenes inspired by The Dark Pictures universe. Rather than slowly wandering through a creepy environment, or wrestling with hordes of zombies, Switchback is all about sudden scares and spectacle.
The game has an interesting blink mechanic, where things can change in the split second that your eyes are closed. This unique mechanic will have you questioning your sanity, something horror games have always attempted, but few can accomplish.
If you’re looking for a game to pass around and play with some friends, something designed to make someone jump and yell with a VR headset, this is the easiest recommendation on the list.
You can get it exclusively on PlayStation VR2.
Mike’s Picks
I could simply fire off popular games that most VR gamers are familiar with like Madison, Phasmophobia, and the excellent Resident Evil VR ports, but I’m going to go off the beaten path with my suggestions and dig up some older games.
James and I limited ourselves to five games each, but I want to give an honorable mention to my would-be sixth pick, Alien: Rogue Incursion, an excellent action-horror game from the now-defunct studio Survios marred by early performance issues and the unreasonable expectation of not being an official port or carbon copy of cult classic Alien: Isolation.
That said, here are my picks:
Cosmodread
One thing horror games can struggle with is replayability. Once you know where the proverbial landmines are, the game loses most of its appeal. Roguelikes are, by design, built to avoid this issue and Cosmodread is one of the few horror roguelikes out there. It is also the first horror game I ever ‘noped’ out of, though I did later go back and finish it.
You play as a scientist on a dying spaceship and have to repair, reboot, and refuel systems to escape to Earth in an escape pod. Complicating this is the near constant need for oxygen, delivered in one-shots from masks scattered around the ship. That and the crafting station you have to utilize for weapons and resources to defend yourself give you a reason to scavenge every nook and cranny of every room in the procedurally generated map. Visually, the game weaves grotesque flesh throughout the ship and the excellent sound design alone should have won an award.
Cosmodread is available for Quest and Steam.
Hinge
There are games that masquerade as psychological horror games while really just being yet-another jump-scare compilation and then there is Hinge, a total mind-word-I-can’t-say-in-an-article of a psych horror experience I can barely begin to describe without giving away the plot. The no-spoiler synopsis is you investigate a mysterious 1920s hotel while trying to piece together your fractured memories.
From a gameplay standpoint, it plays out as navigating a series of interconnected hallways with the occasional trip into an unnerving alternate dimension. Hinge refuses to hold your hand and requires a fair amount of patience and attention to detail to progress. Action lovers should stay away, but if you want a game that challenges you mentally and can scare the hell out of you, Hinge is worth a look.
Hinge is available on Steam.
Edge of Nowhere
Before they were busy making nine-figure-budgeted Marvel games for PlayStation, Insomniac Games used to develop VR games for Meta’s abandoned Oculus Rift store, including the Lovecraft-inspired Edge of Nowhere. As I write this, I am starting to realize how much I prefer psychological horror games, but this entry offers a lot more action than Hinge.
Based on H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, you play as Victor Howard, an explorer searching for his fiancée who was lost on an expedition to Antarctica. It’s a relatively short game, clocking around three hours, and is played in third-person with a controller, so this is very much an acquired taste. If none of those caveats bother you, Edge of Nowhere is a great experience.
Edge of Nowhere is, sadly, only available on Meta’s PC VR storefront.
Lies Beneath
The trailer for this Meta-exclusive action-horror FPS from developer Drifter, who also did the Quest port of Epic Games’ Robo Recall, should be convincing enough for horror fans. Lies Beneath invokes a comic book aesthetic that looks fantastic in the headset, long before more well-known IP like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Men In Black did the same. Also, your ‘health meter’ is represented by an accumulation of literal blood on your hands, an incredibly clever and effective VR interpretation of a common video game feature.
You play as the survivor of a car crash near your hometown and set out to locate your missing father. In the course of your search, you face off with multiple grotesque creatures, including the creepiest VR quadrupeds this side of Half-Life: Alyx’s headcrabs. Very little of this game is what it appears to be on the surface and the story that unfolds is equal parts riveting and disturbing with great VR action to boot.
Lies Beneath is available for Quest.
Propagation: Paradise Hotel
Okay, maybe I have a thing for hotels in horror games too. I’m going to be straight with you: I am bored with zombie shooters in VR and have been for years. So it takes an exceptionally well-designed title to engage me in the very notion of blowing off scores of zombie heads again. Propagation: Paradise Hotel pulls this off with an excellent combination of sound and level design. You play as Emily Diaz, a bartender at the titular Paradise Hotel who starts the game barricaded in the hotel kitchen with security guard Owen. A zombie outbreak has ravaged the hotel and surrounding city. In spite of warnings to sequester yourself to avoid infection, you set out to rescue your sister who is trapped elsewhere in the hotel.
The thing Paradise Hotel does really well compared to other zombie games is make them feel threatening. You do have weapons, but ammo is in short supply, so every shot counts and errant aim will leave you injured or worse very quickly, even if only faced with one assailant. Most of the hotel is blacked out, forcing you to light your way with a flashlight powered by batteries you constantly have to find and replace during your journey. That limited visibility adds to the tension and walking past a downed body always carries a feeling of dread that it will rise and attack you. I watched a friend livestream this game on Twitch and he was so unnerved he shot a wall that scared him when he turned around and ran into it. Paradise Hotel also doesn’t lack for jump-scares, but they are sparingly used and never come off gratuitous.
Propagation: Paradise Hotel is available for PS VR2, Steam, and Quest.
And those are just ten of our favorite spooky VR games. Was your favorite included? What did we miss? Please share your favorite Halloween-y game in the comments section below!
