A lot of horror games were in the third-person perspective when things started out. Resident Evil and Silent Hill were two big standouts on the PS1, which blossomed into gigantic franchises. With time, some horror series transitioned into the first-person perspective or at least experimented with the concept.
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Some games had combat, while others approached their first-person nightmares with more adventure game-like narratives. For those who like direct combat in their horror-related games, though, these titles will not disappoint. They will be ranked not based on their overall quality but on how fun their gameplay setups actually are, going beyond normal guns or melee weapons.
7 Condemned: Criminal Origins
Breaking Bad
Condemned: Criminal Origins
- Released
- November 22, 2005
WHERE TO PLAY
Condemned: Criminal Origins puts players in the role of an FBI agent who is at their wit's end with a series of gruesome murders. Part detective, part brutal brawler, players will get up close and personal with these paranormal duels.
That visceral melee action is exactly what made the game stand out in the early 2000s, and there are still very few horror games like it. While the melee action is not as fluid as other action games like Devil May Cry, Condemned: Criminal Origins is still a disorienting and bloody good time.
6 Resident Evil Village
Limited Ammo
Resident Evil Village
- Released
- May 7, 2021
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Capcom
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PlayStation VR2, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Resident Evil Village follows the events of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, which was also in first-person, putting players in control of Ethan Winters on a quest to find his daughter Rose. It has some of the best gunplay in the entire series with precise aiming, controls, and feedback from the guns.
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There is a shop to buy new weapons and a way to upgrade them, too, which makes the gunplay even better. Unfortunately, players are limited by ammo, so they cannot go through this haunted European area like John Wick, but they can at least effectively protect themselves from danger, be it from creepy dolls to literal werewolves.
5 Dead Island 2
Zombieland
Dead Island 2
- Released
- April 21, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Dambuster Studios
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
- Platform(s)
- PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Like Condemned: Criminal Origins, players could easily call the combat in Dead Island 2 visceral, except that it is more experimental and thus more fun to engage with. That's because players have a vast amount of melee weapons to work with, along with some guns too. It's fun to discover what ordinary household items can become imbued with fire or electricity, from wrenches to hammers.
These zombies do not stand a chance, plus players can enhance their character further with skill-based cards like the ability to explode foes upon impact, opening up more combat opportunities to keep the blood and EXP flowing.
4 Darkwatch
Red Undead Redemption
Darkwatch
- Released
- August 16, 2005
WHERE TO PLAY
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 2, Xbox (Original)
Darkwatch is a somewhat forgotten shooter from the PS2 era featuring a vampire cowboy fighting the undead and other supernatural beings in the Old West. That's a brilliant concept on its own, but it gets better as the guns, while typical for a shooter, are more uniquely designed to stand out from other games, from revolvers to shotguns.
Beyond guns, this supernatural cowboy, Jericho, has vampiric powers like the ability to create a shield made out of blood or skills to control lightning bolts erupting from his hand. The powers gained depend on choices made in the story, which makes Darkwatch an easy recommendation to play at least twice to test out all of the powers.
3 The Darkness
So Many Tentacles And It’s Not Even Japanese
The Darkness
- Released
- June 25, 2007
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Starbreeze Studios
- Genre(s)
- FPS
The Darkness features a similarly gifted rogue akin to Jericho in Darkwatch, except that Jackie, this game's hero, gets possessed by an entity known as the titular Darkness. Jackie dies, comes back to life, and gets these demonic powers thanks to these creeps, including tentacles to restrain enemies and little minions to sneak around.
It's not strictly a horror game, but the dark entities are as unsettling as they are fun to use during combat, which makes this mob game unlike any other out there. To note, a more strictly horror-based mob game sounds intriguing.
2 Ghostwire: Tokyo
Mystical Monks
Ghostwire: Tokyo
- Released
- March 25, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Tango Gameworks
- Platform(s)
- PS5, PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Ghostwire: Tokyo takes place within a small district of Tokyo, which has been encased in a barrier now haunted by various ghosts and demons. With the power of a masked entity, an ordinary adult, Akito, gets the ability to fight back with spells and magic-infused weapons like bows.
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The game is brimming with cool powers to experiment with, from water to whip demons back to heck or wind bullets to rapidly discharge ghouls. Any game taking place in Japan is a treat, but Ghostwire: Tokyo stands out above others thanks to its inventive combat magic that is fun to unlock and use. Also, the enemies within are haunting, even though players get a huge repository of powers.
1 BioShock 2
More Plasmids Please
BioShock 2
- Released
- February 9, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- 2K, Irrational Games
- Genre(s)
- First-Person Shooter
When it comes to ranking this series, BioShock 2 is usually in last place, which isn't a bad thing since there are only three games, and they are all well-made. What BioShock 2 did over its predecessor was add dual-wielding combat to blast enemies with Plasmids and weapons. Plasmids were tonics that players could inject themselves with to get supernatural gifts like the ability to shoot lightning or fire.
The combat improvements made BioShock 2 a better title gameplay-wise, and even though BioShock Infinite improved combat further, it went back to the more horror elements that made the series stand out originally. That's another reason why BioShock 2 reigns supreme in this particular instance.
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