From big-name franchise revivals to small-scale indie productions, horror gaming on PlayStation was in good health in 2023. PlayStation LifeStyle selects 14 of the year’s best horror games on PlayStation consoles.

Resident Evil 4 Remake (Capcom)

Few remakes would come with such expectations as Resident Evil 4, and yet Capcom managed to exceed them.

Resident Evil 4 Remake takes everything players loved about the 2005 classic and integrates a flurry of modern touches to make it feel like a natural evolution of the original.

Dead Space (EA Motive)

While Resident Evil 4’s remake reimagined the original, EA Motive’s Dead Space largely stuck to the script with a smattering of improvements where they were needed.

The spirit of the original is kept intact, but a PS5 sheen made every Necromorph encounter and gore-splattered outcome a grisly treat. But the real star of the new show is the Ishimura, which no longer feels like a series of interconnected rooms masquerading as a spaceship but more like an actual place.

No One Lives Under the Lighthouse (Marevo Collective)

Finally getting a console release, Marevo Collective’s atmospheric PSX-style horror is a delightful slow-burner that makes the most of its minimalist structure.

The ambiguity of the story keeps players on edge, and when chase scenes kick in, the perspective shift adds another layer to the unsettling atmosphere.

Amnesia The Bunker (Frictional Games)

Frictional Games’ ability to rewrite the rulesets of its story-led horror games is admirable and with Amnesia: The Bunker, it does its biggest edit yet.

Amnesia: The Bunker is a self-contained sandbox set in a wartime bunker where the player has to find the means to escape whilst evading a deadly monstrosity. Think of it as small-scale Alien Isolation meets Immersive Sim.

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners 2 (Skydance Interactive)

PSVR2 had plenty of horror goodies in 2023. The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners 2 was my personal pick from the brand-new bunch.

Why? Well, its immersive, intense gameplay translates so much better to the PSVR2 than the original game did with PSVR. The dread of getting cornered by the undead is offset by improvised weapons. Throw in a seemingly unstoppable behemoth out for blood and Saints and Sinners 2 will have you working up a sweat.

Killer Frequency (Team 17)

Killer Frequency stands out for me because it’s clearly doing something quite different in the horror space. Playing the part of a washed-up DJ who finds themselves having to help save locals from a returning legendary serial killer. Killer Frequency limits you to the radio station as to the extent of your help, but within that station is plenty of exploration and opportunity.

Not only can you find things to guide potential victims away from their fate, but you get the chance to play as a DJ, putting on records, ads, and, of course, taking calls. Killer Frequency does everything possible to immerse you in the role.

Oxenfree II: Lost Signals (Night School Studios)

Oxenfree’s dialogue system remains one of the most refreshing and ingenious of its kind, so a return to that with Oxenfree II would always be welcome. That system is more refined now, but it’s Oxenfree II’s story is where it excels.

After the teen-centric tale of the original, Oxenfree II shifts things to an adult perspective and, in doing so, gives us a wonderfully melancholy flipside to the first game.

Homebody (Game Grumps)

Homebody puts a modern spin on classic survival horror, with plenty of homages to Clock Tower, especially on show.

A young woman and her friends are stuck in a time loop that keeps them inside a strange old house. She must solve the many puzzles of the house in order to break the loop, but every time the loop begins, the threat of a masked killer arrives with it.

Trepang2 (Trepang Studios)

If you miss the frenetic supernatural shooter action of F.E.A.R. then Trepang2 has your early 2000s needs covered. A labor of love that transformed into a full game, Trepang2 is a lovely reminder that shooters can simply be big, loud, bloody slabs of nonsense.

The slo-mo ability turns large-scale chaos into a ballet of bullets and blood, but truly the art of Trepang2 comes in chaining together kills at full speed, utilizing the various other superpowers at your disposal.

Alan Wake 2 (Remedy Entertainment)

Thirteen years after Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake, a sequel finally arrived, and it’s the quintessential distillation of everything the developer has done up until this point.

It’s a weird, meta tale that blends mediums in an impressively seamless way. The shift between Alan’s and Saga’s sides of the story gives us two distinct flavors of horror that intertwine at key moments.

Stay Out of the House (Puppet Combo)

It was pretty remarkable that Amnesia: The Bunker condensed a horror immersive sim into such a small space, but Puppet Combo’s Stay Out of the House manages to pack that into an even smaller space.

You have to escape the house of The Butcher by utilizing whatever you can find. Get caught, and it’s back in your cage. Each run gives you the opportunity to discover more about how the house works and the backstory behind The Butcher.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Gun Media)

After an unfortunate licensing drama with Friday the 13th, Gun Media clearly wasn’t deterred from bringing beloved horror franchises to life in video game form, and we should be glad because it gave us The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Taking the asymmetrical multiplayer model of games like its Friday the 13th game and Dead by Daylight, Gun, and Sumo change things up by pitting a team of three family members against four unlucky potential victims. The change makes for an intense cat-and-mouse dynamic distinct to this game.

Dead Island 2 (Dambuster Studios)

Given the rocky history of Dead Island 2’s path to release and the emergence of rival franchise Dying Light by original Dead Island developers Techland in the years since it would have been understandable if Dead Island 2 turned out to be a bit of a stinker.

Yet, thanks to Dambuster Studios, it turned out to be not only good, gory fun but the best Dead Island game by far. Its tongue-in-cheek humor, detailed zombie degradation system, and general blood-splattered combat combine to make for a fine multiplayer hoot.

Dredge (Black Salt Games)

Fishing has been a staple of game activities for some time now, but few outside actual sims make that the basis for an entire game. Black Salt Games thought it was worth a go, and Dredge was the unholy result.

This open-world fishing sim has an increasingly dark undertone that taps into the core of Lovecraftian horror. The murmured warnings not to stray too far at night, the messed up fish you occasionally haul in, and the strange, ambiguous way locals talk about things. When the horrors of the deep do finally show themselves, your little fishing boat never felt more vulnerable.

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Legendary FX Creator and The Walking Dead director Greg Nicotero has designed a new look Leatherface for Gun’s Texas Chain Saw Massacre game.

Leatherface becomes a whole new Creepshow

Designed by Special Makeup FX Artist and founder of KNB EFX Group, the Nicotero Leatherface is a new Leatherface, with a new saw, a new sound, and a brand new universal Leatherface kill, all for $15.99 and coming this October. You can take a look at the unique design in the reveal video below.

Gun Interactive President and CEO, Wes Keltner, sat down with Special Makeup FX legend, Greg Nicotero in a video to discuss the process of crafting this new face for our favorite Family member.

If you aren’t sure who Greg Nicotero is, Gun’s description should give you an idea.

”Greg Nicotero is an icon of horror and a master of his craft, making his first foray into the gaming industry with his collaboration with Gun and Sumo. Starting his journey as a special makeup effects artist on Day of the Dead, Nicotero has brought to life true terror and realism throughout his influential career. He has not only dominated but also innovated and pushed the horror genre into a realm of realism where his work sticks with you long after a film has faded to black.”

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is an asymmetrical multiplayer game that sees 3 members of the family against 4 survivors. Set up as a prequel to the 1974 movie of the same name, it features the same deranged family and locations, but with a fresh set of potential victims and even new family members.

It was reviewed favorably when it was released last month, with many finding it to be a breath of fresh air in the multiplayer horror space.

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Gun Media got burnt by the fiasco surrounding the license for Friday the 13th when it was involved in the 2017 game adaptation. But it has ensured the same issues will not be happening with its upcoming The Texas Chain Saw Massacre game.

PCGamesN spoke to Gun’s creative director Ronnie Hobbs recently and he assured them that the situation is very different for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

”The situation surrounding Friday the 13th was inherently more complicated than it is with Texas,” notes Hobbs. This is the biggest point, as the rights for Friday the 13th suddenly became embroiled in a tug of war between the original director Sean Cunningham and writer Victor Miller. That prevented the game from adding any new content, and ultimately saw it shut down its servers in 2020 as no resolution was in sight.

The Saw Is Family

So what’s the difference now? Hobbs lays it out, “With Texas, we are dealing directly with Kim Henkel, the sole owner of the IP. We’ve been working closely with him during the entire process not only from a creative standpoint, but also a legal one. We have been as diligent as possible during this entire experience to ensure things go smoothly.”

The relationship Gun has struck up with Henkel comes from a place of mutual respect, and was a deciding factor in what license Gun would tackle next.

“After the success of Friday the 13th, we had a lot of potential suitors contacting us about turning their IP into games. We spent quite a while sorting through and weighing our options before finally being introduced to Kim Henkel. Once we discovered that both sides had an immense interest in creating a game, we quickly knew Texas was going to be our next project.”

Early playtests of the game have proved promising. The shift in dynamic for asymmetrical multiplayer sees 3 members of the family against 4 survivors. Set up as a prequel to the 1974 movie of the same name, it features the same deranged family and locations, but with a fresh set of potential victims.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre launches on PS4 and PS5 on August 18, 2023, for a reasonable $39.99.

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The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is just a month from its launch, but Gun Interactive still has more to show. The asymmetrical horror title’s latest trailer focuses on even more ways the survivors can be maimed.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is full of stabbing and slicing

The trailer in question showed up at the IGN x ID@Xbox Digital Showcase. It gave another brief overview of its three-on-four nature, but focused more on the killers and their brutal executions. The grisly murders were even highlighted by community representative Andy Cleves, as some had previously stated that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s kills weren’t sadistic enough.

A lot of the game’s trailers and screenshots have taken place during the day at the family’s house, but this latest one’s nighttime setting gives it a bit of a darker tone. And while it is launching on Game Pass on August 18, PlayStation players can still score a discount since it is a $39.99 game that’s also 10% off until it comes out.

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Whereas many new games are starting to reach $69.99, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is going the opposite direction. Gun Media revealed the Texas Chain Saw Massacre price, noting it would be $39.99 across all platforms.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre won’t be $60 (or $70 for that matter)

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre price reveal comes as the game has gone live on digital storefronts. PS4, PS5, and Steam users even get an added discount, as it will be $35.99 until it launches on August 18. Xbox owners are not getting left out, as the asymmetric multiplayer game is launching on Game Pass.

Pre-orders for the physical version are live only at a few storefronts. The physical version also comes with a poster of the game’s box art, but supplies are limited.

Gun Media CEO Wes Keltner poked fun at the lower cost by pointing out how there’s no one set price for games and cheekily noting that players could just Venmo him the difference if they wanted.

Modern multiplayer games that aren’t free-to-play don’t often hit $59.99 (or $69.99 now). One of Gun’s last games, Friday the 13th: The Game, also launched at $39.99. Illfonic, which also worked on Friday the 13th, stuck to same price point for its following asymmetric multiplayer games based on film franchises from the 1980s, Predator: Hunting Grounds and Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed.

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Players are often curious if multiplayer games will feature cross-platform play, as that has been quite standard of the last few years. Gun Media has confirmed that the asymmetric online game The Texas Chain Saw Massacre will be one of those games that does indeed support cross-play when it comes out on August 18.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre cross-play will let most systems play together

Gun explained this in a post on the game’s website. Cross-play is widely supported, but there are a few key caveats that mean it’s not one big pool with every system. As noted by the above graphic, current-gen systems and PC will be able to play with each other.

However, PS4 and Xbox One owners will be sequestered into their own separate pools; these last-gen systems don’t even interact with each other. Gun did not offer reasons as to why cross-play was set up like this and why the PS4 and Xbox One players can’t even join up together or why consoles in the family can’t link up.

Regardless, cross-play can also be disabled. Players also can’t see a player’s friend list from another platform, but game-generated invite codes can made so players can invite users from other platforms. Those on the same platform can still use the platform-specific invite systems to send invites, though.

And while cross-platform play is a feature, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre does not support cross-platform progression. Gun also didn’t offer an explanation.

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Gun Interactive unveiled their latest asymmetrical multiplayer game at the Xbox Game Show Extended on June 14, but like several of the games at the show, the game isn’t exclusive to Xbox consoles. Together with an unrated gameplay trailer that’s a longer version of the one seen during the show, the developer announced The Texas Chain Saw Massacre will also be arriving on PS5 and PS4 too.

Everything we know about The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is an asymmetrical multiplayer game that pits one team of four players against another team of three players. Maria Flores has gone missing and local law enforcement can’t find her. Her sister, Ana, sets out with her friends to find her but they end up fighting for their lives against The Cook, The Hitchhiker, and Leatherface. Players can choose from five survivors — Julie, Leland, Connie, Sonny, or Ana — who will each have their own detailed backstories, traits, and attributes. Stealth is their primary defense, which doesn’t sound like much, but the power imbalance of the Family won’t make things easy for them either.

The game will take place in iconic locations such as the relocated Family house, the original gas station, and a local slaughterhouse. Each of these was documented using photogrammetry from the real-life locations in Austin and the surrounding area. They also recorded “panoramic skies, every flower, every texture, all the little things that combine to give the greater feeling of being in that part of the country.” An Apprehension Engine has even been built for creating the right sounds. Players will get to see all of this when The Texas Chain Saw Massacre launches on PS5 and PS4 in 2023.

In other news, the starlight blue, galactic purple, and nova pink PS5 cover colors are available in some regions today. Elsewhere, Overwatch 2 will no longer have loot boxes, instead favoring a Battle Pass approach.

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