Welcome to our massive Horror Special Big Preview, a perfectly timed collection of really deep dives into the best horror games on the horizon. It's fitting because, right now, it feels like horror in gaming really is special, like we're having a real renaissance moment for the genre. Across brand new and excitingly fresh games, to some of our favorite long-running series returning to their roots, we're picking up the good kind of scary vibrations from all directions.
We've gone hands-on several hours of Silent Hill f, making us feel confident in saying the series really feels like it's coming back in a big way. We've also had exclusive access to Dying Light: The Beast and Cronos: The New Dawn, with plenty of time playing the games for ourselves and chatting the with the developers. There's even more upcoming horror making up our most anticipated games of 2025 too. Whether that's picking apart our reveal access for Resident Evil 9 Requiem so far, or solving Hellraiser's return, there's a lot to get into.
Below you'll find everything that's encompassed our time dissecting, grisly bits and all, the games for our Horror Special Big Preview. We updated constantly throughout the course of two weeks, meaning this is a really hefty collection. But this is just the beginning of more to come on the site across more events and previews beyond this hub itself. Stay tuned, stay scary, and let us know in the comments below what horror you're most excited about!
Dying Light: The Beast – The Big Preview
Dying Light: The Beast hands-on preview: After four hours with the third game in the series, we come away seriously impressed. Combining survival horror bite with the ability to fight back just as hard with beastly power, Techland is leaning into the bloody joy of surviving on the edge.
Dying Light: The Beast devs asked playtesters to score every single quest, and the last one is so "close to perfect" that its director is desperate for you to finish the game: As part of our exclusive interview, Tymon Smektala details how the team have closely dialled in each and every mission.
"For us, this is Dying Light 3": Speaking with Techland, we discuss Kyle Crane's return, the titular 'Beast Mode', and just how in-depth this follow-up really is. Make no mistake, this isn't something small to expand the first game's ending, but a real evolution of the entire series that feels like a true third game.
Dying Light: The Beast's open world is "a secret mystery box" where "very f*cked up things" happen, but I'm most intrigued by the Stranger Things vibes: Also inspired by Twin Peaks, we pick apart all of the unusual and paranormal threads that are bubbling to the surface of this open world.
I live and breathe survival horror, so here's my ultimate Dying Light beginner's guide if you're starting with The Beast: Each game in the series is so big and detailed that even three games in there's a lot to consider. So worry not, we've got everything you need to know about getting started with Dying Light here.
"Our fans would kill us": Dying Light: The Beast director Tymon Smektala outlines Techland's "areas of perfection" that "we cannot mess up to any extent". There's a reason fans stick with the series' huge, infested open worlds for so long, and it's thanks to the studio's craftsmanship-level attention to detail.
Dying Light: The Beast will have guns that feel "on par with melee combat," as Techland struggles to solve the series' "complicated" relationship with firearms: Continuing our exclusive interviews, we get into how this entry balances its iconic, intense melee with getting trigger happy – "I'm really, really proud".
Dying Light: The Beast – Everything we know so far: From specifics about how Beast Mode works and the rest of combat, through to how the story picks up from its predecessors and how long it is, we've got it all here! As one of the most exciting upcoming releases of 2025, we get into all the details we know so far.
Horror Spotlight
"If everything is the same, nothing stands out" – How lead devs for Silent Hill f and Dying Light: The Beast are putting the horror back in survival horror: Speaking with developers behind some of our most anticipated horror games, we discuss how new releases aim to get back to their terrifying roots in a big way.
I've been playing Resident Evil games for 25 years – Resident Evil Requiem doesn't need Leon Kennedy: We love the well-shampooed horror stud, but he's already starred in multiple games with escalating action. If Resident Evil 9 wants to live up to the promise of returning to its horror roots, he's gotta stay away.
The first FPS from horror publisher Blumhouse is an unexpected blend of Resident Evil, Bloodborne, and mermaid folk horror, and it shouldn't work – but it does: Like Resi 4, Crisol mines the guts and gems from Spain's Catholic history to establish an environment that's decadent and completely overpowering.
Upcoming horror games for 2025 and beyond: What else is on the horizon when it comes to horror? It's a great time to be into the genre, with so many great original titles and huge releases from big franchises in the works. Across them all, boundaries are being pushed to scare us silly like never before. Get the cushion!
Cronos: The New Dawn – The Big Preview
After 2 hours with the Silent Hill 2 dev's slimy sci-fi beast, Cronos, I'm thrilled it has Dead Space DNA and the soul of Resident Evil: Bloober Team tell us "this is more like a love letter to survival horror than to Poland" in how it draws from all sources to create a gloriously nasty blend we love playing.
Bloober's Cronos: The New Dawn is like Dead Space in Hell, but it has a cool female protagonist because the devs say that's simply "more interesting": But make no mistake, the mysterious Traveler with her thick, tanky, bizarre suit is someone you'll only come to know through many hours together.
Bloober devs say Cronos: The New Dawn is a "strange combination" of horror greats like Silent Hill, Dead Space, and Bloodborne, but they wanted a sci-fi story "deeper" than a typical Resident Evil: "Not to offend, of course," they clarify. The studio's full of ideas after Silent Hill 2 Remake.
Bloober devs say "there is something" of Silent Hill 1 and 2 in "all our horrors," but "we needed to invent something different" for new sci-fi game Cronos: The New Dawn: After all, this is the studio that brought us the excellent Silent Hill 2 remake. But its not completely hanging heavy over the dev.
More highlights
I was ready for the PS1 and PS2 era nostalgia this survival horror game would bring, but I never expected it to remind me of the most divisive Silent Hill: Heartworm is a lo-fi survival horror that uses smart, fresh mechanics like a camera flash to take us through a nostalgic, chilling journey that's a genre love letter.
After 9 years of live service horror games, I can't wait for the new Hellraiser game to push back against the Dead by Daylight effect: After years of fiddling with the lament configuration that is live service, it's great to see ol' Pinhead's long-awaited comeback take the form of something more comfortable with story-led horror.
The Silent Hill f writer's debut game was basically the original Doki Doki Literature Club, and it's still terrifying me 23 years later: Higurashi: When They Cry is a smalltown horror mystery that constantly subverts expectations in the best ways, all while managing to balance the gruesome with a true sense of compassion.
2025 already belongs to double-A games, and Dying Light: The Beast is helping Clair Obscur prove it – "Do you really want to play every game for 100 hours?": Back in the day we didn't need games to go on forever, they just needed to thrill and pack plenty of replayability. After years or soaring playtimes, are we back?
Silent Hill f – The Big Preview
I'm already obsessed with Silent Hill f after 5 hours thanks to its incredible story and atmosphere, but I'm anxious about the parry-heavy combat: We've played from the beginning of the game through several areas, and have come away impressed at the sheer vibes on display in this Japan-set survival horror.
Silent Hill f's writer views the series as a "pie crust" that hides "its true colors beneath a layer of horror and fog," and I say let him cook: Our hands-on with Silent Hill f also included meeting the game's developers, and we were lucky enough for them to share with us their thoughts on just what 'Silent Hill' means to them.
Setting Silent Hill f in Japan is the smartest move Konami has made for the survival horror series since The Room moved out in 2004: Across its long history, Silent Hill has never been just about one thing, always trying fresh new ideas. Here, moving the action to Japan in the past is testing that theory with plenty of atmosphere.
Silent Hill f's combat is about feeling on edge: "You need to know how close your candle is to going out to really have it feel tense": With a new combat system that feels more fully featured that any in the series' past, Silent Hill f has a unique cadence. Neobards tells us about how they balance combat with a horror atmosphere.
5 hours into Silent Hill f, I've picked out the 10 biggest details you need to know: Spending plenty of time with the game from the very beginning, we've gotten to take a look at plenty of features that help Silent Hill f stand apart, while also feeling like a true Silent Hill game. Here, we dive into what really stands out.
The series has been terrifying me for over 25 years, so here's my beginner's guide to Silent Hill ahead of Silent Hill f: There's never been a better time to get into the series than right now. Silent Hill f breaks new ground, while at the same time Silent Hill 2 remake is a great way to see the series' roots. Join us, and enter the fog!
I've waited 13 years to be excited about Silent Hill again, and Silent Hill f has me hopeful for the series' future: It's been over a decade since the last mainline Silent Hill game, and the first in far longer to really feel like it carries on the ideas of the classic games. Silent Hill f is just the start of a promising, scary future.
Silent Hill f: Everything we know about the new survival horror game – The latest entry in the series is in some ways a big departure, shifting from an American setting to a Japanese one. But the series' psychological horror is still intact. We dig into everything from the terrifying story to the tense gameplay right here!
Retro Horror
33 years later, Alone in the Dark still deserves recognition as the survival horror that bridged the gap between Cthulhu and Resident Evil: While horror themed games existed before this one, survival horror as we know it was defined by this classic.
"The very idea of making a prequel to Silent Hill wasn't good," says Origins and Shattered Memories designer: "That game told its story brilliantly through flashbacks, and there weren't really any unanswered questions," shares Barlow. It wasn't easy to revisit.
Fatal Frame's iconic camera exists to force players to "look straight at something scary" says series creator: "We thought it would really bring out the scariness of the ghosts," he shares, as we discuss the creation of the original trilogy that haunted us back on PS2.
Indie devs discuss why low-poly works so well for horror: "I actually think those limitations encourage weird, unique compromises," Crow Country dev Adam Vian tells us. We speak to multiple indie devs about the approach to emulating crunchy goodness.
Silent Hill: Downpour devs reflect 12 years on: "Stop trying to be Japanese scary, and just be Czech scary": For over a decade, this was been the last new full-size entry in Silent Hill. Divisive, but with great ideas, the devs talk putting it together all this time later.
Resident Evil 2 still deserves its high praise 27 years on, but how did it turn a one-off PS1 success into an unstoppable horror franchise juggernaut? Retro Gamer returns to the iconic sequel to unpack what makes this follow-up so special after all this time.
Until Dawn is the ultimate playable horror movie, but its success is all down to a killer, real-life plot-twist: If you thought the game itself was full of twists and turns, just wait until you hear about its making of history from the developers themselves. It began development on PS3!
The 15 best Japanese horror games: The horror genre can be personal depending on what gets under your skin, and games push that even further by being so immersive. Here, we unpack our favorite Japanese horror games to celebrate the genre's very best.
