Carrion

Horror is a broad genre that doesn’t just mean having to be the hapless victim. Sometimes, you just want to be the monster. Carrion is the amazing game that lets you do it.

Imagine if the creature from the Thing had been captured and trapped in a massive underground lab, where scientists relentlessly experimented on it. Then imagine violently escaping, trying to find a way out, all the while growing stronger, evolving, and taking revenge on all those pesky humans who hurt you.

Carrion is a metroidvania-style game with distinctly 16-bit graphics, but thoroughly addicting in every way. The way the monster moves is a marvel of animation, the puzzles are great, and the violence is almost too satisfying. If you missed Carrion the first time around, don’t make that mistake twice.

That's the end of our horror game list, how do you feel about the lineup? Sound off in the comments below with some of your favorite horror titltes you can play on PS5.

Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle

For something completely different, here’s a gem that merges horrific Japanese folklore monsters, classic grid-based first-person dungeon crawler gameplay, and some intriguingly creative mechanics.

The game allows the four-character party to split up to explore, solve puzzles, and even fight monsters. While it’s not by any stretch the most cutting edge game in our list, Hyakki Castle makes excellent use of its settings, lore, and especially wonderfully macabre collection of monsters and characters. It’s well worth playing for fans of classic RPGs who want something very different.

White Day: A Labyrinth Named School

For a flair of Korean horror, White Day checks the boxes for the genre. A remake of a remake, the game has a long history. Originally released in 2001, in an admittedly very different form, the final version on PS4 is a first-person horror adventure that takes players into those most horrifying of all locations: high school.

A love-lorn boy sneaks into school after hours to leave his crush a present but instead finds himself trapped in a supernatural, angry ghost-addled nightmare. It’s cheesy and fun, with plenty of sneaking around, finding items, and solving puzzles.

Perception

A labor of love for the small team at the Deep End Games (led by former Irrational Game’s Bill Gardner), Perception is a short, but intriguing twist on the haunted house theme.

While the house itself is pretty garden-variety gothic horror, the protagonist is not. Cassie, our heroine, is blind and the game translates her use of echolocation and psychic visions into a visually fascinating low-fi wave of vibrations reflecting off the objects around her.

It’s a memorable and intense graphic solution for translating Cassie’s world and sense of ever-building dread. The story is well-written, Cassie is appealing, and Perception is a good example of an indie game that deserves a second chance at finding its audience.

Resident Evil 7

Resident Evil 7 marked such a huge departure from the traditions of the series that it almost seemed like a different game entirely. Switching from third to first-person perspective might appear to be a radical change, but the end result was nothing short of gory, horrific magic.

Bringing the series back to the roots of a mansion of madness actually ended up making it feel more in line with the original and that new perspective amped up the claustrophobia. There’s a lot going on as you work your way through each member of one of the most screwed up families in all of horror gaming, and after that, there’s plenty of additional DLC that branches the story out even further.

Given that the upcoming Resident Evil 8 seems to latch directly onto the end of this one, now is the perfect time to dive back in.

Amnesia: Rebirth

Amnesia started something in the horror game genre. Instead of standard survival horror games where ammunition and weapons were merely limited, here there’s none at all.

Hiding and evading the dread that walks these halls is the only means of survival, and it created a subgenre where tension and paranoia were essentially gameplay mechanics. The two games have been re-released twice now, but if you’ve never tried these slower-paced nerve-wracking tales of terror they are definitely worth adding to your hard drive. 

Blasphemous

One of two retro-inspired 2D metroidvanias on our list, Blasphemous plays with horror on a nearly unique level. Everything in this game’s world is horrible (or wonderful, depending on your point of view) to behold.

The thinly veiled inspiration of Dante’s Inferno concerns the obsession-driven quest of a unknown knight. He’s fighting demonic and godly forces that seem to have flown right up from the lowest circles of Biblical Hell, and the player is fighting a difficulty level to match.

Blasphemous is bizarre and clever in its deliverance of hefty piles of gore, horrific monsters, and absurdly violent means to dispatch them. Just don't expect an easy time here.

LIMBO

Both of developer Playdead’s catalog is expertly disturbing, fascinating, and worth playing, and their second game, Inside, is a gem too.

Limbo, however, is definitely the more horrific of the two. A side-scrolling puzzle platformer, the game hits its horror notes easily thanks to the fact that all the nightmarish situations, monsters, and absolutely brutal death sequences are all perpetrated against a young boy (probably don’t play the game with the kiddies around).

Limbo has been on a lot of platforms since its original release way back in 2010 and it’s nice to know it can continue to disturb more players on the new generation.

Until Dawn

In the relatively brief and recent resurgence of FMV-style games, Until Dawn remains noteworthy for the way it takes the tried and true slasher genre interactive while still managing to stay within the boundaries of its cinemative roots.

There hasn’t been any game since that manages so successfully to create an interactive horror movie experience. Admittedly, the emulation of slasher films works because it lets the cheesy acting and writing of Until Dawn to feel like a perfectly natural and even expected part of the fun.

Resident Evil 3

The remake of the third game in the original Resident Evil series continues the story fluidly forward, making it a natural progression after playing RE2. While it’s not the best of the series, Capcom’s eye for detail and successfully balancing between nostalgia and modern-day design sense makes it an excellent survival horror-meets-action endeavor.

The big hook in Resident Evil 3 is the continuation of the chase elements as characters Jill Valentine and Carlos Oliveira struggle both independently and together to survive against not just a constant onslaught of the dead, but the relentless pursuit of the mysterious and horrific Nemesis.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Vikings have long been a favored subject in video games, but seldom has a game shown the utterly horrific effects of that much-lauded and glorified violence the people were known for. God of War showed it off, but also dug into it with fervor. Hellblade, however, shows the brutal truth of a lifetime of violence and abuse on an individual.

Senua is a broken warrior, laid low by years of torment from Viking conquerors. Her love was murdered by them, her mind is fractured, and her struggle seems never-ending.

Observer

Cyberpunk is never out of style, but one of the least used aspects of this sci-fi subgenre is how well it melds with dismal, oppressive horror.

Made by Blooper Team, who did the also fascinating Layers of Fear, Observer casts players Daniel Lazarski, a special brand of detective who can hack people’s minds as well as machines. Obsessed with finding his estranged missing son, Daniel finds himself trapped in a grungy run-down apartment complex that devolves into a techno layer of hell. The fact Daniel is modeled after and voice-acted by Rutger Hauer is icing on the cake.

The original PS4 is still an excellent and evocative trip, but for the shiniest (well, high-res grungiest) version, there's also Observer: System Redux specifically released on the PS5.

SOMA

Frictional Games doesn’t have a huge library of games, but their two key releases are Amnesia: Dark Descent (see below) and the brilliantly moody sci-fi horror, SOMA. Originally released on the PS4 in 2015, it could be argued this is a horror-tinged “walking simulator".

SOMA is wonderfully intelligent and harrowing interactive fiction. The emotional impact of the story hasn’t lessened in the intervening years, its presented conundrums over the nature of existence are hard to forget.

Resident Evil 2

Capcom’s Resident Evil series lands a few spots on this list, but with their complete remake of the second game, the company showed they still have a knack for horror. As with the original PlayStation game, you'll have to complete both Leon and Claire's campaigns to get the whole story.

The mix between survival horror and all-out action is damn near perfect. Capcom’s been good at remaking their old catalogs, but Resident Evil 2 is especially noteworthy. It has plenty to offer nostalgic gamers who loved the original but also makes a great choice even for those who never touched the series before.

Alien: Isolation

It’s hard to believe Alien: Isolation is old enough to have been released right at the transition between the PlayStation 3 and 4 (and released on both). It’s even harder to believe that Sega and developer, Creative Assembly, haven’t returned to the world of this incredible and, even now, distinctively intense survival horror title.

Isolation is a direct sequel to the original movie, where players take the role of Amanda Ripley, daughter of Sigourney Weaver’s famous Ellen Ripley character. 15 years after the events of Alien, Amanda is haunted by more than just the ghosts of her past as she finds herself in an Alien-infused nightmare aboard a space station. The retro-future set designs are stunning, but it’s the cat and mouse gameplay that makes Isolation remain one of the intense examples of its genre.

The PlayStation 5 might not have much of a native horror library just yet, but thanks to the system's backwards compatibility you're able to play any and every fright-filled PlayStation 4 title on Sony's newer system.

Luckily the PS4 library is extensive, and there's plenty for you to choose from between lower, more atmospheric horror games to those of the more blood-pumping variety. Let's get to the list.

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There’s something childlike about Carrion. Not that the game is catered to children. On the contrary, I couldn’t place it further away from my three-year-old son. It’s instead based upon the idea of an amorphous creature who has escaped and is learning to adapt. 

Starting from infancy, the horror platformer teaches you to live in brand new ways. It’s kind of beautiful, even amongst the gallons of blood that are spilled across the screen.

Carrion Review: Bloody Brilliant

Carrion is the latest indie title published by the notoriously self-aware Devolver Digital. It's developed by lovers of the horror genre, Phobia Game Studio. The premise is simple: You control of a blob-like creature that has escaped from a lab and is hellbent on causing as much chaos as it can. Imagine King Kong if directed by Quentin Tarantino, and you’re on the right path.

The game wastes no time covering the screen in gore as within mere seconds, you’ll be tasked with breaking free and using your deranged tentacles to devour everything in your path.

If there’s one way to describe Carrion, it’s "crunchy". As you escape the facility and make your way through the world, numerous obstacles will try to halt your progress. Vents will need to be smashed, wood charged through, and multiple soldiers (shivering in fear as they try to take you down) eviscerated.

You'll smash, punch, and chimp your way through Carrion, and every kill is accompanied with a very satisfying bite from the creature's mouth. It’s bizarre and utterly lovely.

Everything plays out like a David Cronenberg movie — dialed up to 11. There's enough grotesque body horror to give The Fly a run for its money.  

The world of Carrion doesn't merely exist to soak your screen in buckets of blood — there’s a fair few Metroidvania influences involved as well. Puzzles are often one of the main roadblocks you’ll encounter, and they can range from sliding your tentacle through a tight gap to reach a lever or growing larger so you can smash through tougher obstacles altogether.

Carrion doesn’t possess the same amount of depth as other Metroidvanias and doesn’t oversaturate the world with collectibles, but there's enough influence in its DNA to keep you going back to previous areas. 

One of the main drawbacks of navigation, though, is the lack of a map. The lab's corridors and sub-areas merge together in one massive labyrinth that takes time to learn. A button press hints at nearby save points and can be upgraded to highlight other objects, however, the navigation can at times still be a burden.

To help this, you’ll be granted the ability to shift between two sizes using water, each of which determines the abilities at your disposal. The smaller version of your monster is more nimble and can easily shift through smaller spaces, while the larger creature can become a wrecking ball of destruction.

The shift in sizes can also help in combat encounters and combined with a taunt ability, you can utilize the map's crawl spaces to become a deadly assassin.

New abilities are dished out at a brisk space and finding secret areas can enhance your monster even further. Some abilities often work in surprising ways, though revealing any of the later game inclusions here would detract from the fun of discovering just how the creature works and evolves.

Carrion is punctuated by brief moments where you control a human character and learn the origins of the creature, delving into darker and darker territory. While these moments are often quite short, they provide tantalizing teases of story and are surprisingly engaging in a narrative sense.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said from a gameplay standpoint.

Each section plays out like an adventure game, tasking you with finding items to proceed, but the controls are simply too slow sluggish. Playing as a human often feels like a sluggish affair and a sharp break on the fluid movements of the creature. For a game that prides itself on momentum, it’s a jarring switch that would have been better suited as a slate of cutscenes.

Carrion Review — The Bottom Line

Pros

• Beautifully grotesque in all the right ways
• Constant sense of progression through new abilities
• Wonderful feeling of fluidity and momentum with the creature
• Story is surprisingly engaging

Cons

• Navigation can kill the pacing with areas looking fairly familiar
• Human sections are a slog

While Carrion won't win any awards, it plays out much like a late Friday night feature, full of gruesome horror and satisfying effects. More importantly, it doesn't outstay its welcome.

Becoming an overwhelming force of destruction never ceases to be fun and the constant evolution of the creature provides players an increasing amount of tools to play with. Playing Carrion can often feel parental, as if you're nurturing a child through the early years of their life — except this child is a deadly, wanton killing machine.

After a handful of teases, demo releases on Steam, and appearances at conventions far and wide, we now know when Devolver Digital and Phobia Game Studios' Carrion will release for PC, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One: July 23. The same day that Crysis Remastered hits Switch. 

Devolver Digital announced the release date for the "reverse horror game" during its not-E3 presentation over the weekend, where the developer also provided new looks at Shadow Warrior 3 and Serious Sam 4. 

A new trailer shows off the grotesque, Lovecraftian horrors you'll inflict upon those unlucky enough to imprison you and stand in your way. 

Not only does Carrion look deliciously devilish, but it plays well, too. Back in December, we were able to go hands-on with an alpha demo of Carrion, and it left us mostly impressed. Of his time with the demo, Ty Arthur said: 

Carrion's selling point is that you play as a monster escaping a research facility. It's immediately clear that the game takes inspiration from John Carpenter's The Thing — just with a bloodier worm motif.

As the titular monster, you roll around on pseudopods that can stick to any surface, lending a serious World Of Goo feel to the game's wobbly movement. It might take some time to figure out, but it's satisfying once you start stalking the soldiers and scientists roaming about the lab.  

Carrion's art style nails that dark and bloody feel, but it's the excellent sound effects that really take things to the next level. Between the whipping and suctioning of tentacles and the screams of dying fleshy scientists, this is a game best experienced with the sound turned up.

Staying with the gory style, there's also an appropriately gross take on save points. Your tentacled creature squiggles into wall cracks to form a beating heart that can be used to re-spawn and fill regain any lost biomass. It's delightfully creepy. 

Unsurprisingly, Carrion made our list of most anticipated horror games of 2020 alongside the likes of Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 and the System Shock remake. 

There is currently a demo for the game available on Steam, though it's possible it could come down any day now, so check it out while you still can. 

Carrion will retail for $19.99 on PC (Steam and GoG), Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. It will also be available on Xbox Game Pass for console and PC at release. 

It's no secret that Carrion is a gory indie I've been excited to try out. So much so, that I even named it as one of our top 15 most anticipated horror games of 2020. 

While Carrion's announcement trailer showed off some truly stunning imagery, the Games Festival limited-time demo catapulted this giblet-covered platformer into the upper echelons of anticipation. 

Needless to say, I jumped at the chance to try it on Steam, and I can say that I was mostly impressed. 

Platforming Re-imagined 

Carrion's selling point is that you play as a monster escaping a research facility. It's immediately clear that the game takes inspiration from John Carpenter's The Thing — just with a bloodier worm motif.

As the titular monster, you roll around on pseudopods that can stick to any surface, lending a serious World Of Goo feel to the game's wobbly movement. It might take some time to figure out, but it's satisfying once you start stalking the soldiers and scientists roaming about the lab.  

Carrion's art style nails that dark and bloody feel, but it's the excellent sound effects that really take things to the next level. Between the whipping and suctioning of tentacles and the screams of dying fleshy scientists, this is a game best experienced with the sound turned up.

Staying with the gory style, there's also an appropriately gross take on save points. Your tentacled creature squiggles into wall cracks to form a beating heart that can be used to re-spawn and fill regain any lost biomass. It's delightfully creepy. 

Unfortunately, not everything is bloody goodness (just yet). While you see text messages scrolling on various walls issuing warnings to complex employees, you miss out on any sort of actual conversations. Carrion would greatly benefit from audio in this regard, giving you the ability to listen to scientists or soldiers talking to each other.

Since so much of the game revolves around hiding and waiting before moving forward, it's currently a glaring omission I hope gets added later on.

Hard, But Satisfying

       ...and I'm on fire. Great.

The alpha demo version of Carrion draws heavily on classic SNES and Genesis platformers, playing like a more fluid, but also more nightmarish and blood-soaked, version of Flashback.

In true old-school platformer style, Carrion is much harder than you'd expect considering that you are the big bloody monster and your enemies are a bunch of squishy, oh-so-edible humans.

Small arms fire isn't much of a concern, but machine gun turrets, drones with force fields, and soldiers wielding flamethrowers can quickly annihilate even a large blood monster if you aren't careful.

Because of the pixel art style and side-view camera, it's sometimes a little difficult to tell exactly which objects can be grabbed and interacted with as well. Some color tweaks would solve that issue nicely.

Adding to that difficulty is an issue with aiming while sticking to multiple anchor points around the room. There were several times during the demo where I was completely undetected and should have gotten in a quick kill, but the creature didn't launch exactly where I was trying to go. A soldier ended up turning around and killing me. 

Though the physics are generally fun, some tweaking is in order before the game's final release. 

Finally, the AI could also use a bit of a tweak for increased immersion as well. Scientists and office personnel run screaming at the sight of you, but soldiers have an odd lack of behavior.

Throwing a mangled corpse of a dead soldier at his living bodies elicits very little reaction at all —  not even a shout or involuntary step back.

Some Final Bloody Thoughts

        That guy won't be bothering me anymore

When you aren't devouring humans to add to your monster's biomass, most of Carrion involves destroying obstacles, pulling switches, circumventing deadly traps, and backtracking to previous areas to unlock new rooms.

Along the way you can launch viscera-covered spines to hold robotic enemies in place and upgrade new skills by breaking open canisters of god-knows-what. The fact that all of this is handled with three mouse buttons is kind of astonishing.

The sadly short Carrion demo ends with the release date blurred out (curses!) and a tantalizing view of the outside world just beyond the developer's workroom, making me want to get out there and devour!

Suffice it to say, Carrion has cemented its place on our most anticipated upcoming games, and we can't wait to see how it improves and expands at launch.

The Game Awards 2019 is set to be the usual grand affair of big winners and even bigger game reveals. But there's even more in store for this year's event. Show founder and host Geoff Keighley lifted the lid on a new endeavor launching with this year's show called The Games Festival.

"Let’s face it: Not everyone can attend a physical trade show or consumer event," Keighley said. "Now feels like the right time to take the next step with The Game Festival, a completely digital approach to the consumer event space."

With that in mind, The Games Festival is bringing playable first-look demos of more than 12 notable titles to anyone with a Steam account.

These will be available for 48 hours starting 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST on December 12. After 48 hours, the demos will be removed. The available games include:

• System Shock (Nightdive Studios)
• Eastward (Pixpil/Chucklefish)
• Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus)
• Moving Out (SMG Studio/Devm Games/Team17)
• Röki (Polygon Treehouse/United Label)
• Chicory (Greg Lobanov)
• Wooden Nickel (Brain&Brain)
• Haven (The Game Bakers)
• Heavenly Bodies (2pt Interactive)
• Acid Knife (Powerhoof)
• The Drifter (Powerhoof)
• CARRION (Phobia/Devolver)
• SkateBIRD (Glass Bottom Games)

We'll be covering The Game Awards' biggest wins, losses, and announcements, so stay tuned to GameSkinny for more news on the Game Awards 2019.

Deadside

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• Developer: Bad Pixel
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• Platforms: PC
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• Release date: TBA
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Set in a huge open world, Deadside is a hardcore online shooter with survival elements. In many ways, Deadside is not a typical survival game because it mainly focuses on shooting, hunting for enemies, and completing missions.

However, it will have the generally accepted traits of all survival games, such as eating food in order to survive.

The game's primary locations, such as forests, riverlands, and small cities, will be static and remain unchanged, but the inhabitants of these locations will dynamically change. Such places can be occupied by hostile NPCs, and you will have the choice to either to pass by or clear the territory and collect valuable loot. 

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That's it for the most anticipated survival games of 2020, and you can check more related lists below:

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• 11 Most Anticipated MMORPGs of 2020
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• 9 Most Anticipated FPS Games of 2020
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• 15 Most Anticipated Horror Games of 2020
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• 10 Most Anticipated Strategy Games of 2020
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• 8 Most Anticipated RPGs of 2020
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Grounded

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• Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
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• Platforms: PC, Xbox One
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• Release date: TBA
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Grounded was recently announced at Microsoft's X02019 event in London. It comes from Obsidian, the developers of The Outer Worlds and Fallout: New Vegas. 

Grounded features four playable characters and will focus on co-operative gameplay. For example, one player can begin an outline of a building, and other players can finish it. 

Each creature in the game, down to the last insect, has its own specific behavior, which varies depending on your actions. For example, killing all aphids in one area will cause ladybugs to migrate to other areas.

In addition, Grounded has a crafting system that is based on items that naturally generate in the world. Having collected the necessary ingredients, you can create a gas mask and visit previously inaccessible biomes with a poisonous atmosphere.

It's survival meets Metroidvania. 

Odludzie

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• Developer: VeCube
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• Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One
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• Release date: TBA
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Polish developer VeCube's new survival game takes place in the Polish section of the Carpathian Mountains. Odludzie is based on Unreal Engine 4 and promises highly realistic graphics.

Involved in a plane crash, Odludzie's protagonist finds himself far from civilization. Deep in the Carpathian forest, he has to rely solely on his skills. As with other survival games like The Forest, his strength and endurance decrease, forcing him to forage and hunt for food, as well as build a suitable shelter.

As expected, players can create primitive weapons and other creative means of obtaining even more and better food. In addition to the standard set of survival elements, the game will also have a variety of puzzles to solve. 

RAW

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• Developer: Killerwhale
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• Platforms: PC
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• Release date: TBA
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RAW is an IndieGoGo-supported open-world survival RPG that blends elements of GTA Online and RUST.

RAW is basically a sandbox game with an emphasis on social structures and enhanced realism. Players will act as citizens of an island state, where they will be offered a wide range of gaming opportunities, including owning land, controlling air traffic, participating in water transportation, owning a private business, and, of course, violating the law through a life of crime. 

In short, it's an online version of real-life for those who wish to spend some time on a virtual island without leaving their cozy bedroom.

Carrion

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• Developer: Phobia Game Studio
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• Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One
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• Release date: 2020
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Carrion is a very unusual survival horror game. It puts players in the claws of a monster instead of a victim. It's your job to "spread fear and panic through the [scientific] facility" in which the game takes place, all while staying alive long enough to kill your captors. 

As an alien creature that escapes from its cage, players squeeze through air-ducts and stalk narrow halls. Gradually, the creature acquires more devastating abilities, becoming more and more powerful. 

Carrion was originally unveiled at E3 2019, and has received rave remarks from those able to preview it. 

Digimon Survive

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• Developer: Witchcraft
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• Platforms: PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
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• Release date: TBA
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Digimon Survive will tell the story of a group of teenagers led by Takuma Momotsuka. They must survive in a (digital) monster world and find their way back home.

Survive will have many difficult choices. In the process of making those decisions, players may even lose some heroes by making the wrong choices. Because of that, Survive will have multiple endings and dozens of ways to digivolve Digimon. 

The game will feature about 100 playable Digimons. Turn-based battles will be similar to the combat system found in Final Fantasy Tactics.

The Eternal Cylinder

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• Developer: Ace Team
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• Platforms: PC
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• Release date: TBA
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The Eternal Cylinder is an ambitious open-world survival adventure game that will take you on a journey through fantastic worlds full of amazing mutations.

In The Eternal Cylinder, players control a herd of alien creatures called Trebhums that must explore a strange and exotic world. The life of the planet is under the constant threat of the Cylinder, a massive rolling structure that crushes everything in its path.

The game showcases a unique ecosystem with massive, procedurally generated areas. The world is designed in such a way that no two playthroughs are ever the same.

AWAY: The Survival Series

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• Developer: Breaking Walls
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• Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One
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• Release date: TBA
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This is not the first time players have had the chance to see the world through an eyes of an animal. However, it is definitely the very first time players will be able to control so many animals. 

Players will primarily control a sugar glider. They will take this little, curious creature on a journey through the Canadian wilderness and explore all of its amazingly diverse flora and fauna. You will be able to change perspectives and play AWAY: The Survival Series as other animals as well.

For now, the following species are confirmed as playable: lizards, deer, crabs, foxes, and praying mantis.

Last Oasis

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• Developer: Donkey Crew
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• Platforms: PC
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• Release date: TBA
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Last Oasis is a multiplayer survival game about nomads surviving in a sun-scorched world. After the Earth mysteriously stopped rotating, these nomads hide from the light by traveling in huge wooden machines that act as roving bases. 

The cataclysm destroyed many living beings, turning once-prosperous territories into giant deserts and ice mines. Only a narrow strip of space between them, consisting of oases, can support life.

Either playing solo or with a group, players must survive and fight against warring factions of nomads, waging an eternal struggle for resources and territory. Players will also be able to build bases and craft equipment, protecting themselves from invaders or taking the fight to enemy bases. 

The Last of Us Part 2

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• Developer: Naughty Dog
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• Platforms: PS4
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• Release date: May 29, 2020
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The sequel to The Last of Us, one of the best survival games ever created, The Last of Us Part 2 is set in a similar post-apocalyptic setting and looks to use similar gameplay elements as TLoU. This time, a grown-up Ellie seems to be the primary focus, though Joel is said to be more than just a passing influence.

Naughty Dog promises an advanced graphics engine will power The Last of Us Part 2, and that there are a number of new enemies to fight. From what we know so far, parts of the game will take place in Seattle, Washington, and that the story is being worked on by Halley Gross, co-writer of Westworld.

With that knowledge, expect another solid single-player experience in The Last of Us Part 2. According to reports, the sequel will not have a multiplayer component, unlike the first game.

Dying Light 2

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• Developer: Techland
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• Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One
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• Release date: Q1/Q2 2020
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Dying Light 2 is the sequel to a sensational Dying Light. From what we've seen, the sequel will still employ the series' parkour elements, advanced artificial intelligence, and, of course, the adrenaline pumping gameplay that made the first game such a success. 

The events of Dying Light 2 take place 15 years after Dying Light. This time, however, players control a new protagonist. Dying Light 2 is set in a massive open-world called The City, which is four times bigger than the map of the original game.

Also, Techland promises an advanced ecosystem and improved interaction with the world. Though we don't yet know exactly what that means, it sounds great, and we can't wait to learn more. 

In the meantime, be sure to check out 26 minutes of Dying Light 2 gameplay from E3 2019. 

Survival video games continue to grow in popularity. And it makes sense. From the beginning of time, fighting for survival has been foundational to the human experience.

The survival genre often puts players in harsh situations, pushing them to look for the most creative solutions to complex problems. With the success of survival games such as Ark: Survival Evolved, Don't Starve, Subnautica, DayZ, and Oxygen Not Included, more and more developers are venturing out into the wild unknown. 

This selection of upcoming survival video games includes a variety of titles, from sequels to well-established survival games to brand new games supported through Kickstarter campaigns. These are the games to watch in 2020. 

That's it for our most anticipated horror video games of 2020! What did you think of our picks, and did we miss any games coming in the next few months that should have made the list?

Sound off in the comments below and let us know what game you think will reign supreme as the best horror title of 2020!

Looking for more horror games to play right now? Don't forget that quite a few already landed this year. Here are some to get you started:

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• Moons Of Madness
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• The Sinking City
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• Man Of Medan
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• Blair Witch 
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• Daymare 1998
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• Silver Chains
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For more, be sure to head over to our other lists showcasing the most anticipated games of 2020:

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• Most anticipated MMORPGs
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• Most anticipated FPS games
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• Most anticipated survival games
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• Most anticipated Switch games
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• Most anticipated strategy games
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• Most anticipated RPGs
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Unholy 

Developer: Duality Games
Platforms: PC
Release Date: TBD 2020

Unholy is a massive question mark at the moment. The game's visual aesthetic looks amazing (those tentacles coming out of the crib in the trailer are truly chilling). However, I have to wonder if Unholy will end up being similar to Inner Chains, where the art direction took precedence over the gameplay.

Unholy is coming from a new collaboration of developers working on four separate titles. While Unholy could crash and burn, I've got high hopes for a truly horrifying experience, where we play as a mother in search of her abducted child on a dying planet.

Darkest Dungeon 2

Developer: Red Hook Studios
Platforms: PC
Release Date: February 2020

After dealing with rampant vampirism in Darkest Dungeon's The Crimson Court DLC and going mad from a terrible green glow with the Lovecraft-themed Color Of Madness expansion, we're finally going to get a true sequel to Darkest Dungeon!

Sadly, Darkest Dungeon 2 has no release window, so we may not get this one for a few years still. But it seems likely Darkest Dungeon 2 will arrive in Early Access at some point in 2020 to get through the same rigorous balance tweaks the first game saw.

Expect Darkest Dungeon 2 to be gruelingly hard, but with some major tweaks to the combat and town systems to reduce the infamous grind found in Darkest Dungeon.

Hopefully, we'll soon get to contract new terrible diseases and die of fright from massive heart attacks while facing terrors unknown!

The Walking Dead: Saints And Sinners

Developer: Skydance Interactive
Platforms: PC
Release Date: January 23, 2020

With a third TV series in the works and several spin-off movies due to arrive soon, there's no doubt The Walking Dead has just about been run into the ground. Forget beating a dead horse. Now we're just beating dead zombies.

So why include The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners on this list? Because Saints and Sinners is a VR game, and we need some more solid horror VR games, pronto!

The gameplay we've seen of Saints and Sinners so far makes interesting use of a backpack mechanic for more immersion, and there seems to be some character customization involved. Of course, the real goods will be in lopping heads off of zombies in the first-person.

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners is one of the very few 2020 horror games with a firm release date: due to drop on January 23.

Carrion

Developer: Phobia Game Studio
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Release Date: TBD 2020

Carrion might appear to be the odd game out in this list, but this "reverse horror" platformer gives horror fans what they've always wanted. In Carrion, you can finally play as the amorphous "Thing" and wreak havoc on the scientists and military personnel trying to keep you from escaping!

Between the reverse platforming mechanics and the extremely bloody trailer, Carrion might end up being the surprise 2D horror hit of the year. Just watch out for those flame throwers!

Kingdom Of Night

Developer: Black Seven Studios
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch
Release Date: October 2020

This entry may not be quite what you're expecting based on our other picks. Kingdom Of Night is an isometric pixel-art action RPG dripping with dark atmosphere. KoN also happens to be filled to the brim with demonic enemies.

Serving as a nice counterpoint to the early access title HellSign, Kingdom of the Night's music, art style, and typography all nail the '80s horror aesthetic.

While you are unlikely to scream in terror at any point, it looks like you will have fun hacking apart werewolves, zombies, and other demonic entities with a machete. 

The Dark Pictures Little Hope

Developer: Supermassive Games
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Release Date: TBD 2020

We don't know much about the next entry in the Dark Pictures anthology series that began with Man Of Medan. Though we know that Little Hope is coming soon, that it takes place in the dark woods, and that there may or may not be witches involved, everything else is a mystery.

Considering Man of Medan had 14 different endings and injected new life into the "interactive movie" sub-genre, it seems like a good bet anyone who loved Until Dawn or similar games will be right at home with Little Hope.

Remothered: Broken Porcelain

Developer: Stormind Games
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch
Release Date: TBD 2020

Remothered: Broken Porcelain contains some very clear nods to cult classic Rule Of Rose, a survival horror game released for the PlayStation 2 in 2006. I suspect Broken Porcelain will have an equally disturbing story and terrifyingly similar imagery.

The follow up to Remothered: Tormented Fathers, Broken Porcelain moves the series to an abandoned hotel in the middle of nowhere.

How a classic style in the vein of Rule of Rose will translate to modern gameplay remains to be seen, however. The revival of old-school horror games has been rather hit or miss in recent years.

The unfortunate Clocktower reboot, Nightcry, was slaughtered by negative reviews, while Remothered: Tormented Fathers also had its share of gameplay issues.

If done right, this could be the Silent Hill 2 of a new generation. 

Dying Light 2 

Developer: Techland
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Release Date: TBD 2020

Although more action than horror, there's plenty of zombie-slaying mayhem in Dying Light 2. Set to release in spring 2020, Dying Light 2 is shaping up to be something to look forward to. The game will feature choice-based gameplay and a more reactive world than the one found in Dying Light.

A recent 25-minute trailer shows off Dying Light 2's stunning visuals and map design. It's clear there will be different ways to approach missions as you try to keep humanity alive just a little while longer.

The Last Of Us Part 2

Developer: Naughty Dog
Platforms: PlayStation 4
Release Date: May 29, 2020

OK, does The Last of Us Part 2 count as a horror game? TLoU2 has infected zombie-ites using hive intelligence, post-apocalyptic Seraphites getting brutally butchered, and a morbidly dark undertone oozing with dread and terror. 

If you didn't cry in horror during the prologue of The Last of Us, then you just flat out aren't human. From what we've seen, you might be able to redeem yourself with TLoU2. 

Assuming no more delays impact The Last of Us Part 2, this massively anticipated sequel will release on May 29. It will be exclusively single-player at launch, predominantly focusing on story. Expect some gruesome deaths. And bring along a box of tissues for those tough moral choices. 

System Shock Remake

Developer: Nightdive Studios
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Release Date: Q1 2020

I suspect I'd be mildly embarrassed if I went back and looked at how many times we've included the System Shock Remake on various "most anticipated games of the coming year" lists. 2016? Check. 2018? Yup, check.

Why have we been eagerly awaiting a full remake of System Shock year after year? Much like Half-Life and Deus Ex, System Shock would great influence other games to come. We directly have it to thank for the Bioshock series.

Unfortunately, like those other classics, it hasn't aged super well. One of the few games to truly deserve a remake, System Shock needs to be played by a new generation. 

Want to see where AI run amok and sci-fi mashing with horror really got its start in the PC gaming realm? I'll just note that the game is currently listed on Steam as arriving in 2020, so, we'll see if it happens this time...

Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2

Developer: Hardsuit Labs
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Release Date: TBD 2020

With a hallowed horror classic like Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines, so much could go wrong in a sequel. 

While the lovably buggy nonsense of the original game's can be seen as endearing 15 years later, such a launch for Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 won't go over well today.

To say that Hardsuit Labs has a monumental task ahead of them is an understatement. The development team is tasked with capturing the essence of the original while presenting the more polished gameplay modern gamers expect.

Seeking to avoid a rocky launch, the game's release has been pushed back from its original March 2020 window. 

Can't wait that long? Coteries of New York, an upcoming adventure game from Draw Distance, is set to release in December. Coteries follows a format similar to that of visual novels, so don't expect anything on the scale of Bloodlines 2. 

Paranoid

Developer: Madmind Studio
Platforms: PC
Release Date: TBD 2020

Some are still steamed about Agony's botched release. Considering what was first delivered, that's understandable. But I'm glad there are indie developers pushing the boundaries of horror, even if the games aren't perfect.

Paranoid, also from MadMind, leaves Hell behind and delves into an 80's-tinged hellhouse dripping with drug-fueled paranoia. From the aesthetic to the presentation, here's a lot of potential in Paranoid. If done right, loss and addiction can be the most gripping terror horror has to offer. 

Hopefully, we'll find out next year. 

Succubus

Developer: Madmind Studio
Platforms: PC
Release Date: TBD 2020

Let's go ahead and get the other scandalous horror game out of the way. We don't want you thinking we're a hentai site or anything.

Succubus is a spin-off of the controversial Agony, which was set directly in the bowels of Hell itself. Agony was the contemporary of the mythos-focused erotic horror game, Lust For Darkness.

The original Agony stirred not only the anti-nudity crowd, but also backers who felt deceived by Agony's marketing. Scenes were cut from the final product, and large parts of the game were censored before an unrated version was released.

Less a sequel and more a spin-off, Succubus puts players in the role of a demonic priestess out for revenge. Shifting perspective from poor, damned martyr sets Succubus up to be more action packed than Agony, but nonetheless hellish.

Lust From Beyond

Developer: Movie Games Lunarium
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Release Date: TBD 2020

The erotic horror sub-genre might be more than just an odd blip on the radar.

A sequel to Lust For Darkness is set to take everything from the first game and make it bigger. Lust From Beyond will have a bigger world, more game mechanics, and the addition of a secondary rival sex cult known as the Scarlet Lodge.

The sneak peak beta we were able to play a few months back showed plenty of scares and deadly extradimensional vaginas. It teased both fully interactive sex scenes and significantly more pornographic imagery than the first game.

Based on what we've seen already, I wonder how on earth this game will stay on Steam. If you missed it when it first came out some months back, the prologue is now free to play on Steam.

Be warned, though: because it's an adult-only game, you have to change your content preferences to be able to see the deplorable game page.

Whatever Horror Game Red Barrels is Working on

DECEMBER UPDATE: Red Barrels has now confirmed the title as The Outlast Trials. Set in the Cold War, it looks to be a co-op horror experience revolving around surviving horrific tests.

The development crew behind the Outlast series began posting ads for new programmers back in April 2019. From that, it's clear something is in the works, either as a follow-up to Outlast 2 or an entirely new project. 

With that information, it's entirely possible whatever Red Barrels is working on may not come out by the end of 2020. But we're going to list the project here because we're already excited for the official announcement, which could come by the end of December.

As of this writing, all we have to go on is the image above, which reads, "Where freedom ends." Though it could be a title, the text is most likely a tag line for the project. 

Since both of the studio's previous games began with strong religious connotations before taking hard left turns into sci-fi territory, we have to wonder if a similar theme will continue in the next game. We also have to wonder if weapons will finally make it to a Red Barrels game.

A slew of horror (and horror-adjacent) games are in the works for 2020 and beyond. Covering just about every genre, from visual novels to platformers and even isometric RPGs, some of the most anticipated horror video games potentially coming out in 2020 might not be what you think. 

It's true that some of these might get delayed and release in 2021 or 2022. But the 15 horror games we've collected look like they have the most potential to release in some form over the next year. Many of the games look like they will knock our socks off and keep us sleeping with the lights on!

Let's take a look and see what's in store for horror fanatics over the next 12 months.