The Greatest Survival Horror Games of All Time

Ranker Community
Updated June 23, 2023 68.9K votes 5.8K voters 193.7K views
Over 5.8K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Greatest Survival Horror Games of All Time
Voting Rules
Any video game is the survival horror genre
Latest additions: A Plague Tale: Requiem, Scorn
Most divisive: Silent Hill: Homecoming

These are the best survival horror games ever to hit gaming consoles. These scary video games take you out of your element to fight evil forces, and this list includes zombie games, RPG video games, and are some of the most addictive games of all time. Survival horror games are classified by their ability to make the player feel less powerful because of limited ammunition, health, speed, or a multitude of enemies. The best survival horror games of all time strike the right balance between making the player feel out of control and like they can still beat the game.

The survival horror genre has been prolific since it's inception during the days of the original Playstation. Early games combined the elements of slasher films, science fiction, and haunted house stories, and other horror games included monster adversaries as well as varying degrees of gore or violence. Popular series such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill and releases like Amnesia: The Dark Descent are widely considered the most terrifying and groundbreaking of this killing games genre, which is constantly testing its own boundaries.

What are the top survival horror games? Vote for your favorite zombie survival, dino-horror, and even ghost-terrorizing games to move them up the list, or press re-rank to create your own best survival video games list.

Ranked by
  • Resident Evil 2
    1

    Resident Evil 2

    Jan 21 1998
    2,043 votes
    • Platform: GameCube, Personal computer, Dreamcast, Game com, IBM PC compatible
    Resident Evil 2, known in Japan as Biohazard 2, is a 1998 survival horror video game originally released for the PlayStation. Developed by Capcom as the second installment in the Resident Evil series, its story takes place two months after the events of the first game, Resident Evil. It is set in Raccoon City, an American community whose residents have been transformed into zombies by the T-virus, a biological weapon developed by the pharmaceutical company Umbrella. In their escape from the city, the two protagonists, Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, encounter other survivors, and are confronted by William Birkin, the mutated creator of the even more powerful G-virus. The gameplay of Resident Evil 2 focuses on exploration, puzzle solving and combat, and features typical survival horror elements such as limited saves and ammunition. The game's main difference from its predecessor is the "Zapping System", which provides each player character with unique storylines and obstacles. Developed by a team of 40–50 people over the course of one year and nine months, Resident Evil 2 was directed by Hideki Kamiya and produced by Shinji Mikami.
  • Silent Hill 2
    2

    Silent Hill 2

    2001
    2,361 votes
    • Platform: PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Personal computer
    Silent Hill 2 is a survival horror video game published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 and developed by Team Silent, a production group within Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo. The game was released in September 2001 as the second installment in the Silent Hill series. An extended version of the game was published for Xbox in December of the same year, containing a short bonus scenario and other minor additions. It was later ported to the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows in 2002. A remastered high-definition version of the game was released for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 in 2012 as part of the Silent Hill HD Collection. While set in the series' eponymous fictional American town, Silent Hill 2 is not a direct sequel to the first Silent Hill game. Instead, it centers on James Sunderland, who enters the town after receiving a letter written by his deceased wife, saying she is waiting for him in their "special place" in Silent Hill. Joined by Maria, who strongly resembles her, he searches for her and discovers the truth about her death. Additional material in re-releases and ports included Born from a Wish, a sub-scenario which focuses on Maria before she and James meet.
  • Resident Evil 2 (Remake)
    3
    • Platform: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
    Resident Evil 2 is a survival horror game developed and published by Capcom. A remake of Resident Evil 2 (1998), it follows rookie police officer Leon S. Kennedy and college student Claire Redfield as they attempt to escape from Raccoon City during a zombie apocalypse. Unlike the original Resident Evil 2, which uses tank controls and fixed camera angles, the remake features "over-the-shoulder" third-person shooter gameplay similar to Resident Evil 4.
  • Resident Evil
    4

    Resident Evil

    Mar 22 1996
    2,065 votes
    • Platform: GameCube, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, Sega Saturn
    Resident Evil, originally released in Japan as Bio Hazard, is a survival horror video game developed and released by Capcom originally for the Sony PlayStation in 1996. It was later ported for the Sega Saturn and Microsoft Windows platforms, and re-released for the Nintendo DS and onto the Sony PlayStation Network. Resident Evil was very well received critically and commercially, and has been credited with starting the modern survival horror genre. Its success spawned a multitude of sequels and spin-offs in the Resident Evil series. Originally conceived as a remake of Capcom's earlier horror-themed game Sweet Home, development for the game was directed by Shinji Mikami, who took gameplay design cues from the 1992 game Alone in the Dark. Resident Evil establishes many conventions seen in later games of the series, such as the control scheme, the inventory system, as well as the iconic typewriter-based saving process. The game introduces the Resident Evil series mainstays Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine as members of an elite task force known as S.T.A.R.S.
  • Silent Hill
    5

    Silent Hill

    Jan 01 1999
    2,133 votes
    • Platform: PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation
    Silent Hill is a survival horror video game for the PlayStation published by Konami and developed by Team Silent, a Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo group. The first installment in the Silent Hill series, the game was released in North America in January 1999, and in Japan and Europe later that year. Silent Hill uses a third-person view, with real-time 3D environments. To mitigate limitations of the hardware, developers liberally used fog and darkness to muddle the graphics. Unlike earlier survival horror games that focused on protagonists with combat training, the player character of Silent Hill is an "everyman". The game follows Harry Mason as he searches for his missing adopted daughter in the eponymous fictional American town of Silent Hill; stumbling upon a cult conducting a ritual to revive a deity it worships, he discovers her true origin. Five game endings are possible, depending on actions taken by the player, including one joke ending. Silent Hill received positive reviews from critics on its release and was commercially successful.
  • Dead Space
    6

    Dead Space

    2008
    1,948 votes
    • Platform: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
    Dead Space is a survival, horror game developed by EA Redwood Shores and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in 2008. The debut entry in the Dead Space series. Set on a mining spaceship overrun by deadly monsters called Necromorphs following the discovery of an artifact called the Marker, the player controls engineer Isaac Clarke as he navigates the spaceship and fights the Necromorphs while struggling with growing psychosis. Players control Isaac and explore different areas through its narrative, solving environmental puzzles and finding ammunition and equipment to survive.