It’s Halloween season once again, where everyone likes to dress up in ghoulish costumes, hold parties with sweets in the shape of eyeballs and generally try to scare one another for a little fun. This is all very light-hearted entertainment, with silly fake noses, pointy hats and lashings of fake blood. Fans of the season who like to turn things up a notch and really feel the hairs on their neck stand up need only turn to virtual reality (VR), as the technology is ideally suited to the task.
For this season of frights, VRFocus has decided to list some of the best available titles relating to each of the major headsets and their respective stores. The selection is a mixture of jump scares, psychological horror, and just some of the weirdness VR developers have created to make you jump. You have been warned…
Oculus Quest
- The Exorcist: Legion VR – An episodic story spilt across five chapters, The Exorcist: Legion VR puts you in the role of a detective investigating grisly murders. Needless to say, these all have a paranormal twist if you’re brave enough to find out?
- Face Your Fears II – Does VRFocus need to explain more? You’re alone in a haunted house, what could go wrong?
- Red Matter – More of a puzzle-adventure, Red Matter still features some tense and alarming moments as you investigate an abandoned space on one of Saturn’s moons.
- Dreadhalls – A survival horror set in a dungeon where you have no weapons, only a flaming torch to light the way and the ability to lock pick doors, Dreadhalls was one of the earliest VR examples of jump scares, and it hasn’t lost any of its shock value in this port.
- Richie’s Plank Experience – Scary for those that don’t like heights, the addition of a Nightmare Mode ups the ante with favourites like spiders.
Oculus Rift
- Five Nights at Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted – The long-running franchise came to VR in 2019 and was all the better for it. Full of bite-sized mini-games that will get your heart racing, it doesn’t get much more intense than this.
- Transference – A twisted psychological thriller with a unique narrative, Transference will have you both enthralled and terrified in equal measure.
- Edge of Nowhere – An oldie but a goldie, Edge of Nowhere is the only third-person title on this list. It still manages to show that scares can come in all shapes and sizes.
- Kartong: Death By Cardboard! – One of the stranger titles here, Kartong: Death By Cardboard! mixes in stealth and FPS gameplay inside a twisted toy world.
- Duck Season – Starting off as a retro-inspired shooter where you can kill a few ducks, Duck Season soon turns to a dark place where you’re no longer safe in your own home.
![Five Nights at Freddys VR]()
PlayStation VR
PlayStation VR- Resident Evil 7 Biohazard – If you own a PlayStation VR you should already own this, nuff said.
- Intruders: Hide and Seek – The first title from Spanish indie developer Tessera Studios, a thriller set inside a family home you play a child hiding from intruders which have tied up your parents.
- Five Nights at Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted – As mentioned above, this has got some good scares. And you’ll never look at theme park animatronics the same way again.
- The Persistence – You’ve woken up on a space ship where the entire crew have been turned into horrible monsters. Survive and save the ship, just don’t get eaten.
- Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul – A horror movie tie-in, Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul goes for the classic less is more approach putting you in a very scary house with little more than a flashlight.
Valve Index/HTC Vive
- The Forest – A jet crash, a forest, and now cannibalistic mutants, things aren’t looking good. This is survival of the fittest, where you can build a shelter, lay traps and hunt…and be hunted.
- Five Nights at Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted – How did this get here? Oh yeah, it’s rather good at scaring people.
- Kobold: Chapter 1 – A horror experience that blurs the line between cinema and VR gaming, something a little different.
- Shattered Lights – A psychological horror room-scale experience where you do literally walk around the title. Plus it’s free so why not give it a try.
- In Death – Not that scary, In Death is a rogue-lite shooter with procedurally generated levels, lots of combat, and some beautiful visuals, just keep your eyes peeled.