The best games featuring 80s horror icons
Cenobites, Michael Myers, and killer clowns: 80s horror legends are enjoying an all-time high in video games. One genre stands out just as much as the many clichés that made the original films great.
It is not just Hollywood that is riding a blood-red wave of horror success. While indie surprise hits like "Obsession" and "Backrooms" are dominating there, in the gaming world, it is 80s cult series that are giving us pleasant shivers. With "Hellraiser: Revival" and "Halloween: The Game", two brand-new candidates are launching just in time for Halloween. They join numerous murderous figures, not all of whom are unfortunately still playable.
"Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival"
Since 1987, the Cenobites have been abducting morally depraved people into their dimension to provide them with unimaginable sensory experiences. "Be careful what you wish for" likely echoes in the ears of the insatiable as the S&M-clad Cenobites peel off their skin.
Source: Saber Interactive
In the game, you follow Aidan. During a somewhat too intense sex game, his girlfriend summons the Cenobites with a magic cube, and they immediately take her into their hellish dimension. You run after them and find yourself in a bloody, grotesque world. Pinhead, the cult figure from "Hellraiser", is portrayed by Doug Bradley, just like in the films. Series creator Clive Barker was on hand as a consultant. Do not expect a masterpiece in terms of gameplay; however, fans of the series get plenty of blood, nudity, and bizarre sci-fi horror.
Release date: October 8, 2026
Where: PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2
What is it: Single-player horror action game
"Halloween: The Game"
Strictly speaking, Michael Myers has been hacking his way through small American towns since the seventies. In 1978, John Carpenter created one of the greatest horror icons, whose trademark is a modified William Shatner mask. "Halloween: The Game" is a representative of the popular genre of asymmetrical multiplayer games. One person controls the knife-wielding Michael, while up to four players work together to save the population of the quiet suburb of Haddonfield from the killer.
Source: IllFonic
As Michael, you have various supernatural abilities at your disposal. If you catch a victim, you can execute them true to the original. However, the heroes are not defenseless, and an interesting dynamic emerges, especially when interacting with the NPCs. Additionally, there are single-player missions where you experience Michael's story through his own eyes.
Release date: September 8, 2026
Where: PC, PS5, Xbox Series
What is it: Asymmetrical multiplayer game for up to 5 people
"Friday the 13th: The Game"
Jason from "Friday the 13th" cuts from the same cloth – or rather, used to. Due to licensing reasons, the game has not been sold since 2023 and is only available offline if you already own it. For a multiplayer game, that is obviously pretty pointless. Yet the concept was still fresh in 2015. Here, too, one person takes on the role of the hockey-mask-wearing Jason, who hunts up to seven potential victims.
While Jason can even see you through walls and teleport using special abilities, the survivors try to find specific items to escape.
Source: Illfonic
It was surprisingly fun with the right fellow players. If you miss the misunderstood Jason as much as I do, I recommend the prequel series "Crystal Lake", which is currently airing on HBO.
Release date: May 26, 2017
Where: Discontinued – PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch 1
What is it: Asymmetrical multiplayer game for up to 8 people
"Evil Dead: The Game"
The "Evil Dead" multiplayer game has met a similar fate to "Friday the 13th: The Game": sales were discontinued on all platforms last year. However, the servers remain online, so anyone who owns the game can still play it.
Source: Saber Interactive
There is also an asymmetrical game mode here. One person controls a monster known from Sam Raimi's original film. The so-called Deadite races around in search of inattentive survivors. But they are anything but defenseless here. They are led by Ash with his chainsaw and his boomstick. Many other characters from the films and the TV series are also on board. Later, a PvP and a battle royale mode were added.
Release date: May 13, 2022
Where: No longer sold – PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Switch
What is it: Asymmetrical multiplayer game for up to 8 people
"Killer Klowns from Outer Space"
Bloodthirsty space clowns land on Earth in their spaceship. There, they hunt innocent small-town residents with circus-inspired murder instruments like cotton candy guns. Incidentally, the film is called "Space Invaders" in German. I would be burning to know how many boomers got lost in the cinema back then and wondered about this strange adaptation of their favorite arcade game.
Source: IllFonic
The game was developed by IllFonic, just like "Halloween: The Game" and "Friday the 13th: The Game". Three clowns face up to seven survivors. The game principle is similar to the other asymmetrical multiplayer games: the clowns focus on killing or wrapping their victims in cotton candy to take them to a collection station and trigger the Klownpocalypse. As a human, you try to prevent this – primarily by surviving or taking out the clowns.
Release date: June 4, 2024
Where: PC, PS5, Xbox Series
What is it: Asymmetrical multiplayer game for up to 10 people
"Texas Chain Saw Massacre"
The chainsaw-wielding Leatherface also began his career in the 70s – 1974, to be exact. However, there was a sequel in the 80s, which also earns the series a place on this list.
Source: Sumo Digital
The game – surprise – relies on an asymmetrical multiplayer mode. One team plays the victims, the other takes on the role of the notorious slaughtering family – led by Leatherface himself. The victims focus on sneaking and need fuses, keys, and the like to escape. However, they can also track down and attack the grandfather of the psycho family, which significantly weakens the family. Although the grandfather is confined to a wheelchair, he has special abilities like sonar. This is unlocked by his degenerate grandchildren giving him blood to drink. A gripping cat-and-mouse game that also features iconic kills.
Release date: August 18, 2023
Where: PC, PS5, Xbox Series
What is it: Asymmetrical multiplayer game for up to 7 people
"Alien: Isolation"
The surprise hit par excellence: not only because the game perfectly captures the oppressive horror of Ridley Scott's cult film. But also because it was developed by Creative Assembly, the studio that was previously primarily known for the historical real-time strategy games of the "Total War" series.
Source: Creative Assembly
Just like in the 1979 film, you are on an abandoned space station and are fleeing from a single alien. Most game adaptations are based on James Cameron's sequel and focus on shooting action. "Alien: Isolation" plays much slower, but all the more excitingly. This is also thanks to the brilliant AI. When the drooling Xenomorph suddenly sneaks up from a ventilation shaft behind you while you are trying to save, your screaming will even replace Jamie Lee Curtis as the Scream Queen.
Release date: October 6, 2014
Where: PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series
What is it: Single-player survival horror
Where is Freddy?
One obvious candidate is missing from the list: Freddy Krueger. Although you can play the shriveled face from "Nightmare on Elm Street" like pretty much every horror figure in "Dead by Daylight", he has not received his own game for a long time. I have to dig deep into the retro box to find anything. In 1990, six years after Wes Craven gave us nightmares and the sixth part was already being filmed, Freddy was also raging on the console.
Source: Rare
The NES game "A Nightmare on Elm Street" was apparently pretty rubbish or "Aaassss", as a certain YouTube expert would call it. It was developed by a small British studio called Rare – exactly, the same people who would write history a little later with "007: GoldenEye".
Maybe they are willing to give Freddy another chance today. Although a pitch meeting with Microsoft, to whom Rare belongs, would currently give me worse nightmares than all the "Nightmare on Elm Street" films combined.
As a child, I wasn't allowed to have any consoles. It was only with the arrival of the family's 486 PC that the magical world of gaming opened up to me. Today, I'm overcompensating accordingly. Only a lack of time and money prevents me from trying out every game there is and decorating my shelf with rare retro consoles.
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