The best survival horror games are…

10. Resident Evil 2 remake

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, and PC

Almost 20 years after its original PS1 release, Resident Evil 2 is back and better than ever. The Resident Evil 2 Remake (opens in new tab) has rebuilt the original game from the ground up, which manages to simultaneously honour its roots and build a future for one of the most groundbreaking horror games of all time. Leon and Claire are attempting to escape the zombie-filled Raccoon City, and will face plenty of monsters and challenges along the way. Tight gunplay, clever puzzles, great set pieces and some strangely beautiful gore – seriously – all combine to make one of the most essential, and best, survival horror games.

9. The Last of Us

Available: PS4, PS5 

There was a BBC documentary on a little known fungus called Cordyceps, which infects the brains of ants, assumes control, and drives the ants to water before bursting from their skulls. This savoury topic became the inspiration for Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us, the tale of a man named Joel trying to take a girl called Ellie across post-apocalyptic America, when the cordycepts fungus has found a way to infect humans. Resources here are incredibly scarce, meaning you’ll have to scavenge for bullets or tape and scissors to hastily make shivs when creeping through infected ruins. The scares are brutal and unyielding, but punctuated by real tenderness in the narrative. The Last of Us is one of the most well-told stories ever and is a must-play for fans of horror and video games more broadly. With The Last of Us Part One recently announced at Summer Game Fest 2022, it seems pretty clear Ellie and Joel’s legacy will continue to stretch well into the future.  

8. Soma

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, and PC

Soma reaches far. The studio behind Amnesia: The Dark Descent decided to turn its hands to sci-fi, examining the fluid relationship between our bodies and minds. You wake up in an abandoned research facility and come face to face with broken robots who think they’re people. It soon becomes clear that real humans’ minds are actually inside these robotic shells, but they’re completely unaware they’ve been uploaded there and don’t understand why you don’t think they’re human. The story is intriguing, creepy, and at times heartbreaking, and well worth a play for those interested in the concept of AI. 

7. Resident Evil: Village

Available on: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, and PC

The opening of Resident Evil Village, a continuation of RE7’s story this time set in Eastern Europe, is strong, clever, and fun – full of atmosphere and intrigue as you explore (and features a part that’s probably one of the best stand-alone horror levels of the year). While the latter half veers into ‘okay’ territory, with some combat slogs, a boss fight that’s a bit of a stretch even by Resident Evil standards and, while it’s still good, it lacks the same spark and craft as the beginning. Resident Evil Village is an enjoyable, occasionally silly, monster hunt that’s entertaining – even if it almost completely resets all the incredible work Resident Evil 7 did to reinvent the series.  

6. Alien Isolation

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, and PC

Creative Assembly wanted to explore what happened between the events of Ripley blasting the alien out the airlock and the moment her floating sleep pod is recovered. The result is Alien: Isolation, where Amanda Ripley goes looking for answers about why her mother disappeared. Her search brings her to a remote space station called the Sevastopol, whose dark halls are being stalked by a familiar creature who literally does not stop hunting you. The AI in Alien Isolation was groundbreaking; the alien can’t be defeated, but it’ll learn your ways of avoiding it. Hide in too many lockers, and it’ll start throwing them open searching for you. Use the motion tracker to steer clear of its path, and it’ll hear the beeps and draw closer. If it sees you, it’ll remember which door you went through to escape. Thanks, sadistic game tech clever clogs. 

5. Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC

You have no gun. When the shambling creature hunting you in Amnesia draws near, the only thing you can do is hide or run. If you light your lantern to see in the dark it’ll find you more easily. If you extinguish the flame you’re better hidden, but your character goes slowly insane with terror. Amnesia is a Lovecraftian tale where you wake up on the floor of a castle with no memory of where you came from, but a note from your past self explains you must find and kill the master of the house. The loading screen instructs you to turn the lights off and play with headphones, and truly, that is the scariest way to play. The graphics may be a little dated now, but few games have an atmosphere this genuinely frightening and suffocating. 

4. Outlast

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC

There’s a moment in Outlast where everything could have been different. When your car groans to a halt in the deserted grounds of an eerie asylum, the front doors are locked but your character, an investigative journalist, spots an open window. At this point, anyone with a sliver of self-preservation would walk away and call for backup, but that would make a terrible game. Instead, you climb through the opening, video camera in hand, and what unfolds is five hours of pure terror. The inmates run the place, and in some areas the bloodstained corridors are pitch black meaning the only way you can see is through your camera’s night vision. True to survival horror form, camera batteries are scarce; jump scares aren’t, though.

3. Evil Within 2

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, and PC

Another one of Mikami’s creations was The Evil Within, which like Resi explores the corrosive effects of megacorp greed – but this time the suits are dunking people in an alternative reality called STEM rather than turning them into zombies. Here, each character’s worst nightmares play out as they’re trapped in their own heads, linked up to a collective consciousness like a messed up Matrix that no pill will let you leave. The sequel follows Detective Sebastian Castellanos who must venture into STEM to find his missing daughter, who’s been subject to experiments by the greedy company behind the simulation, Mobius. The sequel has much greater freedom in its map design than the first Evil Within, with more areas to explore and more ways to advance through a level, making it a great place to jump in.

2. Resident Evil 7

Available on: PS4, PSVR, Xbox One, and PC

The only place to start is with the inventor of survival horror, Shinji Mikami. The legendary Japanese video game designer directed many of Capcom’s biggest titles in the 90s, including Resident Evil. That first foray into the twisted world of the Umbrella Corporation is credited as the original survival horror game, and the series has spanned over two decades since. Resident Evil 7 follows the story of a man named Ethan, whose search for his missing wife leads him to a rotten old house belonging to the twisted Baker family. 

After the more action-oriented Resident Evil 5 and 6, Resident Evil 7 firmly re-roots the series in survival horror. And the series’ return to horror is deliberate, grimy, and effective. There’s a sense of dread that never lets up as the Baker family relentlessly pursues you, and every few turns brings another horrific monster to contend with. The whole game is playable in VR too, meaning when you peer around corners in-game you have to physically twist your body forward in your living room. Be prepared to have your toes forcibly uncurled via local anaesthetic after.

1. The Last of Us 2

Available on: PS4

Ambitious, disruptive, and brave, The Last of Us 2 set a new bar for video game storytelling by taking your hopes and affections, bringing a bulldozer to them, and then making you fall in love with the bulldozer. But even putting the monumental narrative achievements aside, Naughty Dog made a survival horror game that’s wicked smart, unpredictable, and scary on a whole new level.

The infected are terrifying enough in their own right – if you thought clickers were bad, wait until you meet the Rat King – but The Last of Us 2 affects each kill with a moral dilemma at-times brought on by your personal relationship with that character, and other times by the visceral way in which they struggle to breathe another breath and eventually succumb. If the survival horror genre is meant to haunt, challenge, and question you, but somehow still be fun to play, The Last of Us 2 is the best of the best.

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Saving in No Man’s Sky With Your Ship

This is one of the ways in which No Man’s Sky introduces you to its limited auto-save system. Essentially, you don’t have to do anything special here; no need to manually toggle to anything or to access any complicated menus. Once you’ve gotten far enough in the main story quest to access your ship (which shouldn’t take more than half an hour), entering and exiting it will trigger a restore point. This is how you save the game automatically. This method works regardless of your location, so if you’ve been mining rare materials until the cows come home and it gets dark, we would recommend winging it quickly to your ship for safety and for the added assurance that all 10,000 Ferrite Dust that you mined over the course of the day will be protected. 

Saving in No Man’s Sky with Beacons

Aside from the autosave method which involves you always having to be by your ship, you can also invest in a beacon. These bad boys can be found on planets in random locations, whether it’s on top of a hillock populated by toxic plants or hanging around buildings or ruined ships. It’s as easy as walking up to one of these beacons and interacting with it in order to save the game. 

However, if you can’t be bothered sprinting around to find an errant beacon here or there, then there’s also another solution available to those who consider themselves Crafting experts. You can build a beacon of your own to ensure that you can mark waypoints, and plopping down one on your planet will let you save at your leisure wherever this beacon may be. Those wanting to get particularly fancy with it can change the colors of the beacons after pressing Z to access the Build Menu, and the color of the beacon will correspond to how it’s marked on your navigational system. You can have up to five beacons on a planet at a time so you don’t have to run five hundred miles to get to one save point if that’s a worry for you. If you want to make a beacon, you’re going to require the following materials. This recipe was most recently changed in the NEXT update, and we’re not sure if this will change again with the Beyond patch but we will update this ingredient list if it does:

• Metal Plating x 1
• Ion Battery x 2
• Microprocessor x 1

Saving can be a bit of an opaque process thanks to the current state of the tutorial, but Hello Games has mentioned that they plan on refining this initial getting-to-know-you part of the game to make it clearer. Whether this means that the game will go through auto-saving and the like in greater detail remains to be seen, but until then, our streamlined guide should have you sorted out if you’re wanting to ensure that none of your progress in No Man’s Sky gets lost on your watch.

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Be aware, some spoilers for Fire Emblem: Three Hours follow below, but they have little to do with the story or characters. So without further ado, we’ve put together a helpful guide that covers everything you need to know about Fire Emblem: Three Houses New Game Plus. 

You get to keep some Progress

As you go through the first playthrough you’ll unlock unique battalions, gain special skill experience from saint statues in the monastery, and get access to new items in the shop. You can choose to retain all of this in your second playthrough, meaning you’ll start off with quite the advantage if you want it. 

You’re also free to ignore some of these bonuses to retain the challenge from the original run. The real perk here is the ability to skip some of the Persona stuff while still getting the benefits of it. That’s not to say the Persona elements of Three Houses aren’t fun, they are just time consuming. 

Use renown to quickly level up

Renown points are gained through completing missions and other tasks for characters during free time and after battles. They can be used to level up saint-statues hidden in the corner of the monastery. Those statues give you bonus points for all kinds of different skills including bow, lance, axe, and sword usage. There are four different statues that can be levelled up as you play. 

Fire Emblem: Three Houses New Game Plus lets you keep the saint-statue level you had in the previous play through. That frees up the renown points you gain in the second playthrough for other purposes. You can use them to upgrade your professor level, skill levels for any of your soldiers, and unlock combat arts and new classes all without stepping foot on the battlefield. 

It feels incredibly cheap but makes experimentation with new classes, relationship building with various characters, and a number of other things that would take a lot of time in a regular play through much easier. Once you’ve unlocked New Game + just head over to your journal in your room to get started. 

Customize your army’s appearance

As anyone who’s seen some marketing for Fire Emblem: Three Houses knows, there is a five-year time jump in the middle of the game. Afterwards all student characters will have new portrait art and 3D models that reflect their time at war. 

Most characters are more grizzled and grown up. It completely changed how I looked at them. Fire Emblem: Three Houses New Game Plus lets you customize your characters appearance freely. The only additional costumes and hair options that are available at the start are their models from after the time jump. So you can have your squad look at war torn and weathered while walking between classes at the monastery. 

More may be unlockable and I’m sure Nintendo and Intelligent Systems will add more post launch. 

Gain more renown

Renown, which is used to unlock all sorts of goodness in a Fire Emblem: Three Houses New Game Plus run, is earned in small increments by completing missions and winning battles during your first play through. You’ll get to earn more during your second playthrough as a “special perk” for completing the game. 

Unlock new crest powers

Crests are a big element in Fire Emblem: Three Houses story. They are magical essences past down through bloodlines that offer holders special powers. Dimitri, head of the Blue Lion house for example, has a crest that occasionally doubles his attack and weapon uses for Combat Arts.

A New Game+ gives you the option to purchase special Crest Powers with renown points based off your decisions in your first play through. You can then assign them to your team to give each unit a special bonus. Most credits signs cost around 1000 renown points. 

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It’s not uncommon for Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (opens in new tab) hunting parties to fall victim to Coral Pukei-Pukei’s aquatic attacks, especially when you happen to get caught by one of its high pressurised water beams. Hunting this deadly Bird Wyvern can be a little tricky, so if you’ve hit a wall and need a few tips for beating Iceborne’s Coral Pukei-Pukei, then make sure you follow our monster guide below to discover the tips and tricks you need to claim a decisive victory. 

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Coral Pukei-Pukei behaviour and traits 

Coral Pukei-Pukei is not only more vibrant than its World counterpart, it also has a bunch of fresh moves that revolve around water elemental attacks. When enraged, Coral Puekei-Puekei’s face, feet, and claws turn red and its movements become more erratic. This water-loving subspecies is able to store high concentrations of water in its tail by drinking from the gigantic plants that inhabit the Coral Highlands. Once it has guzzled enough water, it will begin to constantly barrage its foes with high powered water beams that inflict waterblight. 

Coral Pukei-Pukei strategy and tips 

Coral Pukei-Pukei’s water-based attacks can make fighting this beast a real nightmare, especially when you happen to get caught by one of its many jet attacks. Just like Jyuratodus, Coral Pukei-Pukei’s moves inflict hunters with the waterblight ailment. If you get hit by this Wyvern’s high pressured water jets, then make sure you eat a Nulberry to instantly cure the reduced stamina recovery. Fighting Coral Pukei-Pukei with little stamina is a recipe for disaster, especially since you’ll be needing to constantly dodge and dive under its beam attacks. Of course, you can always use some gems to up your Blight resistance if you want to have the easiest time possible.

Once enraged, Coral Pukei-Pukei will take to the sky and perform a front flip while shooting a water beam from its tail. Try to keep well away from this move as it follows this up by hovering in the air and unleashing a 360 degree water beam that decimates anything that get caught within it. If you can’t get away from it then you can also avoid this attack by getting underneath it, though it takes a lot of skill and some crafty dodging to do so safely.

Once Coral Pukei-Pukei has used up the majority of its water reserves, it will locate and drink from one of the gigantic plants that inhabit the Coral Highlands. Coral Pukei-Pukei is incredibly vulnerable during this state, so be sure to unleash the bulk of your damage here. You’ll often have enough time to break any specific parts, laydown traps, and put down some barrel bombs to help shave off the amount of time needed to slay this deadly subspecies. If you’re tired of getting drenched by Coral Pukei-Pukei’s water beam attacks, then consider positioning yourself to the front of the monster as you’ll minimise the chances of getting hit by the high pressured jets from its tail. If you see it hunker down and open its mouth then you should try and get behind it as fast as possible, this signals a water beam from its mouth which it can split into two in order to hit a wide area. If you want to make the fight easier for yourself then bring a Thunder or Ice weapon to the fray.

Looking for more help with the new DLC monsters? Then check out our complete Monster Hunter World Iceborne monsters (opens in new tab) guide, or pick up some general tips from our video below:

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