10 Most Replayable Survival Horror Games

Compared to other genres, survival horror games tend to have less replayability. A big part of this is because their stories often rely on suspense and mystery, but when you finish your first playthrough, you know what happens, and that suspense is no longer impactful, and the game is no longer scary.

Survival horror games require some creativity when it comes to adding replay value, but it's possible to do so, and quite a few games excel at it.

The main ways that survival horror games add replayability tend to be through multiple endings, new game plus perks, and randomization, but those aren't the only features that can make replaying games feel fun and worthwhile. However, those features tend to be the most reliable when it comes to adding value to additional playthroughs.

10 Silent Hill f

Multiple Playthroughs are a Requirement

When you play Silent Hill f for the first time, you can only get one ending. Plus, that default ending doesn't give you a lot of information that helps you make sense of Hinako's fate and what's actually been happening. If you want to truly understand the story and who Hinako is, then you're going to have to play through the game several times with New Game+ to get all the endings.

In addition to being able to get other endings during subsequent playthroughs, you'll also find that the game changes after your first run, letting you see different cutscenes and content that you can't get during the first run. Silent Hill isn't a stranger to this method of earning additional endings, but it's a great way to make the games replayable.

9 Resident Evil 2

Leon and Claire Each Have a Story

Like Silent Hill, Resident Evil is a series that often makes use of multiple endings. In the case of Resident Evil 2, you have two campaigns to go through in order to understand the full story of what Leon and Claire are facing in Raccoon City, as their experiences are different even if they overlap at times. The remake of RE2 is just as replayable—if not more—than the original, bringing a modern feeling to a classic story.

The improved gameplay of the remake helps with the replayability, as you get to experience one of the most classic survival horrors in a new way, which includes entirely new sections and a closer view of Raccoon City.

You'll need to play the game at least twice to get the full story, but there are plenty of collectibles that you might want to replay the game to get after you've completed the game, so you can make use of New Game+.

8 Resident Evil 4

New Game+ Makes it Fun to Replay

Resident Evil loves its New Game+, and that's a big reason that it's worth replaying Resident Evil 4, aside from the simple joy of being Leon S. Kennedy and saving the president's daughter while also getting help from the elusive Ada Wong.

Like RE2, Resident Evil 4 recently received a remake that improved the graphics and gameplay while acting as a reimagining of the original story instead of just a remaster. Naturally, this means that the game's world feels new even to players who love the original version.

While RE4 doesn't have multiple endings or multiple campaigns, replaying it with the use of New Game+ lets you access items like weapons and costumes that aren't available on your first run. When using costumes in particular, the game can become humorous since you might look out of place, which fits with how survival horror games tend to be less scary during subsequent runs anyway.

7 Silent Hill 2

Replaying is Required for More Endings

Like many Resident Evil games, Silent Hill 2 got a remake that overhauled the original game to give it better camera angles, modern character designs, and even changed up the puzzles. James' story doesn't end with the first playthrough, as SH2 has a total of eight endings in the remake, adding two new ones that weren't part of the six endings that the original game had.

While it would be great to get even more content through the Born from a Wish DLC, getting a remake and being added to the SH2 remake content, you'll already have a lot of replaying to do without it if you want to see all the endings.

Since SH2 has you complete specific tasks throughout the game to lock in various endings, you can't just start up a save file at the end of the game to go through them. You have to actually play through it, and with New Game+, you'll perhaps find things you couldn't during your first run.

6 The Outlast Trials

Multiplayer Adds Replayability

The Outlast Trials is a multiplayer game that gives you the experience you'd expect from the Outlast series, but with the added help—or burden—of up to three other players. Your goal is to complete trials in order to earn tokens that you can use to be reborn, which then lets you create another character to start over with more customization options unlocked. The more trials you complete and levels you earn, the more content you unlock.

Both the rotating trials and the multiplayer aspects of the game help give it replayability, as your experience will vary depending on the players who are going through the trials with you, or if you decide to try completing them on your own, which is possible but usually more difficult.

The individual trials are broken into small sections that you complete at a time, and that's great for allowing you to go through one or two without requiring too much of a time commitment.

5 Project Zomboid

Permadeath Forces Multiple Replays

Instead of convincing you to play the game more than once through extra content or endings, Project Zomboid makes you replay the game by making death permanent. As a result, every time you die, you basically replay the game because you have to start over. To make it more difficult, you might not be able to find the body of your previous character in order to collect your stuff, or you might not be able to grab your items if you died in a dangerous location.

While this game leans heavily on survival more than horror, it keeps you paranoid by limiting your sight to what you'd be able to actually see from that character's point of view, so zombies could be following you without you noticing until they're close enough to attack you.

The entire design of the game makes death difficult to avoid, and if you want even more reasons to replay it, you can check out the incredible number of mods that the community has created to change your experience.

4 Amnesia: The Bunker

The Randomization Adds Replayability

Amnesia: The Bunker feels different from other titles in the franchise, and some of the key differences are exactly what make it more replayable than those titles.

First, you can actually fight back in this game, which is a departure from the lack of combat that the early Amnesia games had. However, you're limited in how many bullets you have, meaning you need to be careful when using ammo. While having combat doesn't make the game more replayable on its own, the randomization does.

It's the randomization that makes each playthrough of Amnesia: The Bunker feel unique. When you play a new game, the locations of items change, and you'll even have different puzzle solutions to figure out. Since each run is unique, it's difficult to rely on memory to get through the game, and you need to stay alert and watch for items and answers in order to survive every time.

3 Left 4 Dead 2

A Classic Multiplayer Survival Horror Experience

Left 4 Dead 2 is a bit older now, but it's still a classic survival horror experience that you can play repeatedly, because it's going to feel different every time, especially if you play with a new group of people each time.

You also don't need to play through the entire game every time you jump back in, because you can choose to only play specific levels. It is more on the action side of the survival horror genre, but that might be your preference.

The downside of this one is that you're going to be limited by how many people are playing. Unlike Outlast Trials, Left 4 Dead 2 isn't as fun to try as a solo player, especially because the AI for the NPCs isn't great to work with. However, it's consistently fun to play when there are players around to join you.

2 Lethal Company

The Horror of a Vicious Company Beats Teamwork

Lethal Company is another game that you'll likely play as a multiplayer experience, and you quickly learn that the title refers to the company that your characters work for, as it has no issue leaving you behind to die if you don't meet your quota.

Not only do you have enemies to face, but you also have the horror of stressful work duties to fulfill if you want to live. It creates a hilarious dynamic where teamwork is essential, but at times, you might need to adapt to an every person for themselves mindset.

This experience is a chaotic and fun survival horror where you want to jump into the next job and continue risking death if you aren't careful while gathering, or if you aren't able to meet your quota. It's straightforward, and the lore is easy to grasp, so it's a perfect choice for players who want to invest in a game they can play with friends and they want a game that they can play repeatedly.

1 Phasmophobia

No Playthrough is the Same

Another multiplayer game that you can play alone, Phasmophobia lets you try out virtual ghost hunting. However, ghosts aren't the only creatures you'll come across. As a result, your main task is to gather evidence and use the types of evidence that you're finding to identify what entity is haunting that location. To raise the stakes, those entities can go into a hunting mode periodically that often results in the death of at least one player.

This game combines horror, paranormal, and puzzle-solving genres to create a survival horror experience, and the creature that you'll face is randomized, so you don't know what to expect even if you play the same map repeatedly. Additionally, playing more is rewarded, as you unlock more tools that you can use to uncover new evidence and make it easier to uncover what's haunting that place.

Survival horror is a genre where replayability doesn't look the same as it would in genres like RPGs, where you might have an open world to explore and different story paths to go down. However, that doesn't mean that survival horrors can't be replayable, and some games excel at proving that by using features like multiplayer, continuing to add new content, randomization, and by making you start from the beginning if you die or if you want to see additional endings. Replays might not be as scary as the first run, but that doesn't mean they aren't enjoyable.