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You can often make a horror game more manageable by using its content warnings, accessibility settings, and scene-skip options—while keeping the story and gameplay you want. The controls are game-specific: check the game’s own menus and official documentation rather than assuming one setting works everywhere.
Before you play, check for content warnings
Read the game’s content information and accessibility documentation before starting. If the game offers content warnings, enable them and use each warning to decide whether to continue, pause, or skip. A warning gives you a chance to prepare; it does not change what appears in the game.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
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| 1 |
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Resident Evil Requiem Amazon Exclusive Edition - PlayStation 5 | $49.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Project Songbird - PlayStation 5 | $29.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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Cronos - PlayStation 5 | $28.15 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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Resident Evil 4 - PS5 | $15.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
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Resident Evil 7 biohazard Gold Edition - PlayStation 5 | $15.99 | Buy on Amazon |
Microsoft’s Xbox Accessibility Guideline 123 recommends warnings before potentially distressing areas, cutscenes, or dialogue. Microsoft says the goal is to let players know about content before it appears or before they purchase the game—not to direct artistic choices or game design.
Look for settings that change the specific trigger
Open the game’s accessibility and content settings. Labels differ, so check for options such as a named fear mode, visual substitutions, content filters, or controls for gore or profanity. Choose a setting that addresses the element you want to reduce while leaving the rest of the experience intact.
#1 Best Overall
- Amazon Exclusive - 2 sided poster included in every game!
- Grace Ashcroft, an FBI intelligence analyst who is introverted and easily scared, representing a new type of character for the Resident Evil series. Grace will experience horror from the same perspective as the player as she learns to overcome her fears throughout the course of the story.
- For the first time ever in Resident Evil history, players will be able to freely switch between both first- and third-person perspectives throughout the game.
- An Anniversary to Remember: With March 2026 marking the Resident Evil series’ 30-year anniversary, Resident Evil Requiem marks its own milestone in the franchise.
- Pre-orders for Resident Evil Requiem are now open, with the bonus of Grace’s costume: Apocalypse. Please note that the picture weapon does not come with the costume, but it can be obtained in-game.
For example, Microsoft describes Grounded’s Arachnophobia Safe Mode as changing spider visuals to make them less spider-like. The change is visual only and does not affect gameplay or difficulty. That illustrates how a targeted mode can reduce one fear stimulus while preserving the mechanics; it does not mean other horror games have the same option.
Do not assume that a general adjustment—such as changing brightness or volume—removes a particular trigger unless the game’s documentation says it does. If an option has adjustable levels, try the least intrusive level that feels comfortable and still lets you follow the scene.
Rank #2
- A dark, enthralling 4-5 hour narrative to keep you hooked and guessing until the end. Gorgeous visuals as you traverse numerous and diverse environments, presented with a cinematic, film-like aesthetic. Ranged and melee combat with upgradeable weapons to help you survive your nightmarish journey.
- A stellar voice cast, starring Valerie Rose Lohman (What Remains of Edith Finch, Wolfenstein: Youngblood), Jonah Scott (Dying Light 2: Stay Human, Date Everything), and Aleks Le (Persona 3: Reload, Marvel Rivals, Ghost of Yotei).
- A beautifully dynamic and haunting soundtrack composed and performed by Jacob Noska, and Jonah Henthorne: members of the band Auric Echoes.
- The puzzles you encounter are more than your standard key hunt. Project Songbird rewards those with an eye for detail, making each puzzle a challenge of creativity and wits.
- The combat of Project Songbird offers a variety of approaches inspired by the classics of the survival horror genre. Melee and gunplay is slow and weighty, and ammo is incredibly scarce. However, combat isn't your only option, as you have a multitude of tools at your disposal to aid in sneaking past any creatures that wish to do you harm.
When a scene is the problem, check for a skip or bypass
Look for controls to skip a cutscene or bypass a mission or other section. These options serve a different purpose from warnings and visual changes: they let you avoid the content rather than prepare for it or alter its presentation. Microsoft’s guideline recommends making skip or bypass options available even after a scene has started, so a player can change their mind.
A skip can reduce exposure, but it may also remove story context. If you want to preserve the narrative, check the game’s official documentation for what the option skips and whether the story continues afterward. Do not assume every game offers a skip, or that skipping a scene leaves all of its narrative information intact.
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- Cronos: The New Dawn is a brutal third-person survival horror where you fight for the future by salvaging the past. Burn monsters before they merge. Extract souls from the living. Adapt or die.
- Set in a grim world where Eastern European brutalism meets retro-futurist technology, Cronos: The New Dawn lets you experience a gripping story that straddles the line between past and future.
- The enemies you’ll encounter are nightmarish creatures, born from the remnants of humanity – defeating them will require you to make full use of your arsenal.
- The creatures you kill won’t stay dead for long. Fallen enemies can be absorbed by others - through a grotesque process called Merging - to become faster, tougher, and far deadlier.
- This physical edition of Cronos: The New Dawn comes with bonus in-game content and a set of collectible stickers.
Use subtitle and other access settings to follow the story
Accessibility options that do not change frightening content can still make a game easier to follow. In its Dead Space accessibility article, EA describes content warnings and an option to hide certain potentially sensitive content. EA also documents subtitle adjustments, including font size, capitalization, text and background color treatment, opacity, and whether speaker names appear. The game’s PC initial-settings page lists content-warning display and subtitles.
These settings can help you understand dialogue and scenes, but subtitles are not a substitute for a content filter or scene skip. Check what each control actually changes before relying on it.
Rank #4
- Reawaken a Classic – Resident Evil 4 preserves the essence of the original game, now reconstructed using Capcom’s proprietary RE Engine to deliver realistic visuals and additional narrative depth to the iconic story that was not possible at the time of the original release.
- Modernized Gameplay – The team from 2019’s Resident Evil 2 returns to build upon the series’ modern approach to survival horror. Engage in frenzied combat with the Ganados villagers, explore a European village gripped by madness, and solve puzzles to access new areas and collect useful items for Leon and Ashley’s constant struggle to survive.
- Overwhelming Hordes – Face hordes of rabid enemies that threaten to overwhelm Leon with even more diverse methods of attack than in the original release.
- Survive on a Knife’s Edge – Years of intense training have taught Leon new ways to use his knife, helping to even the odds against the unrelenting onslaught of enemies. By parrying enemy attacks, you can avoid debilitating damage and evade lunging enemies seeking to grab Leon and hold him in place. Make smart use of scavenged knives to deliver precise finishing moves on vulnerable enemies, and even use the element of surprise to quietly dispatch unsuspecting foes before they break.
- Survive on a Knife’s Edge – Years of intense training have taught Leon new ways to use his knife, helping to even the odds against the unrelenting onslaught of enemies. By parrying enemy attacks, you can avoid debilitating damage and evade lunging enemies seeking to grab Leon and hold him in place. Make smart use of scavenged knives to deliver precise finishing moves on vulnerable enemies, and even use the element of surprise to quietly dispatch unsuspecting foes before they break.
If the game has no suitable option
If you cannot find a setting for the element you want to avoid, consult the game’s official content information to help decide whether to continue. You can also pause or take a break. The examples above are features to look for, not a promise that every game offers them; availability and menu labels vary by title.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- FEAR COMES HOME -- Fear, combat, exploration, and item management: these are the four pillars of survival horror, a genre that has never been more masterfully executed than in the gameplay of Resident Evil. The horror continues in the ground-breaking Resident Evil 7. Step into the new Isolated View and experience true survival horror in a world created by the all-new RE Engine.
- DEEP IN THE BAYOU - When Ethan Winters opened his inbox, the last thing he expected was to find an email from his wife; she had been missing for three years. The message was simple: "Come get me," and an address in Louisiana. This leads Ethan to a decrepit mansion in the heart of the bayou. The place has a seriously creepy vibe, but Ethan continues his search – until a stranger attacks him and knocks him unconscious. Ethan has no idea what awaits him when he wakes up...for he is now in the clutches of the Baker family.
- A NEW PERSPECTIVE -- In RESIDENT EVIL 7, we're changing the way you interact with the world. For this next major entry in the series, play from a first-person point of view, dramatically increasing your ability to become fully absorbed in the world we have created.
- NEW FOR PLAYSTATION5 – Upgraded features new to the PlayStation5 version of the game include a higher frame rate, 3D audio, added ray tracing, and engaging DualSense support for Haptic Feedback and Adaptive Triggers.
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