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Start with Dead Space (2023) if you want the closest follow-up to the modern Resident Evil remakes: third-person exploration, deliberate combat, puzzles and constant resource pressure. Pick Silent Hill 2 Remake for psychological investigation, Alien: Isolation for stealth and pursuit, or Alan Wake 2 for a story-led take on survival horror. The right choice depends on which part of the remakes you valued most—combat, limited ammunition, puzzles, atmosphere or narrative.
The four best starting points
These games occupy different corners of survival horror rather than offering interchangeable versions of the same experience. Use the table to identify the closest match to your preferred part of the Resident Evil remakes.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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I Hate This Place - Nintendo Switch | $34.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Immersion, Narrative, and Gender Crisis in Survival Horror Video Games (Routledge Advances in Game... | $43.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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Alan Wake 2 Deluxe Edition - PlayStation 5 | $39.88 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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Pneumata - PlayStation 5 | $27.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
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Project Songbird - PlayStation 5 | $29.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| Game | Best for | What you do most | Primary fear | Perspective and structure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dead Space (2023) | The closest mechanical match | Explore, dismember enemies, solve environmental problems and manage supplies | Creature attacks in a hostile facility | Third-person, continuous campaign |
| Silent Hill 2 Remake | Psychological horror and investigation | Search locations, interpret clues, fight selectively and uncover James Sunderland’s past | Guilt, grief, uncertainty and disturbing manifestations | Third-person, exploration-led campaign |
| Alien: Isolation | Stealth and evasion | Hide, listen, improvise tools and move through areas controlled by a Xenomorph | Being hunted by an intelligent, persistent creature | First-person, pursuit-focused campaign |
| Alan Wake 2 | Modern storytelling and atmosphere | Investigate cases, explore strange spaces, fight supernatural threats and follow parallel narratives | Surreal fiction, darkness and reality becoming unstable | Third-person, chapter-based narrative adventure |
GamesRadar+’s 2026 survival-horror roundup places Resident Evil 2 Remake, Alan Wake 2, Alien: Isolation and Amnesia in the same modern conversation. That grouping is useful, but it should not hide the major differences in pacing and combat. A player who wants another tightly controlled action-horror game should begin with Dead Space; a player who wants to feel powerless should begin with Alien: Isolation.
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If you want the same third-person tension
Dead Space (2023) is the most natural next game. Its camera stays close to the protagonist, rooms are compact enough to learn and revisit, and every encounter asks whether you should spend ammunition, use the environment or retreat. The science-fiction setting changes the monsters and weapons, but the basic rhythm—search, assess danger, solve a problem, then survive the next room—will feel familiar.
#1 Best Overall
- Classic Craft-Based Survival Horror - Scavenge every corner of Rutherford Ranch to stay alive. From haunted forests, a derelict town, to infested bunkers. Explore a world teeming with danger as you gather vital resources, craft essential gear, upgrade your campsite, and rebuild outposts to have somewhere to hide.
- Day Prepares You. Night Hunts You - A dynamic day-night cycle that changes the world. Use daylight wisely to explore, scavenge supplies, craft what you need, and prepare for what’s coming. When night falls, the real nightmares come out to play. More enemies appear, stronger and more aggressive than before. The landscape becomes harder to navigate with just your flashlight. Sometimes your best hope is to find shelter and hunker down till morning.
- Deadly Silence Goes A Long Way - Stealth and combat go hand-in-hand here as many of the twisted creatures in Rutherford Ranch hunt and stalk you by sound alone. Brute force will often just land you in an early grave. Use sound to your advantage, luring creatures away from your path or cleverly leading them straight into deadly traps you laid.
- 80’s Vibes Meets Comic Book Flair - Inspired by the award-nominated comic book series created by Kyle Starks and Artyom Topilin, I Hate This Place comes to life with bold colors, a punchy retro comic book style, and a heavy dose of '80s flair. A unique blend of horror, dark humor, and just the right touch of camp and gore where unsettling dread meets stylized charm.
- Languages – English in-game voice. English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Simplified Chinese, and Spanish (Spain) in-game text.
If you want puzzles and clues to matter more than gunfights
Silent Hill 2 Remake puts investigation at the center. James Sunderland travels to Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his dead wife, Mary. The town’s locations, notes and encounters gradually reveal why he came and what he is refusing to confront. Combat exists, but interpreting the environment and the story’s symbolism is more important than building an efficient kill streak.
If you want limited ammunition without reliable combat
Alien: Isolation is the strongest choice. You are not clearing rooms; you are trying to pass through them while a Xenomorph searches for you. Hiding places, sound, motion trackers and improvised distractions become survival tools. The tension comes from deciding when to move, not from learning a perfect way to defeat every enemy.
If you want a larger, more cinematic story
Alan Wake 2 is the best fit. It treats horror as a mystery that unfolds through investigation, character perspective and shifts between ordinary places and impossible ones. It still has resource decisions and dangerous encounters, but its strongest pull is narrative momentum rather than the room-by-room economy that defines Resident Evil.
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Dead Space (2023): the closest follow-up
Why it matches the remakes
Electronic Arts describes Dead Space (2023) as a remake of a science-fiction survival-horror classic. Its product description promises “jaw-dropping visual fidelity, suspenseful atmospheric audio, and improvements to gameplay while staying faithful to the original game’s thrilling vision.” That combination makes it a particularly good answer to “what should I play after Resident Evil 2 Remake?” You get a modern presentation, a focused third-person viewpoint and a campaign built around navigating a dangerous facility.
The central combat idea is different from Resident Evil: enemies are usually weakened by targeting limbs rather than simply aiming for the head. This encourages controlled shots and careful positioning. A large enemy is not automatically a reason to spend your strongest weapon; the environment, a different tool or a temporary retreat may be safer.
Rank #2
What the resource pressure feels like
Inventory space, ammunition, healing items and upgrade materials compete for room. The pressure is not only about having enough bullets for the next encounter. Carrying a key item may mean leaving behind a weapon resource, and choosing an upgrade path can make one tool excellent while delaying improvements elsewhere. Search rooms methodically, but do not assume every detour is free: returning through a familiar area can create new danger.
- Combat: frequent enough to keep weapons central, but designed around accuracy and damage placement rather than indiscriminate firing.
- Exploration: connected interior spaces encourage backtracking and reward attention to doors, logs and environmental details.
- Puzzles: generally contextual problems that interrupt combat and make the facility feel functional.
- Atmosphere: industrial corridors, alarms, ventilation noise and darkness create uncertainty before an enemy appears.
Who should skip it
Choose something else if you want a purely psychological story, a game where hiding is usually better than fighting, or a short sequence of set-piece scares. Dead Space expects you to engage with its combat systems and to learn how its enemies behave.
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Silent Hill 2 Remake: psychological horror and investigation
The premise and what it changes
Konami calls it “a full remake of the original game first released for PlayStation®2 in 2001.” James Sunderland arrives in Silent Hill after receiving a letter from Mary, his dead wife. The premise gives the game a different engine of suspense from a zombie outbreak or an alien hunt: the mystery is personal, and the town appears to react to James’s memories and fears.
That focus makes the game a strong recommendation for anyone searching for “psychological horror like Silent Hill 2.” You are not simply asking which corridor contains the next enemy. You are asking what a photograph, a locked room, a repeated phrase or an apparently impossible space means in the larger story.
How exploration works
Expect to read, listen and inspect. Notes and environmental details are not decorative; they establish relationships, suggest routes and add context to encounters. The game often withholds a clean explanation, so keep track of names, dates and symbols that recur. If you prefer to solve every puzzle immediately, its uncertainty can feel uncomfortable by design.
Rank #3
- Solve a Deadly Mystery: What begins as a small-town murder investigation rapidly spirals into a nightmare journey. Uncover the source of the supernatural darkness in this psychological horror story filled with intense suspense and unexpected twists.
- Play As Two Characters: Experience both Alan Wake’s and Saga Anderson’s stories and see events unfold from different perspectives. Switch between Anderson’s life-or-death race to solve the case and Wake’s desperate attempts to rewrite his reality to escape the depths of the Dark Place.
- Explore Two Worlds: Experience two beautiful yet terrifying worlds, each with its own rich cast of characters and deadly threats. Discover majestic landscapes of Cauldron Lake in the Pacific Northwest and the idyllic towns of Bright Falls and Watery. Contrasting sharply, attempt to escape the nightmarish cityscape of the Dark Place.
- Survive With Light: With limited resources, take on powerful supernatural enemies in desperate close-combat situations. It takes more than just a gun to survive: light is the ultimate weapon in the fight against the darkness and will be your refuge when enemies threaten to overwhelm you.
- The physical version of Alan Wake 2 Deluxe Edition includes the following: ● Alan Wake 2 physical game. ● The Night Springs and Lake House expansions. ● Deluxe Edition cosmetics and items: Nordic Shotgun Skin for Saga, Crimson Windbreaker for Saga, Celebrity Suit for Alan, Parliament Shotgun Skin for Alan, and Lantern Charm for Saga. ● Alan Wake Remastered (Digital Edition - included as a gift with purchase DLC on a voucher).
Combat, difficulty and tone
Combat is more deliberate than in an action game. You have to decide whether an encounter is worth the ammunition and health it may cost, and the oppressive soundscape can make a simple hallway feel dangerous. The horror is frequently suggestive rather than explicit: fog, distorted spaces and uneasy character interactions do as much work as an attacking creature.
- Best match: players who value symbolism, character psychology and investigation.
- Less suitable for: players seeking constant weapon upgrades, score-chasing combat or a straightforward explanation for every event.
- Play approach: examine rooms carefully, read optional material and accept that some ambiguity is part of the experience.
Alien: Isolation: stealth, pursuit and limited safety
Why it is scarier than a conventional combat game
SEGA identifies Alien: Isolation as a survival-horror experience built around the Xenomorph threat. Its tension comes from the fact that the main threat is not a normal enemy encounter. You cannot reliably clear an area and make it safe. The creature can hear movement, react to disturbances and force you to change plans while you are already hiding.
This is the game to choose when you want “survival horror with limited ammo” to mean that ammunition is an emergency option rather than a solution. Tools may distract or delay the Xenomorph, but using one can create a new problem by making noise or consuming a scarce resource.
The stealth loop
- Observe: use sound, sightlines and available equipment to learn where the threat is moving.
- Plan: identify a route with cover, a fallback location and the least noisy interaction.
- Move: travel only as far as necessary; sprinting can turn a manageable situation into a chase.
- Recover: save progress and craft or collect tools when the area gives you a safe opportunity.
Human survivors, androids and environmental hazards add variety, but the Xenomorph remains the defining pressure. The result is less about mastering a weapon and more about controlling your own panic. A motion tracker can provide information while also making you focus on the screen instead of the corridor ahead, so even your best tool has a cost.
Who should choose another game
If you dislike repeated stealth attempts or want to feel increasingly powerful, this may be the wrong follow-up. Its design intentionally preserves vulnerability. The official announcement for the series’ next chapter says players will experience “the same deadly tension which established the original game as the ultimate survival-horror experience,” a useful description of the series’ priority: pursuit rather than power fantasy.
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- Cosmic horror that makes you question what's real and what's not; the line between reality and alternate worlds begins to blur.
- True survival horror: scavenge for weapons and supplies in limited quantities and run/hide to survive by any means necessary.
- Examine crime scenes and piece together clues and evidence in order to solve a series of gruesome murders.
- Explore a realistic and gritty apartment building and discover hidden areas and pathways in your search for the truth. Diverse AI: fight or hide against entities that are unpredictable and use your environment to create distractions.
- Gruesome horror around every corner and an unending feeling of tension and helplessness as you explore deeper into the complex.
Alan Wake 2: a story-led modern interpretation
What makes it different
Alan Wake 2 belongs on a list of games like the Resident Evil remakes because it combines investigation, controlled combat and oppressive atmosphere, but it is structured more like a supernatural crime story. You follow more than one perspective, move between grounded investigations and surreal fiction, and use evidence and conversation to understand what is happening.
That structure suits players who remember the remakes for their characters, environmental storytelling and escalating mysteries as much as for shooting. The game can be frightening without asking you to ration every bullet in the same way as Dead Space or to hide for long stretches as in Alien: Isolation.
How to approach its systems
- Follow the investigation: optional observations often add context even when they do not open a new combat route.
- Expect tonal shifts: ordinary conversations and unsettling set pieces deliberately sit next to one another.
- Use light and positioning: encounters reward preparation and awareness rather than simply holding the trigger.
- Keep track of characters: the narrative’s parallel threads are easier to follow when you notice who is speaking and which location you are in.
Choose it when story, sound design and atmosphere are your priorities. Choose Silent Hill 2 Remake instead if you want a more concentrated psychological study, or Dead Space if you want the most consistent combat-and-resource loop.
Comparison by the decisions that matter
The following table describes how each game generally asks you to play. “High” and “low” are qualitative design descriptions, not review scores or measured statistics.
| Decision | Dead Space (2023) | Silent Hill 2 Remake | Alien: Isolation | Alan Wake 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combat intensity | High and central | Moderate, encounter-dependent | Low; avoidance is usually safer | Moderate, supporting the story |
| Ammunition and resource pressure | High | Moderate to high | High, with tools focused on escape | Moderate |
| Stealth or pursuit | Situational | Limited and contextual | Core system | Situational |
| Psychological emphasis | Secondary to creature horror | Highest | Focused on vulnerability and anticipation | High, expressed through mystery and fiction |
| Puzzle emphasis | Moderate environmental puzzles | High investigation and puzzle emphasis | Moderate navigation and access problems | Moderate investigation and case progression |
| Camera | Third-person | Third-person | First-person | Third-person |
| Campaign shape | Continuous facility-based journey | Exploration-led psychological journey | Pursuit-driven survival campaign | Chapter-based, multi-perspective narrative |
| Platform information established by current official material | EA lists purchase routes for PC, PlayStation and Xbox | Konami provides current platform information; check the listing for your edition | SEGA’s franchise material confirms the title and discusses modern platform targets for the series; verify the current store listing | Check the current regional store listing for your platform and edition |
Which is the best survival-horror game on PS5?
There is no single winner without defining what you want from the console. For the closest mechanical successor to the Resident Evil remakes, choose Dead Space (2023). For psychological horror, choose Silent Hill 2 Remake. For a story-first experience, choose Alan Wake 2. For the most intense stealth and pursuit, choose Alien: Isolation if the current store listing supports your edition and region.
Best Value
- 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.
Platform availability, included upgrades and age ratings can change by territory. Before buying, open the official publisher or platform listing for your region and confirm the system, edition, language options and any required download. EA’s official page specifically provides current purchase routes for Dead Space (2023) on PC, PlayStation and Xbox; the other titles should be checked against their current listings rather than an old platform guide.
A practical play order
Order for the smoothest transition
- Dead Space (2023): begin with the closest third-person resource-and-combat loop.
- Silent Hill 2 Remake: move to slower investigation once you want the story and symbolism to carry more of the fear.
- Alan Wake 2: follow with a broader, more cinematic supernatural mystery.
- Alien: Isolation: finish with the most demanding change in habits, where patience and concealment replace confident room clearing.
Order for escalating fear
Start with Alan Wake 2 for a guided narrative, continue with Dead Space for sustained creature pressure, then play Silent Hill 2 Remake when you want ambiguity and psychological unease. End with Alien: Isolation if you want the final game to remove the comfort of reliable combat.
Order for limited-ammo fans
Play Dead Space first to learn deliberate shot placement, then Silent Hill 2 Remake for more investigative resource decisions, and finally Alien: Isolation for a game in which ammunition and crafted tools mostly buy time. Put Alan Wake 2 wherever its narrative emphasis best fits your mood.
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How to adapt from Resident Evil remakes
Do not treat every enemy as a mandatory fight
The remakes teach you to evaluate whether a zombie should be killed, staggered or bypassed. That habit transfers well, but each recommendation changes the answer. Dead Space often expects you to engage with enemy anatomy; Silent Hill 2 Remake makes the value of a fight more situational; Alien: Isolation usually rewards avoiding attention; and Alan Wake 2 ties encounters more closely to narrative progression.
Spend resources for safety, not for a perfect inventory
Keeping every item can be as dangerous as using too much. Heal before a difficult route, craft a tool when it creates a real escape option and leave behind low-value items when space is limited. Survival-horror systems are designed to make the decision uncomfortable; there is rarely a permanently optimal inventory.
Use sound as information
Listen for changes in machinery, footsteps, enemy cries, doors and silence. The audio design in all four games communicates danger before the image does, though it serves different purposes: Dead Space uses sound to make a facility feel alive, Silent Hill 2 Remake uses it to unsettle and misdirect, Alien: Isolation uses it for immediate detection risk, and Alan Wake 2 uses it to support shifts in mood and reality.
Adjust expectations about puzzles
If you enjoy the police-station and mansion-style route planning of the remakes, Dead Space is the nearest match. Silent Hill 2 Remake asks for more interpretation, while Alien: Isolation focuses on access, timing and safe movement. Alan Wake 2 places its investigations inside a more explicitly narrative structure.
Final recommendation by player type
- “I want another Resident Evil-style campaign.” Play Dead Space (2023).
- “I want a scarier game than Resident Evil because I cannot rely on guns.” Play Alien: Isolation.
- “I want psychological horror and a mystery.” Play Silent Hill 2 Remake.
- “I want horror with a strong modern story.” Play Alan Wake 2.
- “I want to sample the genre without choosing one mood.” Start with Dead Space, then move to Silent Hill 2 Remake and Alien: Isolation to experience the largest changes in play style.
For most players coming directly from the Resident Evil remakes, Dead Space (2023) is the safest first recommendation because its perspective, pacing and resource decisions require the fewest adjustments. The other three are better choices when you specifically want psychological investigation, relentless stealth pursuit or a more expansive story.
Quick Recap
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