The 5 Best On-Rails Horror Games

Light gun games and on-rails shooters have almost disappeared as genres. They were more of a gimmick for arcades, which are also becoming an extinct concept. It’s a shame, because some of the best franchises ever started in arcades, like Street Fighter.

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There were various on-rail shooters set in the Jurassic Park franchise, along with Alien as well. Among them, Alien 3: The Gun has to be one of the most fun. For fans of evil clowns, CarnEvil is also unsettling. Unfortunately, a lot of these games are inaccessible to a majority of players because there were never any console versions. These on-rails horror games, however, did make it to consoles. Most of them are spin-offs from bigger horror games-ranked/”>franchises like Resident Evil, but they still hold up as solid standalone experiences.

5 Until Dawn: Rush Of Blood

Metacritic Score: 72

• Platforms: PlayStation 4
• Release Date: October 13, 2016
• Developer: Supermassive games

Until Dawn was a huge hit on the PS4. It was a narrative-driven horror game starring a bunch of college students who were staying in an abandoned lodge on a snowy mountain. Unbeknownst to them, said mountain housed a serial killer along with some other supernatural surprises. So, it made sense that Sony would want to capitalize on the game’s popularity with a spinoff for their upcoming VR peripheral, the PlayStation VR headset.

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood was that spinoff, and had virtually nothing to do with the main game. It was like a developer within this universe made Until Dawn: Rush of Blood as an homage to the bloody murders that happened in the main game. It’s a meta-commentary, kind of like how the Scream movie franchise has the Stab movie franchise within it. This on-rails shooter is extra spooky thanks to the VR tech and sound design, and offers players a handful of weapons, seven levels that are re-imaginings of areas from the first game, and lots of solid spooks hidden within.

4 Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles

Metacritic Score: 75

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles was the first on-rails spinoff for the Wii, but it wasn’t the first of its kind. This game was a retelling of Resident Evil 0, the GameCube remake, and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. It was released initially as a Wii exclusive in 2007, but the PS3 would eventually get it in 2012 once the PlayStation Move controllers were more integrated within homes. The best part about either version was co-op, which always makes on-rails shooters more fun.

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Players would go through highlights from those games like boss battles, and there weren’t any puzzles to worry about. It was a breezy way to go back through three games without sinking as many hours into completing them. This is especially true for Resident Evil 0, since the inventory and backtracking system are busted, even in the later remaster. This collection was also easier for a lot of players who may have felt intimidated by the mainline Resident Evil games, or horror games in general.

3 Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles

Metacritic Score: 75

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles recaps the events of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil – Code: Veronica. This combo makes sense given that Claire Redfield is a big part of these games, even though Leon gets forgotten and is eventually replaced with Chris. Resident Evil: The Redfield Chronicles would have made more sense as a title, but alas, Capcom didn’t go there. This was another Wii exclusive release in 2009, and then PS3 owners got it in 2012.

It has co-op just like the first collection, and puzzles are still a thing of the past. The quality of both games are on par with one another, and it’s a shame there weren’t more of these on-rails spinoffs, as they were an excellent entry point to the series for non-horror fans. It would be interesting to see modern Capcom recap the Resident Evil games that came out following these two collections. For example, what would an Ethan Winters on-rails shooter look like set between Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil Village? Those games are already halfway there, as they are in first-person and they support VR.

2 The House Of The Dead: Overkill

Metacritic Score: 78

• Platforms: PlayStation 3, Wii, iOS, Android
• Release Date: February 10, 2009
• Developer: Headstrong games

The House of the Dead franchise began in 1996 in arcades. It is owned by Sega, and their internal teams made a majority of the series’ entries. 90s kids couldn’t step into an arcade without seeing an entry in this franchise, and The House of the Dead games are essentially to arcades what Resident Evil games are to consoles.

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Of the many ports that made it to consoles, The House of the Dead: Overkill is the one to recommend. It was released for the Wii in 2009, followed by a 2011 launch on the PS3. The series is a classic in the games/”>zombie shooter genre, but it saw diminishing returns, as there isn’t much of a story to speak of. However, if console fans do want more after The House of the Dead: Overkill, then there was also The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return on the Wii along with The House of the Dead 4 on PS3. Both games were reviewed as well as The House of the Dead: Overkill, and offer the same on-rails zombie shooting Action, although they struggle to compete with the experiences the series offers in arcades.

Metacritic Score: 82

• Platforms: PlayStation 3, Wii
• Release Date: September 24, 2009
• Developers: EA Redwood Shores, Eurocom

Dead Space: Extraction is the ultimate on-rails horror game according to Metacritic. It’s the one genre where Dead Space beats out Resident Evil in critical reviews. This Wii exclusive was a prequel to the original game’s events. It showed players what happened to the crew on the USG Ishimura, and there was also an animated movie, Dead Space: Downfall, which retold the events.

Extraction was released in 2009 for the Wii and, once again, PS3 players would get a port later in 2011. For an on-rails game, it told a surprisingly good story. The movie is better if fans really want to learn what happened before Isaac’s arrival on the Ishimura, but there’s nothing like slicing through Necromorphs with a Wii Remote either. Overall, it was one of the Wii’s bloodier first-person games, and that alone made it stand out from the crowd.

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