Get these 17 great horror games for $596.81 instead of buying a ROG Xbox Ally
My feelings about the ROG Xbox Ally are complicated. I’m already smitten with the ROG Ally Z1e, and despite spending plenty of hours with both handhelds in the build-up to Halloween, I’m left thinking one thing: how many new horror games can I get for the same price as Asus’ new console? Well, I’m collating a list of titles that are worth your time and money, not just bargain bin finds to stuff your library with. You don’t need to upgrade from a Lenovo Legion Go or a Steam Deck to play them, either.
Let’s say you have a hole burning in your pocket. You have $599/£499 ready to spend right now. It’s an exciting prospect, and I wouldn’t blame you if you’re considering picking a fresh portable gaming console, especially if it’s your first time looking into handheld PCs. The thing is, though, the distance in meaningful hardware improvements is slimming already, unless you’re eager to part ways with some serious cash.
While my ROG Xbox Ally X review isn’t brutal, I do think there needs to be more there to justify the $999/£799 price tag. While its sister model is cheaper, it’s still working with very similar specifications to rival platforms like the Steam Deck. For the purposes of meeting the standard ROG Xbox Ally’s retail price, the list below uses the full price listing for an array of horror games, all of them meeting the ‘playable’ or ‘verified’ requirements for Steam Deck Verified status. After all, we want you to get stable framerates.
@pockettactics Our first impressions of the Xbox Ally @gamescom are in, and despite the high price, we may be sold 💸 #Xbox #ROG #Handheld #Gaming #Gamescom
♬ GTA – PHONKA TRUCK & broke.
The total value of the list below comes to $596.81/£498.25. There’s a lot of bang for your buck, especially because this list contains high-profile releases such as Cronos: The New Dawn, Silent Hill F, Alan Wake 2, and the excellent Resident Evil 4 remake. In my Alan Wake 2 review, I award it a 10/10. It’s genuinely one of the greatest horror titles of the decade. Kayleigh Partleton also hands out a solid 8/10 rating in her Cronos: The New Dawn review. So, here’s the list I’m presenting to you:
- Resident Evil 4 – $39.99 / £34.99
- Resident Evil 7 – $19.99 / £15.98
- The Evil Within 2 – $39.99 / £15.99
- Outlast Trinity – $31.97 / £27.06
- Phasmophobia – $19.99 / £16.75
- Visage – $34.99 / £27.29
- Soma – $29.99 / £24.99
- Silent Hill F – $69.99 / £69.99
- Alan Wake 2 – $49.99 / £39.99
- Dead by Daylight – $19.99 / £14.99
- The Dark Pictures: The Devil In Me – $39.99 / £34.99
- Alien Isolation – $39.99 / £34.99
- Cronos: The New Dawn – $59.99 / £49.99
- Pacific Drive – $29.99 / £24.99
- World War Z – $29.99 / £21.99
- Dredge – $24.99 / £21.99
- White Knuckle – $14.99 / £12.79
Of course, at Pocket Tactics HQ, it would be criminal of us to leave out the Nintendo Switch. Whether you’re playing on the original model, the Switch Lite, or the Switch 2, we have something for everyone. Out of the list above, a few titles are on Nintendo’s console, and I reckon some of them are among the best Switch games you can play. It’s worth noting that Resident Evil 4 is the HD remaster, not the recent ground-up remake. Nevertheless, it’s still a banger, isn’t it?
What do you think? Is that a decent list? Or is there a game that definitely needs to be mentioned? Be sure to let us know over that Pocket Tactics Discord server.
