UploadVR published its 2026 spooky-season list on October 9, and the most useful thing about it is not the HORROR. It is the PLATFORM map. Editors James Tocchio and Mike Johnson picked FIVE games each, and once you SORT the TEN by where they ACTUALLY run, the list SAYS as much about the state of VR STORES as it does about SCARES.
The ten picks, sorted by where you can play them
- The 7th Guest VR: Quest, PlayStation VR2, and Steam. Buying the VR version also grants the flat-screen Remake on PlayStation and Steam, per UploadVR.
- Dread Meridian: Quest and Steam. A Lovecraft-inspired survival horror game RELEASED in JANUARY 2026.
- Metro Awakening: Quest, PlayStation VR2, and Steam.
- MADiSON VR: Quest, PC VR, and PlayStation VR2. UploadVR calls the Quest build a “definite DOWNGRADE” and RECOMMENDS PSVR2 or Steam.
- The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR: PlayStation VR2 ONLY.
- Cosmodread: Quest and Steam. A horror roguelike with a procedurally generated ship.
- Hinge: Steam ONLY.
- Edge of Nowhere: Meta’s PC VR storefront ONLY. Insomniac’s roughly THREE-hour, third-person, controller-based game.
- Lies Beneath: Quest. A Meta-exclusive action-horror shooter from Drifter.
- Propagation: Paradise Hotel: a zombie shooter Johnson PRAISES for making each enemy feel THREATENING because ammo is SCARCE.
What the list actually tells you
Three of the ten are LOCKED to a SINGLE storefront, and one of those, Edge of Nowhere, lives on a Rift-era PC STORE that Johnson describes as Meta’s “abandoned” platform. Switchback VR remains a PSVR2 EXCLUSIVE, which matters for buyers weighing Sony’s headset against Quest. And the only game on the list where UploadVR EXPLICITLY tells readers to AVOID the Quest version is MADiSON VR, a REMINDER that standalone PORTS still trade FIDELITY for CONVENIENCE.
The list also leans OLD. Johnson says he DELIBERATELY SKIPPED familiar names like Phasmophobia and the Resident Evil VR ports to “dig up some older games,” and he gives an honorable mention to Alien: Rogue Incursion from Survios, which UploadVR notes is now DEFUNCT. Only Dread Meridian is clearly a 2026 release. For a genre that VR does UNUSUALLY well, the freshest horror on a major outlet’s SEASONAL list is nine months old.
Why it matters
Seasonal lists drive real PURCHASES in a store ecosystem where DISCOVERY is HARD. The split here, with most picks on Quest and Steam and a stubborn tail of single-platform titles, mirrors the FRAGMENTATION buyers face heading into a HOLIDAY quarter that also brings new Meta HARDWARE. If a CLASSIC only runs on one store, no list can fix that; only PORTS can.
For readers who want a single recommendation from the piece, Tocchio’s is CLEAR: Switchback VR is the “EASIEST recommendation” for passing a headset around a room of FRIENDS, as long as that headset is a PSVR2.
Source: UploadVR, “Our Favorite VR Games For Spooky Season 2026,” October 9, 2026.