The Best Games to Grab During the Xbox Shocktober Sale

The Xbox brand hasn’t necessarily been having the best go of it in recent months, what with the rising prices of Xbox Series X/S hardware and the increased cost of the Xbox Game Pass subscription (among many other woes). But that doesn’t mean that Xbox owners are hurting for great games to play, many of which are currently down to some pretty low prices owing to their discounts on the Xbox Shocktober Sale. Until November 2, players can go to the Xbox Store to snag some great deals on incredible games across a wide variety of genres, though it is worth mentioning that there’s a focus on games with horror or horror-adjacent elements in keeping with the month’s theme. The following titles are ones we’d recommend picking up while you can, especially considering they’re playable on both Xbox hardware and PC thanks to the Xbox Play Anywhere program.

• Release Date — May 21, 2024
• Developer — Ninja Theory
• Publisher — Xbox Game Studios
• Genre — Action-Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 80% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $17.49 (Normally $49.99, 65% off)

People likely don’t think of the Hellblade games when picturing horror titles, but the truth is that both of the games featuring the iconic Senua do a great job of tapping into some truly unsettling subject matter as it relates to psychological horror, trauma, and mental illness. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is an incredibly cinematic adventure that improves upon the presentation of the original while also adding in some new twists to how the game handles its combat and more interactive segments, resulting in a title that feels more like a game than the first and is worth playing through at least once. It’s currently down to its lowest-ever price of just $17 as part of the Shocktober sale, making it a great choice for a pick-up if you’ve yet to play it.

• Release Date — August 24, 2021
• Developer — Cold Iron Studios
• Publisher — Cold Iron Studios
• Genre — Action, Shooter
• Review Aggregate Score — 70% (Mixed or Average)
• Price — $11.99 (Normally $39.99, 70% off)

If you’re in the market for a great co-op game this October, look no further than Aliens: Fireteam Elite. While it’s only passable as a solo experience, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a ton of fun when playing with two other friends, delivering some rock-solid third-person shooter gameplay that does a great job of capturing the best parts of the Alien franchise. Fireteam Elite goes on sale pretty regularly, and it’s once again back down to its historic low of just $12 for the Into the Hive edition, which contains all the bonus skins and upgrade packs that add some nice content to the experience. As a bonus, Alien: Isolation is also on sale during the Shocktober sale, which is a much slower-paced and tense experience akin to the original Alien when compared to the action horror of something like James Cameron’s Aliens and Fireteam Elite.

• Release Date — May 15, 2025
• Developer — Ant Workshop Ltd
• Publisher — Wales Interactive
• Genre — Action Roguelike, Auto-Battler, Deckbuilder
• Review Aggregate Score — 78% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $10.49 (Normally $14.99, 30% off)

Into the Restless Ruins is easily one of the year’s best indie games and best roguelikes, though you’d be surprised how few people seem to have actually heard of it. It’s an auto-battler deckbuilder in which players must use their cards to build a dungeon before descending into it, slotting rooms and passages together like the Tetrominoes in Tetris before they can access critical rooms that help them advance to a boss chamber. It’s a unique mix of genres that, on paper, comes across as too many disparate influences stuffed into one game, but in practice, it works flawlessly. Into the Restless Ruins is worth grabbing when it’s full price, so getting it at its current 30% discount and being able to play it on console or PC is a steal.

• Release Date — December 2, 2022
• Developer — Firaxis Games
• Publisher — 2K
• Genre — Turn-Based Tactics, RPG, Simulation
• Review Aggregate Score — 81% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $15.99 (Normally $79.99, 80% off)

Speaking of underrated games, it’s hard to think of a AAA title that flew completely under the radar quite like Marvel’s Midnight Suns, which unfortunately led to the departure of game designer (and mind behind the modern XCOM reboot) Jake Solomon from Firaxis. Disappointing sales aside, Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a fantastic turn-based battling RPG with social sim elements that trades the traditional action point system of the modern XCOM games for an interesting twist on a deckbuilder, where each card corresponds to a different movement or action ability in combat, making positioning and momentum essential to stay ahead of your opponents. Midnight Suns‘ social sim elements and story fall a bit flat, but its combat is so spectacular that it makes up for it.

• Release Date — August 19, 2014 (Diablo III: Eternal Collection); September 23, 2021 (Diablo II: Resurrected)
• Developer — Blizzard Entertainment, Vicarious Visions
• Publisher — Blizzard Entertainment
• Genre — ARPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 86% (Diablo III: Eternal Collection); 80% (Diablo II: Resurrected)
• Price — $19.79 (Normally $59.99, 67% off)

One of the absolute best bundles you can currently get during the Xbox Shocktober Sale is the Diablo: Eternal Evil Collection, bringing together both Diablo II: Resurrected and Diablo III: Eternal Collection under a single umbrella. Diablo IV is also currently on sale on the Xbox Store, but chances are you’ll get much more enjoyment out of these two older entries in the franchise thanks to their impressive wealth of content and addictive ARPG gameplay. Diablo II: Resurrected is a visually stunning remake of the 25-year-old classic, and Diablo III: Eternal Collection is the absolute best version of Diablo III that money can buy, bringing together all the excellent post-launch updates and tweaks that Blizzard made to polish it into a game worthy of the franchise.

• Release Date — May 13, 2025
• Developer — J.R. Hudepohl
• Publisher — Top Hat Studios
• Genre — Survival Horror
• Review Aggregate Score — 71% (Mixed or Average)
• Price — $15.99 (Normally $19.99, 20% off)

When the curtain falls on 2025, Labyrinth of the Demon King will undoubtedly go down as one of the year’s best and most underrated games. This Silent Hill-inspired survival horror title takes players back to feudal Japan as a samurai dedicated to getting revenge for his former lord retainer, which leads him directly into the belly of the underworld in a battle of wits against the evil Demon King. But while its atmosphere and horror elements are definitively Silent Hill, Labyrinth of the Demon King‘s combat is very Condemned-inspired, using first-person melee strikes and countering via parries to defend yourself against a number of horrific-looking monsters. It’s on a small discount, but any reduction in price on a hidden gem like Labyrinth of the Demon King is a good thing.

• Release Date — July 23, 2024
• Developer — Jordan Mochi, Catchweight Studio
• Publisher — Team17
• Genre — Survival Horror
• Review Aggregate Score — 79% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $10.99 (Normally $21.99, 50% off)

Another modern survival horror game that pays homage to the classics, Conscript is a must-play for fans of the genre looking for something different. In terms of its gameplay loop, Conscript is pure old-school survival horror that will make fans of the original Resident Evil trilogy feel right at home. But in terms of its atmosphere and story, Conscript is decidedly more Silent Hill-leaning, embracing psychological horror and the real-world atrocities of World War I in favor of incorporating any supernatural elements. In fact, it’s Conscript‘s dedication to realism and historical accuracy that makes it so terrifying and effective as a horror game, and its emotionally poignant story will stick with you.

• Release Date — September 10, 2019 (Blasphemous); August 23, 2023 (Blasphemous II)
• Developer — The Game Kitchen
• Publisher — Team17
• Genre — Metroidvania
• Review Aggregate Score — 82% (Blasphemous); 85% (Blasphemous II)
• Price — $22.49 (Normally $44.99, 50% off)

One of the other best bundles to grab during the Xbox Shocktober Sale is the current deal on both Blasphemous games that brings these excellent Metroidvanias down to just $22. Notably, Blasphemous and Blasphemous II are remarkably different-feeling games, despite coming from the same developer, with the original Blasphemous feeling more like a 2D Soulslike and the sequel coming off as more Metroidvania-inspired. To be fair, both games are two of the best modern Metroidvanias, but players should go into the second one prepared for it to be more inspired by Castlevania: Symphony of the Night than Dark Souls. Regardless, both of these games are two of the best-looking and most smoothly animated action platformers in recent memory with some excellent combat.

• Release Date — August 27, 2019
• Developer — Remedy Entertainment
• Publisher — 505 Games
• Genre — Action-Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 84% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $3.99 (Normally $39.99, 90% off)

Almost every Remedy Entertainment game is currently on sale over on the Xbox Store, which means players can grab 2019 Game of the Year contender Control for just $4. Control is loosely connected to the Remedy extended universe that includes Alan Wake, and the more you dig into its story, the more those connections bubble up to the surface. Beyond its connection to the Alan Wake franchise, though, Control is just an excellent action-adventure game that blends solid third-person shooting with an impressive suite of telekinetic abilities and a deft mix of metroidvania and survival horror elements. Control goes down to this price fairly often, but if you’ve yet to play this modern masterpiece, now is the perfect time to correct that oversight.

• Release Date — October 27, 2023
• Developer — Remedy Entertainment
• Publisher — Epic Games Publishing
• Genre — Survival Horror
• Review Aggregate Score — 90% (Universal Acclaim)
• Price — $17.99 (Normally $59.99, 70% off)

Speaking of Remedy, Alan Wake II is also down to its lowest ever price on the Xbox Shocktober Sale just in time for Halloween. While the original Alan Wake was a fantastic game whose ambition and story were somewhat held back by its fairly by-the-numbers survival horror gameplay, Alan Wake II is about as close to a masterpiece as one is likely to find in the genre. Everything about this sequel is leagues ahead of the original, including its horror elements, which solidify it as one of the single most terrifying and affecting games of the last few years. You could hardly find a better game to play during the last couple of weeks of October, especially while it’s less than $20.

• Release Date — September 2, 2025
• Developer — Reikon Games
• Publisher — Deep Silver
• Genre — FPS
• Review Aggregate Score — 74% (Mixed or Average)
• Price — $23.99 (Normally $39.99, 40% off)

Reikon Games’ Metal Eden is just over a month old, and it’s already at a massive 40% off discount on the Xbox Store. This futuristic FPS is an absolute blast and perfectly tailored to fans of games like the modern Doom trilogy or Ghostrunner, and it’s even got some surprising influence from Titanfall 2 in its smooth movement and traversal. Reikon Games previously wowed players with its top-down shooter Ruiner, but Metal Eden is a massive step-up in quality and ambition that’s really only held back by its shorter runtime. But when it’s down to just $24 from its normal $40 asking price, the few hours of intense fun you’re bound to get from Metal Eden are well worth the price of admission.

• Release Date — January 25, 2019
• Developer — Capcom
• Publisher — Capcom
• Genre — Survival Horror
• Review Aggregate Score — 93% (Universal Acclaim)
• Price — $9.99 (Normally $39.99, 75% off)

As many times as Capcom decides to discount the Resident Evil 2 remake, I will forever sing its praises as an essential pick-up, especially when it’s back down to its historic low of just $10. Resident Evil 2 follows closely in the footsteps of the 2002 remake of the original Resident Evil by leaning more fully into the series’ horror elements and doing a great job of toying with players’ expectations. If you’re intimately familiar with Resident Evil 2, you’ll find plenty of moments to be amazed at in this remake, but there are just as many surprises in store that intentionally throw veterans off their balance and add an element of unexpected tension to keep the experience fresh. A masterful remake, a near-perfect survival horror game, and one of the best titles in the entire Resident Evil series.

• Release Date — September 4, 2025
• Developer — Rogue Factor
• Publisher — Nacon
• Genre — Action-Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 78% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $63.99 (Normally $79.99, 20% off)

Another recent release that’s found itself a nice discount on the Xbox Shocktober Sale is Hell Is Us, which has its Deluxe Edition marked down to $64 from its normal $80 MSRP. While you could just get the standard edition of the game for $60, the Deluxe Edition of Hell Is Us comes with some worthwhile goodies that players who click with it won’t want to miss out on. It was initially billed as a Soulslike, but Hell Is Us is actually more akin to a combat-heavy 3D Metroidvania with a surprising implementation of investigative elements not at all dissimilar from the excellent (and underrated) Atomfall. For one of the year’s more original games, I highly recommend checking out Hell Is Us.

• Release Date — March 22, 2024
• Developer — Capcom
• Publisher — Capcom
• Genre — Action RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 86% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $31.49 (Normally $69.99, 55% off)

Capcom has quite a few titles heavily discounted on the Xbox Store right now, but one of the more eye-opening markdowns is on Dragon’s Dogma II, which is down 55% from its normal asking price of $70. I’d make the claim that Dragon’s Dogma II is much better suited to console play than PC thanks to the PC version’s instability and lack of support from Capcom, and the Xbox Series X/S version is an incredibly solid and unique action RPG in the console’s catalog. If you’ve never played Dragon’s Dogma II or the original, they’re unique approaches to the action RPG genre that favor exploration and emergent gameplay above all else, and you could even argue that the game doesn’t really “begin” until you beat it and enter the expansive endgame mode.

• Release Date — March 24, 2023
• Developer — Capcom
• Publisher — Capcom
• Genre — Action, Survival Horror
• Review Aggregate Score — 91% (Universal Acclaim)
• Price — $19.99 (Normally $39.99, 50% off)

If you’re just going to get one game from the Xbox Shocktober Sale and are looking for a modern classic that’s going to deliver plenty of bang for your buck, it’s hard to think of a better recommendation than Resident Evil 4. The 2023 remake of this 2005 seminal classic is back down to just $20 in time for Halloween, and it’s right up there with the 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake as one of the series’ best games in quite some time. There are so many reasons to play and replay Resident Evil 4 that you’re likely to easily get 50 or 60 hours out of its 8-10 hour campaign, pushing yourself to clear increasingly challenging difficulty modes and unlock all the secret goodies that transform each playthrough.