.png){kind=logo}
Published Jan 24, 2026, 1:00 PM EST
Jared is a writer, editor, and Communications Studies graduate who loves popular nerd culture (almost anything to do with Marvel, DC, Star Wars, or The Lord of the Rings) and the interactive storytelling medium. Jared's first console was the PS1, wherein he fell for Spider-Man, Spyro the Dragon, and Crash Bandicoot.
Sign in to your ScreenRant account
Xbox Game Pass recently revealed a batch of games arriving on the platform, including Death Stranding Director’s Cut, RoadCraft, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, The Talos Principle 2, Anno: Mutationem, Drop Duchy, MySims: Cozy Bundle, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, Indika, and Final Fantasy 2. Batches like these are always full of exciting genre games. With a grossly overlooked horror entry included, this latest drop is a major boon for the subscription service.
Odd Meter and 11 Bit Studios’ Indika received high praise in some circles, but it failed to skim the surface in an industry that’s been teeming with brand-new horror IPs and anticipated legacy sequels from some of the most iconic horror franchises. Now, with Indika coming to Xbox Game Pass, it will hopefully have another chance to gain the audience it deserves, even with Resident Evil’s ninth mainline installment being released at the end of next month.
2024 & 2025 Were Jam-Packed With S-Tier Horror Games
For anyone who hasn’t yet heard of Indika, or who may have heard of it but never got around to playing it themselves, it isn’t wholly surprising. Indika was released in May 2024, and 2024 was a busy year for horror games, including:
- The Outlast Trials, released on March 5, 2024.
- Pools, released on April 26, 2024.
- Crow Country, released on May 9, 2024.
- Conscript, released on July 23, 2024.
- Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit, released on August 7, 2024.
- Mouthwashing, released on September 26, 2024.
- Silent Hill 2, released on October 8, 2024.
- A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead, released on October 17, 2024.
V Rising, 1000xRESIST, and Animal Well were some of the most hotly talked about games in general in 2024, and it probably didn’t help that they released either on the same day as Indika’s original PC release or the day after. Likewise, 2025 was equally busy for horror titles, with landmark games such as Silent Hill f, Look Outside, and Routine.
All these games merely scratch the surface of what horror had to offer in the past two years, and Xbox Game Pass subscribers who missed out on Indika back when it launched can thankfully rectify that soon. Indika will be released on Xbox Game Pass on February 2, so there isn't long to wait now.
Indika Is One Of 2024’s Best Horror Games, And It’s Coming To Game Pass
To be fair, Indika is an acquired taste. To say it’s unique would be a wild understatement, with even Indika’s Steam store page describing it as “a TPP adventure game that combines an imaginative story with a dark sense of humor.”
Xbox Game Pass is a gold mine of indie horror games, as well, and Indika being added soon is a celebration of that. Indeed, it seems as if more AAA horror games are melding into one homogenous experience: survival horror from a third-person perspective.
This isn’t true of all AAA horror games, of course. That said, it has become ubiquitous lately—as were Soulslikes following Elden Ring’s success and popularity—with the video game industry’s biggest horror franchises/IPs like Silent Hill and Resident Evil adopting third-person survival horror gameplay. It’s an inevitable trend that studios will draw from popular genre games as a wellspring for their own innovations and designs, and the reign of third-person survival horror likely isn’t going anywhere any time soon as a result.
Indie horror games like Indika can be more polarizing due to their novelty, but that same distinction is immeasurably crucial to their identity and their ability to break free from genre molds. It also helps them stand out from the opaque sea of miscellaneous horror games that is easy for a brand-new indie IP to vanish into.
Indika is bizarre, surreal, funny, and scary, all rolled into a religious, self-reflective pilgrimage that is charmingly poignant in an alternate 19th-century Russia, complete with 2D pixel art minigames complementing Indika’s normally photorealistic visuals. It’s truly an ‘experience,’ in every possible sense of the word, and players are lucky to be receiving it on Xbox Game Pass in early 2026.
Xbox Game Pass Is A Treasure Trove Of Horror
Xbox Game Pass will be better for having gained Indika. In doing so, Indika is soon to be added to an already impressive catalog of horror games, with some of its best including:
- Aliens: Dark Descent, included in Xbox Game Pass’ Premium and Ultimate tiers.
- Dead by Daylight, included in Xbox Game Pass’ Premium and Ultimate tiers.
- The whole Dead Space trilogy, plus EA Motive’s Dead Space remake, included in Xbox Game Pass’ Premium and Ultimate tiers via EA Play.
- Prey, included in Xbox Game Pass’ Premium and Ultimate tiers.
- The remakes of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3, plus Resident Evil Village, included in Xbox Game Pass’ Premium and Ultimate tiers.
- Routine, included in Xbox Game Pass’ Ultimate tier.
- The Evil Within and The Evil Within 2, included in Xbox Game Pass’ Premium and Ultimate tiers.
It’s fun to see how Xbox Game Pass has continuously evolved beyond a subscription service for fan-favorite Xbox-exclusive games, and it’s obvious that Xbox Game Pass has slowly become a veritable hub for horror enthusiasts. Between some of modern horror’s most recent outings and incredible indie endeavors, Xbox Game Pass arguably features a bountiful and excellent spread of horror games that are as diverse as they are horrifying.
As a disclaimer, Indika will almost assuredly not be players’ cup of tea if they prefer horror games with unyielding anxiety and myriad enemies. But, even if that’s the case, players may be surprised by how much they enjoy Indika for all its head-scratching idiosyncrasies.
Plus, Indika is only roughly three-to-four hours long, meaning its oddities are perfectly palatable and perfect for anyone to try out who is already subscribed to Xbox Game Pass. Indika is ridiculously weird and baffling, especially if players dive into it without knowing what to expect from it at all, and it’s simultaneously one of the more rewarding horror experiences—a work of art, really—that players will have at their fingertips when it releases on Xbox Game Pass.
Number of Devices Concurrently Standard subscription plan allows two accounts playing at once, with four accounts playing at once on Friends & Family plan
Highest Resolution 1440p streaming
Number of Accounts ~35 million subscribers
Compatibility Xbox Series X|S, PC, ROG Xbox Ally, Android, iOS, Samsung & LG TVs, Meta Quest, Web Browser
Price Per Month Essential $9.99 | Premium $14.99 | Ultimate $29.99
Price per year 12-month membership codes only available at certain retailers
English (US) ·