Best House Of The Dead Games, Ranked

Summary

• The 2025 remake of House of the Dead 2 preserves the franchise's nostalgia with zombie-killing action.

• The Pinball of the Dead offers a different gaming experience with tables based on the series.

• The Typing of the Dead adaptation offers a unique combat system with satisfying haptic feedback.

On-rails shooters are a nearly extinct genre in modern gaming – save for a few niche indie games and spiritual successors. It's easy to see why, as the advancement of technology allows for a faster pace and freer approach that FPS fans have become accustomed to. For those old enough to remember the thrill of coins falling into the old light gun arcade cabinets The House of the Dead or Time crisisNostalgia remains.

Hence the publication of The House of the Dead 2 Remake in 2025. Ports and remasters have consistently retained THe House of the Dead IP has been alive for almost three decades and spawned several sequels, spin-offs and an unfortunate Uwe Boll film adaptation. Like our younger selves, the series had at least as many misses as hits during this time, but for the zombie-killing purists, these are the best House of the Dead Games, rankings.

7

The House of the Dead 3

Call shotgun

• Platforms: Arcade, Wii, Xbox, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3
• Released: 2002
• editor: Sega
• developer: Sega AM1

Let's start with the caveat that reviews varied due to the games being ported multiple times in different versions. Most largely failed to live up to their arcade cabinet format. The House of the Dead 3 is the first on this list to receive this unwanted honor.

The game focuses on shotguns, which offer satisfying knockback and high damage, but have a low ammo supply and a long reload time. It adds an interesting layer of strategy to the rail shooter format, and choosing the right moments to reload is often the difference between success and failure.

6

The pinball machine of the dead

Action-packed pinball tables

• Platforms: Game Boy Advance
• Released: 2002
• editor: Sega
• developer: WOW entertainment

The pinball machine of the dead is technically one of the highest rated games in the series and benefits from being smaller Game Boy Advance exclusive release. But it just doesn't deliver the experience you expect if you're looking for bullet-packed B-movie zombie action.

It is a pinball game with three unique tables based on it The House of the Dead Series. Praised for its period graphics and a great recreation of the pinball experience on a handheld console; great for killing time – but not so much for killing undead.

5

The House of the Dead 4

High octane, low volume

• Platforms: Arcade, PlayStation 3
• Released: 2005
• editor: Sega
• developer: WOW entertainment

The House of the Dead 4 Improves slightly over its immediate predecessor, but shares many of the same problems and is a rather plain and competent shooter that lacks the magic of the original titles. The world is toned down somewhat in the quest for realism, providing improved character models but lacking the series' trademark grit and cartoonish violence.

This time around, players are armed with submachine guns to create a more hectic, bullet-filled screen and equipped with a limited supply of grenades to destroy large hordes if they are overwhelmed. It provides a nice risk/reward element to freshen up the combat.

4

The House of the Dead 2

Unrealized potential

MegaPixel Studios The House of the Dead: Remake was disappointing, with a clunky control scheme that failed to achieve its full potential Nintendo Switch Movement skills. With a little more polish, the upcoming sequel could easily have a higher status The House of the Dead 2 to a much higher place in the series.

The game is full of potential, with excellent B-movie action and terrible voice acting that adds to the series' cheesiest appeal. The House of the Dead 2 It also features arguably the best level design in the series, with branching paths that increase replayability based on players' decisions in a given playthrough.

3

The House of the Dead

Iconic original

It's very difficult to rank the original because the critical reactions are all over the place, but the overall average is right here. The House of the Dead was a groundbreaking light gun experience, but time has not been kind to this classic.

What's more, it's the most ported game in the series if you count all the remakes, and some of them, like the one mentioned above, have failed to modernize the gaming experience for a new audience. The quarterly gameplay loop is as addictive as ever, but is a bit uneven and very short, offering little in return other than the hunt for high scores.

2

The House of the Dead: Overkill

Modern grindhouse action

The House of the Dead: Overkill is the only entry that takes full advantage of the series' modernization, and that's even better. The game is a bit too “edgy” on its own, it's determined to hit that age rating and it loses a bit of the character of the series as a result.

But with new camera controls, weapons and a selection of grindhouse-style mini-campaigns based on popular horror films and archetypes, it offers the most fun in the series yet. Unfortunately, there is no real sequel yet, although there is an honorable mention for it House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn, the “5D” arcade successor, which was a little too esoteric to make a breakthrough.

1

The typification of the dead

Unconventional masterpiece

• Platforms: Arcade, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows
• Released: 1999
• editor: Sega
• Developer: WOW Entertainment, Smilebit

A true testament to that The House of the Dead 2 can be considered the best of the series as this adaptation is the best reviewed game in the series. For those who don't know: The typification of the dead adapts House of the Dead 2, Replace the traditional light gun with a keyboard, and players must enter an on-screen word or sequence to deal damage.

It sounds like it shouldn't work, but the novel approach to combat offers very satisfying feedback and is significantly more exciting than the traditional format. As the difficulty increases, players try to type complete sentences as quickly as possible without messing up when an enemy approaches. The typification of the dead also leans heavily into the schlocky appeal of the series, replacing the weapon models with a combination keyboard and backpack, but otherwise doesn't change anything about the story.