Summary
- The House of the Dead 2 remake in 2025 maintains the franchise's nostalgia with zombie-slaying action.
- The Pinball of the Dead provides 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 near-extinct genre in modern gaming — save a few niche indie games and spiritual successors. It's easy to see why, with the advancement of technology providing a more blistering pace and free-form approach that FPS fans have become accustomed to. For those old enough to remember the thrill of dropping coins into those old light gun arcade cabinets of The House of the Dead or Time Crisis, nostalgia persists.
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Even in the modern gaming landscape of RPGs and open worlds, there's still a place for the simplistic fun of great rail shooters like these.
Hence, the release of The House of the Dead 2 remake in 2025. Ports and remasters have consistently kept T he House of the Dead IP alive for almost three decades, spawning several sequels, spin-offs, and an unfortunate Uwe Boll film adaptation. Like our younger selves, the series has had at least as many misses as hits in that time, but for the zombie-slaying purists, these are the best House of the Dead games, ranked.
7 The House Of The Dead 3
Calling Shotgun
- Platforms: Arcade, Wii, Xbox, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3
- Released: 2002
- Publisher: Sega
- Developers: Sega AM1
Beginning with the caveat that, since the games have been ported multiple times, the critical reception has been somewhat mixed across 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 be bestowed with that unwanted honor.
The game puts the focus on shotguns, which offer a satisfying kickback and high damage, but a shallow ammo pool and 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 Of The Dead
Action-Infused Pinball Tables
- Platforms: GameBoy Advance
- Released: 2002
- Publisher: Sega
- Developers: WOW Entertainment
The Pinball of the Dead is technically one of the best-reviewed games in the series, a beneficiary of being a smaller GameBoy Advance exclusive release. But, it simply does not deliver the experience one expects when looking for bullet-laden, B-movie zombie action.
It's a pinball game, featuring three unique tables based on The House of the Dead series. Praised for its graphics at the time 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 Scope
- Platforms: Arcade, PlayStation 3
- Released: 2005
- Publisher: Sega
- Developers: WOW Entertainment
The House of the Dead 4 marginally improves on its direct predecessor but suffers from a lot of the same issues, providing a rather bare-bones and competent shooter that lacks the magic of the original titles. The world is somewhat toned down in search of realism, which delivers improved character models but lacks the bite and cartoonish violence typical of the series.
Players are armed with submachine guns this time around for a more frenzied, bullet-filled screen and equipped with a limited supply of grenades for clearing out large hordes when becoming overwhelmed. It does offer a nice risk-reward element to freshen up the combat.
4 The House Of The Dead 2
Unrealized Potential
The House of the Dead 2
The Special Agents who were asslened to the original House of The Dead
mission, thought they were successful in wiping out the evil that resided
in secret laboratories and underground passages: however, they were
wrong. Dead Wrong!
In the first installment of House of The Dead, the situation was a
grave one. However, with new hidden passages, giving the player the
opportunity to alter the course of each game, House of the Dead 2 is
sure to create more excitement along with a deadlier outcome Unbeknownst to the Special Agents, Curies' scientist and experiments
escaped through hidden passages in the mension. The ifeless corpses
and mutilated spocimens terrerze the countryside while heading for
the targeted City,
House of the Dead 2, debuting on Sega's new, low cost. High performerce, Naomi Hardware Platform, guarantees excitement while the player travels through 6 new challenging levels, using a new light gun system to destroy new zombles, gruesome creatures, ghastly ghouls, and freaks of modern science, that are bigger stronger, and faster than ever.
House of The Dead 2 Features:
Sega's new. Low cost, high performance, Naomi Hardware Platform
A New light gun system
Two player cooperative gameplay
Six challenging leveis, featuring new zombles. Creatures, and freaks of modern scierco
Hidden passages which alter the course of each game
Unlimited continues for increased earnings
- Released
- September 9, 1998
- Publisher(s)
- Sega
- Platform(s)
- Arcade, Sega Dreamcast, PC, Wii
MegaPixel Studio's The House of the Dead: Remake was underwhelming, with a clunky control scheme that failed to make full use of the Nintendo Switch's motion capabilities. With a little more polish, the upcoming sequel could easily elevate The House of the Dead 2 to a much higher spot in the series.
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The game is so full of potential, with some excellent B-movie action, complete with awful voice acting that amplifies the best kitsch appeal of the series. The House of the Dead 2 also features arguably the best level design in the series, with branching paths that add replayability based on players' choices in a given run.
3 The House Of The Dead
Iconic Original
The House of the Dead
It's very difficult to rank the original because the critical response is all over the map, but as an overall average, it sits right here. The House of the Dead was a groundbreaking light gun experience, but time has not been kind to this classic.
Add to that, it's the most ported game in the series, counting all the remakes, and some of those, like the above-mentioned, fumbled the ball in terms of modernizing the experience for a new audience. The quarter-sapping game loop is as addictive as ever, but it's is a little uneven and very brief, offering little return value beyond chasing high scores.
2 The House Of The Dead: Overkill
Modern Grindhouse Action
The House of the Dead: Overkill
BRUTAL... SHOCKING... UNREAL... AN ALL-NEW THRILL RIDE
• SEE ZOMBIES WITH A TASTE FOR HUMAN FLESH!
• PALE BEFORE THE INSANELY MAD SCIENTIST!
• CHEER THE STRIPPER THAT TAKES ON EVIL!
• UNCOVER THE HORRIFIC TRUTH BEHIND... THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD
• TERRIFYING 2-PLAYER CO-OP ACTION
• BLOOD-SPLATTERED MINI-GAMES FOR 2-4 PLAYERS
- Released
- February 10, 2009
- Developer(s)
- Headstrong Games
- Publisher(s)
- Sega
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Wii, PC, PlayStation 3
The House of the Dead: Overkill is the only entry that takes full advantage of modernizing the series, and it's better for it. The game is a little too 'edgy' for its own good, determined to earn that mature rating, and it loses a bit of the series' character in that.
But with new camera controls, weapons, and a selection of grindhouse-style mini-campaigns based on popular horror films and archetypes, it delivers the most fun in the series to date. Sadly, a true sequel has yet to materialize, although an honorable mention to House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn, the '5D' arcade cabinet successor that was just a little too esoteric to make the cut.
1 The Typing Of The Dead
Unconventional Masterpiece
- Platforms: Arcade, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows
- Released: 1999
- Publisher: Sega
- Developers: WOW Entertainment, Smilebit
Veritable proof that The House of the Dead 2 can be considered the best in the series as this adaptation is the best-reviewed game in the series. For those unaware, The Typing of the Dead adapts House of the Dead 2, replacing the traditional light gun with a keyboard, and players have to type out a word or sequence displayed on screen to deal damage.
Sounds like it shouldn't work, but the novel approach to combat offers very satisfying feedback and is significantly more tense than the traditional format. As the difficulty ramps up, players try to type full sentences as fast as possible without messing up as an enemy approaches. The Typing of the Dead also leans in heavily to the schlocky appeal of the series, replacing the weapon models with a keyboard/backpack combo but changing nothing else in the story.
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