Evil Dead is a film franchise that feels like it was destined to be adapted into video games. A charming hero who can spout witty one-liners, bloody action, and disposable hordes of undead enemies just waiting to be introduced to the business end of a boomstick? That’s the description for roughly half of the video games currently in existence.
Ahead of the latest Evil Dead game release, we’ve gone back in time to look at how Evil Dead has been adapted over the years. From old-school adventures with ancient graphics to cheesy action experiences in the PS2 era, here’s a brief history of Evil Dead video games.
The Evil Dead (1984)
An adventure game that was released on the Commodore 64, BBC Micro and ZX Spectrum, Evil Dead’s first foray into digital space was about as scary as a box of kittens. Stuck in the infamous log cabin, Ash Williams had to battle collections of blocks that represented the Deadites, keep an eye on his energy levels, and eventually end the terror by destroying the Necronomicon. Simple, but fun in quick bursts back in the day.
Evil Dead: Hail to the King (2000)
Evil Dead fans had to wait 16 years for someone to pick up the license, with developer Heavy Iron Studios making its debut with this PlayStation classic. Set up as a sequel to Army of Darkness, Evil Dead: Hail to the King pulled plenty of inspiration from Resident Evil to recreate familiar haunts and enemies for a blood-soaked adventure that ends with a hell of a great twist. Plus, you can’t beat hearing Bruce Campbell fire off more one-liners.
Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick (2003)
Ash Williams would load his boomstick for a new adventure on PS2 and Xbox in this Hail to the King sequel. Down on his luck and ready to kick some Deadite butts once again, the sequel improved on the original and once again recruited Campbell to voice his iconic cinematic hero.
Evil Dead Pinball (2003)
For the tens of people who had been asking for it, Evil Dead finally entered the realm of pinball on mobile devices. Players had to collect pages from the Necronomicon using their table wizard skills, while also dealing with the realization that a few rounds of Snake were more fun on early-2000s mobile hardware.
Evil Dead: Regeneration (2005)
Unrelated to the previous two console games, Evil Dead: Regeneration took the franchise in a new direction by reimagining the series through a what-if lens that takes place between Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. What would have happened if Ash had not been thrown back in time? Plenty of blood and campy horror, with this particular game being well-received by fans as an Evil Dead spin-off that kept the cult-classic film’s tone intact.
Army of Darkness: Defense (2011)
With Apple’s iPad having entrenched itself as the tablet device to own in the early 2010s, along came this simple but enchanting Evil Dead game. Players were tasked with keeping the Necronomicon out of Deadite hands in this side-scrolling tower defense game, as they threw waves of soldiers and heroes against the army of darkness.
Evil Dead: The Game (2011)
A top-down twin-stick shooter for iOS, this Evil Dead game was big on boomsticks, Deadite cannon fodder, and Ash’s oversized cranium. This game essentially retold the story of the original movie over the course of 30 levels.
Evil Dead: Endless Nightmare (2016)
Essentially a first-person endless runner that was loosely based on the underrated 2013 remake of Evil Dead, Endless Nightmare was a quick and dirty action experience that recycled Mia’s dialogue as she tore through supernatural evil.
Evil Dead: Virtual Nightmare (2018)
A few years later, Endless Nightmare was resurrected for virtual reality headsets and mobile devices. Same game, same low-budget horror experience, but without any of the indie charm.
Evil Dead: The Game (2022)
At its best, Evil Dead has always been a sly mix of gory horror and over-the-top ass-kicking, and developer Boss Team Games decided to roll hard with those ideas in this 2022 adaptation. Evil Dead: The Game was a “somewhat groovy” take on asymmetrical multiplayer horror, one that faithfully recreated the iconography of the beloved series but which was light on content and story. As with many Evil Dead projects, this one ended in heartbreak: in September 2023, 16 months after release, live content support for the game was cancelled, as was a proposed Nintendo Switch version. In April 2025, the game was delisted from several storefronts. Evil Dead: The Game’s servers are still live, but we hear the distant rev of a chainsaw coming for them.
Fortnite (2022)
Fortnite’s 2022 Halloween event, Fortnitemares, officially brought Ash to Epic’s long list of crossover characters. Ash–who arrived just before Halloween on October 23–was available as part of a pack, complete with Necronomicon and Boomstick back blings, plus an incredible Chainsaw Hand built-in pickaxe skin. Anyone who achieves a Victory Royale in this skin has a legitimate excuse to shout “Hail to the king, baby.”
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022)
Ash was busy in Halloween 2022: Along with Fortnite, he also lent his talents (and his boomstick) to the Call of Duty series. Ash arrived as part of The Haunting, a Season 06 event that also added Lilith and Inarus from Diablo 4, Skeletor from Masters of the Universe, and Alucard from Hellsing. This was, again, Evil Dead II Ash, but pre-amputation: he still has his iconic chainsaw, but sadly there’s no way of using it on your opponents.
RetroRealms: Ash vs Evil Dead (2024)
Developer Wayforward’s take on the Evil Dead series–a 2D side-scrolling brawler based on the three-season Starz series of the same name–is less flashy than many of the other games on this list, but it’s also the best Evil Dead game we’ve ever gotten. The game features an older, more-seasoned Ash blasting his way through an army of Deadites rendered in a 16-bit visual style, using a variety of guns (and his iconic chainsaw) to rip and tear through his enemies. In GameSpot’s review, Mark Delaney praised the game’s “excellent platforming gameplay (and) authentic ’90s vibe.”
