There was a time when I had no idea how a co-op horror game would work or how you could make a co-op game that’s actually scary. I always imagined that even the scariest games would lose their effect the second one of my friends would clown around and t-bag the monster chasing us.
Yet, the game industry has proved that it’s not only possible to create co-op horror, but they can be just as, if not more, scary than single player titles. Nowadays, you can find a slew of co-op horror games, but these are the ones that never fail to scare my friends and I.
7
Phasmophobia
Hunt for ghosts like in your favorite shows.
Do you remember those cheesy ghost-hunting shows, where a group of people walked around in the dark with cameras and got scared by every tiny noise they heard? Then they bring out their little recorders, replay the sounds, and it sounds like a lot of white noise, but they somehow interpret it as “Get out of here” or something similar? They turned that into a game, and it’s called Phasmophobia.
You are a team of ghost hunters. You come prepared with tons of ghost-hunting equipment, such as infrared vision cameras, motion detectors, laser projection screens, and most importantly, salt. All this equipment will help you uncover evidence of ghostly activity and narrow down the type of entity you’re hunting.
What makes Phasmophobia so scary lies in its subtlety. You don’t have corpses dangling from the ceiling or the ghost jumping out of a cabinet and screaming boo in your face. All you’ll generally hear is some footsteps, an item being thrown on the floor, and your flashlight will start to flash.
But it’s those moments when you’re the last one left and the ghost is chasing you as you scramble to open a closet door to hide in; in those moments, Phasmophobia turns into a nightmare. I play Phasmophobia every year on Halloween, as I can’t think of a game that fits the atmosphere more than this one does.
- Co-op horror where teamwork and planning are key.
- Unique equipment and upgrades.
- Wide range of locations and ghost types.
6
RePo
Turns out tax evaders are the real monsters.
Though in my opinion, not as scary as Phasmophobia, RePo is great fun if you want to goof off. The premise is this: you’re a team (up to 6) of robots working for a tax collector. Your task is to repossess items from various places, since the owners presumably didn’t pay their taxes.
All you’re given for this task is a big cart to put the stuff in. You have to repo a certain value of items in order to extract them. The catch is that everything is incredibly fragile. One wrong swing and the jewel that was originally worth $4,000 is now priced at around $650.
As you’re repossessing these items and carefully taking them to your cart, you and your teammates are constantly being attacked by a diverse cast of monsters. A floating head, a tall figure, a friendly duck that becomes not so friendly when you touch it, and all manner of other nasties.
Initially, the game may seem like nothing more than an opportunity to goof off and prank your friends. All the character models look goofy and the graphics are designed to emulate those classic PS1-era horror games. But when the screams of your teammates have gone silent, and a giant tax-dodging head is chasing you, the game’s atmosphere and labyrinthine maps turn it into a genuinely horrifying experience.
- Physics-based gameplay.
- Hilarious animations.
- Plenty of room for creative solutions.
5
Outlast Trials
The classic horror-survival, now with friends.
The original Outlast, which came out in 2013, was a surprising hit. Thanks to its very interesting take on survival horror, it’s not one of the most popular released horror franchises, and rumor has it that it’s even getting a movie tie-in.
Outlast: Trials is the third installment in the series, and this one differs from its predecessors by being the first and (currently) only co-op game in the franchise. The developers saw the success of the original two and had a very simple idea: what if you had that same Outlast experience, but with your friends?
The game follows a group of up to 4 players as they must complete a series of sadistic trials in order to win. The game is structured around these puzzles, with each trial acting as its own episode.
Despite diverging from the original concept of Outlast 1 and 2, Trials maintains the dark atmosphere and gory animations of the original. Though many find that the single-player titles were much scarier, Outlast: Trials is still pretty scary in its own right.
- Episodic trials for you and your teammates to complete.
- Character customization, including cosmetics and skins.
- Highly replayable, thanks to new trials being added regularly.
4
GTFO
Difficult, immersive, and very rewarding.
GTFO is one of those games that has gone under the radar, but has developed a cult following over the past 6 years since its release. It stands out among the other games on this list mostly thanks to its unapologetically dark atmosphere and tone.
Don’t let its somewhat ironic name fool you: GTFO is very depressing. You are one of 4 prisoners stuck inside a little pod that’s whirling down below the surface into a bottomless chasm of mines. You are dropped off on a specific floor and must complete some kind of objective.
This usually involves finding a dead mine worker’s ID card, hacking a terminal, and the usual tedious tasks that you can only rely on the finest convicts. But you’re not alone. Scattered all over the map are these monsters, the most common type of which are known as “Sleepers”. You have to sneak your way around them and only hit them with melee weapons, praying that it’s a one-hit kill. Because if it isn’t, you’re in for a very bad time.
Ammo is scarce, so don’t even think about going in guns blazing. The best you can hope for is taking out a couple of the Sleepers before the beefier ones mop the floor with you.
GTFO is all about team coordination, supply management, and the occasional horde defense. It’s unique gameplay features and many immersive details make it a difficult, but rewarding game to get scared in.
- Dark, immersive atmosphere.
- Lots of equipment.
- Hardcore survival and supply management gameplay.
3
Dead by Daylight
Asymmetric multiplayer homage to the horror classics.
Dead by Daylight is all those classic horror movies from the 70s and 80s translated into an online multiplayer game. What makes Dead by Daylight different from all other games on this list is how the game handles its villains.
Instead of being AI-controlled, the monsters in Dead by Daylight are controlled by another player. This makes it an asymmetric multiplayer title where playing as the monster (or killer) differs wildly from the cast of survivors.
If you’re playing as a survivor, you have a wide selection of characters to play as, most notably, Nicholas Cage (for some reason). The survivors play more or less the same, since their primary goal is to handle various tasks across the map that will help them escape.
As the monster, you also have a wide selection of characters to choose from, including a ton of collaborations, such as Mike Myers from Halloween, Ghostface from Scream, and Pyramid Head from the Silent Hill series. Your task as the killer is to kill every survivor before they escape. Each killer has a different playstyle, so you can’t just jump in and kill everyone. You need to learn their nuances and abilities.
Dead by Daylight is an incredible homage to your favorite horror or slasher films, and when you’re playing as one of the survivors, it can get pretty scary.
- Classic horror movie setting and atmosphere.
- Tons of monsters to play as.
- Asymmetric multiplayer.
2
DEVOUR
Exorcising has never been this fun (and scary).
Like Phasmophobia, but don’t like being helpless in the face of supernatural danger? DEVOUR is the game that lets you take out your anger on some demons. Maybe not to the extent of Doom games, but you get to exorcise demons, so that’s something, right?
Released in early 2021, DEVOUR has you playing as a group of monks who go to various locations where cultists have set up camp, cooked some good food, maybe played a few party games, oh, and summoned a demon. Your job is to exorcise this demon back to its realm.
To do this, you and your spec ops team of monks must collect ritualistic items, complete various tasks across the map, and avoid dying to the demonic entity haunting the location. If Phasmophobia is the more “grounded” take on ghost hunting, DEVOUR jumps the shark completely, as it has some terrifying set pieces, complete with blood-curdling appearances from the demons themselves.
Everything is more fun with friends. Turns out, that also includes exorcisms.
- Team-based tasks and puzzles.
- Terrifying locations and set pieces.
- Horrifying monsters you must exorcise.
1
Barotrauma
Work together to survive the monster-filled depths.
There’s the age-old question of: Would you rather explore space or the Earth’s oceans? Barotrauma answers this question with “Why not both?”
In Barotrauma, you’re strapped into the water-resistant boots of a submarine crew member and are tasked with exploring the subterranean oceans of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. Your team consists of (up to) 16 other crewmates, each with their specific jobs and tasks.
Along the way, you’re attacked by the monsters hiding in the depths of the Europan oceans and must work together to ensure the submarine stays in one piece. Everyone has a unique specialization, as well as a specific job to do on the ship. For example, you could have two engineers, but one specializing in nuclear physics and the other in electrical engineering. One will handle maintenance of the engine, while the other will fix any electrical issues that arise on your journey.
This hardcore side-scroller is all about teamwork, survival, and, thanks to its literally “out-of-this-world” setting, can be quite terrifying. Something being stuck on a submarine on another planet has turned into its own genre of aquatic horror, and we’re here for it.
Who would’ve thought that exploring a subterranean ocean on the moon of another planet could get scary?
- Team-based game mechanics where everyone has a special job.
- Communication and teamwork are key.
- 2D sidescrolling with a different premise.
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