Summary
There’s nothing scarier than being alone in a horror game, so there’s no doubt that playing with friends can sometimes diminish the fear a little. However, co-op horror gaming brings out a whole new dimension of fear that single-player games can’t.
Luckily, there are some great horror games out there that thread the needle with both single-player and multiplayer capabilities, bringing out the very best of both worlds. Here are a few that are perfect to check out alone or with friends.
As one of the first games to come out during the early 2010s rush of survival horror games inspired byMinecraftandDayZ,7 Days To Diehas had a long and twisty road towards maturity. Now, though, the game is a fantastic example of the genre in the modern day, and it shouldn’t be overlooked.
Players take control of people attempting to survive in a world riddled with threats, with every seventh day bringing on a horde of zombies to attack the player’s base. It’s a tense survival horror game in single-player, and an engaging co-operative venture where players need to work together to survive the aggressive hordes.
As a third-person shooter that mixes the best of the Souls genre with action-RPGs likeDestiny,Remnant 2outwardly doesn’t seem very scary. However, it has an incredible attention to tone and atmosphere, with squishy and gross creature designsfilling its many weird worlds. It’s an absolute delight for a horror fan.
While the game can certainly be played single-player, it shines when played with friends rocking different builds. Players work together to take down some of the hardest bosses, which require intricate strategies and ironclad teamwork. Few other games do it better than this.
TheDying Lightfranchise has made a name for itself for perfecting the blend of parkour gameplay from the likes ofMirror’s Edgewith melee-based zombie survival combat from the likes ofDead Island.The result is an incredible and enduring fusion that is pretty unique in gaming,particularly with its unique faction system.
While it’s possible to play throughDying Light 2solo, it’s much better enjoyed with friends. This better enables a player to deal with the massive hordes of zombies that need to be evaded, while getting up to some mild team-killing adjacent shenanigans atop the skyscrapers of the zombie-infested city.
By the end of the 2010s, zombie survival games were still popular, but the heyday had past. But that just means that games likeState of Decay 2could come along and attempt to innovate and iterate on the formula until it reached the best version of the subgenre.
Like other zombie survival games, these titles can certainly be played single-player as an atmospheric if not lonely experience. ButState of Decay 2really shines when players work together to build entire communities and pool resources.
AfterResident Evil 4, many wondered what Capcom would do next, to follow this critical and commercial smash hit. A couple of years later,Resident Evil 5was released. While it was somewhat divisive upon release, it has grown to have a dedicated following who love it for its idiosyncrasies.
In the game, players take control of Chris Redfield as he investigates the ever-evolving and evil activities of the T-virus, as well as its many variantsand mysterious involved factions. His search takes him to Africa, where he meets Sheva, a companion character that another player can control, turning the entire campaign into a co-op experience. It’s a lot of fun, particularly asResident Evil 5leans more into action setpieces. It’s like playing through a cheesy action B-movie with a pal.
Though the firstDead Risingstill has its proponents as being the best in the series,Dead Rising 2clearly attempted to build on what came before. It made the playable map of a Las Vegas knock-off city bigger,its ridiculous weapons wilder, and its psychopaths crazier, all while retaining the trademark real-time ticking clock system.
That ticking clock system is a fantastic pressure-cooker in both single and multiplayer, particularly when players are trying to wrangle a teammate to hurry up and get back to deliver Zombrex back to Chuck’s sickly daughter. It’s comedically frustrating and rewarding all at the same time.
Some games attempt to dress up horror-action schlock with intricate stories or characters, butKilling Floor 2is very honest with itself. It’s all about mowing down hordes and hordes of zombies in a bloody mess, and it doesn’t care who knows it. The game innovates on the zombie wave survival modes that grew incredibly popular in the early 2010s.
Killing Floor 2can be played solo, but it truly shines when played with friends. The chaos grows exponentially, the zombies needing beheading grow rapidly, and the amount of blood covering every surface could fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool. It’s pure, visceral, chunky violent action that is perfect for cathartic slaughter.
Though open-world survival horror games have slightly fallen out of fashion lately,Sons of the Forestnot only proves that it is a subgenre still worth exploring, but that the subgenre’s best days are still ahead of it. The game offers fans of survival horror incredibly scary AI systems and a truly spontaneous world.
Playing either solo or with friends, players take control of survivors of a helicopter crash who must discover the true nature of the island they’re stranded upon. The place is filled to the brim with mutants and cannibals just waiting to tear the players apart. Through base building, smart tactics, and resource conservation, it’s one of the most mechanically pure and devilishly fun co-op horror experiences ever made.
