Summary
Horror gamesoften thrive when the player truly feels isolated from others, as when people are alone, they are also more vulnerable. Because of this, most horror games are single-player experiences to take advantage of the player’s loneliness, with only horrid creatures and creeping dread to keep them company.
Horror games that can still evoke dread, tension, and fear even when playing with friendsare a true testament to the developers' skill in crafting a truly horrifying experience. Eerie locations, masterful sound design, and a terrifying ambiance can still hold players in an icy grip of horror even when they are in the company of others.
There is no other game in the world where gplayersamers can flee the Demogorgon fromStranger Thingswhile playing asResident Evil’sJill Valentine and teaming up with Nicolas Cage. This is the major key toDead by Daylight’ssuccess, as their killer and survivor rosters are bothbrimming with licensed charactersfrom iconic horror IPs.
As an asymmetrical horror game, those who play as survivors either team up with friends or other random players to try and survive the trials ahead of them. They must repair generators while avoiding the grasp of the killer to escape through the exit gates or hatch. WhileDead by Daylightis closer to a party game than a horror game, there are still times the killer will terrify the wits out of the survivor, be it because of their sudden, stealthy appearance, or because of which killer they are facing. There are few things more terrifying than being chased around by the Xenomorph, for example, or the scratched mirror Michael Myers who completely eliminates all warnings that he is near, leaving players stuck in a smothering limbo of suspense.
Originating from 4chan of all places, The Backrooms became one of the most famed fictional places of modern times. It comprises multiple different settings, but yellow wallpaper and damp carpet are the bread and butter of this liminal space. Any who enter The Backrooms are said to do so by accident, clipping through the fabric of reality to end up in this alternate realm. It is also said that any who fall in here may face the dangerous entities that call this place home.
Escape the Backroomstakes place in this fictional setting, where up to four friends need to survive The Backrooms and find a way to return home. Drenched in an eerie, spine-tingling ambiance, players need to keep their wits about them and listen for any dreaded sound that breaks the silence, other than the sound of their friends. With a total of 12entities in the game, players never know what to expect, which only makes encounters more frightening.
Resident Evilis normally a single-player affair, with one person facing the survival horror alone, solving puzzles, exploring a location, and killing their fair share ofhorrid, mutated creaturesinflicted with one Umbrella Corp. virus or another.Resident Evil 5began the series' short tryst with co-op gameplay, specifically designing the game with the idea that it would not be played as a solo experience with its underwhelming AI partner.
Resident Evil 6continued that trend, and then it was also implementedinResidentEvil:Revelations 2. The first entry brought the game back to its isolated, claustrophobic horror roots, which was continued in the episodic sequel. The dual storylines connect Claire and Moira’s captivity on the island, along with Barry searching for his missing daughter. Teamwork is the aim of the game here, but it does little to dispel the tension of the eerie locations, which definitely feel haunted. It won’t be ghosts that players are facing though, just classic mutated creatures that were maybe once human and are absolutely terrifying. Even as a team, these creatures can still induce plenty of scares, and the scenery plenty of tension.
Outlastbegan its run as a single-player survival horror experience, taking players first to an abandoned asylum, and then to a rural farming village in the sequel. With the gaming industry placing a large emphasis on multiplayer, it came as no surprise whenOutlasttapped into this market, resultinginTheOutlast Trials, afour-person horror co-opexperience.
Playing as alleged “volunteers” for new methods of brainwashing and mind control masquerading as therapy, players must complete various trials that involve different locations and objectives to earn their freedom. The catch is that there are plenty of enemies standing between the players and their objectives that are undeniably terrifying. By far the most frightening enemy is the Skinner Man, a hallucination brought on when a player’s sanity drops to zero. Psychosis is not only a dangerous state to be in but calls forward an entity that is nothing short of nightmare-inducing.
A fun game designed with multiplayer in mind,Lethal Companytasks up to four players to travel to different planets and search for salvage to bring back to The Company to reach their mandatory quota. Failure to meet the quota in the time given will result in them being fired…straight out of an airlock.
If the horrors of dystopian capitalism weren’t enough, players also come face to face with all manner of hostile alien life while searching the buildings on each planet for valuable scrap. These places are more often than not dark and maze-like, which can make fleeing to safety doubly hard. Despite often being seen as a silly little game to enjoy with friends,Lethal Companypacks a surprisinglyscary punch with its monster design, which includes large spiders, a creepy ghost girl, and the coil head, all of which are uniquely terrifying.
Another asymmetrical multiplayer horror game many thought might finally dethroneDead by Daylight,The Texas Chainsaw Massacreis based on the movie of the same name. Three players will control a member of the Sawyer family, including Bubba, and four will play the unfortunate victims who have found themselves in the family’s crosshairs, starting out locked away in a basement that they must escape.
From the moment a match loads, the atmosphere of dread immediately sets in. The victims are more or less hopeless against the Sawyer family, as they have very few means to defend themselves. The best they can do is try to keep as quiet as possible, but certain actions they must take to escape will generate noise and alert the family.
Those looking for something more in the paranormal vein should definitely check outPhasmophobia, as it might just be the scariest ghost game on the market. Playing as a group of drastically underpaid paranormal investigators, the team will journey to their chosen location armed with as much equipment as they can afford. They must then cycle through their equipment to see what triggers a response to narrow down which entity is haunting the premises.
There is a slew of possible entities that require thorough investigation and a lot of courage to identify. The locations players travel to are always derelict and dark, creating the perfect atmosphere to terrify players. The activities of the ghosts can also be startling, especially when they go intohunt mode, and might just end up killing one of the unfortunate players in their path. With the addition of VR compatibility,Phasmophobianever relents with its oppressive atmosphere and haunting terror.
FromUntil Dawnfame, the studioSupermassive Gameswent on to create more immersive choice-based horror games, collectively known asThe Dark Pictures Anthology. The first season began withMan of Medanand concluded withThe Devil in Me, comprised of four scary games in total, each with its own smart twist that completely alters the storyline. Though these games are great to play solo, there is also the option to play with friends locally or online.
How this works is that they will control a different character on the screen, and will be tasked with making that character’s decisions. This can create moments of tension or chaos, particularly inMan of Medanwhen the characters suffer hallucinations to make it impossible to determine friend from foe. Intricate, well-crafted storylines and plenty of scares make these games fantastic, and the feeling of dread never relents, even in multiplayer.
