Some horror games on your own can be downright terrifying, but when you're paired up with a pal, sometimes that need of having to rely on someone in a stressful and scary situation can make things all the more frightening.
The paranoia of having to rely on someone else to help when it hits the fan can make for exciting and frightening moments and a lot of great multiplayer horror games have caught on to this. There is a plethora of them out there and each one can send shivers down your spine and screams throughout your house. Even though it can often be difficult to find the gold within the huge piles of copy-paste clones, there are some brilliant ones worth checking out. So with that in mind here are some of the best horror games out there to play with friends.
Updated July 11, 2023 By Matthew Mckeown: Creeping through a horror game on your own can be entertaining and terrifying. But bringing in a few buddies as backup can also make things just as chaotic.
There's a lot of great multiplayer horror games that have come out over the years and there's a nice slow trickle of innovation regularly drifting out of Early Access. For those not in the know that might have missed the latest spooky trendsetter, here are some more of the best horror games to play with friends.
Death Horizon: Reloaded
Strap on a VR headset and get ready to tear apart those undead hordes in Death Horizon: Reloaded from Horizon Lab LLP. This chilling first-person shooter has you trying to escape the Horizon Scientific Research Labs after an outbreak of a mutagenic virus. Twisted and strange abominations stalk the halls and you’re the only one available for the job.
An action-packed game that features a wealth of interesting and satisfying to-fire weaponry, with some that can be dual-wielded for those ultimate Rambo moments. For that personal touch, there’s also melee weaponry that can smash apart those zombie skulls with ease. Featuring eight distinct game modes and co-op, Death Horizon: Reloaded has a lot of toys to try out.
The Outlast Trials
Another spine-tingling installment in the Outlast series, but this time with a twist. Outlast Trials from Red Barrels brings all the familiar terror of the previous games however now there’s multiplayer. So grab a few mates, because there’s science to be done.
Though it’s still in Early Access, what’s there is worth the asking price. Featuring a series of differently themed trials, each with its own resident psycho patrolling around, it doesn’t take long for things to turn terrifying. A team of up to four can take on Murkoffs challenges for big rewards that can include cosmetics and XP that can be put into unlocking skills and extra benefits. If you’re looking for a solid multiplayer horror experience, then Outlast Trials is worth checking out.
The Highrise
A mostly unknown indie horror gem that’s been circling around the shores of Early Access, The Highrise from Studio Hatch is a game you want to get on the ground floor of. Stuck inside a highrise building, you and a group of friends must work together to gather resources to craft weaponry and tools that will aid in your escape attempt.
But you’re not alone in there. Skulking around dark corners and nesting in abandoned rooms are strange creatures with heightened senses that seek to turn you into the next item on the lunch menu. They increase in strength the lower you go, so it’s up to your squad to decide how much they’re willing to risk to try and signal for help. It’s regularly updated by the devs, so the game has a lot of life left in it yet.
Forsake: Urban Horror
A little rough around the edges, but Forsake: Urban Horror from Unseen Interactive has some interesting potential and quite the challenge once it gets going. This paranormal investigation game will feel familiar for those that have experienced the likes of Phasmophobia or Demonlogist.
This time around you’re part of a group of Urban Explorers entering one of six abandoned and haunted locations. The goal, exorcise the resident ghoul before it hunts you down. There’s loot to grab that can be turned into cash for upgrades and there are some regular updates lately that have brought more ghosts into the game. A low-cost alternative to your regular ghost hunter game, Forsake: Urban Horror ticks a lot of positive boxes.
Remnant Records
An interesting Early Access investigation game from Noctiluca Studio, Remnant Records sets you and three friends the task of cleansing homes of hauntings. However, it’s not as cut and dry as it sounds.
In order to evict the local spook you’ll need to find clues and objects around each home that relate to the trapped spirit. Each home is procedural, so your investigations and the story they tell will change with each run. There’s lots of unique gear to unlock and a bunch of ghosts to banish to the shadow realm, so it guarantees a night of scares.
Dead Island 2
After shambling around in the doldrums of development limbo for a few years, finally Dead Island 2 has shuffled its way out and onto a full release on multiple platforms. Sticking close to what made its predecessor popular, it provides a multitude of zombie murder options and spooky side-quests and action-packed story to churn through.
Set in LA instead of an island this time, there's a new cast of Saturday morning cartoon characters to run around as or talk to. With the occasional cameo from fan favorites to keep things close to the original whilst also breaking some new ground of its own. Though the single-player is solid, the mayhem cranks up a notch when you bring in your mates to stomp around the sunny zombie-filled shores and broadways of Los Angeles. The Hollywood Hills have become hell, so break into those Bel Air mansions and stock up on supplies if you want to survive.
Demonologist
Taking some notes from what made Phasmophobia click so well with players, Demonologist takes the tried and trusted method of ghost investigation and throws in some extra hazards to keep you on your toes. The end goal is the same as any other Ghost hunting game, identify the spook causing chaos and banish their backside back to the other plane of existence before they can put you in a terminal chokehold.
Though it's still in the deep warrens of Early Access, it's regularly updated, has had a lot of positive reception, and seems to be headed in the right direction by putting its own spin on the familiar and popular poltergeist-busting activities. There's plenty of tools to give you an edge over the local ghouls, and their cast of resident specters is varied and different enough from other games to make it stand out from the crowd. If you're in the neighborhood for a new way to get spooked, then knock at the door of Demonologist.
Barotrauma
If you're looking to destroy friendships, test your teamwork skills or just cruise around under the sea experiencing underwater terror with your friends then Barotrauma is the ship you should be sailing on. This underwater horror game gives you and a crew of your mates the herculean task of running, maintaining, and defending a giant submersible as you explore vast flooded subterranean caverns and tunnels.
However, you're not alone down there. Pirates, bizarre creatures, and leviathans out of legend all cruise these waters. It'll take a crack team of submariners to get through all that, so make sure your team is up to the task. There are multiple roles to fill and in-depth mechanics and systems to manage on your sub of choice, so there's plenty to keep a chatty crew busy. There's also plenty that can go wrong and it often doesn't take much to sink your sub to the bottom where it'll get crushed into scrap metal from the extreme pressures. With plenty of missions and submersibles to try out, there are tons of things for an active crew to chew through.
The Past Within
Part horror game, part co-op puzzler, The Past Within is a perfect little indie darling to drill through with a partner. Reminiscent of the likes of Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes and We Were Here, The Past Within relies heavily on communication and teamwork in between the unsettling atmosphere and skin-crawling scares.
For example, one screen explores a dilapidated mansion that contains dark secrets, whilst the other breaks into a strange box filled with symbols, buttons, and widgets that have to be deciphered. Alone it's all nonsense, but together it all starts to piece together a nightmarish and otherworldly story. For those looking to fully immerse themselves in the setting, there's also an option for VR. A good way to while away the hours with a friend or find out which one of you crumbles under pressure from the ghouls and ghosts plaguing your puzzle-solving attempts, The Past Within guarantees a petrifying time with your pals.
A Day Out
The deep dark woods are full of terrors, so grab a team of your friends and take on these otherworldly abominations in A Day Out. Featuring a range of weird and horrifying cryptids that have crawled right out of the annals of mythology, there's plenty of creatures for a crew of killers to cut their teeth on.
There's also gadgets, gizmos, and guns galore to make tracking down each terrifying nightmare beast a little easier. The home hub is huge, there's plenty of customization options to add your own flare to your field agent and there's a handy storage area that houses all the nightmare beasts you manage to beat in a living trophy room meets zoo. Good in solo, better in duos, and brilliant as a big group, A Day Out is a trip you won't regret taking.
Sons Of The Forest
A sequel to the events of the previous Forest game, Sons of The Forest by Endnight Games follows a similar pattern to its predecessor. You’re trapped on an isolated and strange island with a lot of mutant cannibals, there’s plenty to craft and scavenge, there's a mystery to uncover, now go and survive.
Gameplay is similar to the first, but the types of survival tools and buildings you can erect has been substantially expanded upon. You’re given a special helper named Kelvin, and with co-op, you can bring in a big horde of friends to run riot on the island. Build the biggest treehouse, play nice with the natives, or become a feral mountain man, there’s plenty to do on this eerie isle.
The Escape: Together
For those looking for a low-cost couple of hours to kill, may we direct your attention towards The Escape: Together by Nightstuff Games. Open up to three players at a time, you and the team have one goal. Get out of the house alive.
Easier said than done though, as you'll need to salvage tools from around the house that can aid in your escape attempt. To make sure you leave in a timely manner, this cheeky Early Access game has a paranormal entity constantly patrolling the house that will tear you limb from limb and leave your innards on the nightstand. Teamwork is essential if you want to survive this suburban nightmare.
SCP: Labrat
D-Class staff step up and step forward for another round of mandatory experimentation. SCP: Labrat took the tried and trusted formula of the original SCP game, and then packaged it in a surprisingly responsive and sharp VR experience. Slap your friends and gesticulate dramatically at loose SCPs in real-time as Labrat gives you the true mouse in a maze experience.
It's the same premise as SCP: Containment Breach, but just in VR. Best of all, it's available for the best price, free. As long as you have a VR headset, you can run it. It also features new SCPs, items, in-game events, and full-body physics. With multiplayer and single-player available, you can either experience the terror of the labs alone or get a big roleplay group in for some science-based shenanigans.
Project: Playtime
Poppy's Playtime was a bit of a viral phenomenon that took the internet by storm. Set inside an abandoned children's toy factory that was ruled over by sentient and nightmarish mascots, it was a single-player horror game that did quite a lot with very little. Now there's a multiplayer spin-off that drags your friends along with you into the twisted toyshop.
This asymmetrical horror game is akin to Dead By Daylight, except the monster roster is exclusive to creatures from the game. On one side, the guest Ghoul of the week, whilst on the other, four survivors that need to build a giant toy to aid in their escape. With gadgets and gruesome scenes inspired by the original, there's plenty of ways to petrify your pals during playtime.
Paranoia Place
A two-player survival horror from Bloody Pixel, Paranoia Place is a mind-bending test of your team working skills and puzzle-solving abilities. Each run-through changes in this Early Access gem as items switch places and the constant pursuing killer gets harder and harder to predict.
Twisting hallways and decor straight out of an eldritch-tinged fever dream, Paranoia Place puts the capital P in Paranoid. Though there are plenty of places to hide, you never quite feel safe whilst you're out solving the various puzzles. And without regularly checking in with your buddy, the pair of you can get picked off fast. A little rough around the edges, Paranoid Place is still creepily scuttling in the right direction.
Hell Is Others
An extraction game with a twist, Hell Is Others is a solid challenge of your survival skills and teamwork abilities if you bring along a friend. Stranded in a dilapidated and ruined cityscape, trips to the cityscape below via elevator from your apartment above are a journey into death and danger around every street corner.
The map is permanent and filled with resources to gather, but there are plenty of other players doing the same and they’ll often want what you have. Everyone looks like a Ghoul to each other, so you could be fighting another player, or you might not be. But thankfully, you can bring along back-up as you blow through the story and expand your accommodation substantially. Death means an inventory wipe and restarting with empty pockets, so be careful.
Dead Containment
If you’re after something simple that lets you dive straight into the action with your friends then Dead Containment is worth looking into. Developed by Grump Dog Games, this early-access arcade rail shooter is a cutesy Homage to classic light gun games that lets you unleash that itchy trigger finger.
Whilst still in Early Access, what’s there is impressively polished. There’s credits to cover lives, the Zombies are all varied and the levels can get pretty sprawling when it gets going with plenty of shambling, rotting corpses to blast apart using numerous weapons. There’s multiple paths to choose from as you go through the story, different game modes to mess around in with your mates, boss fights to keep you on your toes, and more content coming to the game in the future such as extra levels and an armory. On-rail shooters can be a bit hit-and-miss, but Dead Containment is definitely on the right track.
Space Beast Terror Fright
Space Beast Terror Fright by nomware AB is Space Hulk: Deathwing meets Aliens: Colonial Marines, only it’s much more enjoyable than those two. Described by the team as a very hard arcade shooter, it’s an apt choice of words as getting out of each mission alive is going to seriously test your skills.
The goal of the game is to explore derelict spaceships that are procedurally generated, so each trip into the unknown could easily be your last. Onboard these floating husks is valuable data that needs to be retrieved, a reactor to blow up, but also hordes of aliens that will constantly wear you down. To keep yourself safe you can bring your friends through co-op, lock doors to manage the flow of threats, and multiple weapons as well as sentry turrets to help maintain choke points. Up to four people can form a fire team, so you can bring quite a well-armed group with you onboard.
SCP: 5K
Previously known as SCP: Pandemic, SCP: 5K by Affray Interactive has been making a few ripples and for all the right reasons. A tactical squad shooter that puts you and a team of your friends in the role of soldiers of the Anti Foundation Alliance. After the SCP Foundation goes rogue and starts creating weapons to wipe out all life on earth, it’s your job to shut them down.
Missions involve sieges on various Foundation black sites around the world whereby you break in, breach the labs and retrieve data or perform other crucial tasks. To slow you down are ghouls, other SCP-themed threats, and some pretty massive facilities to explore. There’s an extensive amount of weapon customization on offer and despite its long baking time in Early Access, it seems so far like the finished dish is going to be a good one.
Among US VR
Let’s be honest, it was an inevitability. But unsurprisingly, Among Us VR is extremely enjoyable with the right group. Exactly the same as the original version, except it’s in VR, now you can add some extra tension to arguments over which one in the room is the Imposter.
The biggest selling point is the VR, and it makes the murder and mystery much more enjoyable. The first-person perspective makes it much more difficult to keep an eye on everyone or spot a potential murder happening just around the corner. Crewmates will constantly be watching their backs as they physically perform their tasks, plus the Imposter has a lot more opportunities for mayhem. There’s also some new minigames, plenty of locomotion options for VR players, and cross-platform with other headset users, so you can enjoy the terror no matter your platform of choice. It’s an unsurprising addition to the Among Us franchise, but an enjoyable one nonetheless.