Editorials
Fighting Together, Dying Together: Six Underrated Co-Op Horror Games
From Resident Evil 6 to Dead Space 3, multiplayer-focused horror games used to get a bad rap. This makes quite a bit of sense, as it’s hard to sustain interactive scares when players are distracted by their silly friends as they explore a spooky three-dimensional space. That being said, “hard” isn’t the same thing as “impossible,” and in recent years we’ve actually seen quite a few multiplayer horror games that manage to balance cooperative fun with legitimate digital scares.
And while there are plenty of well-known examples of cooperative horror out there (from the Dark Pictures Anthology titles to the recent Evil Dead game), today we’d like to highlight six of the most underrated Co-op horror games for players who have already experienced most of the famous ones. After all, there’s nothing quite like sharing interactive scares with your buddies – be it online or on the couch.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be considering any game where players have to work together to survive as a cooperative title, though we’ll be shying away from more popular releases in favor of the less appreciated ones.
With that out of the way, don’t forget to comment below with your own co-op horror favorites if you think we missed a particularly fun or scary one.
Now, onto the list…
6. Forewarned (2021)
While it’s often overshadowed by its more popular cousin Phasmophobia, Dreambyte Games’ Forewarned stands out among its peers due to its unique setting and several throwbacks to classic archeological adventures. Putting players in the shoes of archeologists tasked with exploring ancient Egyptian ruins, the game even lets players continue to aid their friends after dying and becoming a mummy yourself!
While it’s technically still in early access, there’s nothing half-baked about the game’s puzzles or mechanics, and I especially appreciate the fact that the developers support offline play. It may not be the most polished horror experience out there, but I’d still recommend it for players who enjoy good old-fashioned Mummy-based frights.
5. Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop (2017)
An updated version of what was originally an Unreal Engine Mod, Alien Swarm is a free-to-play top-down shooter that clearly pays homage to James Cameron’s Aliens. Allowing up to four players to band together as they hunt down xenomorph-inspired extraterrestrials, this title doesn’t just rely on the titular swarm to scare you, but a grueling difficulty curve that requires complete cooperation between the squad in order to be overcome.
And don’t let Alien Swarm’s $0 price tag scare you, as this is a fully-fledged survival horror experience with more than enough content to justify even a hefty price tag. Just be sure to bring your most trusted friends along for the ride, as communication is key here.
4. Space Beast Terror Fright (2022)
Don’t you just love it when a game contains exactly what’s labeled on the tin? Nornware AB’s Space Beast Terror Fright is precisely one of these cases, with the rogue-like shooter featuring plenty of sci-fi scares as it challenges players with exploring procedurally generated spacecraft while dealing with hostile lifeforms and the spookiest game mechanic of all – permadeath!
While this is basically another homage to Aliens, the addicting gameplay and clever use of visual limitations make it a great time for friends on the look-out for claustrophobic sci-fi thrills. Just be aware that you’ll die often due to the sheer volume of one-hit-kill enemies, so good luck.
3. SCP: Secret Laboratory (2017)
It’s a shame that the SCP stories have yet to be properly adapted into film and television, but at least there are developers like Northwood Studios who take advantage of the narrative (and mechanical) potential hidden in the Foundation’s horrific anomalies. This is precisely what makes the multiplayer shooter SCP: Secret Laboratory such a fun time, with the title featuring oddities like quantum-locked monsters and unkillable predators as it tasks players with either restoring order to the facility or escaping it.
Originally inspired by Undertow Games’ infamous SCP: Containment Breach, Secret Laboratory has since seen a myriad of revisions and updates that have turned it into its own multiplayer experience. Sure, it’s still a little janky and the visuals aren’t anything to write home about, but it’s an incredibly fun time with friends that also happens to be surprisingly faithful to the SCP lore.
And the best part? It’s completely free!
2. Eronoctosis: Put Yourself Together (2021)
An experimental title that takes a couple of players and challenges them with going on a psychosexual journey into the darkness of the subconscious mind, Dream Toaster Games’ Eronoctosis definitely isn’t for the faint of heart. On the surface, it’s a low-poly survival-horror romp with combat that mixes Alan Wake with Fatal Frame, but the deeper you dive into this strange experience the more unnerving it gets.
It’s certainly not for everyone, featuring some disturbing sexual imagery and obtuse narrative design, but there’s no other game that quite takes advantage of the cooperative experience like this one. Plus, the mix of two-dimensional sprites with 3D assets looks absolutely gorgeous.
1. Obscure II: The Aftermath (2008)
The first Obscure is often remembered as one of the better Resident Evil clones, featuring difficult puzzles and chilling combat lifted straight from Capcom’s iconic franchise. However, the multiplayer aspect of the game certainly could have used some improvement, with the survival horror mechanics working better in a single-player context (especially when permadeath is a factor).
Fortunately, Hydravision Entertainment would address these concerns in the sequel, with Obscure 2 being completely rehauled in order to cater to cooperating players. While this action-packed sequel isn’t quite as fulfilling in solo play, lacking many of the survival horror idiosyncrasies that made the first game (and classic survival horror in general) so interesting, the smooth combat and better camera system make this the true pinnacle of horrific co-op.
Found footage movies rely on immersion and a particular kind of suspension of disbelief in order to scare viewers, so it stands to reason that playing along with the “kayfabe” of it all is necessary for these movies to be effective. However, despite being something of a purist when it comes to in-universe recordings, I’ve come to accept that traditional productions can benefit from the occasional injection of found footage thrills.
For instance, Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation makes genius use of the analog gimmick in order to trap us in the titular rooms alongside our main characters before effortlessly switching back to a more cinematic language. In honor of these dynamic films that manage to combine the best of both worlds, today I’d like to share six other hybrid horror movies that successfully incorporate found footage into their scares!
For the purposes of this list, “hybrid” horror movies are defined as any flick that shifts between diegetic recordings and traditional filming techniques for a significant amount of time (or at least for pivotal scenes).
As usual, don’t forget to comment below with your own hybrid favorites if you think a particularly freaky one was missed.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
5. The Last Broadcast (1998)
Internet critics may have overstated the influence that Stefan Avalos and Lance Weiler’s The Last Broadcast had on The Blair Witch Project, but the found footage subgenre still owes a huge debt to this underrated piece of avant-garde filmmaking. However, while the movie sets itself up as a documentary about the disappearance of a group of cryptid-hunters attempting to track down the Jersey Devil, things take a darker and much more grounded turn towards the final act.
I won’t get into details in order to avoid spoilers, but suffice to say that the jarring shift in perspective actually helps to sell the idea that everything we’ve seen before the finale was an attempt at using filmmaking to manipulate the public perception of a “real” incident.
Not bad for a movie with a $900 budget!
4. Cam (2018)
When you consider just how much the internet affects our daily lives, it’s strange that we don’t see Screenlife elements pop up in more movies these days. For instance, Isa Mazzei & Daniel Goldhaber’s highly underrated Cam only works as a freaky parable about online sex-work because it masterfully balances Madeline Brewer’s intimate moments with highly immersive segments within cyberspace.
While one might argue that the entire film could have been produced as a Screenlife experience, the hybrid approach allows the filmmakers to explore our main character’s life beyond the screens – with the duality of modern human existence actually becoming a recurring theme in the story.
3. Banshee Chapter (2013)
Most of H.P. Lovecraft’s popular stories were told in the epistolary format (where the text is presented as an in-universe compilation of letters or personal notes), so it makes sense that a spiritually faithful adaptation of his work would incorporate elements from the modern-day equivalent to epistolary fiction – found footage!
That’s why Blair Erickson’s Banshee Chapter is such an effective scare-fest, as this hybrid adaptation of From Beyond -retold through a conspiratorial lens as it references MK-Ultra and even secretive numbers stations- immerses viewers in a mind-bending tapestry of Cosmic Horror that blurs the line between fiction and reality.
2. The Deep House (2019)
The underwater setting does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s The Deep House, with the film being especially uncomfortable if you’re already scared of tight spaces and being deprived of oxygen. However, even the universally unsettling elements of the flick only work because the POV often shifts into claustrophobic footage courtesy of our main characters’ GoPro cameras.
Telling the story of a couple of YouTubers who encounter a haunted house at the bottom of an artificial lake while vacationing in France, The Deep House’s first-person exploration sequences contain some of the film’s scariest moments. In fact, I’d argue that the movie didn’t even need ghosts, as becoming trapped in the titular House already sounds like a fate worse than death.
1. Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)
My personal favorite instance of filmmakers successfully managing to combine traditional cinematography with POV filmmaking, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, is proof that the two formats can co-exist if the right story comes along.
After all, what better way to conclude a mockumentary all about reality getting increasingly more cinematic than by ditching the found footage gimmick altogether during the finale? Not only does this shift in presentation work on a conceptual level, but it also elevates Behind The Mask into a proper Slasher, which is probably why we’re so excited for that long-overdue sequel!
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