The 28 Best Multiplayer Horror Games (2024)

Crytek

Published Jan 12, 2024

People tend to be split down the middle when it comes to horror games. Some people love them and are fuelled by the fear and suspense that comes with playing them and some people can’t understand why anyone would ever put themselves through such an experience. For the latter group of people, perhaps the solution is having someone by your side, literally or figuratively. For you, we have a treat. Below is a list of the 28 best multiplayer horror games, so that you can share the experience with a bunch of your friends who enjoy the spine-chilling endeavors that come from playing spooky co-op games. Whether local or online, you and your most trusted group of gamers will get a rush from the heart-thumping scares these games bring in abundance.

RELATED: The 18 Best Xbox Horror Games

Gun Interactive

• Developer: Team Psykskallar
• Rated: No Rating
• Console: PC - Steam

Cry Of Fear started as a mod for the first Half-Life game, using its standard renderer, before becoming its own game. Interestingly, the game features an entirely separate co-op campaign that works better having already played the single-player campaign, because it sort of relies on the single-player campaign as context. That co-op campaign focuses on four players braving the psychological horrors that spring up throughout a cold Scandinavian evening. If you’re willing to put the time in, we recommend the game from the Swedish indie studio Team Psykskallar.

• Developer: Behaviour Interactive
• Rated: M for Mature
• Consoles: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC - Steam & Epic Game Store, iOS, Android, Google Stadia

Dead By Daylight is a 1 vs. 4 online multiplayer where one is a killer whom the other four must dodge and escape from. To do this, the other players must turn on generators around the map so that they can use the exit. What’s great about this game is that there are characters that can be used that are licensed from other famous horror franchises. Survivors can take on the roles of characters from Stranger Things, Saw, Left 4 Dead, A Nightmare On Elm Street, and more, while Killers have the option to use horror films' biggest icons in the form of Ghostface, Freddy Krueger, and Hellraiser amongst others. Modern-day multiplayer horror games are practically defined by what's offered here by Dead By Daylight.

• Developer: Visceral Games
• Rated: M for Mature
• Consoles: PS3, Xbox 360, PC - Steam

If you enjoyed the 2023 Dead Space remake and are curious about the original games that preceded it, playing the third game in the main series will hold you down. Playing the story with a friend on co-op unlocks new details of the story and some additional missions, so it’s well worth a try even if you already tried the story on your own when the game came out in 2013. You and your chosen co-op partner will have their mettle tested as you explore a frozen planet called "Tau Volantis," which plays host to all manner of terrifying creatures called "Necromorphs" that both players must eliminate with an armory full of alien-busting weaponry.

• Developer: World Makers
• Rated: No Rating
• Console: PC - Steam

Developed and published by Baseline, Deceit is a game whose title sums it up perfectly. Like Dead By Daylight, you and a group of friends are tasked with escaping an area through an exit and must complete some tasks to do so. However, one of you is infected and must secretly consume the blood bags around the map to turn into a monster where you must kill all the players before they exit. There are items along the way that will help you figure out who the infected is too, so use them wisely.

• Developer: Techland
• Rated: M for Mature
• Consoles: PS4, Xbox One, PC - Steam

Much like many games on this list, Dying Light allows you to play the campaign with three friends if you so wish. What makes this one unique though is that the co-op version of the campaign features co-op challenges, where you and your friends can compete to see who kills the most zombies and race each other to airdrops, adding some fun. In addition to this is the "Be The Zombie" mode where one player becomes the "Night Hunter" and is tasked with stopping other players from destroying infected nests. If the prospect of running and jumping around with a co-op buddy in a world fueled by zombies excited you, then you'll appreciate everything Dying Light has in store for you and your fellow survivor. It's worth noting that Dying Light 2 Stay Human features a four-player co-op option, too!

• Developer: Day 1 Studios
• Rated: M for Mature
• Consoles: PS3, Xbox 360, PC - Steam

F.3.A.R., or F.E.A.R. 3, was developed by Day 1 Studios and published by Warner Bros. Released in 2011, it was the first game in the series to allow players to experience the campaign with a friend through the co-op mode. Knowing what happens in the first two games is important and does enhance the experience of this game, so it’s worth playing through first. As well as the co-op story mode, there are four multiplayer game modes: "f*cking Run!," "Contractions," "Soul Survivor," and "Soul King," allowing players to team up or battle against each other as any good multiplayer should.

• Developer: Saber Interactive
• Rated: M for Mature
• Consoles: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC - Steam

So you have different types of zombies, correct? You have the classic slow-shambling ones that aren't much of a threat unless they crowd around you in a dark alleyway. Then you have the fast-moving zombies that run like Olympic track meet athletes, which happen to be the ones seen in the World War Z movie. The game is set within the post-apocalyptic world of that source material and brings four players together to navigate various global locales during exciting mini-campaigns. The first time you witness a horde of the undead rush you in the middle of an open street or climb on top of each other just to get to your higher location, your jaw will be on the floor. Put your firearms, melee weapons, and class-based toolset to good use to brave the onslaught of the walking dead.

• Developer: 10 Chambers
• Rated: No Rating
• Console: PC - Steam

GTFO comes from the Swedish independent development studio 10 Chambers Collective. The game is still technically in early access, with the time for a full release yet to be decided on. You’re one of four scavengers who must retrieve data from a particular area for a mysterious entity called "The Warden." The only problem? The area is pitch black and filled with vicious monsters. Stay vigilant as you and your friends during some of the most harrowing first-person shooter scenarios you'll ever be a part of.

• Developer: Funcom
• Rated: No Rating
• Console: PC - Steam

A lot of the games on this list are scary, but their concepts are nothing new with all things considered. If you want a multiplayer horror that’s a little fresher, look no further than Hide & Shriek. Developed by Funcom, the game pits two players against each other, giving them both a bunch of tasks to complete. However, along the way, you’ll get additional points for scaring the other person, luring them into traps, and performing rituals. To make things better and scarier, you’re both invisible, so you’ll have to keep an eye out for clues about where the other person is and what they could be doing.

• Developer: Crytek
• Rated: M for Mature
• Consoles: PS4, Xbox One, PC - Steam

Hunt: Showdown is a multiplayer FPS that comes from the talented development team behind the Crysis series (which features amazing FPS games in its own right!). In the "Bounty Hunt" mode, players can either go it alone or team up to hunt down the Butcher, the Assassin, the Spider, or the Scrapbeak, the game’s four monsters. However, while you do this, you also have to look out for rival bounty hunters, making the game all the more suspenseful. There’s also the battle royale mode, where players must find an energy wellspring whilst fighting off enemies.

• Developer: Tripwire Interactive
• Rated: M for Mature
• Consoles: PS4, Xbox One, PC - Steam

Killing Floor 2 can be played alone, but why on earth would you ever want to do that when you can be part of a team of six? You and a group of five friends can take on the game which takes place a short while after the events of the first game. Despite this, the sequel can be played and enjoyed on its own. You and your group of five friends will team up against hordes of "Zeds," which are essentially zombies. If you like the concept, you might also like the Versus Survival version where there are six teams of two, and all but one team becomes Zeds, intending to kill the human team as their main objective from that point forward.

• Developer: No More Room in Hell Team
• Rated: No Rating
• Console: PC - Steam

No More Room In Hell was first released on Halloween of 2011 as a Half-Life 2 mod but two years later to the day, it was re-released as a standalone game. Created by Max Kazan, this game is set in a zombie apocalypse where you and your friends take the role of eight survivors who must work together to survive. There are two multiplayer game modes. In Objective, players must exit the area, and in Survival, players must kill increasing waves of zombies while supplies get dropped every now and then. If you love this one, then be sure to hop into the equally great sequel as well!

• Developer: Kinetic Games
• Rated: No Rating
• Console: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC - Steam

Phasmophobia took off in a major way at the time of release. The name is taken from the word for the fear of ghosts, so no prizes for guessing what you’ll be up against here. Phasmophobia puts you and some friends in the shoes of a paranormal investigator, or a ghost hunter if you will. A great unique selling point that this game has is that it features speech recognition, which means that the sound of equipment and even some keywords that players say in voice chat can be heard by ghosts, who will react accordingly. If that’s not spooky and won’t keep you on your toes, we don’t know what will.

• Developer: Capcom
• Rated: M for Mature
• Consoles: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS3, Xbox 360, PC - Steam

Fans and critics alike were very mixed on Resident Evil 5, but it does offer a good amount of quality multiplayer content worth playing through. It was the first game in the series designed for co-op gameplay. Players control Chris and Sheva, the latter of which would be controlled by A.I. if players play on their own. You can either play online with a friend or split-screen, which is an option we see less frequently nowadays. It might be worth playing through the "Lost in Nightmares" DLC chapter first, which covers the events that transpire before the main campaign's storyline. Old-school Resident Evil fans will enjoy the retro survival horror vibes presented by that campaign's co-op challenges confronted by Chris and Jill.

• Developer: Renderise
• Rated: No Rating
• Console: PC - Steam

In Sign Of Silence, you and some friends end up in a car crash in a town called "Danville," which is creepier than anything you’ve ever come across before. As you try to escape the town, monsters and eerie cultists will do their best to get you. The game's expansive map takes a whole lot of player coordination to carefully explore, so make sure you and your friends employ the best-laid plans to steer clear of the crazed humans and paranormal threats that inhabit it.

• Developer: Hydravision Entertainment
• Rated: M for Mature
• Consoles: PS2, Xbox, PC - Steam

Developed by Hydravision Entertainment, Obscure was released in 2004 and 2005 in Europe and North America, respectively. This game allows two players to tackle the campaign together with co-op and that’s a big help. Obscure is set at "Leafmore High," where some students end up locked in the school overnight after searching for a missing friend. What they discover are some dark secrets about the school, that some students are mutated monsters due to injections and experimentation. If you’re looking for a creepy environment to traverse through and a fun game to scare yourself and a friend, this is a good choice.

• Developer: Question
• Rated: No Rating
• Consoles: PS4, Xbox One, PC - Steam

The story of this game is that teenagers in a particular small town have been dealing with blackouts, that see them in a completely different area when they wake up. They uncover a dark and scary secret that pits them against a monster they can only see with their eyes closed. The Blackout Club's procedurally generated missions present fresh challenges during every playthrough and the Stranger Things vibes should appeal to a subset of fans on the lookout for the best multiplayer horror games.

• Developer: Supermassive Games
• Rated: M for Mature
• Consoles: PS4, Xbox One, PC - Steam

Little Hope is one of the better entries released via The Dark Pictures Anthology, which is a set of adventure games that incorporate different genres under the umbrella of various types of horror. The "Shared Story" mode allows players to team up for the campaign, all the while making decisions that affect each other and the game’s ending. The great news here is that if you’re a fan of the game, you have Man Of Medan and House Of Ashes to play, plus a slew of other games that round out the rest of this gripping horror anthology.

• Developer: Endnight Games Ltd
• Rated: M for Mature
• Consoles: PS4, PC - Steam

Developed by Endnight Games, The Forest is a game where survival is the key. Doing this during the day is tricky because one or two cannibals can be a threat if not taken seriously, but it’s when the sun goes down that things get scary, with hordes of them coming at you. Everyone has to band together to brave the dangers brought on by cannibalistic mutants. Complete survival-based objectives during the day and engage or sneak around the individuals who want to consume you when night falls. If you and your friends end up enjoying what's on offer here, then you should all seek out this game's equally worthwhile sequel Sons of the Forest.

• Developers: Geoff 'Zag' Keene, Deep Field Games
• Rated: No Rating
• Console: PC - Steam

Unfortunate Spacemen is one of the smaller indie-developed games on this list, but don’t knock it until you try it. It was developed by Geoff Keene and it pits you and your teammates against a shapeshifting alien, which is controlled by one person. Some people have referred to this game as a more advanced version of Among Us and we can see why, with its concept and setting. If you liked Among Us but want a scarier twist on its gameplay, then this recommendation is a must-play.

• Developer: Saber Interactive
• Rated: M for Mature
• Consoles: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC - Steam, Epic Games Store

Ash Williams is the main man at the center of the gory, bleeding heart of the Evil Dead franchise, which finally got its very own asymmetrical multiplayer horror game. The aptly named Evil Dead: The Game is a 4v1 experience where one player commands the demon summoning powers of a "Kandarian Demon" in a bid to destroy the four survivors looking to protect their realm from its invasion. This game's got characters and locations based on various Evil Dead films, the ability to take control of random demons, plenty of chainsaw-swinging action, and the same slapstick humor the series is known for.

• Developers: FakeFish, Undertow Games
• Rated: No Rating
• Console: PC - Steam

Exploring the deep blue sea while working aboard a massive submarine elicits plenty of fear, doesn't it? Barotrauma adopts that concept for a 2D side-scroller experience that also incorporates elements of simulation management and survival horror. With a 16-player multiplayer count and six character classes to choose from, you'll need to help your crew achieve its goals, work with complex onboard systems to keep your main source of transportation intact, and defend yourself from a bevy of deep sea creatures. The cool ragdoll physics in this one makes all those gnarly death scenes look all the more exciting and sometimes hilarious.

• Developer: Manic Mice
• Rated: No Rating
• Console: PC - Steam

Lunch Lady makes its lesson very clear - no one gets ahead by cheating. And that fact comes through the main premise of this game where a group of kids breaks into their school to find the answers for their final exams. But in the process of doing so, the gruesome-looking beast this game is named after hunts them down and scares the hell out of them every time she pops up in their viewpoint. Prepare yourself and your friends for a heart-stopping good time with this online co-op survival horror game themed around a childhood nightmare scenario.

• Developer: Straight Back Games
• Rated: M for Mature
• Console: PC - Steam

DEVOUR truly brings the major jump scares you'd expect from games of its ilk. You and three other players take on the role of former cult members who must do everything in their power to escape the clutches of terrifying possessed cultists. If you're looking to tackle an insurmountable challenge, then you can try taking all those blood-splattered cultists on all by your lonesome (we prefer making that great escape with our equally frightened friends in tow).

• Developer: CyberLight Game Studio
• Rated: No Rating
• Console: PC - Steam

That massive hairy mystery that people still do everything in their power to get footage of finally has a game befitting of his legendary status. BIGFOOT gives you the option of playing as the mysterious behemoth himself or a group of Bigfoot hunters - this game features a lot of heart-pounding encounters where the gun-wielding hunters come to blows with the mega-powerful Bigfoot. Besides squaring off with the ultimate apex predator, you and your fellow hunters will need to be aware of all the other dangers sneaking around the game's dark forest locale. Fans of multiplayer horror games who watch way too many Travel Channel shows based on this game's mythical creature have a lot to love here.

• Developer: Sumo Nottingham
• Rated: M for Mature
• Consoles: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, PC - Steam

The original 1974 horror film that left an indelible mark on everyone who saw it is probably going to have a panic attack at the sight of this game based on it. And that's because the maniacal family of cannibals from the movies will hunt you down if you choose to play as this game's terrified survivors. So The Texas Chainsaw Massacre pits three members of the Slaughter family against five survivors - the team of would-be killers must catch and kill their prey, while the team playing as their kidnapped victims must find a way to fully escape their current predicament. The tense atmosphere of each match will keep you attached to the sometimes heroic and sometimes horrific outcomes.

• Developer: Valve
• Rated: M for Mature
• Consoles: Xbox 360, PC - Steam

Both the first and second Left 4 Dead games are still being played by a huge community of dedicated players to this very day. If for some reason you've missed out on its zombie-filled madness, then call on three of your best buds to give both games a go. Unrelenting zombie hordes are featured throughout both titles and you'll need to wipe them out with all manner of firearms & melee weaponry. Playing through the campaign mode and the survival mode will result in you and your team of survivors getting scared to death as waves of zombies come for everyone's necks.

• Developer: Noctiluca Studio
• Rated: No Rating
• Console: PC - Steam

Wading through the heavy feeling of immense creepiness attached to an abandoned haunted house is a task for the truly bold among gamers. Remnant Records presents that terrifying premise for four players as they're forced to figure out why numerous haunted locales are being dominated by the troubled spirits that inhabit them. The element of procedural contracts helps keep every mission you and your fellow ghost hunters tackle fresh campaigns every time - each player can tap into one of four roles that make them useful for appropriate duties that greatly assist their teammates.