10 Horror Games Best Played With a Friend

While horror games are typically single-player adventures, there's no shortage of multiplayer or co-op horror games, each offering a unique brand of fear ... one that scares en masse.

It's difficult to scare in groups (fear tends to be halved among others), but some games manage to do it and then some. In fact, in these games, you could be having the time of your life in one moment, and then screaming for your life the next.

While these games offer a single-player experience, it's better to play it with a friend — or a group of friends. Being by yourself in this case simply does not hit the same.

So, if you and your friends are looking for a fun time but also potentially having a scare, there are a good number of options to choose from.

10 Resident Evil 6

All Kinds of Gameplay Options

When players hear about Resident Evil 6, the instinct is to flinch — it was not well-received — but I would challenge you to actually give it a chance, especially if you're playing with a friend. This game is so, so unfairly overhated, and once you start playing it, you'll realize that it's actually a great time.

The best part is there are three different campaigns to choose from, each offering a different experience and play style as a result. There's Leon and Helena, which is the more classic survival horror experience; there's Chris and Piers, which is a full-on action-packed adventure; and then there's Sherry and Jake, which operates as a unique fusion of the two. You don't have to play one to unlock the other, so you and your friend can have whatever horror game experience you're craving.

Regardless of which campaign you pick, though, you're in for a really fun time. And if you actually want to follow along with the story, it's even more fun to try and piece together everyone's perspectives.

Seriously, give this game a shot, it's so worthy of love, and it's 10 times better when played with a friend.

9 Little Nightmares III

About as Creepy as You'd Expect

The first two Little Nightmares games, developed by Tarsier Studios, are freaky, and are incredible examples of storytelling through combining a creepy, oppressive atmosphere with a macabre sense of whimsy. However, those games are single-player only, and there's no way to have a co-op experience.

Enter Little Nightmares III, developed by Supermassive, which finally brought multiplayer to the franchise. The best part is the game captures the same exact magic as the previous two, with the same eerie atmosphere, cozy gameplay, and wonderous puzzles. It's the same flavor of creepy, but it brings a uniqueness that makes it stand out from its predecessors.

Of course, the game can be played solo, but why would you? It's clearly meant for two, so have fun with your partner — the only unfortunate part is that there is no couch co-op (for now, we hope).

Even still, it's a gem, and it's one you'll have a good time with if you and your friend both have a copy.

8 7 Days to Die

What Would You Do in a Zombie Apocalypse?

Listen, playing 7 Days to Die solo is perfectly fine, but it's absolutely one of those games where it's ten times better with a friend, especially with how you'll have to rely on each other to survive. It's not an average zombie survival horror game, as it leans far more into pure survival, but the grind of it is addictive.

So much so, in fact, that you can easily spend dozens of hours playing, and those hours are going to be filled with pure fun when someone else is there with you.

There's a charm that this game has that will have you keep coming back, too, and the next thing you know, those dozens of hours with a friend can easily turn into hundreds. It doesn't even matter that you're both jumping at every noise that definitely belongs to your co-op partner ... right?

Plus, the game itself is incredibly malleable, to where it's going to feel different every single time you both hop on, making it all the better.

7 Lethal Company

Anything for Profit

Lethal Company is a game with a simple premise: you go to various moons and find a bunch of stuff to sell to The Company. The thing is, literally anything and everything can be sold for profit, regardless of whether it's dangerous or if it's even alive or dead. When you're playing with friends, you can fill in the blanks on how it's easily one of the funniest horror games.

Apart from selling your friends' corpses for profit, the goal of the game is to also prevent yourselves from becoming corpses, as there are all kinds of hostiles on these moons that will not hesitate upon first sight of you. You can run back to your ship for safety, but you can even shut the door on your friends once you're there.

And the most diabolical part? There is a mechanic where you can point, so you can quite literally point and laugh at your friends' sabotage, whether it was accidental or on purpose. Either way, you can make a profit off of them if you have nothing else to sell.

This is truly a fun game that can honestly only be played with at least one other, but it's one of those where it's easily a case of "the more, the merrier."

6 Left 4 Dead 2

Classic Multiplayer Horror

Left 4 Dead 2 lives and breathes multiplayer, to the point where playing it alone is a different kind of loneliness in and of itself — please, just turn on matchmaking. This game is a must with a friend ... or two, or three.

You play as a group of survivors against all kinds of zombies and Special Infected, provided with all manner of ways you have to get through each horde; it's about as chaotic as you expect. However, there's a joy amidst that chaos, and it's a unique kind of experience that you can only find with Left 4 Dead 2.

The game can get even more fun with friends once you introduce mods into the mix, and this game is very flexible to host all kinds of mods (often at the same time). If things weren't lively before, things would just end up being outright hilarious, and oddly terrifying in different contexts.

There's a reason that it's a classic, and the way that it stays timeless with friends is most likely the reason for that.

5 Sons of the Forest

A Riveting Sequel

While The Forest is fantastic (and technically scarier), its sequel, Sons of the Forest, is an improvement on the original in every possible way — most especially in the multiplayer. It's everything you love about the first game, but expanded upon in a way that will have you both stumbling around trying to survive against killer A.I. for hours.

And it's going to be the best.

If you don't want to start with the first game, no worries, you and your friend can jump right into Sons of the Forest without having any context (after all, your character will be coming onto the island with little to no context, either). The story will be easy to follow from there, so all that's left is to focus on the fun you're having with your friend.

4 Ready or Not

Sometimes, the Horror is Domestic

While, upon first glance, Ready or Not doesn't appear to be a horror game, it's not until you actually start playing that the horror truly unfolds — it's the worst horror there is: the kind that exists at home. You and your partner play as SWAT operators, deployed into the darkest parts of humanity in the rawest, most brutal depictions of crime there is.

Let me just say, as a former breaking news journalist, it's incredibly hard to stomach.

It's a game where you and your friend are going to be horrified by everything you're witnessing, and you're going to have to genuinely check in with each other after some of the missions (if they didn't already spiral out of control, anyway). At the same time, the experience is unlike anything else.

So if you and your friend feel ready (pun intended) for an intense time, this is the game to dive right in.

3 Dead by Daylight

Now With More Characters!

Dead by Daylight is a horror icon at this rate, being a love letter to horror as a whole, as well as all the beloved characters from all kinds of horror media they come from. It's genuinely difficult to think of what IP isn't represented in the game at this point, drawing in players from every corner of the genre to proudly display their favourites.

Not to mention, the gameplay itself is pretty fun, regardless if you take on the role of Survivor or Killer — and it's already online multiplayer by nature. Automatically, you're playing with others, but you could obviously host your own games with a party of people you know.

And the game is continuing to add more, not just new characters and maps tying in even more IPs together either; there is a graphical update scheduled for 2027, and that's going to be a complete overhaul of the experience already. Basically, there's always something to look forward to, and there's always a reason to keep coming back with your friend group.

2 Resident Evil 5

Action Horror at its Most Fun

When you're looking for the perfect multiplayer Action Horror experience with a heavy emphasis on action, Resident Evil 5 is the game you want to suggest the next time you're with your gaming buddy. The fun is going to come and punch you in the face like Chris Redfield punches a boulder, and you're going to be thrilled in both regards.

Admittedly, it's not scary at all, but there's enough that keeps things tense at the very least. You're going to be on the edge of your seat rather than cowering in a corner — it's the same adrenaline, just manifesting differently.

In single-player, Sheva's A.I. is actually ... not that smart. She has a tendency to run into trouble (or into sudden death, she's done that to me too many times); it can honestly get frustrating, so the best way to prevent this is to actually just have a real person controlling her.

Plus, if your friend hasn't played the game before, you get to see their honest, immediate reactions to some of the shenanigans that happen in this game (and there are plenty of shenanigans).

1 Phasmophobia

And It's Only Getting Better

When it comes to horror games that are best played with a friend (or even better, multiple friends), nothing honestly tops Phasmophobia. On the surface, it looks like a simple Ghost Hunting game that you and your friends are going to laugh and have fun with — which, don't get me wrong, you will — but once you start playing, you're also going to find yourselves being genuinely terrified.

You can play alone if you want to learn the mechanics of the game and get a feel for some areas, but it's honestly better to go into that blind with your friends anyway. Learning as a group is part of the experience with Phasmophobia, even if it takes dying a couple of times to get the hang of things.

The next thing you know, this will easily become a frequent go-to when cycling through games with your friends, especially if you want to dig a little deeper to find all the additional details hidden among the world.

Even more exciting, with Phasmophobia 1.0 officially coming out of Early Access in 2027, it's going to be even better than before (especially with the sound design), and I for one can't wait to see it (and play it with my scaredy-cat friend group).