It's Spooktober again, and with Halloween just a couple of weeks out, now is the best time to get your horror game library growing again. Still, what's the point of a good horror game if you can't enjoy it with your friends? After all, the most dire of situations also become insanely hilarious if you've got some friends along, and there's just nothing more rewarding than exploring a haunted setting and hearing your friend scream out from the other end of the hall.

We had some immensely rewarding single-player horror releases this year, but it's honestly the smaller, co-op centric survival-horror experiences where the 'fun' truly lies. That becomes even truer when everyone is on voice chat and trying not to scream their heads off.

Backrooms: Escape Together ($10)

The most polished Backrooms experience you can take your friends through

Backrooms lore has enthralled the entire internet for years now, with a fear of liminal spaces and indescribable monsters being at the center of the allure. From endless musty basements to hospital wings full of spider-like creatures ready to devour you, Backrooms games have some of the most fantastic level design, and it all gets better when you have a friend in tow, just as anxious as you are.

Now, there's always Escape the Backrooms on Unreal Engine 4, which is a better, more fleshed-out game with more levels, but there's also Backrooms: Escape Together. A solo-dev project with an incredible amount of polish that only comes with Unreal Engine 5, Backrooms: Escape Together has a small yet curated list of fantastic levels for you and your friends to be completely lost in.

The visual and sound design, along with the fantastic optimization, and even DLSS 4 support in a solo-dev project are all admirable, and Backrooms: Escape Together presents a wonderful horror adventure with plenty of puzzles for you and your squad to engage in, all while keeping your head on a swivel.

Project Unknown ($6)

Keep your proximity chat on for this one

We've all played Phasmophobia, and frankly, we've heard way too much about it, too. Still, the concept of pure survival-horror with friends that is genuinely scary even when you're with friends? That's gold right there, and Project Unknown delivers exactly that. As members of Paranormal Property Solutions, you and your squad will go to clients' houses that are being haunted by supernatural creatures with terrifying design.

The job? Learn the ghosts' patterns, behaviors, and where they are coming from to exorcise them. Each character you pick will have unique special abilities that will help the squad when picked right, and with the right tools at your disposal, you'll be able to exorcise the spirits that haunt the properties in Project Unknown. The game is even on sale until October 24, meaning you could just as easily pick two copies — one for yourself and one for a friend to try out.

R.E.P.O. ($10)

Clientele that does not want their belongings repossessed

Imagine if Phasmophobia had more edge, and what you get from that is R.E.P.O. In this game, you and your squad play as paranormal repossession agents. As ridiculous as it sounds, it's just as much fun. You're tasked with clearing out haunted locations of restless spirits. However, instead of comedy-driven chaos (which you'll still get plenty of), R.E.P.O. leans into genuine fear with its dark visuals and unpredictable hauntings.

Each encounter in the game feels handcrafted to ruin your nerves. The best part? Every single member of the squad has a job to do, which makes teamwork non-negotiable. You're going to find yourself yelling, panicking, and even blaming your own friends for dying... right before instantly queuing up for another round.

Panicore ($5)

One monster, five victims, and unlimited screaming

Sometimes, all you need is a good old-fashioned "run or die" formula to remind you just how anxiety-inducing things can get in a horror game, and Panicore is a brilliant example of that. In this game, you and your friends are stuck in a dark facility, hunted by an unpredictable monster as you navigate tight corridors and dark paths to find a way out, debating if splitting up to find the right path would be better than sticking together.

Sounds simple enough, right? Except that the game requires your mic to be on at all times, because the unpredictable monster reacts to sound as well. This means that even a small shriek or even a sentence spoken out too loud could get you killed. Sneaking quietly then becomes incredibly important, and any information you share over comms is limited, delivered under the fear of the monster hearing you. The atmosphere is thick, the lighting is perfect, and the sense of helplessness is constant in Panicore.

The Outlast Trials ($40)

Teamwork makes the terror work

Inarguably my favorite survival-horror co-op game, The Outlast Trials takes all the fear, anxiety, and vulnerability from the fantastic Outlast games and puts it into a well-crafted and deep co-op experience that you and your friends won't ever get tired of. The single-player games were all about running away from all sorts of monsters and creatures, but The Outlast Trials gives you some options to tool up with your friends, investing in soft abilities that will definitely help you, but don't fool yourself into thinking you could take on the variety of horrors the game will throw at you.

You and your friends can go through an extensive number of trials, both quick and long, inside a Cold War-era testing facility, enduring gruesome "experiments" that push every limit of fear, endurance, and your sanity. Co-operation isn't a choice here. You will have to heal each other, revive fallen teammates, or try to survive in pitch-black rooms while being hunted by some incredibly unsettling antagonists while you hunt for keys, solve puzzles to make progress, and go from one objective to the next.

The Outlast Trials is grim, graphic, and genuinely unsettling, and yet, the shared suffering somehow makes it all fun. There's plenty of gore, violence, and bloodshed in the game, and it's also a great example of how heavily visual design can affect your playthrough. An absolute must-play, will undoubtedly leave you and your squad wanting more. It even has cross-play functionality, meaning you can play it with your friends who have it on Xbox or PlayStation.

Demonologist ($20)

Phasmophobia's evil cousin, realized in Unreal Engine 5

Think of Demonologist as Phasmophobia's evil cousin. The game wears its Phasmophobia inspiration proudly, but also adds a level of production quality that makes it stand out. The sound design alone is a masterpiece in the game. Creaks, whispers, and sudden bangs, all get under your skin constantly, all mixed to make you doubt your own sanity. Each map feels alive, filled with little details that pull you in, with each map packed with terrifying jump scares and ghosts.

The gameplay loop here is rather reminiscent of Phasmophobia, where you identify the type of demon that is haunting the place before setting up traps for it and gathering evidence. The best part, however, is the game being built on Unreal Engine 5, which genuinely makes it look incredibly realistic and horrifying. Demonologist is remarkably intense and atmospheric, but also a blast with friends, because there's nothing funnier than watching your friend get jump-scared mid-sentence.

Horror doesn't have to be a lonely experience

Horror games are great for those who love fear in their video games, but only co-op horror brings with it a special kind of chaos. It's a sweet blend of fear and laughter, mixed in with frustration and triumph. Horror doesn't have to be a lonely experience at all, and when you face your fears with your friends, there's just nothing quite like it.

So this Halloween, grab your headsets, rally your friends, and prepare to scream, laugh, and maybe even stifle some of those shrieks, lest the ghost hear you, because Spooktober is always better when you suffer together.