Horror games usually follow a storyline that forces a single-player experience. While there are certainly a ton of great single-player video game titles out there for the horror genre, sometimes you want to enjoy a horror game with a friend. In this list, we're going to highlight some of the best co-op horror games currently available for the PlayStation 4 platform.
#10 Friday the 13th The Game
Friday the 13th The Game was a hit and it was also a game you couldn't escape. With so many gamers enjoying the title, it was quickly flooded on streaming services like Twitch with a slew of YouTube videos uploaded daily. Those who played the game were in love with it because it took the iconic horror movie franchise and put it into a multiplayer video game. Players would either become camp counselors or the antagonistic undead monster that lives in the campgrounds, Jason. Selected players who were put into the game turn as survivors were spread across this large map with no direct means of communication. Instead, all players could do is get close enough to communicate or locate a radio device that would connect to other players who found a radio. From there, it's a game of trying to find all the items needed to make your escape a success.
However, on the map is also Jason who must find and kill the remaining survivors. With a few powers such as moving quickly around different points on the map, Jason can attempt to interrupt players or foil their escape plans. Meanwhile, Survivors are a little more nimble as they can quickly dive into buildings, barricade themselves, and attempt to hide from Jason in the hopes that he'll move on to another player. Although this game was hugely successful, there was a major shutdown for the development studio. Due to some licensing issues, the studio was forced to shut down the game servers. Despite the servers being shut down, this game was still available for players to enjoy with friends through peer-to-peer matchmaking and developers continued to support the title.
#9 Dead By Daylight
While Friday The 13th The Game was unable to continue due to licensing issues, Dead by Daylight offered an alternative that is still heavily supported and active today. The game was released around the same time as Friday the 13th The Game, but rather than just being dedicated to one particular IP address, it aimed to provide a variety of IP addresses that would give gamers a bit more for their money. Overall the gameplay is pretty much the same here as again you have a group of surviving players who are tasked with escaping the area of a deadly hostile enemy while the enemy player is ready to eliminate the survivors. At the start of the game, players actively work to complete certain objectives on the map before rushing to safety. For example, to power the exit doors, players are forced to repair and operate several different generators scattered across the map.
Players can reactivate generators, but they will also need to keep an eye out for hostile enemy player. Luckily, survivors can be downed multiple times before finally being killed, but to ensure they are freed, healed, or escape containments from the map, it's best to rely on teamwork. Enemy types have a few different attacks available to them, but Survivors can also use different methods to keep the monster at bay, such as knocking down pallets or environmental debris. As mentioned, unlike Friday the 13th The Game which only offered a variety of Jason models, Dead by Daylight has multiple hostile enemy characters and maps. In the past we've seen characters like Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Stranger Things, and Silent Hill feature in the game, which adds a bit more replay value to see how the title changes things up with the new characters. and Plans.
# 8 Resident Evil Resistance
Resident Evil Resistance is a multiplayer component of the Resident Evil 3 video game release. While Capcom was working on remakes for its previous Resident Evil video game franchise, they released new content for players to enjoy as well as Resident Evil Resistance. This again follows much the same formula as our previous points in this list. In the game, players are either a mastermind killer or a group of survivors. Overall, the hostile player has control over the layout of traps and the summoning of hostile enemies in the game. Meanwhile, survivors are tasked with escaping. Unfortunately, to escape, players must fight the various Resident Evil monsters placed on the map, complete a series of puzzles, avoid traps, and move on to the next room. However, rooms also have a time limit to complete them.
As mentioned, the enemy places more hostile enemies and traps to prevent players from progressing or taking them all down. Meanwhile, survivors can continue to search for health items as well as better weapons to use which can also be purchased in-game through the in-game currency you accumulate during gameplay. It's a fun game to play with a group of friends, especially if you're already interested in Resident Evil 3. Unfortunately, this game may not be active when the next big Resident Evil multiplayer game Resident Evil Re:Verse releases later this year.
# 7 Resident Evil 5
Speaking of Resident Evil, we have another video game to add to this list. While the Resident Evil franchise is known for its survival horror and spooky atmosphere, Capcom changed things up for Resident Evil 4. With a new assortment of mechanics that were popular with fans, the development studio continued with those mechanics. but increased the action element with Resident Evil 5. Now Resident Evil 5 for many fans is one of the black sheep installments of the franchise. It's a title that's been played, but most were ready for the drastic change in tone to go back to old video game installments. While that eventually happened with the debut of Resident Evil 7, fans consider Resident Evil 5 to be a pretty solid cooperative action-horror game.
In the narrative, players once again returned to the role of Chris Redfield, a main character in the franchise. A new sign of BOW has been found in Africa, leading Chris along with a new BSAA region partner, Sheva Alomar, to track down its source and stop another bioterrorism attack. As mentioned, the game is very action-based but with horror elements throughout. Players work together in this third-person shooter as they battle infected enemies, boss battles, while completing a series of puzzles to progress through the campaign. You will be surprised how much fun this game can be despite missing out on some of the survival horror elements.
#6 The Dark Pictures Anthology
Supermassive Games had great success with Until Dawn and found a stable footing with the horror genre. While Until Dawn was a single-player experience for the PlayStation 4, the games that followed after began to open up to multiplayer. In particular, The Dark Pictures Anthology is a collection of titles you'll want to review. This is not a single game, but rather the various video games in the anthology collection, although there are only two installments available at the time of writing this description. Despite this, the gameplay is set up in the same kind of style. Players can expect a narrative adventure with plenty of QTEs and choice-based decisions.
Co-op gameplay is a bit different with these games as players will control an assortment of characters and make decisions for them. Decisions made will change how the scenario fits the whole group. So making a decision could drastically affect another player's character and it should be noted that this game can be played with multiple players locally or with a secondary player online. In any case, there are two video games in this collection which is Man of Medan, a title that follows a group of friends in search of buried treasure, with Little Hope, a game based on a group of students trapped in a haunted town. . That said, there's another episode fans might want to look out for, called House of Ashes, which is slated for release later in 2022.
#5 Dying Light
Techland has been around for several years at this point. After the developers opened their doors in 1991, they continued to release great video game titles. However, they caught the world's attention when they delivered a survival horror action RPG game called Dead Island in 2022. Players were battling against hordes of undead on a tropical island paradise . Since then, the studio has opted to work on another unique zombie-based IP called Dying Light. It was a game that ditched the tropical landscape for a darker, ruined world atmosphere. Players walked into an undercover agent named Kyle Crane who was looking for information in a quarantined town in the Middle East. One of the main components of this game was parkour which allowed players to quickly move around the city and escape when hostile hordes proved too much of a problem.
This game also featured a cooperative multiplayer mode. With the option of having up to four players in total, the party could go through the game campaign and complete the missions. Meanwhile, there were additional challenges that allowed players to compete both in the cooperative play mode or through a separate PvP mode. Luckily, this dying light has been around for quite a while now if you've just discovered it so you can pick up a copy for a pretty hefty price and it's still a title that holds up well. However, there is a sequel in the works called Dying Light 2, but we are still waiting for this game to find its way into the market. The same can be said for Dead Island, but Techland isn't behind that particular video game sequel.
# 4 Resident Evil Revelations 2
Resident Evil makes the list again and this time for Resident Evil Revelations 2. Now you don't necessarily have to go back and play Resident Evil Revelations to get this game, but there will be slight references to the previous installment, but more so the core Resident Evil games. I'm sure if you're interested in this title, you probably already have an idea of what Resident Evil is for the main series. These games also had a rather unique twist in the IP series as the Revelations series launched as an episodic series. Of course, now that the games have been out for a few years at this point, all of these episodes are available, so you're just playing through the narrative from start to finish with no gaps. Either way, Resident Evil Revelations 2 throws players into four characters, essentially two-character teams that are split up in the narrative. To avoid spoiling anything from the narrative, we're just going to stick with the main favorites in my opinion, Claire Redfield and Moira Burton.
Again, it's only scratching the surface of the game to avoid spoiling anything too much here, but Resident Evil Revelations 2 follows Claire Redfield as she joins a new anti-bio-terrorism organization called TerraSave. However, things get crazy at their welcoming party when a group crashes and eventually kidnaps Claire and Moira. Now the duo wakes up in an abandoned facility overrun with hostile undead enemies. This is a cooperative gameplay experience, so in this situation one player will take the reins of Claire while the secondary player will control Moira. The main tank protagonist here is Claire who can shoot enemies while Moira will have a flashlight to stun characters or can use a crowbar to deal damage to fallen enemies. It's also a game that reverts a bit to a more survival horror aspect compared to Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6.
#3 The Forest
The Forest was a bit of an indie hit when it first hit the market and it's still a game players are recommended to check out as a single-player experience or with co-op gameplay. To prepare the story a bit, we follow a father who travels with a son, but their trip comes to an abrupt end. During their plane trip, the plane breaks down and crashes on an island. Surrounded by debris and wood, our protagonist discovers that their son is missing and that they are not the only ones on this remote, seemingly abandoned island. Instead, on this island are mutated cannibals that have a pretty unique AI system.
In this game, players will find that enemies will initially be more curious than anything else. It makes sense, you're different from them, so it's a wonder to know what you are, how you're going to react, and where on the island you live. Sometimes they stay at a distance, but they can also charge and attack you if they are brave. There are a lot of unsettling moments in the game, as you never really know what type of AI enemy group you'll be up against at any given time. Luckily, you don't have to take on the group and find our protagonist's son on your own. This game features cooperative play with up to eight players online and that should make the gameplay a little more manageable.
#2 Hunting Showdown
Hunt: Showdown is one of those games that I think more people should look into. It's a title that was in early access for a while, but has since been fully released to the market and has gained a base footing. Those who have tried the game seem to enjoy it and have continued to recommend it to others. Also, the fact that there is crossplay support here allows more players to tune into this game without having to be on something like the PlayStation 4 platform specifically. Let's talk about what this game is. Hunt: Showdown is an FPS game where players take on the role of bounty hunters. However, in this world there are all kinds of monsters that need to be dealt with. This is where players step in and hunt down those big giant monsters, take them out, collect their bounty, and get out of the area. It sounds easy, but there is a lot more to this game that will provide players with a great challenge.
Players can join the game in teams of two or three if you want to play with friends. From there, you are dropped onto this map with players gathering materials and also clearing out other mobs that roam the area. It's all about hunting to find the main big monster, in which case you fight that beast in hopes of taking it down for the bounty. However, there are also other players in this game who are looking for the same bounty. It's best to deal with other players when possible, but again, everyone is after the bounty. As a result, when a monster is downed and the bounty is collected, the map pings the monster's position on the map, in which case everyone charges the area to take you, collect that bounty, and reach the point of exit. It can be quite a tense game, as you never know how close other players may be when you take down the monster, so having an area-aware team to help you reach the exit is essential.
# 1 Bloodborne
We couldn't have left this game off the list. You either love it or hate it, but Souls and Souls type games have huge fanbases. There is a real challenge for them and with every game the release comes to a flock of gamers eagerly diving into the title for the brutal battles and challenges that await them. Bloodborne is one of the video game exclusives released for the PlayStation 4 in 2022 and since then gamers have been waiting for a sequel. Without delving too deeply into lore, the game follows a hunter who discovers that the town of Yharnam has been taken over by a blood-borne disease. This required players to venture out and find the source of the plague which, again, is no walk in the park.
The battles are tough and you will have to rely on dodging enemy attacks and landing critical hits. This means strafe and dodge enemies when possible, but also launch quick offensive attacks. Luckily, you don't have to do this alone as a cooperative game mode is available. Now there are restrictions in place to make the game not too easy or difficult for players coming together and there is a process to even add a secondary player into the game. FromSoftware has made this title a challenge, but If you go through the process of summoning a player, it is possible to create a password so that only your friend can join the game and not someone looking to potentially troll.
