I consider myself an indie horror enthusiast, as a result of playing lots of horror games, and watching people play even more. If you’re at all aware of the indie horror space, you’ve seen the rise of a certain kind of party-cum-horror game that took off during the pandemic. Hop in with a few friends, face down some monsters, and let chaos reign.

There’s not a real name for this genre, but anyone who’s played one can recognize it. Maybe “Co-op Survival Horror” fits the bill? Think Phasmophobia, Lethal Company, Pacify, and the very recent REPO. It’s still a developing little sub-genre, but I’d like to write about its elements, origins, and what it might see in the future.

Elements:

Co-op survival horror will be the working title, but I acknowledge it's not perfect. Survival horror is all about tension, which is matched here, but to a lesser extent. The main goal in this space is to perform impossibly difficult tasks with a limited set of tools. Newer releases feature rogue-like aspects (Randomized rooms, items, enemies), while older titles were more akin to sandboxes. Shared between the new and old are roaming enemies which players must survive. This is where I see the most survival horror DNA.

Of course, the “co-op” part of the genre is critical as well. It’s what makes them unique! You go into these challenges with a group of friends, allowing so many emergent gameplay moments it’s bewildering the genre only just caught on. Consider: Falling behind your group as you’re chased by a monster. Losing all your teammates and being stuck in silence. Hearing a teammate scream from afar as they’re taken out by an unseen threat.

A diverging path in the space is the role of combat. The older games take lots of inspiration from the idea of going on a hunt with friends: Players suit up, dole out tools, and get to work taking out a target. Think Rake, Bigfoot, or arguably GTFO. On the other side of this fork in the road are titles with de-emphasized combat. Players might still have tools, but the goal isn’t to kill… Think Lethal Company, Pacify, The Headliners, and REPO. Whichever of these two branches are more up your alley, there’s plenty of fun to be had within both.

Origins:

Many people claim 2020’s Phasmophobia was the first game in this sub-genre, but I protest that. The truth is that the sub-genre is still developing (It doesn’t even have a name yet) which makes it hard to pin down a single title as the start. Yes, these games exploded in popularity during quarantine, but you can trace them back to at least the 2010s.

The Rake was probably the scariest creepypasta of all time when I was young. Anyone around my age who was into those stories had that one. That story that would suck the air out of your lungs upon just thinking about it. That was the Rake for me. So when I heard that there was a videogame made about it, that became an instant fixation of mine (Isn’t the horror fan so basely masochistic?). It was 2015 and I was eleven.

Unfortunately, the game sucked ass. But it was very unique nonetheless-- A horror game about hunting a lone, wandering monster… In co-op. When you’re out there hunting in those woods, there’s always the very real feeling that you’re the one being hunted. Having a buddy definitely alleviates the fear, but only to a certain extent. You and your teammates have to split up a set of tools and use them very wisely to try and take down the beast. I remember it being really difficult, with the monster having much more health than it has any right to have, and the guns doing so little damage you’d think they were peashooters. Does this sound familiar yet?

P.S. Cry of Fear (2013) has a co-op mode which might be an even earlier example of the sub-genre, but I figured it strayed a little too far from the “Get together and do a task” element as it’s a linear, narrative-driven game.

Future:

Over the years, I’ve seen co-op survival horror branch away from hunting tools like guns (Maybe this is for the best, because Rake and Bigfoot were very stupid and not very scary). GTFO is so far removed you might call it a stealth shooter, and it’s playable solo, but the co-op survival horror elements seem solid enough to hold it in the same space. In my opinion, soon the hunting DNA of Rake will be lost altogether.

IMO, more classic survival horror tricks of the trade for creating tension could benefit these games: Slower movement speed, less offensive tools, and consequences for not playing squirrelly-like. Proximity audio has been a great addition to this space, and I think it’ll be a genre mainstay for sure. So why not include more mechanics which affect in-game voices? Lethal Company and REPO have played around with this, but only minorly.

In order to visualize changes within this space (As well as to recommend more titles), here’s a list of all the games I can think of in order of release. If you know anything about them, perhaps you can see from this list how they have evolved. And if not, maybe check ‘em out!