The Outlast Trials

The Outlast Trials is co-op horror done properly, not the light spooky wrapper you get from most squad shooters. My group ran this with headsets on, and it's one of the few games on this list where staying quiet actually matters, because getting spotted mid-objective means the whole trial goes sideways fast. Crossplay spans PC, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles cleanly, and setting up a party across those systems takes minutes, not a support ticket. The tone sits closer to genuine dread than most co-op horror manages, somewhere between panic and stealth. It asks more of newcomers than Dead by Daylight does. No solo safety net, no quick matches to learn the ropes gently. Worth it if your group actually wants to be scared together.

The Outlast series built its reputation on solo terror with nowhere to hide. The Outlast Trials takes that same cruelty and asks four people to suffer through it together, which sounds like it should dilute the fear. It does not. The trial structure forces your squad to split objectives while something horrible is patrolling the same building. My group went in expecting it to feel like a theme park ride once we had numbers on our side. We were wrong. Revive mechanics and coordinated stealth keep every run tense, and the progression system gives you a reason to come back after the initial shock wears off. One of the best modern co-op horror games made.

The Outlast Trials does something I did not think was possible: it kept me scared with three other people in the session. Usually a second voice on the mic dissolves the tension. Here it compounds it, because you are all panicking at the same time and nobody has a plan. Our group played it during a LAN night and the first time we got cornered in a flooded corridor, someone genuinely knocked their chair back. Built specifically around session-based trials with stealth, shared objectives, and no safe room to retreat to, it earns the top spot by a margin. The atmosphere is relentlessly grim. Nothing about it softens for co-op.

If Phasmophobia is about quiet dread, The Outlast Trials is about sustained panic. You are not investigating anything. You are just trying to survive a gauntlet of genuinely disturbing scenarios while someone in your group inevitably makes a noise at the wrong moment and gets everyone caught. I gravitate to horror that punishes overconfidence, and this one does that on a structural level. Each trial has objectives, but the real game is managing chaos together under pressure. Four players, first-person, relentless. My one warning is that the difficulty can feel bruising before your group finds its rhythm, so give it at least two or three full runs before writing it off.

The original Outlast games are solo experiences built on helplessness. Turning that feeling into something four people can share is harder than it sounds, and Red Barrels mostly pulled it off. What surprised me is that co-op does not defang the horror. You are still unarmed, still being chased by things that should not be allowed to exist, and now you also have to coordinate without getting separated in a facility that actively wants you confused and panicking. The stealth pressure is relentless. It ranks just below Dead by Daylight because getting a full group up to speed takes a few sessions, but once you are all in the same nightmare, nothing else on PS5 delivers co-op dread at this level.

The Outlast Trials earns its spot by being structurally unlike everything else on this list. You're not shooting waves or hunting monsters — you're completing objectives while evading AI pursuers in a psychological horror setting, and the tension of staying quiet and coordinated while something hunts you creates a distinct squad experience. Trials run 15–45 minutes, which suits shorter sessions well. Difficulty scales with player count, so three-player runs don't feel easy by default. This one is online-only on PS5, and honestly, horror co-op works better with voice chat anyway. Not for groups who bruise easily.