Proximity chat makes almost every game better, especially when that game is in the horror genre. A traditional horror game may conjure images of a dark room with a lone player, but bringing a whole herd of friends along to all scream together is a much more entertaining experience.
To cultivate this exact experience, here are the five best scary games with proximity chat available on Steam right now. Gather your friends, convince them to fork over five dollars, and turn on your microphones.
Table of contents
Phasmophobia
- Year: 2020
- Developer: Kinetic Games
Launched before “friendslop” was anywhere near becoming its own category of multiplayer game, Phasmophobia is one of the oldest titles on this list and it has lasted so long for good reason. The premise is simple: you are a crew of paranormal investigators, entering homes, businesses, and abandoned buildings to uncover what exactly is haunting the location (and find some fun Easter Eggs on the way). Gather evidence by asking questions, watching for strange activity, and using tools like thermometers and cameras.
What makes Phasmophobia stand out in how well proximity chat meshes with the gameplay, as being forced to go quiet by an angry spirit, searching for friends through large buildings, or hearing a scream cut off in the midst of a ghost attack makes the gameplay that much more intense for any survivors.
CRYO
- Year: 2025
- Developer: Valko Game Studios
The most recent title on the list, and still in early access, CRYO has already picked up steam in the streamer world. Set in the Antarctic, a small team of technicians are set to investigate why communications have stopped in a remote genetics research outpost. There, they discover mutated monsters that would make Umbrella Corporation proud, stalking the halls, and hunting anything they can find.
Before players can escape, they’ll need to complete a few company-mandated objectives and gather supplies to ensure their survival, like gas and keys for the snowcat or helicopter. Sneak around the procedurally generated map, duck into vents to avoid a cast of monsters, and, most importantly, work together with your fellow technicians.
CRYO is straightforward, fun, and tense, which should make it an easy sell to any group of friends. Whispering to each other (or turning to the in-game chat system when any sound is too dangerous) while scooting through corridors to outwit monsters is an all-around good time for everyone.
Lethal Company
- Year: 2023
- Developer: Zeekerss
Bring your friends along to join The Company in Lethal Company! Like Phasmophobia, Lethal Company has a very simple goal with a straightforward gameplay loop. Players must explore strange facilities on a series of planets to collect scrap to sell and reach their profit quota. Inside (and outside) the facilities are a whole roster of wildly different monsters that attack players in their own special way. In the base game, for example, are walking toy soldiers with shotguns and unstoppable piles of slime that steadily ooze their way towards players.
What makes Lethal Company special is the practically endless number of mods available to download, which can make the game anything the player wants. New maps, monsters, additional objectives, outfits, emotes, and more will ensure Lethal Company never gets boring.
Content Warning
- Year: 2024
- Developer: Wilnyl, Philip, thePetHen, Skog, Zorro
Content Warning has one of the most unique premises in a horror game, which not only makes the proximity chat hilarious but important to the game play. You and your crew are wannabe content creators, filming each other in dangerous situations in an effort to go viral. By filming each other and uploading the video at the end of each day, players can gain more content creation supplies and build their fan base.
Equipped at first with only a camera (though more items and funds can be secured later through sponsorship deals), players walk into the Old World, a grayed out area full of unsettling monsters with wildly different behaviors. The camera has a limited amount of tape, which means players will have to be strategic with when they film to capture viral moments. The limited tape, combined with the proximity chat, makes rewatching the final video a hilarious experience every single in-game day.
R.E.P.O.
- Year: 2025
- Developer: semiwork
In a lot of ways, R.E.P.O. is really similar to Lethal Company. Both involve a small team of players entering spooky buildings full of monsters to collect loot to sell for profit. While the premise of each game are essentially the same, the vibes of both games are very different, especially as R.E.P.O. has recently embraced a goofier style since it debuted in early 2025.
What really sets R.E.P.O. apart is how delicate everything is in the game, which makes collecting loot a much more stressful and chaotic process than in Lethal Company. Players can easily smash the most valuable items in the game if they panic while fleeing monsters, which can create some great proximity chat moments hearing a distant scream, a glass shattering noise, and then silence.
