Co-op and multiplayer horror Horror escape Horror puzzle

Labyrinthine

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Find the way out of monster-filled mazes with up to seven friends.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, VR
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (84% of 17,505 reviews)
Players: 1 to 8 (online co-op)
Made by: Valko Game Studios
Released: 2023

Get it on Steam PlayStation Store Xbox Official site

What frightens You and up to seven friends wander dark mazes of hedges, stone tunnels and empty rooms while more than thirty kinds of monster, each with its own behaviour, hunt you; splitting up to cover ground leaves each of you alone in the dark.
Content: gore, horror imagery that may frighten some players, online play.

Labyrinthine is a first-person co-op horror game for one to eight players. You explore dark mazes, solve puzzles and collect items to reach the exit while monsters with their own behaviour hunt the group, either in a story mode or in procedurally generated case files.

About Labyrinthine

Labyrinthine is a cooperative horror game by Valko Game Studios, released on Steam in August 2023 and later on PlayStation and Xbox as the Console Edition. You can play it alone, but it is built for online groups of up to eight players.

There are two ways to play. The story mode follows Joan, a fairground worker, into the abandoned Happisburg hedge maze and the history behind it. The case files are procedurally generated mazes that change each time and grow harder as you level up, unlocking new monsters, new maze types and cosmetics along the way. There are nineteen kinds of maze to unlock, from overgrown hedges to stone tunnels and dim wooden buildings.

In each maze you search for items and solve puzzles to open the way out. More than thirty monsters roam the levels, and each behaves in its own way, so part of the game is learning what each one does and how to get away from it. The maze is too large to cover as a group, so you often split up, and that is where the fear comes from: a friend's voice fades, a light disappears around a corner, and you are left alone with something moving in the dark.

It suits groups who liked Devour or Escape the Backrooms and want a game they can return to, with new maps each run. Players who want a long, story-led single-player horror game will find the story mode short next to the replayable case files. Steam lists it as VR supported.

How to play Labyrinthine

Pick the story mode or a case file, and start alone or invite friends to an online lobby of up to eight.
Explore the maze and look for the items and puzzles that each level asks you to complete.
Talk to your group and decide who searches where, since the maze is too big to cover together.
Watch and listen for the monsters, learn how each one behaves, and run or lead it away when it finds you.
Finish the level's tasks and reach the exit, then use the experience to level up and unlock new mazes and monsters.

Screenshots

Labyrinthine: grinning puppet-like figures with gaping mouths stand around a candlelit table in the dark maze

Labyrinthine: a cobwebbed stone tunnel with arches, lit by small fire baskets

Labyrinthine: a flashlight picks out a wooden board painted STAY AWAY in a dark room

Labyrinthine: empty rooms with yellow patterned wallpaper, beige carpet and ceiling lights

Tips

Learn each monster's behaviour before taking on harder case files; what works against one can get you caught by another.
Split the search but keep talking, so the group knows where everyone is when something appears.
Mark or remember the turns you take; mazes change between case files, so memory of an old map will not help.
Hardcore case files give exclusive cosmetics but are much harder; play the normal ones first.