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Horror Games That Use Your Mic: Monsters That Hear You

These horror games listen through your microphone: the ghost answers your questions, the monster hears your voice or your breathing, or proximity chat carries what you say to whatever is hunting you. Keep quiet, or do not.

The games

  1. Phasmophobia: a dark 1950s-style diner with a glowing orange jukebox and a pie-of-the-day board Co-opPhasmophobiaThe best known: the ghost hears what you say through your microphone and reacts to it, and you can speak to it aloud.
  2. The Backrooms 1998 key art: a dark, empty tiled pool room with a pink inflatable ring floating in the gloom EscapeThe Backrooms 1998Alone in the Backrooms with something that hunts by sound; through your microphone it hears your breathing and your screams.
  3. PANICORE key art: a close-up of a terrified woman's eye with blood running down her face Co-opPANICOREA co-op escape from a monster that hears every footstep and every word you say into your microphone, so talking to friends can bring it.
  4. The Classrooms key art: a grinning furry creature peers around a cinder block wall in a dark school corridor SurvivalThe ClassroomsAn endless, changing school maze where loud noise into your microphone reveals you to some of the entities.
  5. Lurking screenshot: a figure outlined in red walking down a dark corridor drawn in red sound lines SurvivalLurkingFree: in total darkness you see only by sound, and with a microphone your real-world noises become pulses the enemies hear.
  6. In Silence: a survivor with a flashlight walks through a misty, snowy forest at night past an abandoned car Co-opIn SilenceOnline survivors against Rake, a creature that hears footsteps and voices over long distances; proximity voice chat carries to it too.
  7. A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead key art: Alex Taylor in glasses holding a gloved finger to her lips in front of static-filled televisions SurvivalA Quiet Place: The Road AheadCreep past creatures that hunt by sound; an optional setting lets them hear you speak or cough through your real microphone.
  8. Ghost Exile wide art: a glowing red ritual circle with a candle on the floor of a dark room Co-opGhost ExileInvestigate an entity that answers your voice through voice recognition, in several languages, alone or with up to three friends.
  9. Demonologist key art: a pale girl with dark eyes and grimy cheeks stares out of the dark beside two lit candles Co-opDemonologistCursed houses and a demon that answers what you say aloud through the spirit box, for one to four players online.
  10. MIMESIS key art: hooded crew members in beaked masks with glowing eyes crouch in a tunnel mouth as rain falls on an empty street outside Co-opMIMESISMicrophone required: monsters copy your friends' voices and faces, so the teammate calling for help may not be who they sound like.
  11. Damned 2 screenshot: a pale girl in a dark dress holding a stuffed toy walks toward you along a gloomy upper walkway Co-opDamned 2Four survivors escape a cursed building while a fifth player hunts them; the built-in voice chat carries into the level and the monster can hear you.
  12. Inside the Backrooms key art: a dim yellow room with buzzing ceiling lights and pillars scrawled with warnings such as It sees you and Left no exit Co-opInside the BackroomsCo-op Backrooms where proximity voice chat means talking can give you away to the entities.
  13. Fears to Fathom - Home Alone screenshot: a dark bedroom with a curtained window looking out at a house across the street PsychologicalFears to Fathom - Home AloneFree: home alone for the weekend as something wrong builds around the house, with player voice activity listed as a feature.
  14. Fears to Fathom - Carson House screenshot: a grainy security camera feed of a dark hallway labelled Camera 06 PsychologicalFears to Fathom - Carson HouseHouse-sit a stranger's home for a weekend, watching its security cameras; like Home Alone, its store lists player voice activity as a feature.
  15. Happy's Humble Burger Cult screenshot: a long-limbed creature chases workers under a sign reading Simulation Unstable Co-opHappy's Humble Burger CultCook fast food for a quota until the mascot breaks loose and hunts your crew, in a game that listens to your microphone.

In most horror games you can scream as much as you like. In these, the game is listening. Some use your microphone so that the monster hears what you say or the noise in your room; some use voice recognition so you can talk to a ghost; others carry your voice into the level through proximity chat, where whatever hunts you can hear it.

Phasmophobia made the idea famous. You and up to three friends investigate a haunting, ask the ghost questions out loud, and know that it hears what you say and reacts to it. Ghost Exile and Demonologist follow the same pattern, with an entity or a demon that answers your voice.

If you play alone, The Backrooms 1998 is the most direct: something hunts by sound through the yellow rooms, and through your microphone it hears your breathing and your screams. The Classrooms does the same in an endless, changing school, and A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead offers it as an option, so a cough in your own room can give you away. Lurking, free, is the purest form: in total darkness you see only by making sound, and your real noises become pulses the enemies follow. Two Fears to Fathom episodes, the free Home Alone and Carson House, list player voice activity among their features too.

With friends, Panicore's monster hears every word you say into the microphone, In Silence's Rake hears voices over long distances, and Damned 2 and Inside the Backrooms carry proximity chat to the things that hunt you. MIMESIS turns it around: the monsters copy your friends' voices, so you can no longer trust who is calling for help.

Start with Phasmophobia with friends, or The Backrooms 1998 alone with headphones on. Check each game's settings for its microphone options before you start.

Questions

What horror games use your microphone?

Phasmophobia, The Backrooms 1998, Panicore, The Classrooms, Ghost Exile, Demonologist and Lurking all listen through your microphone, so what you say or the noise you make can change what happens.

Is there a single-player horror game that hears you?

The Backrooms 1998, The Classrooms and Lurking are single-player and use your microphone; A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead has it as an option.

Can the ghost hear you in Phasmophobia?

Yes. It uses voice recognition: the ghost hears what you say through your microphone and reacts to it.

Do I need a microphone for these games?

MIMESIS requires one. Most others work without it, but you lose part of what makes them frightening.

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