The End of Oak Street landed this week to endless speculation about which Cloverfield spin-off actually got made this time, and found footage is once again the horror aesthetic of the moment. If the shaky-camera VHS grain reads as scary to you, the seven best found footage horror games on PC below all lean on cameras, camcorders, or bodycams as the actual gameplay device.
We tested each one for the specific tension found footage delivers: the frame is the world, whatever the camera cannot see is somewhere behind you, and low frame rates make the mundane feel wrong. Some are single-player; some are best played with three friends on Discord. All run on Windows PC.
What to look for in a found footage horror game
- Camera as gameplay. The camera should not be a filter; it should limit what you see, force reframing, and change how you approach a room.
- Lighting model. Grain, chromatic aberration, and low-light noise sell the format. Overly clean visuals break the illusion.
- Audio design. Handheld audio drop-outs, dialogue crush, and directional cues do more work than jump scares.
- Session length. Two-hour runs suit a movie night better than fifty-hour epics.
- Multiplayer support. Group horror on Discord is a fundamentally different experience from a solo VR-adjacent session.
- Replay value. Randomized entities, procedural maps, or seasonal events keep the game alive after the first scare.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Platforms | Free plan | Starting price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MADiSON | Instant-camera ritual horror | Windows | No demo | $29.99 | Very positive |
| Outlast Trials | Multiplayer bodycam horror | Windows | Free trial weekends | $39.99 | Very positive |
| Phasmophobia | Cooperative ghost hunting | Windows | No demo | $13.99 | Overwhelmingly positive |
| Content Warning | Camcorder monster hunting | Windows | No demo | $9.99 | Overwhelmingly positive |
| Devour | Four-player cult exorcism | Windows | No demo | $6.99 | Overwhelmingly positive |
| Visage | Slow-burn haunted house | Windows | No demo | $24.99 | Very positive |
| The Mortuary Assistant | Story-driven ritual horror | Windows, macOS | No demo | $19.99 | Overwhelmingly positive |
The apps
1. MADiSON — Best for instant-camera ritual horror
MADiSON from Bloodious Games ties the entire game to a single Polaroid-style camera. Take a picture, develop it, and the world shifts. The rituals ask for careful observation of what appears in each print, and the game trusts you to figure out the sequence without holding your hand.
Where it falls short: Some puzzles rely on tiny visual cues you can miss. The pacing dips in the middle chapters. Not for players who want combat as an option.
Pricing:
- Free: No demo
- Paid: $29.99
Platforms: Windows
Bottom line: MADiSON is the pick for the most intense solo horror experience of the last five years.
2. Outlast Trials — Best multiplayer bodycam horror
Outlast Trials from Red Barrels puts you inside a Cold-War-era experiment where the camcorder is welded to your face. Trials play in solo or four-player squads, and rerun modifiers keep old maps unpredictable. Amp releases in 2025 added persistent classes with unique gadgets.
Where it falls short: Free trial weekends are the only real free option. Some trials feel underdesigned. Solo mode is much harder than four-player.
Pricing:
- Free: Free trial weekends
- Paid: $39.99
Platforms: Windows
Download: Steam
Bottom line: Outlast Trials is the pick for coop horror with the strongest bodycam commitment.
3. Phasmophobia — Best for cooperative ghost hunting
Phasmophobia from Kinetic Games has kept getting bigger since early access. You and up to three friends investigate haunted locations, log evidence on a whiteboard, and identify the ghost type before it finds you. The camcorder mounts are a core investigation tool.
Where it falls short: Learning ghost types takes hours. Some players find the difficulty curve too flat. VR support is more polished than mouse-and-keyboard.
Pricing:
- Free: No demo
- Paid: $13.99
Platforms: Windows
Download: Steam
Bottom line: Phasmophobia is the pick for the definitive coop haunted-house game.
4. Content Warning — Best for camcorder monster hunting
Content Warning from Landfall gives you a camcorder, a squad of three friends, and a job: descend into the Old World, film scary things, and upload the tape to earn views. The mock-YouTube framing is a joke; the horror is not.
Where it falls short: No solo mode. Some monsters feel undertuned. Cosmetics grind gets old.
Pricing:
- Free: No demo
- Paid: $9.99
Platforms: Windows
Download: Steam
Bottom line: Content Warning is the pick for the funniest and scariest four-player Discord night on PC.
5. Devour — Best for tight four-player cult exorcism
Devour from Straight Back Games puts you and up to three friends inside a farm, monastery, or basement with a possessed cultist to sanctify. The gameplay loop is short, tight, and stacks difficulty for repeat runs. The camera-style flashlight is the only thing between you and the presence.
Where it falls short: Small map count. Difficulty scaling drops off after level ten. Solo runs feel muted.
Pricing:
- Free: No demo
- Paid: $6.99, DLC $1.99 to $4.99
Platforms: Windows
Download: Steam
Bottom line: Devour is the pick if you want a horror coop night for the price of a coffee.
6. Visage — Best slow-burn haunted house
Visage from SadSquare Studio is the closest a game has come to the pacing of a P.T. successor. You wander a 1980s-era suburban house that changes room by room, with cameras, cassette recorders, and diaries as your only anchors. Nothing about it is fast.
Where it falls short: Save mechanic is fiddly. Some chapters require patience most players do not have. Not a group game.
Pricing:
- Free: No demo
- Paid: $24.99
Platforms: Windows
Bottom line: Visage is the pick if you want the closest thing to P.T. available for sale on PC.
7. The Mortuary Assistant — Best for story-driven ritual horror
The Mortuary Assistant from DarkStone Digital puts you overnight in a mortuary where one of the bodies is possessed. The camera stays first-person and the tools are literal: embalming instruments, holy water, sigils. Multiple endings reward multiple playthroughs.
Where it falls short: Runs repeat if you replay for other endings. Voice acting is uneven. Some puzzles are underexplained.
Pricing:
- Free: No demo
- Paid: $19.99
Platforms: Windows, macOS
Bottom line: The Mortuary Assistant is the pick for a horror game you can finish in a single tense evening.
How to pick the right one
If you want the tensest solo experience on the list, get MADiSON. If you want a four-player horror night with a mock-YouTube joke on top, get Content Warning. If you want a proper haunted-house investigation, get Phasmophobia. If your Discord night has three friends and no budget, get Devour. If you want military-grade bodycam horror with squad play, get Outlast Trials. If you want a slow-burn one-player haunt, get Visage. If you want to finish something scary in an evening, get The Mortuary Assistant.
FAQ
What is the best found footage horror game on PC? MADiSON leads for solo play. Content Warning leads for coop. Both commit hardest to the camera-first design.
Are any of these games free? Content Warning at $9.99 and Devour at $6.99 are the cheapest entry points. No fully free-to-play options on the list.
Which found footage horror game is best with friends? Content Warning, Phasmophobia, Devour, and Outlast Trials all support four-player coop. Content Warning has the funniest personality, Phasmophobia the deepest investigation.
Do any of these support VR? Phasmophobia has strong VR support, as does The Exorcist Legion VR (not on this list). Others are pancake only.
Which found footage horror runs on Steam Deck? Phasmophobia, Devour, Content Warning, and The Mortuary Assistant all run well on Deck. MADiSON and Visage are Playable but ask for tuning.
