If being a gamer has taught me anything, it’s that when a game formula works, developers will milk it like a cow in Stardew Valley.
Case in point: four-player co-op horror games are everywhere these days. After the runaway success of Phasmophobia and the recent chaos of Lethal Company, it feels like we’re getting a new one every day.
Right alongside extraction shooters, this genre is having its moment. The latest contender to join the spooky co-op roster is 7 Minutes in Hell, now in early access on Steam.
The concept is simple: you and up to three of your bravest (or dumbest) friends are contestants on a twisted game show.
After gearing up with supplies, because, apparently, flashlight batteries are the mana potions of horror, you’re tossed into a procedurally generated death maze with one goal: find the exit before your seven minutes are up.
Oh, and grab as much cash as you can while dodging traps and avoiding some seriously annoying spiders that seem to have resistance stats straight out of Dark Souls.
As the clock ticks, things only get worse. If the screenshots are anything to go by, the deeper you dive, the scarier the monsters become.
Now, cynics like me might call this game streamer bait, designed for people to scream into their webcams for likes and subs. But honestly, 7 Minutes in Hell looks like it could, maybe, possibly, be fun with friends, even if you’re not hamming it up for a Twitch audience.
Between the frantic rush to escape, the tense atmosphere, and the inevitable “who grabbed all the batteries?” moments, there’s potential for some chaotic co-op gold here.
Developer Gaggle Studios, best known for Goose Goose Duck (the Among Us clone that ruffled more than a few feathers on Steam), has big plans for the game’s future.
Over the next few months, they’re adding new items, monsters, arenas, and even mod support because what’s a horror game without mods that turn monsters into Shrek or Thomas the Tank Engine?
If you want to try 7 Minutes in Hell, you can follow the link to its Steam page here.