7 Minutes in Hell is the latest co-op horror game on Steam that wants to get you screaming over proximity chat

GamesHorror7 Minutes in Hell is the latest co-op horror game on Steam that wants to get you screaming over proximity chatWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Gaggle Studios)

7 Minutes in Hell screenshot

When a videogame format works, videogame developers make sure we don’t forget it: After hits like Phasmophobia and Lethal Company, four-player co-op horror games are the genre du jour—next to extraction shooters, at least—and we now get a new one about about as often as Tim Sweeney says the word “metaverse.” The latest is 7 Minutes in Hell, which justreleased in early access on Steamand challenges up to four players to escape procedurally-generated death mazes with as much cash as they can pick up along the way.

You and your friends are contestants in a deadly game show, and after buying supplies like extra battery juice for your flashlights, you charge into a maze with seven minutes to find the exit while avoiding traps like circular saws and, in our experience, bothersome spiders that are surprisingly resistant to being bashed on the head with sticks. (Things escalate the longer you play, and there are scarier-looking monsters than spiders in the screenshots on Steam.)

One thing I look for in a game like this is immersive sim-like logic: If I combine two items in a way that should do something, does it do something? I didn’t personally find any surprising interactions over my brief session with 7 Minutes in Hell—the best I did was pick up a boombox and walk around unhelpfully playing beats—but the developers say that anticipating the whims of players is part of their design philosophy. If you put rocks in that grinder instead of a Chris, for instance, it apparently spits out gems.

This is fine.(Image credit: Gaggle Studios)

7 Minutes in Hell screenshot

Even in a genre known for crudeness, though, 7 Minutes in Hell is pretty bland-looking. It’s hard to predict what’s going to be a hit and what isn’t, but my gut says that unless some big streamer gets it to blow up, this one will need to do more to distinguish itself from the other options out there, like Murky Divers, Phasmophobia, and SCP: Secret Laboratory.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

Over the next few months, developer Gaggle Studios plans to add more items and objects to interact with, a new arena, more monsters, and mod support. The studio previously releasedGoose Goose Duck, a very Among Us-like game that did pretty well on Steam, where it has a “Very Positive” rating from users.

More about horror

Dead By Daylight: The Junji Ito Collection

The outlast trials personal pick

Sure, I’m scared of my own shadow, but that doesn’t stop me from forcing my friends to play The Outlast Trials with me

LatestToday’s Wordle answer for Monday, January 13See more latest►

Latest

Today’s Wordle answer for Monday, January 13

Wordle today being played on a phone

Today’s Wordle answer for Monday, January 13

See more latest►

Most Popular

Today’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12

Watching an all-romances speedrun of the legendarily janky Fallout: New Vegas is a delight

Activision will send you alarmingly detailed data for every single Call of Duty match you’ve played in the last 4 years if you ask, and players are using it to figure out their mysterious SBMM rankings

Here’s a game about being a depressed, lonely maintenance robot on a long-haul space colony ship

Civilization 7 has been Steam Deck Verified ahead of its launch next month

23-year-old D&D RPG Neverwinter Nights just got a new update thanks to the ‘unpaid software engineers’ of its unkillable community

My Summer Car, the absurdly detailed Finnish life sim about vehicle maintenance and drinking in your underpants, smashes into 1.0 after nearly a decade in Steam early access

Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes a run at improving parkour, as Ubisoft strives to make the system less ‘like a gas pedal’

Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11

The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in April

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

A bunch of the best Steam Deck accessories on a blue background.

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

Thank Goodness You’re Here review

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review

3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

4Ikea Utespelare desk review

Ikea Utespelare desk review

5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals