spriteloom

Cafeteria After Dark

Four players each hold a different hospital job, like lights, doors or medicine, and must lean on each other's tools to last until dawn.

31% of Team-Based Survival Horror games found an audience, yet few came out lately. 10 of 31 judged games reached 1,000 reviews, and 14 came out in the last three years.

What it feels like

You feel like one gear in a tense machine, where your teammates stay alive only if you do your own job well.

The core loop

  • Patrol: Each player works their station and handles the hospital's needs, such as power, locks and supplies.
  • Call Out: Players share what they see and hear, since each role only knows part of what is happening.
  • Survive: When a haunt arrives, the team must use the right job at the right time to hold it off.
  • Restock: Between waves, the team repairs, heals and decides who covers which ward next.

One sitting

One run is a single night of several waves, ending at dawn or at a wipe. Friends can finish a run, talk through it and queue again.

What sets it apart

  • Every player has a unique job with a unique tool, so no one is a spare body, unlike loot-and-run games like Dark Hours.
  • Monsters are built to require teamwork to beat instead of being dodged or locked in rooms, which answers the complaint that they are too easy or too cheap.
  • Open lobbies, friend invites and a clear drop-in rule are in from the start, which answers what players missed in PROJECT: PLAYTIME.

The first playable

One small ward with four jobs, one haunt and a dawn timer, played by four people over online co-op. Check whether the team talks and each job feels needed.

Scope

  • One ward map
  • Four roles with one tool each
  • One haunt type
  • Online co-op lobby with friend invites
  • Several wards and haunt types
  • Difficulty and night length options
  • Field of view and camera sway settings
  • Rejoin and drop-in handling for players who leave

Art

Low-poly hospital with strong colored light for each role, such as a green medic glow and amber door lights, so the capsule reads at a glance. Keep textures simple and let lighting carry the dread.

Risks

  • Repeating tasks wear the loop thin, as players said of Dark Hours. Vary each night with new haunts that change which job matters most, and keep the tasks tied to the threat.
  • Bugs and stuck players hurt co-op trust. Add a reset-to-safe-room option and test with four-player groups early and often.
  • Teams fall apart when a player leaves or lobbies stay empty. Let AI or a spare player take over a dropped role, and keep a simple open lobby list.

Price

$5 to $10: The $5 to $10 band had more games find an audience than the cheaper band, and it suits a small co-op horror game.

Team-Based Survival Horror games that found an audience

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