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The best Co-Op Games you can play online or on your couch. Even though we think that many of our favourite gaming moments have come from solo play, and we hope that solo campaigns continue for a long time, we would be lying if we said that co-op play hadn’t given us many great times. There are a lot of Battle Royale games to choose from right now, as the trend seems to be growing. But which games are best for getting people to work together as a team?
Many video games now have online multiplayer, but it’s getting harder to find something you can play with a friend or family member on the couch. But we can help if you want to have fun with other people. Here are the best multiplayer games we’ve played on computer, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Note that we are focusing on real co-op games, not just local multiplayer games that aren’t really cooperative.
Best Co-Op Games
Rainbow Six Siege
Rainbow Six Siege is known for its intense, strategic PvP battles, but the co-op Terrorist Hunt mode, which has been in the series since the beginning, is worth your time for an evening or two. Just like in the other games, your goal is to get rid of all the terrorists as quickly as possible on the level you choose. Don’t think you’ll be sent in with guns blazing.
If you want to kill all of your enemies, you’ll have to get rid of traps, use your skills, and work with up to four other people on timing. We recommend that you make the game as hard as you can handle. The harder the challenge, the more you’ll have to work together, and this mode is at its best when you have to make detailed plans and carry them out perfectly.
Borderlands 3
Borderlands has been more fun from the start. What good is a shotgun that sends electric damage through a chain of enemies or a rifle that shoots saw blades that bounce around if you don’t have a friend to watch it in action? Borderlands 3 is the great game so far in the series. Finding weirder guns to shoot at weirder enemies has always been the main draw of series.
There are many new ways to fire a lot of weapons, and the world is much bigger and has a lot more to do. In the first Borderlands game, players had to fight over the best guns because they all shared the loot. Borderlands 3 can be played that way, but in Cooperation mode, when enemies die, each player gets their own pile of weapons, so no one has to share.
Diablo 3
The legendary action-RPG from Blizzard is just as tight and polished as it was when it came out eight years ago. Even if you’ve beaten the campaign many times, playing it with a friend always brings new surprises, like a build or combo you didn’t expect that makes you look at combat in a whole new way.
Diablo games have always been about getting items that are better and better. When you find a rare item, it’s more fun to share it with someone, and it’s easier to make powerful characters when your party can share drops. Don’t worry too much about making sure your classes go well with each other. Just jump in and begin to swing.
Portal 2
Portal 2 would probably be at the top of this list if it could be played on current-gen consoles. Right now, you can only play Portal 2 on a PC, but don’t let that stop you. If you and a friend both have laptops that can run it, which most can, you’re in for one of the best co-op experiences of life. The co-op campaign is even harder than the first one, which was already hard.
You and a friend, who each control a cute robot, must figure out how to finish a test chamber by working together. You’ll also have to move and act at just the right time. If one player jumps or presses a button a split second too soon or too late, the whole plan falls apart.
Back 4 Blood
If you spent hours playing any of the original Left 4 Dead games, you might like this updated version from the same developers. The game works the same way: you work in groups of four, move through a map by completing different tasks and fight zombie hordes until you reach a safe house.
Back 4 Blood makes things more fun by adding special zombies that are scary and almost impossible to kill without teamwork on the Nightmare difficulty setting. You can also collect cards and add them to your deck to give your character and team special skills and upgrades. The game might not be as fun as the original series, but it does take you back to a time when things were easier.
Cuphead
This devilishly hard co-op game gets easier when you add a Mugman. Well, that’s not entirely true, but at least it gives you someone to blame when you keep dying to a beautiful but scary wibbly carnation from the 1930s. You play as Cuphead and Mugman, his partner in crime. You move through a top-down overworld by beating levels, usually boss battles with multiple stages that change.
Learning the enemy’s different attack patterns and coordinating parries and attacks is key to winning. Still, if – no, let’s be honest, when – one of you makes a mistake and takes too many projectiles, you can parry their immortal soul back to the land of the living, if you can reach them before they slip off screen into the afterlife.
The Division 2
Since the beginning, The Division has had good co-op gameplay. In fact, our review of The Divison 2 shows that the game was pretty good from the start. But it makes sense that it would be best in multiplayer, since any military-themed game worth its salt has themes of friendship and teamwork along with some chuffin’ good loot.
Some people didn’t like the endgame of Ubisoft’s post-apocalyptic shooter because there wasn’t much to do. But Ubisoft slowly added more to the game and released updates that improved it. All of this takes place in Washington, which is why The Division 2 is one of the best PC co-op games.
Gears 5
Gears 5’s meaty campaign is fun to play on your own, but it really comes to life when you play with a friend or two. The main characters in Gears 5’s story campaign are Kait and Del. They do most of the shooting, sawing, and pulling robot plugs out of the backs of enemies who don’t know what’s going on.
The third player is in charge of the friendly flying robo-drone that Jack, Kait, and Del have. This robot-drone helps Jack, Kait, and Del by setting up traps, dropping boosts, getting weapons, and giving quick first aid if you get hurt. For experienced roadie runners, he’s not quite as fun to play as the other characters, but he does add a lot to the action in Gears 5.
Final Words
Our list of the best co-op games is made by hand, so you know you’re getting games that really put co-op play front and centre. Co-op will never be added to these games as an afterthought or at the last minute. Instead, they will focus on co-op play and give it the time and care it needs. These are the games that are best played with another person (or two), and some of them can’t even be played alone.