Co-op game recommendations
Edit: This community is amazing, thank you all for all of your suggestions. Feel free to keep them coming. I have a Google doc full of ideas with my comments that I'm going to drop on him. I was trying to respond to everyone and then discovered that Tildes will rate limit you. So if I don't respond to you, I'm sorry but I definitely read your comment and checked out your suggestions!
My friend suffers from depression and lives 6 hours away from me so the happiest I see him is when we are regularly gaming together. The problem is that I haven't been able to find a game we both wanted to play for a while.
I just cannot get into all the survival crafting games that seem to dominate co-op gaming these days. I am looking for suggestions for anything else. Also, it needs to be an online co-op instead of a couch co-op.
His computer isn't the best so that needs to be a consideration, nothing wrong with older games. Ideally we are talking about PC games on Steam.
Examples:
- we played a ton of Risk of Rain 2, probably the last game we played a lot together
- we have played through Halo co-op a bunch of times.
Who has ideas for me?
I've had fun with Deep Rock Galactic with friends. It's a mission-based combat game with a pretty tight gameplay loop. You pick a mission, pick your load out, fly out to the world your mission takes place on, perform the objective, and get paid. The rewards from the missions can be used to improve your gear, so there's incentive to play more.
IMO, it's best as a full party of 4, otherwise you're going to want to pull in randos to fill out your party. Some of the missions can be tough with just two people.
Yeah this game has been on my radar. We have definitely played with randos in the past so not against it. The rewards from missions used to improve gear for the next mission is definitely a loop that can tickle my brain in the right places.
Thanks for the suggestion!
Another one that I just thought of is called Golf With Your Friends. Very different genre - it's just mini golf, played with your mouse. It's a super easy, turn-your-brain-off-and-chat-while-you-play kind of game. And there's some wacky game modes you can try that add stuff like collision and random shaped "balls" (trying to play mini golf as a cone is infuriatingly fun!) to keep it fresh as well.
DRG is also on sale right now :)
https://tildes.net/~games/1gw4/save_point_a_game_deal_roundup_for_the_week_of_june_9#comment-czlu
The "We Were Here" series on Steam is a set of coop puzzle games for two players. There's four games out, and IIRC another in the works, each one is more polished and ambitious than the last. "We Were Here", "We Were Here Too", "We Were Here Together", and "We Were Here Forever" are the four available now.
I've played the first three with my brother, and had a great time, and we're trying to make time for the fourth.
Each one typically splits the players into separate areas, so you're each seeing different information and have to share observations and communicate closely to solve the puzzles.
Highly recommended.
Seconded! Fantastic co-op puzzle game.
I'll add:
Satisfactory
Baldur's Gate 3
Nioh
Palworld
Ark
All great suggestions but not for OP. All of those games are demanding on a PC.
Yep, I didn't read their post closely at all apparently! Haha.
Okay, how about Portal 2, Portal Reloaded, and Trailmakers?
Ha no worries, those are also great examples!
Sounds great. Somehow completely missed these games, but I guess not surprising as not the type of game typically on my radar or something we have played. Definitely looks interesting and helps that the first game is free. Thanks for the recommendation, we will have to check them out.
Seconding this rec - if you enjoy puzzlers, these are amazing.
Don't forget Remote Play Together makes a lot of couch co-op games accessible for online multiplayer.
Super Bunny Man is a stupid fun platformer.
Also, if a game doesn't natively support remote play together but is a couch co-op game, you can trick Steam into thinking it is one of your remote play together games, even if it isn't a steam game.
-Remove the local game files for the game that has remote play together
-Move the files for the game you want remote play together on into the folder you just cleared
-Rename the game exe to whatever the previous game's executable is called
Now launching the original game's Steam entry should launch the game you plopped in, complete with remote play together. I had success doing this with Jamestown as the remote play donor and a non-Steam Worms game as the recipient.
Good call, I always forget about Remote Play Together.
It Takes Two and A Way Out are both fun games from the same studio.
Escape Simulator is a good puzzle game for sure!
If you're looking for a site that has these kinds of lists, btw: https://www.co-optimus.com/
A Way Out is probably the closest to what we typically have enjoyed in the past, so definitely a good option. Your other suggestions are great too, thank you!
I am aware of that website, but I always find these lists bad at selling me on any of these games, which is why I wanted to ask here, but thanks again!
Yes for sure! Yeah I realized shortly after posting that maybe it's not really in the spirit of the question, but I figured it might help someone else looking at this thread too so I left it up!
If y'all are looking for a grind too, I'd suggest Monster Hunter Rise (surprise surprise) for something deep to get into, with a lot of content and once y'all get good at it, it's easy to kinda just shoot the shit and have fun.
Some older, non-crafting games I've played co-op in the past:
Payday 2: Complete heists of banks and other places with friends. (possibly the most demanding on a computer on this list. Not sure if the first game is less demanding but I enjoyed that one too.)
Orcs Must Die: Sorta tower defense-y but more active combat too. I've played 1&2 and there's a 3 out now too.
Sanctum: similar to Orcs Must Die, I've enjoyed both 1&2
Dungeon Defenders: also kinda tower defense genre with active combat. I think the second game got really bad ratings but I enjoyed the first one.
Rocket League: the only sport esque thing I've ever enjoyed. Free to play now as well.
Tabletop Simulator: with community workshop items you can play just about any tabletop game together.
Sanctum and Orcs Must Die are both good calls. I own them and have played them, but I don't think I have ever played them with my buddy. Thanks!
We played a ton of Dungeon Defenders at some point, great game.
Alrighty so I know you said Couch Coop was a no-go, but it sounds like you may not have heard of Steam remote play together? As the link says, it allows you to play local multiplayer games online. Super useful, and opens up a ton of options for you two to play together!
I have a metric TON of multiplayer games in my steam library, I play a lot with my partner. You're getting a dump of them all, and also a top 5 recommendation. (Unfortunately, I couldn't get a script I was looking at to only grab the games in my specific collection, so no links for the games. Sorry! Windows 11 screenshot OCR is a lifesaver though.)
Top 5
The rest
Long list of games
I see we have multiple recommendations in common. But some of these games are not cooperative but competitive multiplayer, Like Ultimate Chicken Horse, Gang Beasts or Jackbox Party Packs (still good though!)
Yeah, I always forget about Remove play together, good call.
Thank you for all of the suggestions. Definitely added a bunch to the list. I didn't even realize Spiritfarer could be played co-op.
Spiritfarer is stellar in co-op. It really helps ease some of the late game grind.
This is why I didn't. Since I have no frame of reference what "not the best" means I'm assuming it won't run anything from the past year or two.
Nevertheless, if Helldivers 2 does run it'd be a stellar suggestion.
Yeah I suggested Helldivers 2 to him. I'm not sure if he every ended up checking it out, but definitely a game on my radar. Thanks for the rec!
And I should have mentioned it in my post, one of the reasons I posted this now was to figure out ahead of the summer sale so we aren't spending a ton of money.
The last couple of coop games my group has played are:
Stardew Valley
Left 4 Dead 2 (nostalgia driven, but a classic for a reason)
Halo MCC campaigns
Deep Rock Galactic
Certainly Stardew and L4D2 should work on anything that's been built in the last decade or so, so I would expect your friend's computer to be fine.
Stardew valley and Deep rock are S tier games for co-op. Cheap and easy to recommend to almost anyone.
Can slip in sunhaven as a stardew alike but fun in it's own right too.
Yeah, Stardew Valley is an example of a game that has just never hooked me as much as everyone else loves it.
We played a bunch of L4D2 back in the day and Halo campaigns are our go to. Definitely love them.
In that case, give DRG a try. It reminds me a lot of campaign coop in l4d2
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is balls to the walls hectic, funny, and cooperative! Easy to run on older hardware too.
Starwhal. Not co-op but good multiplayer fun for a couple of hours.
Interplanetary. Not co-op either but pretty fun for a while. Basically old school Artillery but with interplanetary ballistics.
Overcooked is incredible too. Test your communication skills by running a high stress kitchen! Sounds less fun than it actually is. Guaranteed to take your mind off of anything to just enjoy the game.
Moving Out is similar but instead of running a kitchen, you're moving furniture through tight hallways, closed windows, and more.
As always, check isthereanydeal.com to see if there's any deals from any legitimate retailers.
Edit to add:
I just remembered Project Zomboid now allows multiplayer. Maybe that's also one to look at.
Thank you. Not typically games we would play together, but I'll add them to the list to see if I can get him interested at all. Love isthereanydeal.com
Project Zomboid is actually a good example of a crafting/survival game I hate, but he is obsessed with. He has more than 1400 hours in it. We have played it together in the past, but it's just not my cup of tea.
Seeing your other responses in the thread gave me a better idea of what games you two like. Don't overlook Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime. It looks cutesy and easy but it's rather punishing and intense.
Overcooked and Moving Out are very specific co-op/party type games that I wouldn't play myself unless it's with my wife. It's probably not necessarily your cup of tea but they're regularly on sale so should be easy to pick up for a couple of bucks and they won't disappoint. But I wouldn't prioritize this unless you run out.
Portal 2?
Gears 5? (I don't care for the story but the gameplay is fun)
We have played both of those together. Portal 2 is an absolute blast for co-op and in general. Thanks for the recs!
Keeping in mind I don't know exactly how demanding some games are and how old your friend's computer is:
Just Shapes & Beats can be played cooperatively if you like rhythm. I can't imagine it's too heavy.
Myst Online can and should be played cooperatively. It's old as hell by this point, so it should run anywhere? Keep in mind certain aspects of it definitely show their age. (This game is free!)
Hammerwatch is a really fun fast-paced, pixel art, top down hack & slash which I have fond memories of playing through with friends.
ibb & obb is a cooperative sidescrolling platformer for two players with a fun gimmick.
The brutal Castle Crashers is a classic. It's a cooperative beat 'em up by the creators of Newgrounds.
Old indie darling Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine is a top-down heist/stealth game. Hard by fun.
TowerFall Ascension is a bit on the short side but if you like sidescrolling and archery, this is the game for you.
Games in the beautiful Trine series can be played cooperatively. Be a wizard, a thief or a knight and solve puzzle platforming challenges using their different skill combinations! Note that the first game in the series, while fun, was not designed for co-op, so it might be unsatisfying compared to the others.
The top down roguelite Wizard of Legend can be played with a friend (I sure did). A sequel was just announced this month too!
And if these all feel too limited... There's always Rocket League!
You can play most of these with up to four people, by the way!
Thanks for your suggestions, I added a bunch of them to my list. Played the first couple Trine games, definitely remember playing them co-op, but I cant remember if I played them with my buddy or not.
Just shapes and Beats looks amazing, I might get the regardless of him.
Things I play a /lot/ co-op: Hellcard, Inkbound, Grim Dawn, Guild Wars II, Escape Simulator. Some of these are turn based, which I prefer so you can talk things through "If I do this then you can do that", or to make tea.
(0deersoft make the nicest escape-room type puzzles, IMHO https://www.0deersoft.com/ beware though that they are actually not easy. Really looking forward to the next one they release)
Good call on Grim Dawn, I have played a ton of it but never even thought to suggest we play it together. Not sure why, we grew up playing Diablo 2.
Completely forgot about GW2, played it a ton at release. It appears to be on Steam now and free to play, so that would be a ton of content if he has any interest. I don't know if either of us are in the mood for an MMO.
I pretty much just co op with one friend all the time and we are often scouring steam sales for random co op games to play. Going to list off some of the more recent big ones, I know I've seen a few here already but still is a fun exercise.
Satisfactory and Factorio - We have come back to these over and over again to do several play throughs and both are amazing factory games that play well together. Honorable mention of dyson sphere project, it requires a mod for multiplayer, but when we did try it it worked perfectly fine and was another fun factory game to play together.
Rimworld and Prison Architect - Both a similar style that tell random great stories while you build things. My friend and I have a shared experience in Rimworld of Norbert who was one of our colonists that in our head cannon the entire game was made for. We took him to hell and back again and when he did eventually expire it was a true loss. Prison architect is a bit less intimidating but of the same vein, works really well in a co op setting.
7 Days To Die - So fun to play as, we have revisited it about 3 or 4 times between mods and updates and have enjoyed it immensely each time. It is an amazing co op game.
Valhiem - Screaming LOOK OUT!! as the tree you just chopped is heading directly for your friends head is enough to sell this game.
The Forest, Sons of the Forest, and Green Hell - Both forest games are pretty good and have some moments. Green hell is like the more grounded jungle survival version of it and is a great survival game to play together. In green hell key moments involve picking leeches off your friend for them and/or watching them collapse to death from a snake bite.
Vintage Story - A great minecraft alike with more grounded survival. It was recommended here a little ways back and we spent a lot of time with it.
Medieval Dynasty - We had a fun stint in this one, it's just different enough from most survival games with the town simulation mechanic to feel unique from the sea of similar games. Highly recommend it.
Starbound with Frakken U mod- This is probably harder to recommend as it feels dated and we probably liked it due to our first exposure to factory mechanics, but it was still a fun play through with this mod and would recommend. Although...
Terraria - The worlds best game really. You will go from chain dying to zombies on the first night to building the ultimate arena to challenge the moon lord, when he goes down, you both will have had an experience to have gotten there.
All ARPG games are fun, Path of Exile, Gimm Dawn, Last Epoch, Diablo (1/2/3/4), Torchlight. They can all be played cooperatively quite well.
SnowRunner - The dark souls of driving games. Awesome mud physics will challenge you to some fun experiences. Key memories here involve a crashed trailer on the side of a hill that turned into a multicar pile up over the play session as we continued to try to recover the initial trailer using cranes and not resetting the car yet kept tumbling down the same hill over and over again. I have heard some people having issues with 4 players but with 2 players it was just fine for us.
American Truck Simulator - We didn't end up playing too long but if this is your thing it is co op. Along that lines games like farming simulator are also co op. It was given away free on epic just a few days ago I believe.
Fallout 76 - Regardless of the criticism, it is far enough along to be worth spending a few hours in together with a friend if you both like the setting.
Elden Ring, Dark Souls 3. While a bit of a PITA to set up co op, once done, they are amazing playthroughs together.
Monster Hunter - I only played world but rise should be similar. Group bashing monsters is an exciting thing to do and you can spend a lot of hours here.
Space Engineers - I think perhaps a bit dated but it did give us a few weeks of co op experiences. We still have a video we watch of getting out first spaceship up into orbit that is really cool.
Gloomhaven - Gloomhaven is a tough game IMHO, but there are hours and hours or game here. I think it may be a bit challenging for 2 people. Running 1 hero at first is all I could handle, running 2 takes a while. Playing the scenarios as 2 heros felt very difficult vs playing 4, so was harder to get going. I still think it is an amazing game and worth checking out.
Dying Light - I did not play the second one so can't comment, but the first is an amazing co op experience together through zombie land and well worth a playthrough.
Baldurs Gate 3, Divinity 2 - Both are amazing RPGs to play through. BG3 is demanding, however if you like RPGs it is IMHO the ultimate RPG and well worth the price of admission.
Borderlands games - I am not an FPS person now a days but it was a quality co op experience playing through borderlands 3 and there are lots of things to do together in it.
Solsata: Crown of the Magister - It's a bit of a budget RPG but it plays really well cooperatively and is again worth it if you like co op RPGs.
No Mans Sky - This is a hit or miss game with people, but it is co operative and works well in that capacity if you both enjoy it.
Palworld - Still early on here but was enough game for 40 hours or so for us, worth it if not for now but for future patches as well.
Wildermyth - A unique game about story telling and characters. The base game is an overland strategy map (pretty simple to play) with a great tactical grid gameplay using a unique look and feel of papercraft. The best part about it is how your heros can change over time like growing a wolfs head and chimera claw that grant new abilities. They can then be taken over into other campaigns and grow more powerful over time. Honestly am due for a replay as they are finishing off the game soon.
Wartales - Similar to battle brothers, you walk around a map mount and blade style and then go into small turn based tactical combat. It is a very good game and of course works very well cooperatively and is a lot of fun.
I hesitate to mention this one but Wasteland 3 is co op, however we ran into bugs that wrecked the play through so maybe can't recommend it, however before the bugs we were having a lot of fun with it.
State of Decay 2 - Another great zombie survival, we got 32 hours out of it before becoming bored, but it was a good 32 hours.
Grounded - This is a well polished honey I shrunk the kits experience. Key moments involve telling your friend to turn around just as a giant ass spider bites his head off. We did enjoy our time with it, but only put in 28 hours before sort of puttering off. Not sure why it didn't grip us for longer but is still a great experience.
Farcry 5 - We have 26 hours here before getting bored, co op shooter mayhem is pretty good, although shooters do get boring for us pretty quickly.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Play characters in very short arena battles. It plays really well and is fun to level up characters. We didn't get to the point where we could join on random battles so maybe am missing out on the main part. I still mean to revisit it, but 24 hours in it only for us.
Here are ones that in the under 20 hours category but had some neat experiences:
Raft, Sun Haven, Warhammer vermintide (not great with 2 people imho but maybe fun for you guys), Kingdom, Project Zomboid, Helldivers 1 (probably 2 we havent gotten there yet), Risk of rain 1 and 2, Rampage Knights, Lost Castle, Streets of Rage 4. It takes Two and A Way Out (both good, just short play throughs), My time at Portia.
Worth mentioning FF14 and WOW were fun to level together, we didn't get too far into ff14 but if you enjoy that style it is a good game.
Ok there are probably some more, but this is a pretty good run down of everything we've tried. We've been playing multiplayer with 2 of us exclusively for a long time so any of the ones listed up top of my list have the longest play time and revisits. Overall, factorio and satisfactory share close to 1000 hours each of us and are probably our longest played together. Old man speed and base building are rule of the day for us!
You could check out the "Activity" games in Discord. I played some in a group of 3 last week. We got hooked on Blazing 8s, which was basically Uno. But that might be less fun for a party of 2.
Two years ago, I had a blast playing Resident Evil 5 online co-op. My friend and I were in voice chat, which added to the bonding experience because the story is so dumb but enjoyable. Co-op made the "partner" aspect shine in areas such as resource management (you have shared inventory), combat, puzzles, and QTEs. You have to get past the horrible camera though.
All the best to you and your friend! 🙂
I will have to do that. The Tildes Discord looked pretty dead last time I checked.
I'm still hooked on The Division 2 which can be played any way you want. Single, co-op, clan, etc. Up to 4 at a time in a team. I used to regularly play with one other friend in Germany, I'm in England.
It's a looter shooter, it's pretty good fun.
I'm not sure it ever left console, but if it did, Army of Two was hilarious to play together as co-op.
Good call. I played a decent amount of the first Division, just never with friends. I could see the second one being decent for some co-op mindless shooting and I think I have had it suggested for such in the past. Thanks for the reminder.
Doesn't look like Army of Two ever made it to PC. I want to say I played it back in the day but don't remember at this point.
I can highly recommend Nioh 2 which I have played with a friend for the past nine months and it's been amazing. I'm not typically a soulslike player, but together in co-op it's been a blast. And there is a lot of game there as each new game cycle adds something. Also, I've learnt a lot about Japanese folklore from the game.
My last year's co-op game was Remnant II, which is also sort of soulslike (but with guns), so maybe I do like soulslikes in the end. It's a wonderful game, as was the first in the series. I do remember it was a bit tough on older systems when it was released though, so you may want to double check what the situation is before you commit.
The We Were Here series games are co-operative puzzle games, a bit like room escape games where you are in the same space but physically separated and need to talk to solve puzzles together. They are good games and I think the first one is free. Not particularly long though.
Gloomhaven is another brilliant puzzle game. A digital version of the hit board game of the same name, it has an excellent game loop and while the story isn't anything to write home about, I loved every minute of the campaign with our three-player group.
From more recent games, Helldrivers 2 is quite fun with two players, although I must say I grew tired of it after about 40 hours. It got a bit repetitive and I didn't feel there was any meaningful progress. Still, I feel I got my money's worth and I'm sure we'll return one day to see if they have changed something.
Also, since you like Halo, have you played the Gears of War games? I really like the series, and I thought Gears 5 was pretty decent as well.
Thank you for all of the recommendations!
I have zero interest and have had zero luck getting into any soulslikes and he is similar, so Nioh seems unlikely.
We actually played through the first Remnant together and I enjoyed Remnant 2 aside from not having anyone to play it co-op with. I'll have to try again to get him into it.
Someone else recommended We Were Here series. Looks great and its on my list now.
Gloomhaven seems interesting. I didn't realize it had co-op, added to the list!
I tried to get him interested in Helldivers 2 before. Might be too much for his PC and he never got back to me on it, so I'll try again.
We have played through Gears 5, I should have mentioned that. Thanks!
You are welcome!
Like you, I actually had zero interest in soulsikes, but my friends pushed me to join them in the first Remnant and I ended up really liking it. One of the friends later suggested Nioh 2 to me and I thought why not, especially as it kind of has a connection to Akira Kurosawa, a film director I really like. And while it has nothing really to do with Kurosawa, Nioh 2 has become one of my favourite games ever. I don't typically like really hard games at all, but there is something magical about dying together, over and over again, but each time seeing that you are getting better, together. And I guess like Remnant, Nioh is a bit more forgiving than the more hard-core soulslikes. And the mechanics are really well polished.
But I shall stop pitching it to you now!
Helldivers 1 is actually also a really great game and runs on a potato.
My friends and I played a lot of Ror2 as well. Might check out a few of the new character mods to sequese a little more out of the game. Gives atleast a couple of play sessions more.
Additionally the same group has been been using Plate Up! as our defacto game to play. Silly coop restaurant game but with rogue like elements in how modifyers or equipment is distributed. Also not sure anyone has mentioned it but Steam next fest is on and has several co-op games. This site has a list of co-op games with demos to mess around. No cost commitment so you can try some things that you might not normally pickup. Shell runner looks neat but had 3 online last night so didn't try it. We ended up playing several rounds of SWORN. It played very much like hadies or ember nights which night be another recommendation for another rogue like beat-em-up.
Thanks for the suggestions. My buddy got hooked on RoR2 and burnt himself out on it, but maybe the character mods will get him back into it. Worth a shot.
https://boardgamearena.com/ --> plenty of boardgames, also co-op. And you don't have to play all of them realtime either.
My pals and I still play Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition regularly.
My partner and I absolutely adore Heroes of Hammerwatch. We have sunk so many hours into it. My favorite class to play is Warlock and his favorite is Ranger (we both tried some of the other classes, but they didn't click with us). I don't normally like this style of gameplay, but it really grabbed me.
You're the second person to mention it and it looks up my alley at least. I definitely want to check it out.
I didn't see Borderlands 2 mentioned yet.
My friend and I play co-op games constantly, here's the list of games we've played together, some of these were with parsec or multiplayer emulators
Coop
Tales of Symphonia
Tales of berseria a little
Seiken Densetsu 3 x6
Secret of Mana
Legend of Mana
final fantasy 6 x5
final fantasy 5 x3
guacamelee x2
guacamelee 2
Wow classic 3 characters levelling and raiding MC through sunwell
Diablo 3
Wizard of Legend x1000
Civ 5
Civ 6
shoot many robots
Wow Retail
Destiny 2
Remnant From the Ashes
Dragon's crown
Jamestown
Indivisible
Killer Queen Black
halo master chief collection complete
Stellaris
Moon Hunters
Magicka
nine parchments
humankind x1000
FF4jp translated
FF6 T-Edition
TBC classic levelling and raiding
Final Fantasy: Strangers of Paradise (3x)
FFV: Super Job System
20xx
Tabletop Simulator Marvel Legendary
gunfire reborn x1000
Satisfactory
Halo Infinite X 2
Deep Rock Galactic
Baldurs Gate III X 2
SM64Coop 120 stars
Barony
Games we plan on playing
Indivisible
The Old Republic (MMO)
Divinity 2
X-men legends (GC)
Mario Kart: Double Dash
Seiken Densetsu 3
Humankind
Civ
Factory Game
If you liked Risk of Rain 2, you'll like these rogue-likes:
Roboquest - Tighter arenas, harder difficulty scaling, Borderlands-style cell shaded art style. 2 player max.
Crab Champions - Fast paced roguelike FPS where carcinization reigns. Awesome movement and music.
Voidigo - 2D top down. Chaotic. Awesome. Like Binding of Isaac meets Rio Carnival.
Broforce - 2D side scroller. Even more chaotic. Easy to jump into, gets pretty tricky later on.
Other options that are good and easy for any PC to run: Demeo, Streets of Rogue, Children of Morta, Don't Starve Together, Battleblock Theater, Barotrauma, BattleBit, Mindustry.
Depending on the PC hardware, you might be able to run Divinity: Original Sin 2, Dying Light 1, theHunter, or even Elden Ring with the seamless co-op mod. These are all fun even at the lowest visual quality.