What little-known online co-op games do you enjoy and why?
I'm a huge fan of co-op games and have played over 100 by now, sometimes I stumble on a little co-op game I had never heard of and give it a go, I'm curious to hear about them.
I'm going to throw in Clandestine, which is an asymmetric infiltration game where one player is a field operative in a 3rd person stealth shooter, and the other player is a hacker that has to control a little avatar on the network, manage CCTV cameras so the field operative isn't spotted, crack door key codes, direct the field operative to mission objectives, disable guards by overloading power and water utilities, and even call in for body cleanup and ammo/health drops.
I love the asymmetric cooperative nature of the game and Hacktag appears to be similar, though I've never tried it. I'm played through the whole campaign as a field operative and now I'm going through as the hacker and finding myself enjoying a whole new way to play the game, which has been challenging.
You may have seen this already, but I really enjoyed We Were Here. It's a two-player co-op game that makes fairly novel use of asymmetric information and in-game voice chat. I've had technical trouble with the sequel, but the first one ran well for me and was a lot of fun.
Definitely play with someone with whom you can communicate effectively!
We were here was fantastic for one playthrough with my wife. We joked about switching roles and then later admitted we wouldnt be able to forget the game enough to replay. Regardless it was worth every penny we paid. Its only a few hours at most and no regrets.
I've never heard of it so thanks, although this topic wasn't necessarily about introducing me to new games but rather just talking about co-op games that aren't "borderlands 2 and warframe".
This looks like it could be fun for half an hour or so but after that it would get rather repetitive, there seems to be a lack of communication challenges beyond describing what a painting looks like and what the symbols look like (though at least this is a two-way communication, with one having to describe the painting and the other describing the symbols, so both players participate equally which is nice)
It's free though so a lack of gameplay isn't really an issue, I might suggest it to one or two people I play with and give it a little go.
If free co-op games interest you I quite enjoyed Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop, I'm generally unfamiliar with free titles.
Honestly there's only about an hour or two of gameplay from start to finish, so it doesn't have much time to go stale. If you check it out, I hope you enjoy.
Both of the games you mentioned look interesting, I'll definitely want to check them out (especially Alien Swarm since that is unquestionably in-budget). I honestly don't have much experience with asymmetrical co-op games, which is probably why We Were Here was so novel and interesting to me.
I'm always on the lookup for low cost (or really great) co-op games. I have a friend who now lives far away and it's a great way for us to spend some time together. I really enjoy any co-op game that involves solving puzzles or trying to figure out how to surmount a challenge together. The gold standard so far in my personal co-op gaming history is probably Portal 2.
There's definitely a lack of asymmetrical options out there, hopefully we see some more soon.
I'm not too familiar with puzzle co-op games but like you said Portal 2 was fantastic, especially since you could then play workshop levels. I do have some in mind but you've likely heard of them or they're out of your price range: Monaco, Ibb & Obb, Door Kickers, FORCED: Slightly Better Edition, Aragami, and Trine. I also find Tower Defense games can have puzzle-esque elements to them, such as Terrorhedron which can require some thoughtful placements and designs in 3D.
I'd recommend checking out the Dota 2 Arcade (basically mods), they're all free and there's some co-op options out there like Together We Stand and various TD games.
Everyone probably already knows about this one, but Stardew Valley's new multiplayer co-op mode brings a whole new life to the game. It only just came out of beta, so I'm going to shoehorn it in on this "little known online co-op games" thread anyway.
I wasn't aware it was now out of beta, that's great. There's lots of people who aren't aware it's now multiplayer so definitely worth a mention.
I wish there was some support for independent earnings though, as much as I like working together it can be a bit painful having to decide who gets to purchase upgrades first, especially when it can end up getting re-fed in to your farm to support more earnings to then be able to afford two backpack upgrades quicker.
I remember having Clandestine on my wishlist for a while, whilst it was in Early Access and the price was a little high. I guess you recommend it then? Do you suggest 1 player sticking to one role throughout the campaign or switching after every level or so?
Also, I remember playing Hacktag when it must have been a free demo on itch, or something. I didn't know it had released, so thanks!
I do recommend it, the graphics are a bit dated though so keep that in mind. I actually didn't realise it was a game from 3 years ago, I thought it was one of those older games that then got published on steam so the date was wrong. I believe I bought it when it was on sale, 50% or 75% off; I'd struggle to justify it at its current price point as it may not appeal to everyone, but of course you could always refund it.
As far as I know the host is always the field operative and the player that joins them is the hacker, with no way to switch roles. The other player would have to host their own campaign and you'd both have to start from the beginning; I can see how that could be a dealbreaker though.
I wouldn't say it's little-known but I love playing Magicka with my friends.
Have you heard of Nine Parchments? I've yet to try it, feedback seems a bit mixed.
I haven't! But I like Trine and Trine 2.
It's meant to be similar to Magicka, and it's currently on sale :)
I've only played Trine 2 but it was definitely a great game.
Ibb and Obb. I wish it was on the Switch
Not that little known but keep talking and no one explodes
Journey was a really cool game to watch. I never played it as I don't have a PS4 which I think you need but I watched some of the Roosterteeth guys play it a few years ago (Ray and Burnie I think), and I remember they got matched with this random person and spent the next like 90 minutes working with this guy to finish the story. Looked like an awesome game
it came out on the PS3 and had a PS4 re-release.
The ps4 re release must be super pretty. The original was super fucking pretty. Thats 90% of that game lol