Working together is the reason we are the dominant species on our blue sphere, after all. So let’s hold hands and enjoy the best co-op games together.
It’s time for the best co-op games.
Humanity is unlike any other species on Earth. Look around you – look at all we can do. I am typing my brain thoughts on some ethereal electronic space that only exists to us, transferring my ideas to your mind like some arcane telepath. It’s amazing when you really think about it.
Know what else are amazing? Video games. Since the first video game released, technology has improved, fidelity has increased, and the creative ingenuity of the field hasn’t slowed down an ounce. How is all of this possible? Cooperation. Working together is the reason we are the dominant species on our blue sphere, after all. So let’s hold hands and enjoy these collaborative works together.
Here are the 25 best co-op games to play right now .
What could be more relaxing than taking a trip to snowy New York with your friends in the lead up to Christmas? Well, lots of things if The Division is anything to go by. In Ubisoft’s shooter, money has gone bad. Terrorists have weaponised capitalism, covering banknotes in a deadly virus before waiting for Christmas shoppers to spread it all around.
Only you, a sleeper agent with a gun, can bring peace back to the Big Apple. So grab your friends, choose your best boomstick, hunker down near a yellow taxi, and get ready to shoot some poor people so you can steal their beanie hats.
Trivia: You can find a pair of Sam Fisher’s trifocal goggles from Splinter Cell in a post office in Manhattan.
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Further reading: The Division 2 is currently in development .
Sonic Mania captures the speeding spirit of the blue streak’s 2D heydays. And best of all? You can play it with a pal. Give a friend the second controller and they can fly behind you as Tails, or sulk about as Knuckles.
It’s the perfect co-op game to play with your children, since the screen follows the main player, meaning you don’t have to wait around for them. They still collect rings for you, too. Bonus! After all, Sonic doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to hang about, does he?
Trivia: Sonic Mania is the highest critically rated Sonic game in the last 15 years and it wasn’t even made by Sega.
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch.
Further reading: Sonic Mania cheats and extras .
Is Sonic a bit too casual for you? Welcome to Cuphead, a relentlessly difficult shoot-’em-up with a visual style inspired by 1930s cartoons, channeling the spirit of Disney and Fleischer Studios in an eye-popping display.
It might look nice, but it is bloody painful to play alone. It is uber hard. Bring a friend, get them to press start on your second controller and they will pop into the world as Mughead, Cuphead’s brother. You get to play a game and you can call your mate a mug the entire time. Win-win.
Trivia: Did you know? Cuphead is actually loads better if you change the controls and put firing on the trigger.
Platforms: PC, Xbox One.
Further reading: Watch someone beat all Cuphead’s bosses without taking damage .
If you have an internet connection, playing Destiny 2 with mates can be a great experience. For the most part, it’s mindless shooting – booming background noise as you chat shit with your friends. You can almost play it on autopilot if you’re just exploring its gorgeous world with pals.
For those looking for a challenge, friends are a must, however. Get a good squad of your online buddies together and tackle a raid. Winning these requires real teamwork, real coordination, and actual concentration. “Dave, shut up going on about how bad The Walking Dead is now, we’re trying to focus here. Why are you even still watching it?”
Trivia: Destiny 2’s live action trailer was shot by Kong: Skull Island’s director.
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One.
Further reading: Destiny 2 guide – tips, exotics, subclasses and more.
You might not have even heard of Snipperclips, but many class it among the best games on the Nintendo Switch. In it, you each take control of half a Joy-Con, both of you controlling a test tube-shaped cartoon avatar on-screen. You have to work together to solve puzzles, cutting each other into shapes to catch items, making bridges or ramps, pressing buttons, or squeezing through gaps.
Snipperclips is one of those co-op games that’s best when you are both in the same room, which is why it’s such a perfect fit for the Switch. Sat together, huddled around the TV or the Switch’s portable screen, you will both feel like geniuses when you find an unconventional solution to Snipperclips’ creative puzzles.
Trivia: If you have two Nintendo Switch consoles, there are also four-player co-op puzzles and competitive modes.
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Further reading: Nintendo Switch’s online subscription service launches in September 2018 .
Created by the team behind the brilliant indie hit Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, A Way Out is a game that is only playable in co-op. That’s right, you can’t play it on your own at all – unless you’re an octopus with thumbs.
Either in couch co-op or online, you and a friend must break out of prison together, each of you working together to achieve your ultimate goal. Activities vary from escaping police in a hospital to playing Connect Four. The critical reception for A Way Out was mixed, but there’s nothing else quite like it.
Trivia: You only need one copy of A Way Out to play it with a friend online .
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One.
Further reading: A Way Out reviews .
Lots of games take us to space. There’s something isolating about being cramped inside a steel box. Go outside of these aluminium confines and your insides will also nip outside of their fleshy cage. You are trapped. To make matters worse, game developers love to throw an alien or two into the mix as well. Viscera Cleanup Detail takes a different approach to the dilapidated space station.
You arrive at the scene here in the aftermath of some messy battle. Your objective? To clean it up. Viscera Cleanup Detail is a fun co-op experience where the physical comedy of handling alien intestines, leaving bloody footprints, and spilling buckets is all the entertainment you need.
Trivia: South African-based developer Runestorm started out on the modding scenes of Doom and Quake.
Platforms: PC.
If you’ve ever worked in a kitchen, you will know it is probably the closest you can get to hell on Earth. Cooking the same things every day, people ordering food en-masse, time restrictions, complaints, burns, mess, and stress. Overcooked captures all of that – minus the actual burn scars – and turns it into a hilarious co-op game.
You serve food to insatiable monsters, preparing ingredients, washing dishes, cooking, and sending the food out to order, all while bumbling into one another instead of actually getting it done.
Trivia: Don’t work for pub chain kitchens.
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch.
If cooking doesn’t sound like your thing, perhaps you would like to partake in some man shooting. After all, real video games are all about the act of pushing a metal object through a person’s face at a high velocity.
Payday 2 is all about that long-range violence. In it, you and your team coordinate together to rob banks and jewelry stores as waves of police attempt to stop you. You have to set up defenses at chokepoints and use all of your skills together if you want to walk away rich, or even walk away at all.
Trivia: In 2014, John Wick was added to the game in a promotion. No, he didn’t have a dog with him.
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch.
Further reading: How does Payday 2 run on Nintendo Switch?
The latest and best Far Cry in a long time allows you to play the entire thing with a friend. You create your own character and head out into Hope County, Montana, to put an end to an army of religious extremists. One minute you are clearing an outpost of enemies like ninja, and the next you are in a field stealing bull bollocks. Yes.
Far Cry 5 is a great multiplayer sandbox because of the tools it gives you. One of you can strafe a compound from the air as the other heads in on foot. You can supply overwatch for each other with snipers. You can give your partner a lift on the roof of a combine harvester. Best of all, you can even work through story missions as a duo.
Trivia: You can complete Far Cry 5 in ten minutes .
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One.
Further reading: The VG247 Far Cry 5 review .
Tell you what – you wouldn’t want to be playing Viscera Cleanup Detail in the aftermath of a Killing Floor 2 match. Blood and guts fly all over the place with every shot, physically interacting with the scenery and getting stuck in awkward places. You know how, when you drop a glass, everything seems to move in slow motion? Killing Floor 2 is like that, only it’s someone’s liver instead of a glass.
Killing Floor 2 is like what would happen if the people behind the Call of Duty zombies mode had only ever watched The Matrix and nothing else. You work together as a team to take down increasingly difficult waves of zombies and other undead nasties. You do this as stylishly as possible, taking advantage of localised bullet time to line up those perfect headshots. Very few first-person shooters make you feel like such a badass.
Trivia: Killing Floor’s slow-motion mechanic only made it into the game near the end of development.
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One.
Whether you are squadding up or heading into duos, Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode is an excellent experience to share with friends. Cooperation is a must as you fight against up to 49 other teams to be the last people standing. A bit of savvy building and a revive at the right time can change the course of a match, and you really need to communicate to find the best loot and keep ahead of the deadly storm that’s constantly chasing you.
If you find the Battle Royale portion of the game frustrating, there’s also Save the World. This mode has deeper progression and other players are only there to help you fight off increasingly difficult waves of zombies. You have to build traps and fortifications to keep the enemy at bay, adding a layer of strategy over the top of every precision headshot.
Trivia: Fortnite Battle Royale was developed in just two months .
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, mobile.
Further reading: Looking to play Fortnite Mobile? Click that link for compatible devices.
Sea of Thieves is one of those rare co-op games – and yes, it actually is developed by Rare, but I wasn’t going for a pun – that shines when players actually communicate. I don’t mean chatting about their day, I mean actually talking about the game itself. Battling through stormy seas on a galleon, you need someone at the helm steering the ship, someone below deck navigating the voyage by shouting out bearings, someone working the sails, and someone patching up the hull.
Head to an island to look for treasure, and you have to communicate to work out riddles and uncover the lost hoard. On top of all that, the game is full of things you can use to interact with each other, from firing your crewmates out of cannons to joining together in impromptu musical number.
