Multiplayer co-op is the genre of the hour. But this genre includes a whole variety of games from MMORPGs to trivia. We are looking specifically at games that require players to work together to solve puzzles and maybe level up some grub?
If you like solving complex puzzles, you’re going to enjoy this genre of games that emphasizes more on the puzzles rather than the fighting or mining aspects. So gather up your playing buds and let’s jump right in.
► Best brain training games on Android
Best Co-op Online Puzzle Games
Find games tagged Co-op like Telemochi, Cybercade, Shattered Realms, My Rusty Submarine, Life in Quarantine on itch.io, the indie game hosting marketplace. The game's co-op mode allows two players to go through these motions together as they work their way across an ice-entrenched planet filled with frights, and thanks to the online nature of the.
Here are some of the best co-op online puzzle games you can play right now to kill the time during the quarantine. On that note, check out the best Zoom games too that you can play with your friends and family on a group video chat and have some amazing time with them.
Never alone
If you’re looking for a beautifully atmospheric game, look no further than Never alone. The game is ethnically inspired by native Alaskan folklore. You can play it both in single-player as well as co-op. Players must choose between the humanoid and the fox; each having its own unique abilities, and work together to solve the game’s puzzles while you search for the source of the blizzard.
Jump canyons and traverse blizzards all the while enjoying the beautiful aesthetics and storyline of the game.
Download: Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna)
Google Feud
Google Feud is a fun little game where you try and guess the top 10 Google autocomplete answers to a search. The game is similar in essence to Family Feud, where you must guess the most common answers given to a question.
You can choose from four categories; Culture, People, Questions, and Names. While the game doesn’t have a multiplayer option, it is a lot more fun to play it co-op with a friend. This increases your chance of getting it right!
Play: Google Feud
Trine Enchanted
Trine Enchanted is the remake of the original game Trine. This game brings back the physics-based puzzles and adds outstanding 3D visuals of nature and deadly castles, in a fairytale world.
The game features an interesting 3-way co-op where each player has their own unique qualities. The game starts off with all the players using the same main character until the unlock their own. Explore every nook and cranny of the map to make sure you don’t miss any hidden gems. Use the experience points collected to level up your skill tree. The game revolves around its physics-based puzzles that must be solved using the special abilities of the 3 players.
Download: Trine Enchanted Edition
Child of light
Child of light relies heavily on its storyline and is almost like Fable in its playability. It has an interesting ‘sketched’ art aesthetic that adds nicely to the gameplay. The game starts as you wake up, abandoned, in Austria, and follows the life ‘Aurora’ who must make her way home.
The puzzles within the game are not that puzzling, but the beautifully crafted scenery in the land of Lemuria definitely makes up for it. Craft gems in a multitude of ways to upgrade your weapon and climb the enormous skill tree. This game can be played both single-player and co-op. Because of its huge skill tree, the players branch off into different skillsets early on in the game, creating very unique characters. The seamless drop in and out co-op mode lets you can choose between Aurora and Igniculus on your way to recovering the moon and stars.
Download: Child of light
Badland
This multi-award winning game has players dodging deadly spikes and poisonous motes while trying to make it to the end of the level. Play as one of the tree-dwellers as you take in the beautiful and dangerous backdrop of the forest. Badland is a physics-based puzzle game that requires a lot of attention to detail while playing. If you slip up and forget to take a certain potion, chances are you aren’t going to make it to the end.
Badland is super fun and also super stressful to play in co-op. The co-op mode not only increases the speed of the game depending on how many players are playing but also requires players to learn each level thoroughly, in order to make a plan of action to complete the level. Throughout the game there are a bunch of interesting powerups that need to be taken at just the right time, in order for you to pass the level.
Download badland: Steam (PC) | Android | iOS
Ultimate chicken horse
This is a crazy fun game, where players create their own obstacle course. The game offers a huge selection of obstacles to choose from to customize the levels to the T. From bees to fire blasters, can you manage your way to the end?
The co-op playability makes it infinitely more fun, with all players using their stash to design each level. Team up with other players to troll your enemies. At the end of each level, you are given a bunch of obstacles to choose from to create the next level, and on it goes. Choose your animal and start creating!
Download: Ultimate Chicken Horse
N+
Talking about physics games, N+ is a super minimalistic game that can be played right in your browser. If you’ve played the fancy pants adventure, that’s the first thing you are going to think of when you start the game. The game is a nail biter, with the outcome of the game based heavily on player skill.
The game employs stick figures in a stick landscape, where you have to jump obstacles and dodge traps to clear the room of coins. To double the fun, the game allows co-op mode. Since the game is so light, there is virtually no lag during co-op gameplay. On a side note, you can also create your own levels to test out your co-op skills!
Play: N+ v2.0
BattleBlock Theater
If you have a bit of a dark sense of humor, you might want to check out BattleBlock Theater. The game employs a super fun 2D environment, where players must work together as a team to overcome obstacles and get to the end of the level. BattleBlock Theater is quite a step up in terms of visuals from a lot of the other 2D games out there.
Like other games on this list, you can build your own levels if you want to, or even try out other players’ build. Although you might not even need that, as the game is loaded up with hundreds of levels. The game elaborates on a storyline where you must free all 300 of the prisoners over the course of all the levels.
Download: BattleBlock Theater
ibb & obb
OK, this game is infinitely more complicated than it seems. At first look, it seems like the game is childish, with its simplistic design. However, just wait till the puzzles start getting difficult. This game is going to have you pulling your hair out (in a fun way?).
The gameplay is very mechanically demanding, in that tasks must be completed in a certain way only, in order to advance. Ibb & obb employs unique gameplay by creating different worlds, with different rules. Users must remember the rules for each world, as they dash in and out of various worlds in each level. Work together to vanquish enemies using the modified physics of the worlds, and get to the end of the map.
Download:ibb & obb
Portal 2
A sequel to ‘Portal’, the hugely well-received game from 2007, ‘Portal 2’ brings back all that fun now with a dedicated co-op mode! If there was one thing missing from the original, it was being able to play it with your friends.
Portal 2 has been reworked with some gorgeous backdrops and incredible physics. Create portals that you and your friend can travel through while exploring the Aperture Science Labs. The new co-op mode has its own unique storyline and set of puzzles for you to solve.
The addition of the co-op mode has definitely made the game more complicated in terms of puzzle-solving. Players must work and think together to figure out the mechanics of each room.
Download:Portal 2
Minecraft
Yes, yes, we know Minecraft is not technically a puzzle game. But we are also here to tell you that if you have not played the puzzles created by other players in Minecraft, you are missing out on so much!
Minecraft is a sandbox game where players create and manipulate the environment. You can play the game in its intended survival mode, where you build your own weapons and battle monsters, or you could play it in multiplayer, using the hundreds of player-created maps. Because of its immense malleability, the game can be used to create puzzles for other players to combat. Some of these puzzles are pretty tough and require quite a bit of creativity to get past.
Download: Minecraft | Puzzle maps for Minecraft
Human: Fall Flat
This is a game with a sense of humor. Human: Fall Flat is a co-op multiplayer game in which players must survive the harsh conditions they are placed into. Its simplistic yet beautiful backdrop is sure to catch your eye. Using the environment you must solve puzzles and stay alive!
The co-op mode allows you to play with up to 7 people, interacting with giant mining equipment to try and find the hidden gold. The game employs decent physics to facilitate solving of the puzzles. Players must use their ingenuity to come up with solutions, using whatever is strewn around them. The best part is that the puzzles in the game have multiple solutions; there is no one right answer!
Download:Human: Fall Flat
Tick Tock: A Tale for Two
This beautifully eerie game has a dark theme to it that runs throughout the game. You can tell the level of detail put into the game, just by interacting with all the objects. Each object has its own unique personality that you can use to help solve the puzzles.
The storyline is centered on Scandinavian fairy tales, allowing the players to walk through villages and enter shops, looking for clues to the puzzle.
In this game, each player plays a slightly different version of the same storyline. Because of this, Tick Tock: A Tale for Two can only be played in co-op, as players rely heavily on each other to solve the puzzles, and communication is key.
Download: Tick Tock: A Tale for Two
Knights And Bikes
Knights And Bikes is an obscure indie art game with beautiful aesthetics. The game takes place in the 1980s on a fictional island and follows the adventures of Nessa and Demelza as they roam through the island discovering its many secrets.
The girls form a bicycle club, a theme that remains through the game as they exchange the scraps that they find along the way for bike optimizations. Each new scene offers a variety of objects to interact with, creating a constant sense of intrigue throughout the game.
The puzzles in the game rely on both players working together, as they each have unique qualities, which may need to be combined at times. The game does offer a single-player mode, where the player must switch between the two characters to solve the puzzles.
Download:Knights And Bikes
Lost Elements
Here is another highly overlooked quirky game with some beautiful backdrops. Lost Elements is a calming co-op game where players select an element to play as and work together to solve the game’s puzzles.
Each element has unique powers that can be combined if needed. For example, if you choose the water element, you can swim to find clues at the bottom of the lake.
Players can interact with certain aspects of the environment to help them solve the puzzles. The game can get quite difficult, as there is only one way that a puzzle can be solved and the interactable portions of the environment are not easily distinguished.
Download: Lost Elements
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Originally a board game, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes has made it to Steam. This intense game of shouting and cooperation gets the blood pumping. One player must defuse the bomb, but without the instructions booklet! Other players must decipher the instructions and shout them out without pointing or indicating.
The player diffusing the bomb must describe the bomb to the other players using words only. All the players must be on a group call for the game to work flawlessly. To keep you on track, each bomb has a countdown timer depending on its complexity. Can you work together with your teammates and diffuse the bomb in time?
Download: Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
We hope you enjoyed this list. ‘Multiplayer co-op puzzle’ is quite a unique brand of multiplayer games and we hope to see a lot more games emerging into this genre. Do you have a favorite go-to co-op game? Let us know in the comments below.
© Provided by GamesRadar Overcooked 2The best co-op games are chaotic good, chaotic neutral, and chaotic bad all rolled into one. That's right, they are pure chaos. The kind of which can bring together friends and family for a brilliantly good time - while at the risk of causing arguments of course. But these best co-op games are more than worth the potential for friction, whether you're playing right next to each other on the sofa or remotely over the internet.
There are so many great co-op games that we thought it might help to have a list of the 25 very best co-op games, just to make sure you don't waste any gaming time arguing about what to play.
Oh, and if you need a spare pad, check out our guide on how to buy an extra PS4 controller cheap or Xbox One controller cheap. And, if you're feeling frugal there's always the best free PS4 games help spread the cost.
Check out our video for the best co-op games below:
30. Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2
Co-op type: Local and online
If you've never sat on a couch and played a Lego game with your child, friend, sibling, or significant other, you're really missing out on the great things in life. Yes, there are a ton of co-op Lego titles out there, but Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 is our favourite.
You get to play as just about any Marvel character you can think of, from Rocket Raccoon to Squirrel Girl. The cute aesthetic, simple gameplay, and adorable cutscenes are incredibly charming, and they can be enjoyed by everyone. Except people who hate Marvel, whoever the hell they are.
Play it on: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
29. Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince
Co-op type: Online and local
Trine 4 is a dream-like puzzle platformer that’s better when you break the rules. There are two ways to play online co-op: in the classic mode, three players each pick a class – wizard, thief, warrior – and combine abilities to solve challenges and beat down enemies. Played solo, Trine 4 is a little too simple, but in co-op some of the puzzles are made trickier, and having to coordinate with friends adds another layer of challenge. A trickle of new abilities keeps it from growing stale, and a few standout moments punctuate what is otherwise a consistent, polished campaign.
In a second mode, up to four players can team up and swap between classes at any time at the press of a button. It’s here that Trine 4 delights us most, with endless ways to sabotage your friends, as well as scope to race each other through levels, solving puzzles in unexpected ways. Try both modes to see which you prefer.
Play it on: PC, Switch, Xbox One, PS4
28. Rainbow Six Siege
Co-op style: Online
Rainbow Six Siege is known for its tense, tactical PvP fights, but its co-op Terrorist Hunt mode, a staple of the series, is deserving of an evening or two of your time. Just like in previous instalments, your job is to clear your chosen level of terrorists as quickly as you can. Don’t expect to go in all guns blazing: you’ll have to clear traps, use your abilities and coordinate timings with up to four squadmates if you want to down all your foes.
Our advice is to dial up the difficulty as high as you can bear it. The greater the challenge, the more you’ll have to rely on teamwork, and this mode is at its best when you’re forced to create detailed plans and execute them flawlessly. Round by round, you’ll feel yourself improving, until eventually you’re able to sweep through a map like a real-life SWAT team.
Play it on: PC, Xbox One, PS4
27. Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Co-op type: Local
Unless you've invested in a VR headset, you probably haven't even heard of this one. However, it's a uniquely brilliant take on co-op play, and demands your attention. One person wears the VR headset, while a number of other people sit - in the real world - and look at a booklet of bomb-defusal documents.
The person inside the VR headset sees a briefcase with a bomb in it, and various devices to disarm, which he/she describes to the people in the real world. The idea is to use the bomb disposal docs to defuse the device by... actually talking to each other and cooperating. It's all set to a time limit to add tension, and bombs get increasingly tricky to dismantle as you play. It's brilliant fun, and a perfect party game.
Plus, it's now on Switch, so one of you will have the console in your hands, the other the instruction manual. It's a great piece of teamwork, and a word of warning, may ruin families.
Play it on: PC, PS4, PS VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Nintendo Switch
26. Don't Starve Together
Co-op type: Local and online
The threat of permadeath is somehow softened when it’s shared. I mean, you’ll all still die but at least there’s comfort, and blame, when you’re playing co-op. Don’t Starve’s resource gathering, base building challenge was already great fun, but it’s even more so with a friend. Especially as you can split the workload and responsibilities as you tend to your home or farm, and explore the world to find more of whatever you need to make it through another day.
Play it on: PS4, Xbox One, PC
25. Far Cry 5
Co-op type: Online
You might want to call your dad. You're in a cult. Or, at least fighting one. As you explore the violent-rocked landscape of Montana in Far Cry 5 , it might be safest to rope in a friend. With drug-fuelled cultists ready to kill you with a baseball bat, others setting anyone who doesn't believe on fire and eating them, or even just willing die for Eden's Gate leader Joseph Seed, turns out this place is a dangerous one.
Fight bears, fly planes, soar across the treetops in a wingsuit... whatever you do is only better - and safer - with a friend in toe. And what fun you'll have.
Play it on: PC, PS4, Xbox One
24. Deep Rock Galactic
Co-op style: Online
Think Left 4 Dead with space dwarves and you won’t be far off. Deep Rock Galactic is a team-based shooter where you and up to three stout friends rocket into a procedurally-generated planet in search of minerals. To find what you want, you’ll each have to use your class-specific abilities, slinging grappling hooks, creating platforms, lighting up dark caves and blowing holes in the scenery to create new paths. Every so often, a swarm of alien spiders will jump on you, and you’ll be forced back to back, pulling your trigger for dear life.
It’s still in Early Access, but it’s stable and looks fantastic. Its varied, colourful environs never seem to repeat, and when the lights dim and smoke rises, it’s properly atmospheric.
Play it on: PC, Xbox One
23. Warframe
Co-op type: Online
Tens of millions of people play Warframe so it must be doing something right. It’s an online four player co-op shooter where you explore and fight your way through space in ultra futuristic suits, gaining powers, abilities and new weapons along the way. That’s basically the main draw here - battle things to get more gear to battle more things. Like the Destinys and Monster Hunters of the world this is all about chasing better shotguns and space boots.
Play it on: PS4, Xbox One, PC
22. Human Fall Flat
Co-op style: Online or Local
There’s more depth to Human: Fall Flat than you might suspect by glancing at its goofy physics and non-descript characters. Yes, its deliberately complicated controls make for lots of wacky fails, and trying to do something as simple as climb up a wall makes you look like a flopping fish out of water. But there’s some serious puzzling here, and you’ll need a fair amount of brainpower and coordination, not to mention luck, to pull off the toughest tasks.
The muted visuals belie the variety of the challenges ahead: you’ll pull the levers of a crane to send a wrecking ball through a wall, pilot a giant freighter ship into port, and switch conveyor belts on and off to move blocks around in a power plant. While the singleplayer can be frustrating at times, having a friend makes everything funnier. A missed jump (and don’t worry, they’ll be plenty), is cause for celebration rather than despair. When playing solo, hanging on for dear life while failing to reach a ledge is frustrating – in co-op, your partner can reach down, grab you by the head and fling you over their shoulder. Job done.
Play it on: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PS4
21. We Were Here
Co-op style: Online and local
The We Were Here trilogy is all about clear communication. Two adventurers are split up and put through a series of escape rooms. While one person tries to solve the puzzle, the other feeds them clues from their own room. By describing your environment and observing how it changes, you’ll be able to puzzle your way out together, often by matching symbols between rooms (which is harder than it sounds when you’re trying to describe a bunch of squiggly lines that all look the same).
The first game is the shortest, but it’s also completely free, so it’s where you should start. Here, one player takes the role of explorer while another is a librarian. The librarian is the one with all the clues, but in We Were Here Too and We Were Here Together, the roles are more equally split.
Play it now: PC
Turn to page 2 for more of our best co-op games...
20. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
Co-op type: Local
If you fancy something a little lighter, that you can take your time with, then Mario XCOM’s turn-based battles are perfect for an afternoon of strategising with a friend. If you’ve not played it before then don’t be fooled by the happy plumber and the fat rabbits in costume. This is a challenge that starts off simple and slowly ramps up to seriously involving multistage battles and boss fights. Before long you’ll be pacing the floor to discuss tactics and planing your attack before grabbing the Joy-Cons and (hopefully) making the winning move.
Play it on: Switch
19. Payday 2
Co-op type: Online
Sometimes you just feel like robbing a bank. Payday 2 might only do one thing but it does it well as you and four friends case joints, play with alarms, and try to rob a bank as much as possible before the police get involved. It’s a much more focused experience than some co-op games but that clear direction makes for some some great tension as you rely on your friends to stick to the plan and not shoot the first customer that looks at them funny.
Play it on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch
18. Borderlands 3
Co-op style: Online
Borderlands has always been better with friends. What good is a shotgun that chains electric damage between enemies, or a rifle that spits out bouncing saw blades, if you haven’t got a buddy at your side to watch it in action? The main attraction of the series has always been finding ever-wackier guns to shoot at ever-wackier enemies, and Borderlands 3 is the wackiest in the series so far. Many weapons have absurd alternate fire modes, and the world is bigger and far more varied.
In previous Borderlands, loot was shared between players, which meant you had to fight over the best guns. You can play Borderlands 3 that way (its called Coopetition), but in Cooperation mode you’ll get your own discrete pile of weapons showering out of enemies, so you never have to share.
Play it on: PC, PS4, Xbox One
17. Divinity: Original Sin 2
Co-op type: Online
Perhaps not one for a quick casual game with a friend, given this is a huge RPG environment filled with more potential, stories and events than most of us will ever see in one go. But, if you fancy a really deep co-op experience then this will keep you busy for years. As well as an entire nuanced world to explore you can play co-operatively or competitively, with players potentially trying to complete missions in different ways, or to different ends.
Play it on: PC
16. Cuphead
Co-op style: Online and Local
Cuphead might just be the best-looking game of the last decade, or at least the most stylish. It looks like a mash-up of all the best cartoons from the 1930s – but you’d be forgiven for not noticing that when you’re in the thick of it, because it’s also an ultra-difficult boss rush platformer where you’ll die hundreds of times trying to beat its imaginative enemies.
Having another player on screen can actually make it more cluttered, and therefore more difficult. But the struggles are worth it when you finally down that boss on your 34th try, and whoop for joy over your headset. You’ll face a casino owner with a dice for a head, a genie on a magic carpet, and a psychedelic carrot. They’re all wonderfully-designed – but don’t stop and stare, because a moment’s hesitation means certain death.
Play it on: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One
15. Monster Hunter World
Co-op type: Online
This might not be quite as welcoming to newcomers as regular players are so insistent to insist, but stick with it and Monster Hunter World is huge amounts of fun as you take down big monsters as a team. The online system is a bit weird, though - requiring several steps just to be online, then a few more to post a quest, and people can’t join until you’ve cleared cutscenes and so on… but once you get use to all that, the interplay between you and your friends as you track and battle huge creatures is top stuff. There’s a bewildering array of weapons and gear, meaning you and your team can explore numerous possibilities and combinations.
Play it on: PS4, Xbox One, PC
14. GTA Online
Co-op type: Online
There was a time where Grand Theft Auto 5’s style of murderous online meant you needed a friend, preferably several, if you want to just survive for more than a few seconds. Now, however, there’s a vast array of activities and things do, even without simple player created goals like ‘breaking into the army base’ or ‘shooting everyone you can see’. After years of updates and additions, it has become and expansive digital playground of things to do with friends. Everything from team games to bank heists, races, stunt courses and more.
Play it on: PS4, Xbox One, PC
13. Stardew Valley
Co-op style: Online and local
Stardew Valley hands you the keys to a run-down farm in a small, lazy town and asks you to turn its fortunes around. But it’s not pushy: you and your friends can do as many or as few chores as you want. You can chop up wood and plant crops, fish and trade, craft and scavenge, or you can just wander around town chatting to the pleasant townsfolk. This game became famous for its relaxing singleplayer mode, but the online co-op is, in our opinion, the best way to play.
If you’ve already got a save going, you need to build some cabins to add your friends, or you can all start a new game with a shared farm (progress only saves for the host). With up to three co-op partners, you can come up with freeform projects, dividing up tasks to hasten production. Or just sit around, watching the sun go up and down – it’s your farm, your rules.
Play it on: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One
12. Knights and Bikes
Co-op type: Local
Taking on the roles of tough girls Nessa and Demelza, Knight and Bikes sees you exploring Penfurzy Island in a Goonies-inspired tale where bikes are king, and mischief is paramount. It's made by Moo Yu and Rex Crowle, who are both ex-Media Molecule, so, as you can imagine, it's infused with quirk, cuteness, and the kind of spirit you can only find in a Famous Five book. Yes, the gameplay is about puzzle solving, mini-games of crazy golf and riding your bike as fast as you can humanly pedal, but it's also a heartfelt adventure about two kids that offers the kind of gameplay experience that you can rarely have. And it's even better with a real-world friend by your side.
Play it on: PS4, PC
11. Sea of Thieves
Co-op type: Online
Although you can play Sea of Thieves solo, this is very much a game that encourages you to tell stories, and, more importantly create those tales with other people. Galleons can be sailed by crews of up to four, with adventures spinning out from the various voyages you undertake. That might be finding buried treasure, collecting goods to trade with the merchants, or hunting down undead pirate captains. Or, you know, fighting a Kraken or taking on a huge Skeleton Fort.
Whatever you do in Sea of Thieves, you'll need a crew. Then just let the hilarity commence.
Play it on: Xbox One and PC
Turn to the next page for our top 10 best co-op games...
10. Diablo 3
Fun Online Co-op Games
Co-op style: Online and Local
Blizzard’s legendary action-RPG feels as tight and polished as it did on release eight years ago. Even if you’ve trounced its campaign several times, replaying with a friend always throws up new surprises, such as an unexpected build or combo that makes you see the combat in a whole new light.
At their heart, the Diablo games have always been about the pursuit of ever-shinier loot. Having someone to share your latest, shiniest ring with makes those rare finds all the more thrilling, and being able to share drops between your party makes it easier to create powerful characters. Don’t worry too much about picking complimentary classes: just jump in and start swinging (or casting, or punching, or throwing…)
Play it on: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
9. Destiny 2
Co-op type: Online
Bungie's sci-fi epic is built on the ability to join up with other players as much as possible. Part FPS, part MMO, Destiny 2's outstanding shooting mechanics and tempting loot grinds will keep you and your friends in for the long run, or at least until Destiny 3 inevitably comes out and everyone jumps ship. Not only are there a ton of Adventures, Strikes, Nightfalls, and six-person raids to participate in, but you'll also find yourself working with random players you encounter in the world.
Public Events literally fall out of the sky, tasking you and anyone nearby to fight off hordes of enemies for that extra piece of loot. If you've somehow never jumped on the Destiny train, you still have time to find and friend and become a Guardian pf the galaxy today.
Play it on: PC, Xbox One, PS4
8. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Co-op style: Online or Local
The newest entry in one of the most wholesome series ever made feels like the perfect game to play in self-isolation. It’s just you, an island in the middle of nowhere, and a long checklist of meditative tasks. Pick up sticks. Shake trees for fruit. Decorate your home. The co-op experience is suitably gentle – you can’t live on a friend’s island, but you can visit, share resources, shop in their stores and complete projects together. Then, when you go off home, you can send them a thank-you postcard. Isn’t that sweet?
The process for inviting friends is slightly convoluted – head to the island airport to get started – but it keeps unwanted randoms from joining your game. Any visitors are limited in what they can do on your island until you name them a “best friend”, which frees them up for much more social interaction, including a chat system. Friendly messages only, please.
Play it on: Nintendo Switch
7. Snipperclips
Co-op type: Local and online
This two-person puzzler’s main gimmick is such a clever idea that you and a friend will easy waste half an hour just playing around with that alone, before even trying to solve anything. You each control a flat 2D character with the ability to cut pieces out of each other according to where you overlap. By using this ability you have to get through levels and solve puzzlers. It’s a simple but incredibly rich concept and something that works perfectly on Switch, with each of you taking one Joy-Con to direct your little paper person about.
Play it on: Switch
6. Portal 2
Co-op style: Online and Local
If it were playable on current-gen consoles, Portal 2 would likely top this list. Right now, you can only play Portal 2 on PC, but don’t hold that against it. If you have a desktop or laptop that can run it (and most can), and a friend that can do the same, then you’re in for one of the best co-op experiences of your life. The co-op campaign is a noticeable jump in difficulty from the already fiendish original. Not only will you and a friend, who each control a loveable robot, have to put your heads together to figure out how to finish a test chamber, but you’ll often have to time your movements and actions just right. If one player jumps a split second early, or activates a button too late, the whole plan falls apart.
It makes communication vital, and each puzzle all-the-more rewarding to solve. On top of those puzzles is a layer of Valve’s unmistakable humour, and GLaDOS (remember her?) is once again the star. You can high-five your friend, play rock paper scissors or, if you’re feeling evil, dunk them into deadly goo by pulling a bridge up from under their feet.
Play it on: PC, Xbox One (via backwards compatibility)
5. Call of Duty: Warzone
Co-op style: Online
While battle royale games aren’t co-op in the traditional sense, they are undisputedly co-operative, so we wanted to include at least one on this list. Fortnite, PUBG and Apex Legends are all worthy contenders, but the free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone is a fresh twist on the well-trodden formula. Its 150-player matches guarantee action; when you die you have a chance to instantly respawn by winning a 1v1 fight; and you can pick up objective-filled “contracts” that give structure to each round. Plus, it supports complete crossplay between PC, PS4 and Xbox One, so you can squad up with your friends regardless of their platform of choice.
Apex Legends still has, arguably, a superior ping system for communicating without a headset, so if you want to play with randoms, it might be your best bet. But if you’ve got a couple of friends eager to join you then Warzone is a guaranteed good time.
Play it on: PC, PS4, Xbox One
4. Overcooked 2
Co-op type: Local and online
Overcooked 2 sounds simple - prepare a bunch of meals as chefs within a certain time limit. Easy. Well, not so much. While there are up to four of you playing, it starts to get tricky to keep track of the game's various commands and stipulations, as well as avoiding various hazards and pitfalls in the kitchen itself. This can lead to some frantic play, and only the most cohesive of teams will get those dishes out on time.
The levels are insane, the menus increasingly complex and overall this is a mad, mad existence of a game. But, hilarious fun too. Warning: may cause bickering among even the closest friends, partners and family members.
Online Co Op Games Flash
Play it on: Xbox One, PS4, PC, Switch
3. Fortnite
Co-op type: Online
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46609748/h5-guardians-fp-warzone-arc-blast-zone-3dba1a9341134af9ba98b11d15d2e9e7.0.0.jpg "Online Co Op Games")
Fortnite is a shining example of a game that gets more fun the more friends you have playing with you, and what's even better is that its insanely popular Battle Royale mode is totally free. Weekly challenges keep things fresh so you have something new to do every week, and as each season comes and goes there are new updates thrown in and major map changes as the story subtly evolves.
Even still in Early Access, Epic's charming Save The World base-defense/shooter/survival game hybrid is a better platform for cooperative play than many full releases. Not only does playing with a handful of friends give you a better chance to fend of waves of husks or construct the ultimate base, those friends can also provide you valuable XP boosts and a better chance to nab some of Fortnite's massive catalog of rare loot.
Online Co-op Games Browser
Play it on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch
2. Minecraft
Co-op type: Local (on console and PC) and online
Yes, Minecraft gets everywhere but for good reason: its digital building block world has endless imagination-filled potential. You can team up with friends to build pointless structures, or grand engineering feats of construction. Or you can just bounce about the place creating chaos and generally hanging out. It’s lack of rigid structure means you and your friends can get up to anything - whether that’s an evening of messing about or a longer term project you can take your time over.
Play it on: PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, iOS, Android
1. A Way Out
Co-op type: Local and online
It's rare that a game is only playable in co-op, but that's exactly what A Way Out does. Whether you're splashing the water to usher fish to each other; going back to back to shimmy up a wall gap; passing a chisel between cells to find an exit route; or even just playing Connect Four or a game of basketball, the co-op never feels like an added extra, it’s all built for you to enjoy together in a way that’s satisfying and worthwhile regardless of the scale of the interaction.
You're two criminals trying to find a way out of prison and a step closer to redemption, but more importantly this is one story that you must experience together. And it's the best co-op game we've ever played.
Play it on: PS4, Xbox One and PC
Some online stores give us a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Read ouraffiliate policyfor more info.