Summary
Games have always been one of the best mediums to bring friends together, either enjoying a single-player game together, or both picking up a controller to play against or alongside one another. Thanks to the digital age, multiplayer games have become one of the most popular types of games to play, as now gamers don’t need to gather on one couch to play together.
Cooperative games can be rather simple, such as the run and gun games likeLeft 4 Dead, but some have more complex mechanics and gameplay to offer. Theseco-op gamesoffer plenty of unique fun gameplay that is deep and complex, and will challenge the players to put their heads together in order to succeed.
The Dark Pictures Anthologyis primarily tailored for single-player gamers,designed to elicit scaresin its players as they explore the SSOurang Medan, a ghost ship rumored to hold something called Manchurain gold. The pirates that take the main characters hostage think that it is actual gold, and they intend to take every last piece. Unfortunately for everyone now onboard, the gold isn’t treasure but a chemical weapon that causes vivid and terrifying hallucinations.
As such, players witness terrifying monsters that most of them will of course fight off, as they look like they intend to kill. What players might not immediately realize amid the heart-stopping terror is that the monster they are batting away may be their friend, which could result in one of the characters their friend is controlling dying. Calm communication could defuse the situation, but neither player is likely to be calm during these situations.
Don’t Starveis a fun survival game with charming Tim Burton-esque art design. Throwing players into a strange wilderness populated with dangerous monsters, players must learn to thrive and survive by creating shelters, fending off foes, and cooking tasty, or at least edible, recipes to do exactly what the game’s title suggests.
Don’t Starve Togetherbrings more friends into the fold, challenging every player to work together to avoid death. One way they could do that is to split up responsibilities rather than all working together on one thing like a well-oiled machine. This way, everyone feels as though they are a valued, contributing member of the group.
Escape rooms are a great way for friends and family to engage in some puzzle-solving to find a way out of themed rooms, which might revolve around anything from serial killers to sci-fi or Egyptian pyramids. Players can experience escape rooms virtually, thanks to games likeEscape Simulator.
There is little to no hand-holding in this game, so players will need to locate the needed puzzles themselves, and piece together the hints in order to try and find a solution. It will ultimatelychallenge playersto work together and solve the puzzles correctly while racing against the clock.
A Way Outis one of the most intriguing co-op games released in recent years, placing two players in the shoes of incarcerated prisoners Vincent and Leo. The two characters decide to work together to make their escape from prison, which requires trust and teamwork from both the characters and the playersfortheir prison breakto be a success.
Even when playing online, the game still sticks to a split-screen perspective, allowing both players to see what the other is doing. While this sounds like this would be helpful, it can be mightily distracting while each player is entrusted with their own task. Players also need to collaborate at certain points in the game, such as one player distracting a member of the jail’s staff in order for the other to sneak by.
Portalbegan its series as a single-player puzzle game, challenging the player to navigate through increasingly difficult levels using a portal gun which creates portals to act as bridges to otherwise unreachable areas while an evil robot goads and teases them.
Its success guaranteed a sequel and, what’s more, the sequel allows players to rope in a friend to help them out.Playing as two robots, players can work together to pass through the levels using both portal guns, or they can partake in a bit of mischief and trap their partners in an eternal portal loop. When players decide to get serious, they will need to use both of their heads together to solve the game’s levels as they can be quite tricky, especially late on in the game.
Bomb defusal is one of the most stressful scenarios anyone could find themselves in, even if it’s just in video game format with no real consequences to worry about. This is, in essence, whatKeep Talking and Nobody Explodesis, but with a complex multiplayer twist.
One player has access to the bomb, and is charged with safely defusing it before time runs out, while the other player has access to the manual that is needed to know how to defuse the bomb. The player with the bomb needs to describe parts of it while the other player rifles through the manual to guide them through each defusal process, all while the bomb’s timer ticks down. Stressful, complicated, and requiring stringent teamwork,Keep Talking and Nobody Explodesmight be theultimate friendship test.
A funsci-fi multiplayer shooter,Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetimeinvites up to four players to take charge of running a spaceship, navigating through dangerous space that could be infested with deadly aliens players need to thwart. If that isn’t enough, there are multiple stations onboard the ship that need to be manned during combat and exploration, totaling up to five.
As there are a maximum of only four players who canplay at once, and some gamers might be playing alone or with fewer friends, they will need to switch between various stations in order to keep up with surrounding events, which could create some tense and challenging situations for players.
One of the best co-op games on the market,It Takes Twois allabout a married couplewho are heading for divorce until they are trapped in the bodies of two dolls made by their daughter who is grieving their separation. Now, the couple must make peace, work together, reach their daughter, and mend their relationship.
This heart-warming and cutesy game will take players through various levels with the characters gaining access to new powers that reflect their surroundings. This means players need to adjust their gameplay style with each new level to overcome the newest obstacle, creating a challenging and complex gaming experience.
