The best co-op games allow you share wonderful experiences with your friends, family, and loved ones, offering communal stories that can stay with you for years.
Though there's a lot to be said for knuckling down for a solo gaming experience, we human beings are, by our nature, social animals. Even if we devote hundreds of hours to one of the best RPGs out there, a great deal of the fun is standing 'round the water cooler and sharing our experiences with others. Great co-op games cut out the middle man, adding a wholesome, social experience from the get-go.
What's more, the best co-op titles come in a range of flavors, from enchanting platformers to frantic action games. No matter your genre of choice, there's something on this list that's bound to scratch your itch for a memorable co-op experience. So sit back, relax, and get ready for our list of only the very best co-op games, painstakingly curated for your reading pleasure.
Best co-op games
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Platforms available: PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PC
Online or couch co-op? Both
It Takes Two is a fun, tongue-in-cheek adventure that creator Josef Fares famously said anyone would enjoy – or he would issue them a refund. Fares’ strategy must’ve paid off (no pun intended), because It Takes Two was one of the best games of 2021 and is easily one of the best co-op games right now.
This story of a husband and wife who are enchanted and have to cooperate in order to turn back into their real selves is built for co-op play from the ground up, just like Hazelight’s previous game No Way Out. The fantastical theme offers even more opportunities for varied and fun gameplay while also wrestling with difficult themes at times. It Takes Two is a memorable experience, one that even people who usually don’t enjoy playing with others should make time for.
Platforms available: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC
Online or couch co-op? Both
Rocket League, the game that sees you play soccer with cars, is persistently popular, even years after it was first released. Now that it's a free-to-play game, there will always be others available to play with you and against you, that’s why the game is also on the list of the best multiplayer PC games as well as our list of the best co-op games.
Matches range from 1-v-1 to 4-v-4, so there’s a lot of flexibility when it comes to gathering your friends for co-op play. Rocket League is a game that requires ceaseless communication, as you try to coordinate your team into a speeding carousel of goalkeeping, defending, and attacking. There’s also a league-based system online, so you get a nice sense of progression as your team grows from a fumbling mess into a well-oiled machine.
Platforms available: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Online or couch co-op? Both unless you're on PC, then it's online only
Diablo 4 is the latest in a long-running action RPG series from the veteran developers at Blizzard. In this dark fantasy story, you'll find yourself embroiled in the Eternal Conflict between demons and angels, forced to fight your way across the eerily beautiful Gothic landscape of Sanctuary.
Diablo 4 offers a strong emphasis on character customization and multiplayer, making it one of the best co-op RPGs out there. Thanks to the absurd number of different builds available, you and up to three buddies can craft characters tailored specifically to your own tastes. What's more, Diablo 4 multiplayer offers tantalizing scope for synergies between different characters and builds, allowing skillful parties to pull off combos that would be impossible alone.
Platforms available: Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PC
Online or couch co-op? Online
This is a stirring example of a game that hit the ground stumbling but really caught the wind in its sails over the last few years. Sea of Thieves tasks up to four players with manning a ship, and sailing around a vibrant, cartoon Caribbean-style set of islands in search of plunder, adventure, and notoriety.
While the game used to feel loose and a little purposeless in the beginning, it’s now filled out to become an ever-evolving world of possibilities. You follow maps to skeleton-infested coves, fight mythical sea creatures, and take on other player-controlled ships and crews. These battles make for some of the best co-op experiences out there. There's even an overarching story to keep tabs on.
Sea of Thieves is the ultimate freewheeling pirate fantasy, designed purposely to be played alongside a motley crew of scurvy-infested sea rats you call your friends. It's easily one of the best co-op games right now, as well as one of the best Xbox Series X and best Xbox One games.
Platforms available: PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch (PS5 and Xbox Series X|S if you pick up the All You Can Eat compilation)
Online or couch co-op? Both
In a bid to defeat the 'Un-bread' (zombie baked goods), in Overcooked 2 you and up to three other players must prepare a variety of recipes including sushi, pizza, and burgers while working in increasingly chaotic restaurants. To add to the frantic fun, you must battle obstacles including random fires, collapsing floors, and interfering passers-by, all while getting your orders out to the pass in time.
Things get complicated incredibly quickly, and relationships, friendships, and family bonds will be tested as you work together to complete your recipes on time, making it one of the best co-op games for that very reason – after all, it is as the saying goes, "too many cooks spoil the broth."
We also recommend picking up the original Overcooked, if you haven't played it already. If you're fortunate enough to have a PS5 or Xbox Series X|S then you can pick up Overcooked: All You Can Eat, a compilation that includes the first and second games alongside all the DLC for both.
Platforms available: PS4, PC, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S
Online or couch co-op? Online
What began as a barebones online mode roughly a decade ago has grown into one of the best co-op games out there. While playing with strangers tends to be shambolic, gather a crew of friends and you’ll have all the madness of San Andreas at your fingertips. The incredible roleplaying in GTA Online is also absolutely infamous by now.
You can run around the world freely causing general mayhem or take on competing crews in dedicated missions. The best co-op experiences, however, are in the game's multi-part heists. There’s nothing like robbing a bank and running out to an alley where your driver screeches up right on cue, then fleeing for the hills with police klaxons in your rear-view mirror.
Platforms available: PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch
Online or couch co-op? Both
Everyone who’s invested hundreds of hours into RPGs has at some point fantasized about playing through an entire campaign with a friend. Divinity: Original Sin 2 goes one better, and makes co-op arguably the best way to play the campaign.
Up to four players (two in split-screen) can freely roam around Divinity’s rich, story-filled game world. You can stick together as a unit, maximizing your chances during the challenging turn-based combat, or split up to try to find your own ways of solving quests. Additionally, there are in-game conversations between player-characters that shape their personality and ultimately how you play through the game.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 feels as if every single decision matters, whether that’s in conversation, combat, or exploration. For that incredible feat, it’s one of the best co-op experiences out there as well as one of the best RPGs.
Platforms available: Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One
Online or couch co-op? Online
Monster Hunter: Rise is easily the most accessible iteration of the classic monster-slaying simulator from Capcom has you and your friend hunting down megafauna across a range of gorgeous landscapes. With a wide range of weapons to master and a dizzying amount of armor to craft, Monster Hunter: Rise has a core loop of killing, looting, and crafting that players can easily get lost in.
What's more, Monster Hunter: Rise places more of an emphasis on traversal than its predecessors, offering hunters their own mounts as well as Wirebugs, which allow for quick vertical movement and ariel attacks in combat. Rise meaningfully evolves the formula established in previous titles, like Monster Hunter: World, by providing players with slick, quality-of-life improvements. Though it can be enjoyed solo, Rise is best with a party of friends, rewarding cooperation and determination with epic battles and gorgeous loot.
Platforms available: PS4, PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Android and iOS
Online or couch co-op? Both, but split-screen is a console-exclusive feature only available for certain editions of the game.
This is the ultimate co-op experience, allowing players to grab blocks and build worlds together that are only limited by imagination. The beauty of Minecraft is that it can be played co-operatively across different platforms, that's why it's also made our list of the best crossplay games . The main world can for example be hosted on PC , while others jump in using an Android or iOS device.
If you don't know what Minecraft is all about, then get out from under that rock. However, in its simplest terms, Minecraft is a block-building simulator that seemingly has no limits and boasts a fascinating history.
Of course, you can go hardcore and join the numerous PC-based Minecraft servers seeded on the Internet using the original Java-based version of the game. And the creations you can find are simply mind-boggling, ranging from the reconstruction of actual cities to a full-scale Starship Enterprise-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Platforms available: Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One and PC
Online or couch co-op? Both
Gears 5 is fantastic, and it's made even better if you take advantage of its multiplayer If you haven't played any entries in the Gears series, all you need to know is that it's a third-person shooter that will get your adrenaline pumping.
Players step into the shoes of Kait Diaz for the first time who, following the events of Gears of War 4, is trying to come to terms with the death of her mother, unravel the twisted roots of her family tree, and deal with her own personal baggage. Meanwhile, humanity is being threatened once more - this time by the Swarm, the successor to the Locust horde.
Not only can you play through the game's campaign with a friend, but you can also team up with others in multiplayer horde mode, escape mode, or in versus matches. This is one of the best co-op third-person shooters, hands down.
Platforms available: PC
Online or couch co-op? Online
As well as being one of the best PC strategy games out there, Total War: Warhammer 3 has a specially designed co-op campaign mode, allowing two to four friends to team up, doing battle across Games Workshop's dark fantasy setting. You and your friends can choose from a wide range of campaigns, including some specially designed with co-op in mind.
Total War: Warhammer 3 offers a satisfying turn-based strategy layer alongside a deep and rewarding real-time battle system. At higher difficulties, coordination is essential, especially once endgame crises rear their ugly heads. Warhammer 3 is the perfect way to see if your friendships can survive against a relentless horde of rat people/angry dwarfs/ chaos warriors (delete as appropriate).
How we picked the best co-op games
Our best co-op games list offers titles that have brought us together through the shared stories they create. Be they Diablo 4's deliciously crunchy multiplayer, or the tragic loss of staff writer Elie Gould's A.S.S. in Minecraft, the best co-op games have always had us talking.
We also aimed to cover a broad range of genres, too. From the playful silliness of Overcooked 2 to the granular strategy of Total War: Warhammer 3, we wanted this list to reflect the broad spectrum of the video games as a whole, whilst putting cooperative multiplayer front and center.
