The 25 Best Co-Op Video Games to Play With Friends

Online co-op & multiplayer games are the perfect opportunity to show off your video gaming skills. From Fortnite to Minecraft, here are the best co-op games.

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Video games started off in arcades, but when technology got a little more saavy, they started to shift in the comfort of our own homes. Whether it was Duck Hunt back in the day or Grand Theft Auto today, it’s not always fun when you’re trying to wait your turn. Video games are not always meant to be played with multiple players but can are so much fun when can be. 

Online co-op and multiplayer games are the perfect opportunity to show of your video gaming skills, whether it be in a team-based setting or not. From Call of Duty iterations to Borderlands 2 to Fortnitethere are a ton of options for you to pick from. So grab your favorite console, rally the troops, and get ready for some good, maybe not-so-clean, in-game fun. 

These are the best video games to play with friends.

The Simpsons

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Year: 1991

Platform: Arcade

Co-op: 2-4 players


Back in the day, when arcade birthday parties were still a thing, Konami released an arcade game featuring The Simpsons, who were so controversial at the time that President George H.W. Bush called them out by name as negative role models. You played as Marge (armed with a vacuum cleaner), Lisa (slinging a jump rope), Bart (packing a skateboard), or Homer (with fists of fury), and you fought hordes of bad guys on the way to a final confrontation against Smithers and Mr. Burns. The game really shone with two or more players; each pairing of family members had a co-op special attack. Homer and Marge, for example, would link arms and roll into enemies like a bowling ball, and Marge would throw Bart like a projectile. —Kevin Wong

Divinity: Original Sin 2

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Year: 2017

Platform: Playstation 4, Xbox One, PC

Co-op: 2-4 players


Considered by many to be one of the greatest RPGs ever made, Divinity: Original Sin 2 improves in nearly every possible way on its predecessor. With its tight writing, deep strategy, and complementary character types—five races and 14 different classes to choose from—this game provides over 80 hours of diversion. Whether you're sneaking past hostiles, casing a town, finding a rare weapon, or battling a massive crocodile, there are multiple ways for a human, dwarf, lizard, or undead to get the job done. The bigger question is how they'll all work together. —Kevin Wong

Overcooked 2

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Year: 2018

Platform: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, Mac

Co-op: 2-4 players


Some of the best video games take something that would be torture in real life and turn it into a charming, brightly colored adventure. In Overcooked 2, you take on the role of a line cook, who must chop, cook, and plate a restaurant's orders. When done in multiplayer, this game demands precise communication, especially if you're tossing ingredients across the room. Have you ever watched Gordon Ramsay screaming at Hell’s Kitchen contestants that they need to work as a team? The same principle applies here. Even to make a simple salad, two chefs work quicker than one. Just be sure one of you is chopping the tomatoes. —Kevin Wong

Wolfenstein: Young Blood

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Year: 2019

Platform: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC

Co-op: 2 players


What's better than one badass Nazi hunter? How about two badass Nazi hunters? Wolfenstein: Young Blood isn't the Wolfenstein threequel that fans covet; it's an appetizer dish, a midquel starring BJ Blazkowicz's twin daughters, Jess and Soph. After their father disappears under mysterious circumstance, the two girls head to Nazi France on a mission to find him. Whether stealthing about or flanking the enemy in a gunfight, Young Blood's appeal lies in both its visceral thrill and the interplay between the two leads. It'll be interesting to see how this co-op evolves when the much anticipated Wolfenstein III finally arrives. —Kevin Wong

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe

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Year: 2019

Platform: Nintendo Switch

Co-op: 2-4 players

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is a port of the Wii U game, and it adds even more options to ensure that anyone can play and succeed at it. The co-op is Mario-infused mayhem, and if one player feels a section or a level is too difficult, he can sit it out by encasing himself in a floating bubble. So long as one player finishes the sequence, everyone advances together. Combine this with playable character Nabbit, who takes no damage from enemies and can only die from falling in a pit, and you have a game that’s equally accessible for both novices and experts. —Kevin Wong

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

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Year: 2018

Platform: PS4, XBox One, PC

Co-op: 2-4 players

For the first time in the franchise's history, the latest Call of Duty has no single-player campaign. It's all multiplayer, and the most heralded  addition is a "Battle Royale" mode (clearly, the developers are looking to siphon off some of the Fortnite audience). There's also the returning "Zombies" co-op mode, which you can set up to run as either an online multiplayer or as a split screen couch play, depending on your preference. You fight for survival in one of three scenarios: aboard the Titanic, in an Ancient Roman arena, or at Alcatraz Penitentiary. It's the alternative history you never knew you wanted. —Kevin Wong

A Way Out

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Year: 2018

Platform: PS4, Xbox One, PC

Co-op: 2 players

A Way Out is a jailbreak game with heart. You either play as the older, "think first" prisoner, or the younger "fists first" prisoner, and you work together to escape your cells. One person digs the tunnel; the other distracts the guard. One person hides in the laundry cart; the other pushes it. It's creative stuff, and although you can play online with a friend, the creators strongly encourage couch co-op, which causes the most interpersonal friction possible. —Kevin Wong

Fortnite: Save The World

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Year: 2017

Platform: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Mac

Co-op: 2-4 players

Fortnite was supposed to be, first and foremost, a co-op campaign. And although Epic's focus shifted once the free Battle Royale mode took off, the early access version of Fortnite: Save the World deserves praise. Collect resources, erect barriers, kill the zombies; these are simple goals that require trust in your co-op partner. The free-to-play version of Fortnite: Save the World will launch in 2019. —Kevin Wong

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate

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Year: 2017

Platform: Nintendo Switch

Co-op: 2-4 players

Originally released for the 3DS, the definitive version of Monster Hunter Generations has been ported to the Nintendo Switch. You play as a hunter who's tracking the biggest, scariest game imaginable, and the more you succeed, the more you can upgrade your weapons and your defense. Do you want to trap the monster or kill it? Will one player provide a distraction while another moves in to attack? The co-op adds variety, but you also pay for your camaraderie; go hunting with three people, and the money splits four ways. Still, it's worth it. —Kevin Wong

Cuphead

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Year: 2017

Platform: Xbox One, PC, Mac

Co-op: 2 players

The popular animation of today is more cute than anything else; characters are typically rounded, proportional, human figures, designed to be relatable and accessible. Cuphead is the opposite of that; you play as a diminutive, cup-headed protagonist, who must take on one visually bizarre boss after another. Co-op actually makes this game harder—the damage capacity of the enemies scales up—but still, it's fun to suffer together. Misery loves company. —Kevin Wong

Friday the 13th: The Game

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Year: 2017

Platform: PS4, Xbox One, PC

Co-op: 2-8 players

Slasher movies invariably feature a horde of teenagers who are methodically killed off by the Big Bad. Friday the 13th: The Game realizes this via co-op gameplay, with a particularly neat twist; one of your players plays as Jason, hunting the rest of you down. If you're a camp counselor, you can go it alone, but as the movies have taught us, your odds of surviving will be slim; you're better off working together. —Kevin Wong

GTA Online

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Year: 2013

Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, PC

Co-op: 2-8 players

The GTA Online co-op is fun and engaging via its "Bikers" DLC. It allows you to form a dedicated, persistent motorcycle club with your friends, complete with a clubhouse to hang out in, leadership roles (and associated perks) to assign, and formations to ride in, not to mention a wide variety of missions. Hopefully, "Bikers" will lead to something bigger—a full-length co-op campaign (maybe for Grand Theft Auto VI?) would make the perfect follow-through. —Kevin Wong

Gears of War 2/3

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Year: 2008/2011

Platform: Xbox 360

Co-op: 2-4 players


Gears 2 invented the modern concept of Horde Mode. Gears 3 added to the series formula with four player battles (and the Hordeish Beast mode variant, which let you play as the Locust). If you like your action violent, intense and competitive, there's few multiplayer experiences better on modern consoles than Epic's burly cover shooter. —Steve Haske

Minecraft

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Year: 2011

Platform: Everything imaginable

Co-op: However many the server can handle


Minecraft is an open-world sandbox that lets you do pretty much whatever you want, from battle and weapons creation to mining to building to exploring and a host of other activities. While multiplayer is currently limited to 8 players in the Xbox 360 edition of the game, a PC server can theoretically host as many minecrafters as its bandwidth can choke down. What's that mean for you? Theoretically, access to one of the biggest, most "living" virtual worlds out there. And with the next-gen editions of the decidedly lo-res indie coming, the sky is pretty much guaranteed to be the limit. —Steve Haske

Streets of Rage 3

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Year: 1994

Platform: Genesis

Co-op: 2 players


The third Streets of Rage really nailed the formula, offering more complex moves, a long campaign, new and returning characters and a weird, dynamic soundtrack from Yuzo Koshiro, making it an improvement over the already excellent Streets of Rage 2. Also: there's a kangaroo. —Steve Haske

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

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Year: 1995

Platform: SNES

Co-op: 2 players


Yes, the Wii's Donkey Kong Country Returns is an excellent (tough) throwback, but DKC2 remains the high point of the series, introducing a slew of new animals, a huge, varied world and of course Dixie Kong, Diddy's partner on his quest to rescue Donkey Kong. Dixie's gliding ponytail made things a bit easier than her oafish, tie-wearing uncle evercould although the severely sharpened difficulty didn't make the game easy by any means. —Steve Haske

River City Ransom

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Year: 1989

Platform: NES

Co-op: 2 players


Arguably one of the earliest examples of home console co-op done right, River City Ransom gave you and a friend a huge, non-linerar city to explore, replete with people to beat up and items to buy. Thankfully the game had a password save system. —Steve Haske

Contra III: Alien Wars

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Year: 1992

Platform: SNES

Co-op: 2 players

The original Contra is an NES classic: a run-and-gun '80s action film, shrunk down to 8-bit form. Contra III: The Alien Wars is more of the same, but with 16-bit graphics, massive bosses, and an overt sci-fi twist. Unusual for the time, the co-op gives you customization options; you can either fight with a split screen or without one. —Kevin Wong

Battletoads

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Year: 1991

Platform: NES

Co-op: 2 players

The most difficult NES game ever made, Battletoads is like a cruel joke you play on your friends. It starts with a side-scrolling level that's easy and straightforward. Then, the developers yank the rug out from under you. The proceeding levels leave no margin for error; whether you avoid the wall or smash your speeder bike directly into it comes down to perfect controller input. The co-op version is the ultimate troll move; you're both forced to go back to the last checkpoint if one of you dies. Even worse, the game allows you to hit each other. Every 2-player Battletoads game eventually devolves into a player-vs-player fight, no matter the initial good intentions. —Kevin Wong

Sunset Riders

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Year: 1991

Platform: Arcade

Co-op: 2-4 players

A classic arcade that was later ported to the 16-bit systems, Sunset Riders has bright, cartoonish graphics and a perfect, simple setup. You play as a gunslinger, and each level is framed as a bounty hunt for the boss at the end of each level. Playing with multiple people makes you feel like a real posse, on a mission to bring the outlaw to justice, dead or alive. —Kevin Wong

Love in a Dangerous Spacetime

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Year: 2015

Platform:  PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac, Linux

Co-op: 2-4 players

Bright, colorful, and pretty to look at, Love in a Dangerous Spacetime is a space shooter that puts you and up to three other players in charge of a spaceship. You’ll need strong communication to split up the necessary tasks, from steering to shooting to defending. The entire premise of this game is to save love from the forces of evil, but you may have less of it for your partners by the time you beat it! —Kevin Wong

Payday 2

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Year: 2013

Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, Linux

Co-op: 2-4 players

Payday 2 concerns itself with all manner of robbery and heist—you rob everything from banks to vaults to armored cars. The co-op adds another layer to the entire experience±Are you working crowd control? Are you blowing the safe? Are you getting in a shootout with the police outside? Everyone has to pull off his or her role for a successful, lucrative job. —Kevin Wong

Rayman Origins

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Year: 2011

Platform: PS3, Xbox 360

Co-op: 2-4 players


You may not have remembered (or at least cared much about) Rayman before Origins, but re-establishing the game as a 2D platformer with a gorgeously bizarre European animation style, equally out there soundtrack, a ridiculous amount of levels and the ability to slap the crap out of each other for fun (a great game for trolls) put Ubisoft's weird limbless hero back on the map in a big way. New Super Mario Bros. wishes it was this good. —Steve Haske

Portal 2

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Year: 2011

Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Co-op: 2 players


Portal 2 expanded the world of Aperture Science, giving two adorable robot test subjects their own campaign, not to mention all the additional gadgetry and portal uses. A hilarious, brain-teasing must-play. —Steve Haske

Borderlands 2

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Year: 2012

Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Co-op: 2-4 players


Borderlands 2 is like Borderlands, except bigger, louder, more finely-tuned and with a greater amount of loot whoring. If you like bizarro RPG-FPS hybrids with a healthy dose of addictive equip drops (and apparently nude mods), you've probably already played Borderlands 2. Let's not kid ourselves. —Steve Haske

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