Every current platform has a litany of great co-op games on it. The Switch, for example, has platformers likeSuper Mario Bros. Wonderwhich offers players four-player co-op opportunities. The Xbox community has a lot of shooters such asGears of Warto chainsaw through the competition.
Then there is the PlayStation fan base who seemingly can’t get enough ofDiablo 4and its many updates. There’s a co-op game for everyone out there across a wide chasm of genres. There are even games players might not have even known were co-op titles because the mechanics were added at a later date through patches or ports. How many of these have received the attention they deserve?
Dante’s Infernowas an action game loosely based on the Divine Comedy epic poem. It was EA’s ploy to makeaGod of Warcloneand even though it was a one-and-done situation, it did get some fans. There was enough incentive for the team to finish up some interesting DLC called theTrials of St. Lucia.
In this DLC, players could team up with another person online to go through a series of battle-focused trials. The DLC didn’t add much story to the game but the co-op did make it a worthwhile investment. That’s something it had aboveGod of Warand maybe ifDante’s Infernogot a sequel, there would have been more co-op integration.
TheHaloseries made a name for itself by being a more than competent console shooter when it hit the original Xbox. It was also praised for the campaign co-op and since the beginning, most mainline and spinoff entries have featured co-op in some way. Co-op is as iconic to the series as is Master Chief.
That’s why fans were surprised whenHalo Infinitelaunchedwithout a campaign co-op. Thankfully, it was a matter of when and not if as 343 Industries finally pulled the trigger about a year after launch. The wait for a four-player co-op was worth it for a lot of fans to explore the open-world levels together.
Infernaxis kind of likea 2D spiritual successor toDante’s Infernoalong with being an homage to the NES Castlevania entries. Players are crusaders marching through various dungeons and overworlds, collecting gear and powers to open up new pathways. It was an underrated gem when it launched in 2022 and it got even better when it introduced co-op with an update.
One of the nicest things about the game was the difficulty balance as it could be as hard or as easy as players wanted. The addition of co-op helped make things even easier for those who still struggled. It also made Infernax more fun because who doesn’t love remembering the good old days of NES multiplayer?
Luigi’s Mansionwasoriginally a GameCube game at launch which was noSuper Mario 64but it had its fans. There were a lot of things Nintendo wanted to do with it initially but they were cut due to limitations on hardware and time constraints. For example, 3D was in development for the GameCube.
Years later the 3D was implemented into the 3DS port of the game. They also added a campaign co-op wherein a second player could take the form of Gooigi who first appeared inLuigi’s Mansion 3. This was a new experience on the 3DS and not a free update for the original GameCube game admittedly, but it’s still worth noting in this co-op roundup.
Returnalwas one of the earliest exclusives for the PS5and it got a lot of attention. It was a new tier of roguelike thanks to the horror vibes, gameplay, and visually appealing graphics. It was hard as nails too as there weren’t many ways to permanently upgrade the heroine, Selene.
Future updates eased some of the difficulty spikes with balance patches but the developer also added co-op to help. It’s a much easier game with a friend and it changes the whole vibe. It became more of a Soulslike experience rather than just a horror-based roguelike.
Untitled Goose Gamewas a quirky game about a goose causing mischief. It was more than just a chaos creator akin toGoat Simulatorthough as there was a point. Each area had a puzzle or set of puzzles to solve from scaring children to getting items to finding a key to unlock a gate.
It was a tricky game to control but it was hard not to smile while honking at NPCs. This got even better with the co-op update because as the law of nature states, two goose demons are better than one. For more co-op goose action, players may also want to check out Mighty Goose which is more like aMetal Slugor aContragame.
Vampire Survivors’announcementof co-op was two-fold. It was revealed during a Nintendo Direct that the game was launching on Switch and getting four-player co-op across all platforms in a free update. While it technically was a roguelike, the very nature of the game’s design always felt like a twin-stick shooter.
The twin-stick shooter genre was meant to be played in co-op, so this update was sorely needed. Four players fighting monsters at once could admittedly get a little chaotic though but that’s kind of the fun in any bullet hell-inspired experience. With practice, players would eventually be able to see through the code like Neo fromThe Matrix.
