If you grew up sharing a console or PC with your family, co-op games may well have been an integral part of your routine. On top of allowing two or more people to enjoy gaming on one machine at the same time, co-op games offer unique experiences that favour coordination and teamwork. Most notably, they create unforgettable memories to cherish for years to come.
My oldest co-op experiences date back to the original PlayStation and Xbox era, teaming up with friends to finish levels in Metal Slug and Halo: Combat Evolved, though sometimes butting heads in Street Fighter and Crash Team Racing. Needless to say, I still appreciate some couch co-op play from time to time. In this feature, I’m talking specifically about games where it’s all about teamwork. In other words, there’s no Street Fighter or Team Sonic Racing.
A Way Out
Release date: March 23, 2018 | Developer: Hazelight Studios | Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One.
A Way Out is a co-op game designed to be played exclusively with a friend, where you team up to complete both mundane and life-threatening tasks. You play as two convicts trying to escape prison, which results in plenty of action-filled moments that make you feel like part of a Hollywood thriller.
To achieve your goal, each player must do their part. For example, at one point a player will have to cut a hole in the prison wall, while the other monitors to see if a guard is coming. Other fun moments happen on the outside, where one player must make a splash in a pond while the other tries to catch fish with a spear. On top of all this, there are all the usual game mechanics, such as pushing crates, helping each other climb walls, and so on.
The story is linear, but in a good way, since it keeps the gameplay packed, instead of spamming you with meaningless side quests. The gameplay is also quite varied. Sometimes you’re on screen together, and at other times you get separated. Moving out from cutscenes to gameplay is also seamless, enhancing this game’s cinematic feel. While the story can get goofy at times, it remains a fun experience over the seven or so hours it takes to finish.
Another great aspect of A Way Out is that only one person needs to buy the game. The second player can download and play the entire cooperative campaign online for free. So, if you can’t play with your friend on the same couch, this can be an option.
It Takes Two
Release date: March 26, 2021 | Developer: Hazelight Studios | Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch.
It Takes Two is another couch co-op game from Hazelight, the developer of A Way Out developers, this time taking the form of a superb platformer bubbling with creativity. The game lets you play as two parents who got turned into plush toys, working their way back home while trying to fix their relationship in the process. The level design is top-notch, with plenty of colours and detail.
It Takes Two packs so many unique and well-paced ideas, you’ll have a hard time finding a more varied game, especially one that does so for 10 hours straight. At one point you may find yourself collaboratively steering a giant pencil on drawing paper, and another time you’ll find yourself fighting a squirrel on top of a makeshift plane. There is no shortage of mechanics to keep you entertained for the duration of the game without anything feeling recycled.
This game also features a lot of interactive objects that exist simply for the sake of making the world feel alive, rewarding exploration and curiosity. Gameplay is also very responsive, with jumps and dashes feeling precise and snappy.
If you liked A Way Out, this one is even better, and a great one for a parent to play with a 12+ kid. The experience is so refreshing, you want more at the end of it. Like A Way Out, It Takes Two also features the free friend pass system, which allows you to play with someone without them needing to buy the game.
Split Fiction
Release date: March 6, 2025 | Developer: Hazelight Studios | Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2.
I know, I know, another Hazelight Studios game. It’s not my fault this developer has made split-screen co-op its bread and butter. This time around, you follow two authors who got stuck inside their stories due to a glitchy machine, and are now venturing between worlds.
The game constantly shifts between a fantasy and a sci-fi world, which creates a striking contrast, as well as a great variety of gameplay. At one moment you can be wandering a fairytale village, and in the next you find yourself exploring a space station, with each universe featuring its own art style and music.
Like It Takes Two, Split Fiction is all about platforming, but this time taking advantage of all the lessons learned by Hazelight from its previous games. While the story won’t blow you away, the gameplay more than compensates for that shortfall. The game keeps you constantly entertained by throwing new mechanics at you.
One minute you’ll be trying to ride a giant treelike insect, while another time the game will be encouraging you to defy gravity in a futuristic city. The gameplay constantly shifts between action, platforming, puzzle solving, and even racing, so you never get bored. It’s like combining dozens of different games into one single, interlinked world. That’s an impressive achievement in a game where the main controls consist of sprinting, jumping, dashing and sometimes grappling.
Unsurprisingly, considering Hazelight’s successful game roster, its team knows exactly how to nail a perfect co-op game. Once more, friend pass sharing is present if you want to play with someone online – including cross-play – without them paying for the game, which is more valuable this time around, since the game is still new and thus not aggressively discounted yet.
Unravel Two
Release date: June 9, 2018 | Developer: Coldwood Interactive | Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch.
Unravel Two is a puzzle platformer where you play as two linked yarns helping each other through obstacles. The gameplay consists of jumping, lassoing objects, and tying knots to create bridges, trampolines and other objects to help you advance. Since both characters are linked together, the thread between them forms an integral part of the way in which you can navigate obstacles. For example, one player can stay still, acting as an anchor, while the other swings to reach a ledge.
The platforming part reminds me of Little Big Planet, although jumping from place to place doesn’t always feel accurate. The good news is that, while the game may require a bit more coordination than the previous games on this list, it remains accessible to anyone with minimum gaming knowledge. Unravel Two offers a good variety of levels, taking you across forests and urban locations, each requiring about 30 minutes to finish. It also includes a good amount of challenge, including some skill-based, Super Meat Boy-style jump levels, and some fiendish puzzles.
Unfortunately, while Unravel Two has a story, it adds little to the experience. It won’t blow you away, and you’ll probably forget about it very quickly, assuming you followed it in the first place. The music score on the other hand is excellent.
Thankfully, the gameplay makes up for the lack of an engrossing story, keeping you occupied for about 10 hours, depending on your puzzling skills. To put it simply, Unravel Two is excellent if you want some calm, platform-focused cooperative fun.
Castle Crashers
Release date: August 27, 2008 | Developer: The Behemoth | Platforms: PC, Mac, Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, Switch.
Castle Crashers continues to offer a great co-op experience even after nearly two decades, letting you bash hordes of enemies with up to four friends in a 2.5D medieval-style setting. The cartoony and colourful graphics give the game a distinct personality, all without impacting visibility. Somehow, despite the countless enemies present at any given moment, the screen doesn’t feel overcrowded, and you can easily locate your character within the chaos. Being able to play with three friends adds even more anarchy to the already-frantic gameplay.
Simple yet addictive, Castle Crashers play consists of light and heavy attacks, plus some special powers such as lightning, ice, and fire. Despite its simple combat, the game doesn’t become stale, thanks to the great variety of levels, which let you explore vastly different biomes. The game also includes some RPG elements, allowing you to upgrade certain aspects of your character to make it tankier, harder-hitting, or nimbler.
The art style is humorous, with disproportionate enemy bodies and funny ragdolls. I especially liked the boss fight against the giant corn plate that drops cereal grains when you hit it, which turn into popcorn. Another fun moment happens at the end of each boss fight, where you get to duel your friend for who gets to kiss the princess. On the subject of bosses, unlike many games that telegraph when a boss fight is approaching, through music or conveniently placed ammo boxes, Castle Crashers often surprises you with a boss battle out of the blue.
To put it simply, Castle Crashers is one of the best beat-them-all games available. Regularly available for at £0.99 (-90%) during discounts, it’s undoubtedly worth every penny. If you like bashing through waves of enemies, you may also like TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge.
Moving Out 2
Release date: August 15, 2023 | Developer: SMG Studio, Devm Games | Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch.
Moving Out 2 is a highly enjoyable game that makes grappling with furniture an entertaining event. The game world is colourful and pleasing to the eye, with a good amount of detail and a Sims-like camera viewpoint. That said, it’s the gameplay that makes Moving Out 2 special, tasking you to haul different-sized and shaped objects towards a designated drop-off point.
Depending on the size of an object, you could need a second pair of hands, which creates hilarious moments where you try to coordinate with your friends on which way left is. The object’s inertia adds to the game’s comedic physics, which perfectly matches its graphics. This often means clumsy controls, by design, which makes it fun despite the frustration it may create.
The game doesn’t take itself too seriously, with quirky-looking furniture, such as a croissant-shaped sofa that loves catching on walls to make your job hard. In one level, you may be dodging a cauldron zooming through a hallway, and in another one you could be smashing stone pillars to clear the way for your team. There are plenty of mini-games too, giving Moving Out 2 a bit of that Mario Party magic. The game is bound to extract a couple of laughs from each of the team members as hilarious moments are just a misstep away.
Between the complicated missions and the relaxed mini-games, you won’t feel the time passing. If you like this style of game, Overcooked! 2 is also worth trying.
Portal 2
Release date: April 18, 2011 | Developer: Valve | Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox 360, PS3, Switch.
Although Portal 2 works great as a single-player game, it also functions as a fantastic split-screen puzzler, where you and a friend can control two lovable robots, each equipped with portal guns. These portals allow you to link to distant locations by creating a sort of sub-space tunnel between them, which can then be used to cross or transfer objects to solve puzzles. Like the first game, you’re a test subject, which means you will be tossed, squished, and dismantled more times than you think, resulting in some memorable moments.
The game’s portal gameplay and rules perfectly translate to co-op, as each player must coordinate with the other as to where and when to open a portal. Since the co-op mode brings a second pair of portals, the levels increase in complexity as you advance, sometimes demanding coordination. For example, you may need to jump from one platform to another, all while timing the activation of mechanisms with your friend. On top of requiring a good amount of puzzle-solving skill, some sections also demand fast reaction times and dexterity.
The story is also top notch, and most importantly, separate from the single-player campaign, which makes the co-op experience fresh even for those who have already beaten the game solo. Voice acting is excellent, radiating with charm and humorous chatter between the robots and the omnipresent test centre AI. The latter won’t hesitate to mock you if you fail a test. I had such a blast playing through the co-op campaign with a friend; I wish it were longer.
The game is also quite light on hardware, making it ideal for those still chugging along on an old machine. That said, despite its old graphics engine, Portal 2 still looks great.
