Co-op games you enjoyed

[zespri]

My friend and myself (we live in different countries) played quite a bit of Diablo 3, but after some years it got old. We tried some other co-op RPGs (ex: Borderland) but somehow all that we tried did not compare well with Diablo 3 to us and Diablo 3 we've had too much. So we tried Portal 2 co-op. I played Portal 2 in single player long ago when it was just out, and my friend never played it before. We had a blast. Now the Portal 2 campaign is coming to the end, we are doing the last "Bonus" test chambers right now. So naturally my friend is asking me what are we going to play next.

Can you recommend some co-op games that you liked?
Requirements:

• 2 player co-op over internet
• Absolutely no human adversaries (that is no DOTA, etc)

Thank you in advance.

[x4000]

You like shooters?

Then, things I really like:

1. Dying Light (I wrote a steam review -- never actually played this co-op, though)
2. Far Cry 4 (this requires you to play for a while solo first, though, annoyingly).
3. I believe Far Cry 3 also works well, but I've not played that one co-op.
4. 7 Days To Die is one I really adore.
5. Left 4 Dead 2 is something you can play with just the two of you.
6. ARK: Survival Evolved is something you can set up your own server for (I did it just on my own machine and play on that same machine no problem), and then play co-op.  It has a lot of potential, but we've had less fun with that.
7. Terraria (only so much fun was had there by us, though).
8. Minecraft!
9. Don't Starve Together (that got old after a while, though, but that's just our taste).
10. Saints Row IV (that's... extremely strange of a game, though).
11. Project Zomboid (I still have yet to actually do this, as one caveat -- but I'm looking forward to it and have it ready for when we have time).
12. Monaco (it didn't float our boat too well honestly, but sooo many people love it).

Hope those help!

[zespri]

Thank you for this. Monaco was near the top of my list to try. I personally do not particularly enjoy shooters - I do feel that this genre is best suited for multi player co-op so it's a bummer I don't like it. The friend was asking if there is anything co-op puzzly like portal, but the thing is, I think that the portal is the best, even if, say Anti-chamber had multiplayer, I do not thing that it is as enjoyable as portal. So I'm fearing that puzzly stuff is right out.

It looks that ARK we might like, but it's early access (and quite a few other titles on the list) and I generally do not do early access.

Terraria and Minecraft unfortunately won't fit either. I like sims and city builders, but building a freaking house from scratch I find quite intolerable.

I myself was thinking along the line of these games below, but I haven't played anyone of them:

• Monaco
• Gauntlet
• FORCED
• Magicka 2
• Elite: Danegrous
• Van Helsing

I'm also willing to try some puzzly platformers, but there are very few platformers that I actually liked (Trine is one of them - I like when the focus is not the pace, but figuring stuff out). Again, haven't really played these, but something I'm considering:

• Battleblock Theater
• Castle Crashers

Ideally I'd like to get him into AI War, but unfortunately he would not be willing to get over the initial learning bump =(.

[Draco18s]

There's also Dungeon Defenders, which is more hack-n-slash + tower defense.
DD1 is migrating to community supported and patched, while the original developer is working on DD2 which will be free to play (early access is paid, but gives premium currency with that purchase).  DD2 hit "alpha" state recently (according to the devs, but it's been a classic "public beta" for almost a year now, and very playable for a year longer than that), so despite the Early Access banner, it's still worth the $20.

FORCED (and similiar) are highly frustrating for me, as I tend to die a lot and dying often means having to restart a level from the beginning, and they're hellishly difficult levels.

Terrorhedron is a pure-tower-defense game, with its own very strange geometry.  Coop, cheap, very difficult.

Risk of Rain is a 2D shooter, and while the game starts out pretty brutally difficult, there are some easy unlocks that will grant new classes or new items (and the more items you have unlocked, the easier the game gets).  My suggestion would be to buy drones (piles of junk that cost money) at every opportunity, as eventually you'd buy 50 of them and unlock the Engineer class, which is way easier to play than the commando (the starting class) mostly on account of having a way to hit enemies you're running away from without having to turn around.

[zespri]

Thank you. To be honest, DD was on my list but I edited that out. Can you confirm for DD/DD2 that:

- You can have full experience just with 2 players (you do not need a party of 4)
- That freemium model allow you enjoy the game without spending exorbitant funds (highly doubtful).

I crossed DD2 out because of the freemium. I *think* we tried DD1 sometimes ago and for reason I cannot remember now we did not like it. I'm willing to try again though. We also tried Orcs Must Die (or was it OMD2?) which proved to be too difficult.

Terrorhedron and Risk of Rain I've never heard of, so thank you for the pointers.

As far as TD goes I also was considering trying Defence Grid 2. It's just hard to imagine to me that TD like DG2 can be enjoyed in coop, it's just plonking out the towers for goodness sake, and while in single player I like this as the other guy, I don't see a point of doing the tower-plonking together.

[Draco18s]

Thank you. To be honest, DD was on my list but I edited that out. Can you confirm for DD/DD2 that:

- You can have full experience just with 2 players (you do not need a party of 4)
- That freemium model allow you enjoy the game without spending exorbitant funds (highly doubtful).

- You can solo/duo, yes.  DD2's solo balance is a very big concern, but DD1 is quite soloable, though in both cases you'll want more than one hero (DD2 is more single-hero-capable, but you miss out on a lot of combos).  For DD1 I'd suggest squire/apprentice, but someone should pick up Series EV (buff beam) and the Summoner (uses a separate build resource).  For DD2, monk/huntress has a very strong combo, but squire has the best barricades.
- Fremium model is entirely meant to have zero mechanical advantage for DD2.  Right now premium currency can get you cosmetics, inventory space (not that big of a deal, in-game can get it too), or a couple of different pet types (but the stats are just as random).

Terrorhedron and Risk of Rain I've never heard of, so thank you for the pointers.

Terrorhedron is a game that "only" ends in a loss, there's no win condition (IIRC).  But "doing well"  does have a measure, but start on the easier difficulties, even if you think you understand tower defense, and just admire the "mathematically impossible" difficulty from a distance.

As far as TD goes I also was considering trying Defence Grid 2. It's just hard to imagine to me that TD like DG2 can be enjoyed in coop, it's just plonking out the towers for goodness sake, and while in single player I like this as the other guy, I don't see a point of doing the tower-plonking together.

I don't have that one and not as interested.  There's also Sanctum 1&2.  Its like Dungeon Defenders, but more FPS-y (you have guns) and in my opinion not as good.  It has the "mazing" mechanic, but it limits it strongly (only a few blocks), towers can only be built on top of the maze walls, and some monsters are outright immune to towers (on account of having damage-ignoring armor that towers don't know how to aim around).

[zespri]

There's also Sanctum 1&2.  Its like Dungeon Defenders, but more FPS-y (you have guns) and in my opinion not as good.  It has the "mazing" mechanic, but it limits it strongly (only a few blocks), towers can only be built on top of the maze walls, and some monsters are outright immune to towers (on account of having damage-ignoring armor that towers don't know how to aim around).

I played these but I think they are single player only?

[zespri]

- You can solo/duo, yes.  DD2's solo balance is a very big concern, but DD1 is quite soloable, though in both cases you'll want more than one hero (DD2 is more single-hero-capable, but you miss out on a lot of combos).  For DD1 I'd suggest squire/apprentice, but someone should pick up Series EV (buff beam) and the Summoner (uses a separate build resource).  For DD2, monk/huntress has a very strong combo, but squire has the best barricades.
- Fremium model is entirely meant to have zero mechanical advantage for DD2.  Right now premium currency can get you cosmetics, inventory space (not that big of a deal, in-game can get it too), or a couple of different pet types (but the stats are just as random).

Also do you happen to know what is the difference between Dungeon Defenders Eternity and Dungeon Defenders 2? Is it the same thing?

[Shrugging Khan]

AI War.

• Total War : Any
• Homeworld #Any
• Dominions 4
• Conquest of Elysium 3
• Mount & Blade Warband (Against bot armies)
• E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy
• Borderlands #Any

Much time was wasted.

[TheVampire100]

Battleblock Theater is fun to play with another friend. Also the co-op campaign is different to the standard camoaign, the puzzles are changed so they fit the two player experience.

Also, if you like Tower Defense and/or shooters: Sanctum 1 and 2.
These games are really awesome, especially with friends. Sanctum 2 is in my opinion supiorer because you can level your character and get perks to equip.

DG2 has a co-op mode? I don't know who came up with that idea but Dg2 isn't that good anyway (mostly because allt he different voice actors neverr shut up and wills till talk when you've already beaten the level).

Dungeon Defenders has also co-op but I never tried that. DD is in my opinion not as much fun as Sanctum. The maps are way too short, there is no mazing or even good designed paths and it all comes down to a grinding orgy for loot and xp. It is still a good game but not THAT good.

Path of Exile is good if you look for somethign similiar like Diablo 3. It is also 100% free (premium purchases affect only cosmetics).The game works however a little different to classical Hack and slays. Instead of having skill trees you have only a huge passive skill tree that improves stats (the only way to improve your stats besides loot) that all character classes share. The character class determines the position you start in this skill tree. Active skills can be obtained through gems that you socket in your equipment. Very interesting system but the trading system is confsing because there is no currency int he game. If you trade with other players there is a good chance that he will rip you off.

Hammerwatch is a nice co-op puzzle hack and slay. The game has a different leveling system. Instead of earnign experience, you get money and you use that money to purchase better stats or skills at vendors. The bosses are in my opinion way too overpowered and you will always face too many enemies at once but the difficulty is still managable.

Hero Siege is a hack and slay arena game. You play as one of many different classes, some are only aviable through DLC. You have to fight off waves of monsters. You will die a lot in the game and every tiem you die you will loose all your money but since there are no real shops in the village this is no big loss. You can only find merchants in the randomly generated arenas (which are called acts here) and you can purchase potions, stat upgrades and artifacts there.
You can level up and skill your character, each class has a different playstyle however some may act similiar. The areny fights get however, even if it's rogue-like, repitive very fast. You will see the same enemies again and again and even if they are different, they have no new skills. There are only a handful of monsters that have unique skills, all the other skills can be obtained from every monster and boss.
Skilling your hero is however very fun.

Fight the dragon is a small rpg with a simple combat and skill design. The key part of the game is to get dragons crolls so you can go to the dragona rena and fight said dragon. The damage the dragon received is saved and you can continue the fight whenever you want, ultimately slaying it. whenever you hit a set amount of damage you get a rare item fromt he dragonw hich however can only be used a limited time.The true gem of the game is the big level editor that allows players to build their own adventures and share them with others. You get a random adventure from the workshop whenever you start a new one, so you will never run out of maps.

And, if you are into MMORPGs, Mabinogi. You have a broad set of skills and it doesn't matter what talent you choose, you can learn every skill of every class/talent, making it possible to develop your own mixed playstyle. The game features, for a MMORPG, a very complex and tactical combat system and depending on what skills you've leanred you have to adapt your strategy. The best way to play it is with a friend so you can support eachother. There is also no level cap, you can level your character forever if you want to.

[Misery]

I dont normally like co-op games much, preferring competitive stuff, but I can still throw out a couple here:

Binding of Isaac Rebirth: if I have to actuallye explain this one to anyone, I'll facedesk pretty hard.  This is an all-time favorite of mine, and I've got hundreds of hours in it.  And now two versions of it, one on PC and one on console.  It's just.... so freaking good....

Nuclear Throne:  I've shown this one before on this forum.  This game isnt finished yet... but it's so amazingly polished that they could stop and sell it as complete right now, and nobody would know the difference.  It's bloody brilliant.  Just be warned, this game does NOT hold your hand at all.  It wont hesitate to rip your face off and beat you with it.

I'll also second Risk of Rain, that game is another brilliant one.  It can seem a bit too hard at times, and the real key is figuring out an overall tactic that works for you; I usually kill everything in the level first, and dont open a single chest or such until that's done, and Iv'e found this approach works very well.  Try to unlock characters as fast as possible, you might find that the game is less frustrating with certain ones.  Cant use the Enforcer worth a crap myself.  And dont worry if you cant unlock the damn Miner.  I gave up entirely on that one.  RNG overload.

And yeah, Minecraft.  My own personal favorite game, it's a blast in multiplayer wether it's co-op, competitive, with or without mods, whatever.  If you try that though DONT get the console versions.  Just dont.  They're.... just.... absolutely inferior.


That's about all I've got, I think.

[Shrugging Khan]

Oh, yeah, Risk of Rain!

It's a bit of a design nightmare in more than one way, but you can get a lot of fun out of just trying various builds.

And Nuclear Throne...does Co-Op work correctly by now? Last time we tried it, it just plain didn't.

[zespri]

Fight the dragon is a small rpg with a simple combat and skill design. The key part of the game is to get dragons crolls so you can go to the dragona rena and fight said dragon. The damage the dragon received is saved and you can continue the fight whenever you want, ultimately slaying it. whenever you hit a set amount of damage you get a rare item fromt he dragonw hich however can only be used a limited time.The true gem of the game is the big level editor that allows players to build their own adventures and share them with others. You get a random adventure from the workshop whenever you start a new one, so you will never run out of maps.

Thank you for your other suggestions, I really appreciate them, getting to know so much! But I just wanted to comment about Fight the dragon. I'm utterly confused by this game. I bought it, quickly did all the "official" levels and then.... what? I don't want to play some amateur made crap that dick, fred and jenny created, I want a real game! I don't really understand how an attentive enough person (not like me) can be tricked into purchasing this "game". I mean the devs just coped out, here - they are selling the  game engine / editor - but they are not selling a game - as advertised! To me that's quite pointless. Am I failing to see something important here?

[Misery]

Fight the dragon is a small rpg with a simple combat and skill design. The key part of the game is to get dragons crolls so you can go to the dragona rena and fight said dragon. The damage the dragon received is saved and you can continue the fight whenever you want, ultimately slaying it. whenever you hit a set amount of damage you get a rare item fromt he dragonw hich however can only be used a limited time.The true gem of the game is the big level editor that allows players to build their own adventures and share them with others. You get a random adventure from the workshop whenever you start a new one, so you will never run out of maps.

Thank you for your other suggestions, I really appreciate them, getting to know so much! But I just wanted to comment about Fight the dragon. I'm utterly confused by this game. I bought it, quickly did all the "official" levels and then.... what? I don't want to play some amateur made crap that dick, fred and jenny created, I want a real game! I don't really understand how an attentive enough person (not like me) can be tricked into purchasing this "game". I mean the devs just coped out, here - they are selling the  game engine / editor - but they are not selling a game - as advertised! To me that's quite pointless. Am I failing to see something important here?

It's actually a common design idea these days; it can be very, very good when it works.

Like the LittleBigPlanet series, which I consider absolutely fantastic (and is the entire reason I now own a PS4, and considering how bloody expensive one is, that says alot about it, I think) and have had nothing bad to say about it, or the upcoming Super Mario Maker, which.... well, it's been a long time since I've been as excited for a game as I am for that one.

It ends up being all about how good the editors/tools are.  The better they are, the better the resulting levels that people will create, on average.  Oh, dont get me wrong, you'll still get crap levels sometimes.  But typically, these sorts of things make it pretty easy to find levels that are considered good by others that have already played them.  I'm going to guess that this one probably has a rating system, where you can rate the level and possibly make comments after completing/playing it.  Those also influence the final quality of the game.

If those elements are done wrong.... you can end up with an overall bad experience.  If done right though, they can be fantastic.  And for some players... such as myself... the creation aspect ends up being half the draw of it to begin with.  Typically, that sort of player will usually end up creating things that are at least decent.

I strongly recommend at least giving them a fair chance; learn how everything works, and find the best ways to search out good/popular content.  I mean, you already did buy the game.... nothing to lose, right?

I have to say I'm intrigued now myself.

Oh, yeah, Risk of Rain!

It's a bit of a design nightmare in more than one way, but you can get a lot of fun out of just trying various builds.

And Nuclear Throne...does Co-Op work correctly by now? Last time we tried it, it just plain didn't.

Co-op, as far as I know, works fine now.  It's been a long while since I've heard of any problems with it; these days people mostly just complain about the third boss or the damn IDPD truck.  I could be wrong though; I dont do co-op in this game.  I just know it's there, and with this developer, I assume a high quality.   As far as I know though there is not and never will be an online mode.

[Draco18s]

There's also Sanctum 1&2.

I played these but I think they are single player only?

1's coop was separate from the campaign, IIRC.  2 lets you coop the whole game.

Also do you happen to know what is the difference between Dungeon Defenders Eternity and Dungeon Defenders 2? Is it the same thing?

DDE is basically dead.  It is "DD1 rebuilt" but the community did not take kindly to the move.  So all the new content was actually migrated back into DD1.