The Best Co-Op Games of 2025 to Play With Your Pals
Gamers have made it clear that they love competitive shooters—just look at how massive franchises like Battlefield, Call of Duty, and Fortnite have become. But for every intense, twitchy showdown, there’s a quieter corner of the gaming world where the focus isn’t on K/D ratios or ranked ladders. It’s on laughing with friends, solving problems together, and building memories. That’s where cooperative games shine.
Co-op titles still don’t get the same spotlight as blockbuster multiplayer shooters or prestige single-player epics. They’re easy to miss in a release calendar stuffed with battle passes, esports tournaments, and cinematic action campaigns. Yet for many players, co-op games are the sweet spot: they deliver the social connection of online play without the pressure of sweaty competition or endlessly grinding to keep up with meta shifts.
If you’re tired of being stomped by players who seem to live inside your favorite PvP game, or you just want something that feels more like hanging out than battling strangers, co-op is the way to go. Whether you’re prepping for the holidays, planning a weekend LAN, or just looking for a chill evening activity with friends or family, these are the standout co-op experiences of 2025.
Below are our top cooperative picks—from whimsical platformers to intense sci-fantasy epics—that are worth gathering a squad for this year.
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Donkey Kong Bananza
Best for: Couch co-op, families, and nostalgia fans
Donkey Kong Bananza is Nintendo at its most chaotic and joyful. It revives classic side-scrolling platforming but leans heavily into co-op shenanigans. Up to four players can barrel through jungle stages, minecart runs, and vertical climbing gauntlets, each taking control of a different Kong with unique abilities.
The genius of Bananza is how it bakes cooperation into every level. One player might use a heavy ground-pound to reveal hidden paths while another uses agility to reach high platforms, tossing bananas and power-ups down to the rest. Timed switches, shared vehicles, and tag-team boss mechanics mean that communication and timing matter, but the punishment for failure is light enough that even younger or inexperienced players can keep up.
If your ideal co-op night involves sitting on the same couch, shouting at each other over missed jumps, and laughing through the chaos, Bananza is easily one of 2025’s must-play titles.
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Borderlands 4
Best for: Loot addicts and long-term co-op campaigns
Borderlands has always been at its best when played with friends, and Borderlands 4 turns the co-op dial up even higher. This installment expands the looter-shooter formula with more distinct character classes, wildly varied skill trees, and deeper synergy between builds.
The campaign is built with cooperative play in mind. Enemy encounters scale smartly with party size, and bosses are designed around team roles—one player might specialize in crowd control, another in burst damage, another in shields or healing. Shared objectives, optional side missions, and open-zone exploration let groups move at their own pace without forcing everyone through a linear corridor.
Loot has also been reworked so co-op doesn’t feel like a race to pick up drops. Instanced rewards and more meaningful trading encourage players to discuss builds, trade gear, and create a genuinely cooperative squad rather than four lone wolves sprinting in the same direction. If your group wants something meaty you can chip away at for weeks, Borderlands 4 delivers.
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Elden Ring: Nightreign
Best for: Hardcore co-op, patient teams, and Soulslike veterans
The original Elden Ring quietly became one of the most memorable co-op experiences of its generation, even though it wasn’t marketed primarily as a multiplayer game. Nightreign doubles down on that aspect, turning cooperative play into a core pillar of its design.
The expansion introduces multi-phase dungeons and bosses that almost feel like MMO-style raids. Encounters push players to coordinate healing windows, stagger timings, and status effects instead of simply rolling through attacks on their own. Some areas feature branching paths where different teammates must split up to activate mechanisms or handle separate challenges that affect the whole group.
Summoning and world-sharing systems have been refined to make jumping into a friend’s world smoother and more stable. While Nightreign is still punishing, going in with a dedicated group transforms it from a solitary struggle into a shared saga. If your crew enjoys dissecting boss patterns, min-maxing builds, and celebrating every hard-won victory, Nightreign is a brutal but deeply rewarding co-op journey.
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Arc Raiders
Best for: Sci-fi fans, PvE squads, and tactical coordination
Arc Raiders drops your team into a retro-futuristic world under siege from towering mechanized invaders. It’s a cooperative PvE shooter where environmental awareness and team positioning matter just as much as aim.
Each raid-style mission sends your squad into open zones filled with roaming machines, stealth opportunities, and high-intensity set pieces. Different roles—tech support, heavy weapons, scouts—shine in different encounters, encouraging players to plan loadouts together instead of everyone picking the same gear.
The real magic of Arc Raiders lies in its emergent moments: one player drawing enemy fire while another sabotages weak points, or the team chaining abilities to topple a massive walker in a single, perfectly timed sequence. It’s ideal for groups who enjoy strategizing between missions, experimenting with tactics, and gradually mastering increasingly difficult raids.
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Peak
Best for: Chill-but-challenging sessions and puzzle-loving duos
On the surface, Peak looks like a minimalist climbing and exploration game. Underneath, it’s one of the most quietly clever co-op titles of the year. You and a partner (or small group) attempt to scale a massive, interconnected mountain range where progress depends on cooperation as much as dexterity.
Ropes, anchors, and shared stamina resources force constant communication: one player might scout ahead while the others secure a safe route, or you might need to redistribute gear at certain checkpoints. Environmental puzzles—like redirecting wind currents or managing avalanches—require players to coordinate actions across different parts of the map.
Peak is perfect if you want a slower, more thoughtful experience that still gives you those “we actually pulled that off” adrenaline spikes. It’s less about reflexes and more about patience, planning, and trust.
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R.E.P.O.
Best for: Co-op stealth fans and heist enthusiasts
R.E.P.O. reimagines the stealth co-op genre with a darkly comic twist: you and your crew are futuristic repo agents reclaiming assets from heavily guarded facilities, luxury megayachts, and secret bunkers.
Every mission feels like a little puzzle box. Some players distract guards or manipulate security systems, while others sneak through vents, crack safes, or transport bulky items. Getting spotted doesn’t always mean instant failure, but it escalates the tension quickly, forcing the team to improvise an escape or double down to finish the job.
The game shines when you lean into its role-based co-op design. Voice chatter full of whispered callouts, last-second rescues, and carefully timed gadgets makes R.E.P.O. an outstanding pick for groups who like the idea of pulling off heists together rather than just trading bullets.
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RV There Yet?
Best for: Families, casual gamers, and cozy chaos
RV There Yet? takes the mundane idea of a road trip and turns it into a delightfully hectic cooperative adventure. You and your friends control different members of a family (and sometimes the family pets) crammed into a single RV, trying to make it across a stylized country without everything falling apart.
Each stop along the route presents a new co-op scenario: fixing the engine under time pressure, cooking with limited ingredients, keeping kids entertained, navigating storms, or dealing with bizarre roadside attractions. Some tasks are skill-based mini-games, others are about quick decision-making and communication.
What makes it so effective is how approachable it is. Controls are simple, rounds are short, and failure is more funny than frustrating. It’s the perfect title if you want to include younger players, non-gamers, or relatives who might be intimidated by complex controls or serious themes.
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Split Fiction
Best for: Story-first players and narrative puzzle fans
Split Fiction is a narrative-driven co-op game that treats each player as an unreliable narrator inside a shared story. You and your partner see different versions of events, environments, and even characters, and you’ll only understand what’s truly happening by comparing your perspectives.
Puzzles rely heavily on communication. Maybe one player sees a code scrawled on a wall that’s invisible to the other, or hears dialogue that contradicts what’s happening on their screen. Progress requires talking through what each of you is experiencing and reconciling those differences to make choices that affect the story’s branching paths.
For groups that care more about plot twists and emotional beats than high APM action, Split Fiction is one of 2025’s most inventive cooperative experiences. It feels almost like a shared novel you’re writing together in real time.
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Why Co-Op Games Are Worth Your Time in 2025
Co-op titles fill a niche that neither single-player epics nor competitive shooters can fully satisfy. They’re social by design but often lower-stress than PvP, making them ideal for players who want to unwind without being judged on performance.
They also scale naturally with your life. You can jump into a few quick rounds of RV There Yet? after dinner, or commit to a months-long Borderlands 4 campaign with your regular group. For many people, co-op nights become a recurring hangout—less about the specific game, more about catching up while doing something fun together.
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Choosing the Right Co-Op Game for Your Group
When picking a co-op game in 2025, consider:
– Skill level in your group
Donkey Kong Bananza and RV There Yet? are great for mixed-experience groups. Elden Ring: Nightreign is brutally punishing and best for people who enjoy difficulty.
– Preferred pace
Want high-intensity battles? Try Arc Raiders or Borderlands 4. Prefer slower, more deliberate sessions? Peak and Split Fiction are better fits.
– Online vs couch co-op
Some games shine locally with shared screens and snacks (Bananza, RV There Yet?), while others are built for online squads with voice chat (Arc Raiders, R.E.P.O., Nightreign).
– Session length
If you only have an hour now and then, shorter-level games and mini-game collections work best. For dedicated teams, sprawling RPGs and raid-style shooters offer deeper progression.
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Making Co-Op Nights Actually Happen
The best co-op game is the one your group will *actually* play. A few practical tips:
– Set a recurring time—even once every two weeks—to avoid constant “When are we playing?” scheduling.
– Pick one main game as your “campaign” and a lighter backup game for when not everyone can make it.
– Use in-game roles to help quieter players feel involved: scouting, support, puzzle-solving, or navigation roles can be just as valuable as top damage.
– Don’t obsess over optimal play. Co-op is about shared moments, not perfect execution.
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The Bottom Line
Competitive shooters and big single-player adventures will always dominate the headlines, but 2025 is an excellent year to lean into co-op. Whether you’re craving a nostalgic platformer, a loot-heavy shooter, a punishing fantasy epic, or a story you literally cannot experience alone, there’s a co-op game here for you and your crew.
Gather your squad, pick the vibe—chaotic, thoughtful, intense, or cozy—and dive into one of these standout cooperative experiences. The victories feel better, the failures are funnier, and the memories last longer when you’re in it together.