Sell me a Co-Op Game.

[Curratum]

You're fucking yourself over with the 8+ player thing. Very few games will both be good AND accommodate for so many coop-only players.

 

[Quilty]

I used to really enjoy playing the original Company of Heroes in 2v2 sessions with a friend. I'm quite sure it has support for 4v4, perhaps even more, so that's another option. The game lends itself to cooperation and mutual support, and it's well designed and visually appealing to boot. It can be quite tense at times, as you're trying to juggle holding your own side of the map with supporting your friend's side or infiltrating on several points simultaneously.

 

[Zombra]

Sure, I dabble quite a bit in coop games so let me scratch my head...

Support for at least 8 players

Nevermind, for me coop is like 4 ppl max and even then that automatically pushes you into games like L4d, vermintide or galactic rock. 2 player coop is the sweet spot for variety.
But for up to 8 ppl? And with the rest of your requirements? That really pushes you into just sandbox survival builders or mmos.

Yeah, we have a ton of 4-player games available but invariably when we have a session 5+ people show up and someone has to be left out, which doesn't make anyone feel good. That high player count requirement is a bitch but necessary if it's going to be a long term hit with the gang.

 

[Zombra]

I used to really enjoy playing the original Company of Heroes in 2v2 sessions with a friend. I'm quite sure it has support for 4v4, perhaps even more, so that's another option. The game lends itself to cooperation and mutual support, and it's well designed and visually appealing to boot. It can be quite tense at times, as you're trying to juggle holding your own side of the map with supporting your friend's side or infiltrating on several points simultaneously.

Sadly for this and L4D which are both good suggestions otherwise, some of our members are allergic to PvP of any kind, even against friends.

 

[JamesDixon]

How about War of Rights? It's a 150 person FPS taking place during the American Civil War.



There's also Hell Let Loose that has 100 people in an FPS.

 

[Quilty]

I used to really enjoy playing the original Company of Heroes in 2v2 sessions with a friend. I'm quite sure it has support for 4v4, perhaps even more, so that's another option. The game lends itself to cooperation and mutual support, and it's well designed and visually appealing to boot. It can be quite tense at times, as you're trying to juggle holding your own side of the map with supporting your friend's side or infiltrating on several points simultaneously.

Sadly for this and L4D which are both good suggestions otherwise, some of our members are allergic to PvP of any kind, even against friends.

I see. That makes it a bit tricky. How about SWAT 4? Not sure on the player limit there, though, it's been a while since I played.

Or something like setting up a game of CK2/EU4/Vicky2 and having guys cooperate? Might be overkill against the AI, but perhaps not if they're new to the game. Those should support 8+ players.

And how about simulation games? Some people play American Truck Simulator in MP, just cruising around together like a fleet, doing missions. If you guys have joysticks and want enemies, there's IL-2 Sturmovik games and DCS. IL-2, at least the newer one, is more friendly towards newbies, unlike DCS, which requires more training.

Not sure how your group would feel about arena shooters, but I have returned to UT99 multiple times and had a good, nostalgic time just playing against bots.

 

[Zombra]

stuff

Thanks, but PvP is off the table with this group.

stuff

Some very interesting ideas here. SWAT 4 looks like it might be perfect. The base game only allows 5 players but the expansion goes up to 10!

 

[BrotherFrank]

JamesDixon's post does remind me of some larger scale war games that can accomodate your coterie.

Verdun is on sale atm and has in built squad mechanic (can't remember how big the squads are but let's say worst case scenario you will be 2 squads).


For a non fps also remembered Foxhole which wasn't my cup of tea but on reflection actually has a lot of what you asked for:

 

[Maggot]

No More Room in Hell mod on Steam

 

[Siveon]

Party games are also an option that you probably know. Something like Jackbox works very well, as does Tabletop Simulator if your friends can enjoy a good 8 player boardgame.

For more normal games, Halo can be 8 player co-op... if you play online against others I suppose. Same goes for a lot of FPS titles like that. I also didn't see anyone mention EYE Divine Cybermancy having 32 player co-op or something dumb like that:


Sven co-op was a good mention as well. You want mods for niche things. GZDoom I believe can support pretty high player counts for co-op if you can track that down and set it up and port forward and - you get the gist.

 

[Quilty]

If your friends are into strategy and WH40K, you might give Warhammer Total War a chance. Haven't played it much, but I've heard from others they're fun if you like the source material.

Regarding simulation games, there's also Wolfpack, a submarine simulator in the vein of Silent Hunter games, although it is limited to four players in co-op. Might work out for you if only a part of the group is into that kind of experience.

 

[deama]

There's a wow private server called project ascension, it's a classic wow server (they're up to burning crusade now) but with a classless system, so you can pick your abilities/talents however you want. They started their new season last week.

Terraria is always a good choice for group content.

Path of exile? That should support more than 4 players in a map last time I remember.

There's a mod that increases player count for original sin 2: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1147333888

 

[Beowulf]

How about Barotrauma?


It fits most of your criteria.
It supports more than 8 players.
It's good without mods.
Instead of building a base you'll be upgrading and maintaining your sub (you can build custom subs if you wish).
The "main quest" is a campaign which is quite long.
Drop in and drop out handled rather well.
Player classes matter.
There is some stats levelling, but it's nothing deep.
Nice items to find and craft.
Sessions can last as long as you wish - it's just a string of mission that shouldn't take 2 hours. More like 30 minutes, unless somethin happens along the way (fun TM).

But if you really want RPG (as in mechanics usually found in RPG titles) and base building as main points, you will be disappointed.

 

[Zombra]

Thanks, Beowulf. I tried Barotrauma and found it immediately very claustrophobic and frustrating, but not in a good horror game kind of way; more of a "QWOP in Space" kind of way. Seems like a high barrier of entry that would make it a hard sell for my group. Still, maybe I will take another look at it.

 

[Grunker]

Barotrauma looks so sick but why the everliving hell did they make it QWOP? Such a weird decision

 

[Alphons]

Payday 2 is fun. I have over 600 hours on it and still play with friends from time to time.

While it normally only allows max 4 players, you can mod it to support up to 21:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2150369999

Heists are varied, with several different difficulties available, majority of them can be completed loud or stealth.
Each player has a safehouse that can be upgraded and decorated with trophies from heists.
5 skill trees to mix and match (plus Infamy skills) and loads of guns that can be modified allow you to switch between several different loadouts on the fly.

It's currently on sale and FREE to play for the next 3 days.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/218620/PAYDAY_2/

 

[Zlaja]

not everyone in the group likes fighting their friends

Thanks, but PvP is off the table with this group

They sound like a fun bunch.

 

[Alienman]

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. 4player co-op, big campaign, lots of missions.

And no, I'm not joking.

It's pretty good if you play "hardcore" mode, without the gear levels and of course on the hardest difficulty where you die in one or two hits. There are several classes, from stealth ninja to engineer like dudes, but in the end you mostly just need a good gun that can shoot stuff. But yeah, classes are there with different "specials". You do level up and get to pick talents, better stealth, bigger health, longer range on tech gadgets etc. I also recommend using the setting were you are only allowed one main gun, so your group has to specialize.

I found the story pretty good actually. Weird Apple-esque company buys Island, and from that shit hits the fan, it's kinda like Jurassic Park but instead of dinos you have angry mercs running around. The dlc with Sam Fisher is damn good too, even got Ironside back to do the voice over.

 

[Zombra]

Thanks Alienman - sadly we have tons of options for 4-player games already but it always causes problems since 5-6 of us usually are excited to play, sometimes more.

 

[Kalarion]

Have you looked at Battle for Wesnoth?

Native support for what you want (that is, map or campaign scenarios for 8+ players in co-op vs. an AI) is probably pretty slim, but it's possible, which means you guys can design your own campaigns fairly easily using the in-game editor.

 

[fork]

Thanks Alienman - sadly we have tons of options for 4-player games already but it always causes problems since 5-6 of us usually are excited to play, sometimes more.

Just get rid of some of the friends and play those 4-player games.

 

[Dr1f7]

My crew

Support for at least 8 players

Must be nice...

let me give you a taste of the 8-man crew experience:

"Whatsup gu.."
"THE SKY"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH x8"

"Bro I just saw a youtube vid of someo-"
"CHOKING ON A SUS GLIZZY?"
"LOL x8"
"u watching porn again tommy?"
"Porn's not on..
"ALL TOMMY DOES IS WATC PRON"
"LOLOLOL x8"
"SRSLY DUDES it was funny video - a Fortnite ass shaking compilation"
"SHUT THE FUCK U P TOMMY"
"LOL x100000000000"
"DUDE CHECK OUT THE MEME I POSTED IN DISCORD"
"IT's BIG CHGUNGUS!!!!"
"HAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH x200000000000000000000000"
"Br
" BRO
"GISUA
" AOWFRJAWOMF
"AWWWJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ"

for 5 hours

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

The new Evil Dead game is fine. I played it for a couple days and got bored with it but every co-op game is like that for me.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Serious Sam First and Second Encounter seem like a good choices. Killing Floor 2 also works with at least 6 people and might be workable up to 8, though I am not 100% sure about that. Also Unreal Tournament, Quake 3 or Counterstrike vs bots. Supreme Commander supports 8vs8 and can be played vs ai together. Warcraft 3 fun maps are also good idea for 8 people. Factorio also works with 8 people and jumping in and out is no trouble. Core Keeper is also surprisingly fun and should work with 8 people, jumping in and out is also no problem. It's a bit like Stardew Valley but with a focus on exploration, mining, farming is not the focus. Ark officially lists only 4 players but I am pretty sure we managed in the past to setup a dedicated lan server that allowed more players by fiddling around with config files. I have played 4 years ago regularly with 6-8 people in local lan and shooters are typically a good choice since you can get away with breaks. Games that require all people to play constantly together for longer sessions usually work badly in my experience, especially with more than 2 or 3 people.

TLDR

Factorio, Core Keeper, Serious Sam, Supreme Commander, UT, Quake3, CS. Those should all work with 8 people in some form of coop and don't require long term commitment.

 

[Zombra]

let me give you a taste of the 8-man crew experience

Yeah, I said my crew, not your dumbass friends. But thank you for bumping the thread and I hope things get better for you.