Sell me a Two-Player Co-Op Game.

[Zombra]

Hi, I am looking for good two-player co-op games I haven't played before. Looking to reconnect with a buddy I haven't gamed with much recently.

The ideal game:

• is specifically built for two players (we can talk about good 3-4 player games though)
• is finite and goal-oriented, with end credits to progress towards
• has enough content to last more than a few sessions
• is real-time
• is moderately challenging
• has at least a little asymmetry to it (e.g. allows RPG builds like sniper+meatshield, or complimentary tools, or two premade characters with different abilities, or "agent + handler" structure)
• may have decision/voting mechanics but CYOA is not the primary gameplay
• (edit) is convenient to online play, not couch or LAN
• (edit) is a PC game you savages

Some small-scale co-op titles I have enjoyed in the past:
Outward. This is the perfect game for what I want but I'm already playing it with someone else.
Clandestine
It Takes Two
A Way Out
Knights and Bikes
Operation Tango
We Were Here series
Arizona Sunshine
Remnant: From the Ashes
Aliens: Fireteam Elite

Some others that are better suited for more players but I've liked:
Back 4 Blood
Deep Rock Galactic
Zombie Army 4
Grounded
7 Days to Die
Across the Obelisk
Lethal Company
Monster Hunter: RISE
Conan: Exiles

Hoping to hear from some of the most helpful advisors from a similar previous thread. Paging Siveon Trithne Kaldurenik what am i doing forumvisitor#451 Magitex Grunker Spacer's Nugget Quilty BrotherFrank deama Beowulf Alphons Alienman Kalarion Blutwurstritter KörangarTheMighty SilentSeeker Gostak udm

Your ideas below. Thanks for reading.

 

[what am i doing]

Magicka sounds like it would be a good fit. It's technically built for 1-4 rather than 2 exactly, but is quite fun solo and works with a couple people; 4 might actually be overly hectic.
The earlier Trine games (mainly 1 & 2) are really good. They're made for 1-3, and again, play quite well solo but would work well with two.

This doesn't fit most of your specifications but I figure I'll mention it anyways: Beyond the Wire, though a large, multiple-squads-based multiplayer shooter, does lend itself well to grabbing a buddy and working as a pair with good teamwork, especially with stuff like an officer + machine gunner combo.

 

[Trithne]

The wife and I are currently playing Deep Rock Galactic as our co-op game, as we both enjoy it, I get to shoot bugs and she gets to mine rocks and complain about the bugs. But this is also because my greater group as a whole are into it atm so we can jump into games with them, and you already mentioned it.

Can't think of any specifically 2 player games though.

Actually, one idea that just came to mind, although maybe a bit unexpected: Paradox games. Hearts of Iron 4 and Stellaris both support 2 people controlling the same nation, allowing you to focus on different aspects of the game.

 

[deuxhero]

Can you do split-screen games? Rogue Squadron 3 and Everything or Nothing both have good and unique co-op campaigns.

 

[Zombra]

Can you do split-screen games? Rogue Squadron 3 and Everything or Nothing both have good and unique co-op campaigns.

Online only, but interesting suggestions.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Works just as well with 2-player Coop. It's a great update of the Gauntlet formula.

 

[Shadowfang]

Outward

 

[e-mailio estevez]

I have had a lot of fun with Gunfire Reborn co-op. I'd go a step further to say it's some of the most fun I've had playing co-op. Roguelites are not to everyone's tastes but the different character classes differentiate themselves enough, there are enough interesting items and weapons and each player has instanced loot whereas in something like Enter the Gungeon co-op where you're provisioning the loot out between partners, in this you're each leveling up and gearing up independently of each other. There can be difficult decisions on how to spend your currency at shops, etc. Kind of a mix between Ziggurat and Borderlands.

There have been runs where both me and my buddy were absolutely busted and destroying everything, and others where we're barely eeking through. But that 'one more run' feeling and playing with a buddy until the wee hours of the morning have been common with that game.

 

[Pots Talos]

I'm always looking for 2 player games to play with my brother so that we stay in contact.
Some of our favorites were:

Door Kickers: Action Squad
Broforce
Valheim (no end game yet though)

We recently just did a playthrough of the Might & Magic 6-7-8 merger online mode and it was a blast.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Average Manatee]

If you like modern Resident Evil games, some of them have decent coop. Setting up your buddy to suplex people is a good bonding experience. If you want to go full arcade then RE5/6 are fine (they are pretty bad in SP but coop has a way of improving a lot of things). If you want something more story-oriented and with more distinction between characters then try RE:Revelations 2.

 

[BrotherFrank]

Two players? Ok now we're talking.

Criminally underrated coop games to get the ball rolling:
Hunted: The demon's forge
The first Templar

These are both flawed gem type of games and ain't exactly gonna blow you away in terms of visuals (although hunted was pretty for its time imo) and gameplay might be rough around the edges at times but the thing is these games are designed for 2 players, and by extension coop.
Hunted in particular really benefits from this and it's a true tragedy it wasn't successful enough to spawn a new franchise.

Otherwise let's fire off a couple of options:
Mechwarriors 5 mercenaries (only host can manage the metagame and mech loadout though)
Prison Architect (assuming you and your friend are ok with delegating roles and building together, otherwise skip)
Endless Dungeon (up to 4 players but is fine with 2, just means each person gets to control 2 characters)
Spellforce 3 (a lot of recent rpgs have introduced coop and i assume zombra is already well aware of them aswell as older games like nwn but shilling spellforce 3 because of the added rts elements so there is more responsibilities to split between 2 people)
Wildermyth (dunno why this game isn't more popular on the dex in general tbh, but yes it has coop)
Tropico 6: Coop city builder ftw, recommend 6 because whilst 5 also has coop the game limiting you to 500 pop for both players combined is really dumb and ruins the point.
Plague Inc Evolved: Never tried the coop but i know it has it
Dawn of war 2 chaos rising: base game campaign+chaos rising right after is the way to go. Retribution has coop too but the campaigns there are a complete downgrade. Dow2 also has the last stand mode which a lot of people ended up liking as more then just a silly offmode.
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. If you ain't repulsed by anime and dbz this is a strong recommend. You build your OC, your friend builds their OC, and other then the story missions which has to be done solo you can play everything else together.


On the survival side... I know The Forest has coop so that could be worth a look? Haven't test it myself though. And if it does hook you, then you'll be just in time to board the forest 2 hype train (currently in ea).

Paradox titles i confirm are coop friendly. Play hoi4 in particular tons with my best gaming buddy. But then the real pain with paradox games is the dlc bs, dropped stellaris entirely because of that.

I was trying to avoid obvious big names but i'll shill total warhammer 3 whilst at it. For whatever faults one can throw at CA and the TWH series, the coop in wh3 is more reliable then it was in wh2 (only ever managed to finish one coop run in wh2 because we would get perma desynced at a certain enemy's turn or battle with no way to fix it). Or can just go back to shogun 2, don't remember ever having problems with shogun 2 in coop.

Edit: removed two options for not being real time, everything else more or less matches required criteria

 

[Trithne]

I was trying to avoid obvious big names but i'll shill total warhammer 3 whilst at it. For whatever faults one can throw at CA and the TWH series, the coop in wh3 is more reliable then it was in wh2 (only ever managed to finish one coop run in wh2 because we would get perma desynced at a certain enemy's turn or battle with no way to fix it). Or can just go back to shogun 2, don't remember ever having problems with shogun 2 in coop.

Definitely Shogun 2. Get Rise of the Samurai in particular, it was explicitly designed for co-op play, and the campaign mechanics are generally better than vanilla.

 

[Arryosha]

Portal 2 is great but you surely played it

Human Fall Flat is decent and funny. Physics based puzzles. It shows many players in the trailers, but it's fun with just two players.

I thought Let's Starve Together was overrated and wouldn't recommend

 

[SpellingSword]

Synthetik is very fun though you might wind up hating each other from all the friendly fire

Crypt of the Necrodancer added coop some time ago.

Cuphead has coop but it's certainly more than moderately difficult.

Crawl is great but only has local multiplayer.

 

[Modron]

Charlie Murder.

 

[Viata]

Online only

Disgusting.

 

[Zoo]

I was trying to avoid obvious big names but i'll shill total warhammer 3 whilst at it. For whatever faults one can throw at CA and the TWH series, the coop in wh3 is more reliable then it was in wh2 (only ever managed to finish one coop run in wh2 because we would get perma desynced at a certain enemy's turn or battle with no way to fix it). Or can just go back to shogun 2, don't remember ever having problems with shogun 2 in coop.

Definitely Shogun 2. Get Rise of the Samurai in particular, it was explicitly designed for co-op play, and the campaign mechanics are generally better than vanilla.

Sadly, we have many problems with Shogun 2 in co-op nowadays, especially in the Rise of the Samurai campaign. Disconnecting, corrupted saves etc. We managed to finish vanilla campaign, but not RotS. Rome 2 and Total Warhammer 1-2 are way more stable.

Some other recommendations:

Sniper Elite 4 (5 is decent, too, but I like 4 better, and 5 was way more buggy when we have played it)
Army of Two (popamole console TPS, but it is really co-op focused fun)
Rainbow Six Vegas (popamole, but good semi-tactical shooter with co-op campaign)
Gears of War (popamole, not my favourite, but can be servicable, if yo can't find any better game for co-op)
Halo (maybe, I don't think any installment has good co-op design, and I hate its world)
Quake 1-2, Prodeus etc. (olschool shooters fun, maybe not the too easy co-op their strength, but good shooting massacre with a buddy can be fun)
The Lost Vikings (classic puzzle platfromer)
Age of Empires 2 (Definitve Edition has some co-op campaigns and battles, some are surprisingly fun, no need for DLCs)
Age of Empires 3 (DE has some co-op scenarios, some are decent, but half of them are DLC contents)

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Has everything listed in the OP.

 

[Falksi]

Streets of Rage 4. Best beat 'em up ever made, simply fantastic. Perfect for having a blast with mates on.

 

[Terenty]

Children of Morta is a great story driven roguelite coop game, highly recommend

Doom 3 coop mod is great fun as well

 

[Sjukob]

I don't even have to sell it to you, it's completely free.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Has everything listed in the OP.

to elaborate in my reccomendation

• is specifically built for two players (we can talk about good 3-4 player games though)
• is finite and goal-oriented, with end credits to progress towards
• has enough content to last more than a few sessions
• is real-time
• is moderately challenging
• has at least a little asymmetry to it (e.g. allows RPG builds like sniper+meatshield, or complimentary tools, or two premade characters with different abilities, or "agent + handler" structure)
• may have decision/voting mechanics but CYOA is not the primary gameplay

• Supports up to 4 players
• They are beat em ups, with levels, bosses and whatnot. Beating each game should take an hour or an hour and a half each, more or less, provided you do an absolutely linear playthrough.
• There's secrets, secret bosses, alternative paths (especially in the second game) and the nature of the classes and the challenges added in the Steam version invites to repeated playthroughs
• Real time beat em up
• Can be moderately challenging. However, the insert coin challenge is gone.
• Second game allows for alternate paths. The options generally offer a shorter but more difficult path or the opposite. Classes are fully integrated, there's spells, inventory, etc. And you get to have the Holy Avenger (but you'll have to work for it)
• See above. You can vote on the alternate paths. Plus you'll fight for loot.

 

[Sjukob]

How about this? Sseth has already done the selling part for me.

 

[markec]

 

[BrotherFrank]

Piggybacking dungeon of mystara to shill the metal slug series.

Otherwise few more suggestions:
-Dungeons 3 onwards (haven't personally tested the coop so no idea if it's actually fun to play dungeon keeper lite with a bro)
-Saints row 3-4
-Shadow warrior 2 (tbh i find it meh compared to 1st precisely because it went from sp focused to chasing the 4player coop trend but its still fun enough i guess and dont need full 4man since game difficulty scales to number of people)
-Anno series, one i tried in coop specifically was 2070
-Rimworld
-Dragon's Dogma, can't believe forgot to sneak that one in.