The Best Co-Op Games On Steam

Summary

  • Steam offers a wide variety of co-op games, allowing you to play with friends either in the same room or online.
  • Some co-op games on Steam, like Cuphead and For The King, provide a challenging and fun experience that is better enjoyed with friends.
  • Others, such as Deep Rock Galactic and Payday 2, offer unique gameplay experiences and the opportunity to work together with friends to achieve goals.

The Steam game library is filled with so many games that it would take a very long time to play every single one of them. Being on PC, Steam can be more accessible than the latest consoles, and its games regularly go on sale.

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While it boasts a huge catalog of awesome single-player games, and watching friends play games can be fun, the platform’s co-op games shouldn’t be overlooked either. There are a lot of games on Steam that let you and your friends play together, whether you’re in the same room or online.

Updated February 04, 2025 By Sanyam Jain: While the gaming industry has become much bigger in the recent years, it only thrived on the co-op games during its early days. Getting together with your friends to play a round of your favorite games has been one of the best things to unwind.

Thankfully, with time, many new games have been added that you can play with your friends online. We’ve also updated this list to give you more games like that.

30

Void Crew

Zero Gravity Co-Op Chaos

Void Crew: Burning pipes inside a damaged ship.

Batten down the hatches and hold onto something as you barrel around asteroid belts in Void Crew from Hutlihut Games. A chaotic co-op space adventure awaits you and your friends as you set off in a starship for sights unknown and treasures unfound.

Featuring quests and fierce epic space battles, Void Crew gives everyone a role that they’ll need to master or end up lost in the void. From manning turrets, repairing damage and piloting the ship itself, there’s plenty to do and lots that can go wrong. If you’re in need of a new crew based co-op game, check out Void Crew now.

29

In Sink: A Co-op Escape Adventure

Working Together To Break Out

In Sink: A Co-op Escape Adventure - A puzzle room with a tile floor light challenge.

Communication is key to good cooperation according to In Sink from Clock Out Games. A solid puzzle adventure, In Sink requires two things to work well. Being able to communicate clearly, and thinking a bit laterally with puzzles.

There’s a new challenge around every corner, and it will take all of your combined brain power to make it to the end. Some of these puzzles can be particularly tricky and will take you more than a few minutes to solve. If you enjoy escape room themed games then we heavily recommend In Sink.

28

Techtonica

We’re Going Deeper Underground

Techtonica: Conveyor belts full of parts inside an alien cave.

A mix of Minecraft and Satisfactory, Techtonica from Fire Hose Games is the underground automation game you never knew you wanted. A wide spanning alien cave awaits and it’s not always the safest place to be at times.

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So you’re encouraged to get your base up and running fast. The biomes are beautiful, the crafting is quite clever and overall it will soak up plenty of hours for a pretty good asking price. For those that enjoyed other automation games but were looking for something a bit more sci-fi, then grab Techtonica.

27

Carry The Glass

Exactly What The Name Says

Carry The Glass image from the trailer with two people carrying glass.

There are times when you want to play a game with your friend, but you don’t have a lot of time to get started on the bigger and more time-consuming games. Carry The Glass is the perfect one for these scenarios, though you’ll be putting your friendship on the line while playing it, much like a lot of other games here.

As the name suggests, you have to carry the glass with your friend through multiple obstacles without breaking it in this game. Since it’s a glass, it gets shattered by the slightest pressure, and you have to start again at the checkpoint. As you progress, the challenges will get more difficult until you can finally deliver the glass and (hopefully) keep your friendship.

26

Limbs

Puppet Pal Theatre

Limbs: Two Players Controlling The Prince With Strings.

Prepare for petty arguments as you puppet a poor person with your pal in Limbs from Moritz Goldi and Dominik Wursch. This developing duo produced a pretty quirky, yet full of tons of charm co-op puzzle game.

You and your friend take control of a string puppet in a fairy tale-esque kingdom, and the aesthetics all resemble handcrafted toys. It all works well. But it’s harder than it sounds as you’ll have to work together to perform even the smallest of tasks. If you like a funny game with a lot of puppet pratfalls, then take a look at Limbs.

25

Chained Together

Hell Is Other People

Chained Together: Two chained players in front of a bony platform in The Hell Cliffs.

Released

June 19, 2024

Developer(s)

Anegar Games

Publisher(s)

Anegar Games

How Long To Beat

4 Hours

Teamwork is definitely not optional in Chained Together. You’re chained to another person, and both of you have to harmonize your movements as you platform through literal Hell to escape it. One wrong move or miscommunication will see you both falling to your dooms (or near-dooms, depending on the game mode you choose), so your bond will truly be tested.

Each area has its own obstacles to get through, so you can never get too comfy. You can play with up to three other friends in local multiplayer, so if you’re up for an experience that’s as stressful as it is fun, Chained Together is for you.

24

A Way Out

When A Stranger Is Your Only Hope

Leo And Vincent facing each other in prison in A Way Out.

Released

March 23, 2018

Developer(s)

Hazelight Studios

How Long To Beat

7 Hours

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

A Way Out is a prison escape co-op game that has you and your co-op partner play as Vincent and Leo, new and seasoned inmates respectively. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and though the two of them hardly know each other, they have to work as a team to successfully break out of prison.

Even when you two are doing seemingly completely separate things, you’re aiding in getting the other past obstacles and puzzles. Unlike most other games, this one’s co-op mode is a mandatory feature rather than an optional one. You can play it together with Remote Play on Steam.

23

Core Keeper

Mine Your Days Away

A players base in Core Keeper, with tons of growing crops and decorations.

Unlike most games that simply drop you in an open world, Core Keeper is one of the few games that relies on you actively deciding the world you want to explore. You’re initially dropped in a small room with some necessities, and you have to mine your way through everything. While there are some random open rooms, they’re scarce and spread far away from each other.

Featuring a bird-eye view, this game is the perfect blend of open-world, survival, and farming simulator. As you progress further, you can automate the farming of almost every resource in the game, and the process of doing that is quite fun and engaging as well.

22

Lethal Company

Make A Killing Or Be Killed

Two Lethal Company workers touching fingers.

Lethal Company is one of those games that you could technically play solo, but the real fun comes from getting a group of friends together to amplify the experience tenfold. The game’s title refers to the Company, the place you work for. Your job is to consistently meet its assigned quotas, and it’s particularly strict if you don’t.

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At the same time, since part of your job includes exploring unfamiliar moons, you’ll inevitably run into some entities that are less than friendly, to put it lightly. You have a range of tools and weapons to aid and protect you, but having friends around can raise your chances of success at night, whether they act as direct aids or unwitting sacrifices to slow down the creatures chasing you.

21

Once Human

The Perfect Blend Of Everything

Once Human (1)-1

Released

July 9, 2024

Developer(s)

Starry Studio

Publisher(s)

Starry Studio, NetEase, Inc.

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

Survival crafting is one of the most entertaining genres for co-op games, and Once Human is up there in it. In this game, you play as a Mayfly who ventures through the zombie-infested world. While the main focus is on combat, you also get to explore various facilities and look for hidden chests and puzzles all across the map.

The perfect blend of everything is what makes Once Human special. From spending a long time to defeat one giant boss to spending the entire day building your own house, farming, and taming animals, you can do it all here. It also gets new seasons regularly to keep everything fresh.

20

Content Warning

Where Fame Is Definitely Worth Your Life

Filming a teammate holding a flashlight in Content Warning.

Developer

Skog, Zorro, Wilnyl, Philip, thePetHen

Publisher(s)

Landfall Publishing

Number of Players

1-4

On the surface, Content Warning’s art style might make you think it’s a cute, light-hearted game where you go on fun adventures with friends. Once you get into the actual gameplay, though, things change fast. It’s a horror game where you and your friends’ goal is to find and film spooky stuff in the Old World to upload to SpookTube and become famous.

If your content does well, you can buy upgrades to make your filming even better. The only caveat is that you have to actually survive the things you capture on camera first. Content Warning is more about outrunning the horrors rather than brute forcing through them. See which of your group is the best at running away!

19

Ready Or Not

Think Before You Shoot

A character holding a gun, about to infiltrate a building in Ready or Not.

Released

December 13, 2023

Publisher(s)

Void Interactive

Developer(s)

Void Interactive

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

Taking place in a different version of the city of Los Suenos, Ready or Not has you take on the role of a commander in the LSPD SWAT team. You constantly have to keep your guard up in your goal to take down dangerous criminals, and being a commander means you’re in charge of your team’s tactics.

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If you’re looking for something more than a mindless shooter, Ready or Not is that game. You have to think strategically for both yourself and your team to succeed in your missions. If you underestimate the AI, you’ll find yourself dead pretty quickly. Though you can play the game solo with AI companions, the game was practically made for co-op with other people. Grab up to four friends and start shooting.

18

Crab Champions

Crabs And Guns Work Surprisingly Well

A crab receives a victory chest in Crab Champions.

If you think you’ve played all the good shooters there are, think again. Playing as crabs is a funny concept, but Crab Champions is more than meme material. It’s a genuinely fun third-person shooter with fast-paced gameplay that has you think on your feet. The types of enemies you encounter and loot you collect change every run, so it doesn’t get predictable anytime soon.

You and up to three other players can play together to obliterate foes and attempt challenges. If you manage to beat those challenges, you unlock the different skins the game has to offer. No need to get out the wallet for anything; you earn everything just for playing the game.

Crab Champions is still in Early Access.

17

Grounded

Bug Bites Just Became A Lot More Lethal

Four kids on a leaf with an ant crawling towards them in Grounded.

Survival games can start feeling same-y after a while, but Grounded adds a twist to the formula by shrinking your characters down and having them fight for their lives against bugs. The insects are normal-sized to anyone else, but to you, they’re gigantic. Naturally, one of the goals is to find out how and why you’ve been shrunk down. But to get those answers, you need to survive.

You can play with up to three other people, and everyone can fulfill a particular role as you customize your skills and gear. You also have a base you can fortify to protect you from your insect enemies, but sometimes, they’ll come knocking at your door. Stay vigilant and work as a team to fend them off.

If you or a friend has arachnophobia, there’s an Arachnophobia Safe Mode in the options to make spiders look less spider-y.

16

Cuphead

Nostalgia Hits Hard

Cuphead and Mugman fighting against Ribby and Croaks boss fight in co-op.

Released

September 29, 2017

Developer(s)

Studio MDHR Entertainment Inc.

Publisher(s)

Studio MDHR Entertainment Inc.

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

Cuphead is a platformer that you can play solo, but why do that when you can suffer with a friend instead? It has a co-op mode where your friend can play alongside you as Mugman. The game is known for two things: its wonderfully hand-drawn animation that’s reminiscent of older cartoon art styles, and its difficulty.

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Don’t think that having another person playing makes the game easier; if anything, it makes it harder. That’s because the game accounts for it with more enemies and higher HP bars. That, plus the distractions of another character on the screen, might end up with more deaths than in single-player. But even though it’s more difficult, co-op is decidedly more fun in co-op. If you’re up for a challenge, try it with a friend.

15

For The King

Strategy, Roleplay, And Roguelike In One Game

For The King characters in grass, looking towards a building in the distance.

For The King sees you, citizens of a murdered king, braving nature to stop imminent chaos from reaching your kingdom. The game has a little of everything; it’s reminiscent of both strategy and roguelike games, with some RPG elements mixed in. These ingredients make an extraordinary cake of tough but fun turn-based combat, several ways to maneuver battles, and near-endless replay value.

Your party members don’t have to be CPUs. All characters in your party can be replaced with a friend, and whether that helps or hinders you is completely up to your group. Put your heads together to determine what the best course of action is so that your success is guaranteed.

14

Deep Rock Galactic

Dwarves Versus Aliens

Dwarven miners posing with equipment in Deep Rock Galactic.

For something with a little more sci-fi, Deep Rock Galactic is a great choice. It’s an FPS co-op game that specializes in destroying both aliens and your environment. You and your friends explore — and most likely wreck — dark caves that house marvelous treasures and bloodthirsty enemies.

There are four classes to choose from, so each person contributes something different during your journey, and you won’t be able to predict what comes next with procedurally generated caves. Of course, the weapons you get to use are made for ultimate demolition. But whether you break everything or just your enemies is up to you.

13

BattleBlock Theater

Chaotic Cat Shenanigans

Player characters jumping around on platforms in front of cat audience members in BattleBlock Theater.

BattleBlock Theater separates itself from most other platformers with its sense of humor. It doesn’t take itself seriously, and that makes you want to keep playing and see where else it can go. In the game, you’ve been captured, and you’re expected to entertain cats who’re watching your every move.

There are 300 friends you have to rescue as you platform and battle your way out of your predicament. There are countless obstacles, enemies, and traps you have to maneuver around or destroy to win. The game also has a co-op mode where a friend can join you locally or online to beat the evil cats together. There are also nine arena modes that you and three friends can play locally if you’re feeling more competitive.

12

Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime

Kill Them With Kindness… Literally

Two players controlling a circular spaceship and shooting at enemies in Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime.

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime

Released

February 9, 2016

Developer

AsteroidBase

Publisher

AsteroidBase

This game was made to play with others. Even if you choose to play alone, an AI companion joins you. Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a colorful neon space shooter where you must rescue space bunnies who were kidnapped by Anti-Love agents. A single person can’t control all the mechanisms in the ship, so you and your friends have to rely on each other to do the right thing at the right time with the different tools.

The levels are randomly generated, so they’ll never be predictable. Whether playing this builds camaraderie and trust or ends in arguments is up to you and your friends, but it’ll be a fun time either way. You can play with up to three other friends locally.

11

Portal 2

More Fun With Portal Puzzles

Portal 2 co-op in a puzzle with lasers shooting into cubes.

Portal 2 is a classic if you love puzzle games. It once again stars Chell and GLaDOS from the first game, as well as a personality core companion named Wheatley. However, the two-player co-op mode it offers actually has a completely unique story to the single-player mode.

You still have to solve puzzles with your portal guns, but you must put your heads together and collaborate to make it through each challenge. And once you’re done with the campaign, there are a bunch of user-made custom maps that you and your friend can try to beat together. You can play with a friend either locally or online.

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