The best co-op games of 2025 to play with your friends

Gamers love competitive shooters, as is clear from the popularity of games like Battlefield, Call of Duty and Fortnite.

However, cooperative games are often overlooked. They’re not that popular and can get washed away in the mix of ultra-popular competitive shooters and high-profile single-player games. But they offer an alternative to staying offline or going online and being harassed by people who have a lot more time to get good at the game than you do.

They offer the connection of online games, without the sweaty competitiveness. And if you’re looking for a great way to play games with family or friends this holiday season, we’ve rounded up our favorite cooperative games released in 2025.

The first game on our list has a PvP element, but even that game is known for being one of the friendliest games out there right now. Otherwise, every game on our list is strictly cooperative, whether your enemy is a Crag, Idea Theft or Fulghor, Champion or Nightglow.

While you’re at it, don’t forget to check out our list of great cooperative games for 2024– they’re still great, and given their relative age, you might be able to find some great deals right now.

Editor’s note: All games on this list are traditional ‘Web2’ games with no crypto or blockchain integrations. But you might enjoy it anyway!

Bow Raiders

(PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S)

ARC Raiders is the latest PvPvE extraction shooter, which means you try to get loot and get out of the zone, while taking on both enemies and other players. Think of Escape from Tarkov as a prominent example. ARC Raiders is seen as a much, much friendlier version of that, where it’s rewarding to ally with other players rather than shoot them on the spot.

We’ll see how that holds up as the meta shifts, but even beyond that, it’s great for you and two friends to go in, shoot robots, and get out. The game also has a great visual style, which sets it apart from so many other multiplayer shooters.

Border countries 4

(PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S)

Borderlands 4: It’s a Borderlands game. What more is there to say? Dive in with a team of up to four players and win some loot. Borderlands 4 brings new customization options for weapons, with things like brand synergies thrown into the mix to let you get creative with your weapons.

This entry is seen by many fans and critics as a course correction for the series, after the inconsistent Borderlands 3. It has its issues, including an incredibly clunky user interface, but that doesn’t detract from how good it feels to collect new loot and watch the numbers climb.

Donkey Kong Bananza

(Nintendo Switch 2)

Donkey Kong Bananza’s cooperative element is built right into the main game, and it’s a great way to share the Switch 2 adventure with a younger or otherwise less skilled gamer. While one player plays as DK and handles general movement and environmental destruction, a second player can take control of Odd Rock and fire off concussions.

There is no speed limit and that is good or bad depending on your patience level. It’s so powerful that it can really trivialize the game’s boss fights, but it also means your second player can press the shout button non-stop, filling the screen (and your ears) with screams, which is very funny if you’re four years old… or very high.

Elden Ring Night Reign

(PC, PS5/PS4, Xbox Series X/S + One)

Elden Ring was all about creating your own character from the ground up and using that hero to travel all the way to the end, defeat the Elden Boss with your specific style and take all the time in the world to do so.

Elden Ring Nightreign is the exact opposite. It’s still definitely a Souls-like game from From Software, but you choose from a selection of pre-built characters and you have three in-game days to defeat bosses in a team of up to three players.

This is a strictly co-op game with no PvP elements, and the bosses alone provide enough of a challenge even if you know what you’re doing.

Peak

(PC)

Even with all the safety precautions you can take, climbing is a dangerous and potentially deadly experience. Games have tried to recreate the thrill of climbing a sheer rock face, but until Peak, none quite managed it.

In Peak, you and up to three friends (or more if you use mods) are explorers who have crash-landed on a desert island and who – instead of all taking on each other “Lord of the Flies” – decide to try to climb the enormous mountain in the center of the island. As you climb, you’ll traverse five different biomes, each offering its own challenges.

Peak’s slightly janky climbing mechanic comes closer to the unpredictability of mountaineering than anything else, delivering close calls, triumphant moments and hilarious failures in equal measure. There’s a reason it was a huge livestream hit.

REPO

(PC)

Ttaking things from people is bad. However, taking things from abandoned places full of nasty monsters is an absolute joy. In REPO, you and up to five friends can enter places such as an old mansion, an arctic facility or a wizard’s tower with the aim of stripping it of all its valuables.

That’s harder than it sounds, though, because the pesky monsters, like a knife-wielding frog chef or a melting laser clown, want to make sure the stuff stays there. REPO builds on games like Lethal Company for an immersive experience, where you have to find a balance between avoiding those monsters and trying to extract valuables without damaging them too much.

That requires coordination, that makes noise… which also attracts monsters. It’s an excellent balance, but it never makes the game go crazy in an instant. In Proximity chat you ask, “Uh, hey, are you there? Hello?” with genuine fear.

RV there yet?

(PC)

If you’ve ever been lost on a road trip, you know how quickly things can get heated as you try to find your way back to civilization. RV there yet? tasks you and up to three friends to head back to the highway in your recreational vehicle.

As you leave Mabutts Valley (seriously), you’ll have to work through hazards such as thin mountain roads, ultra-short turns, bears, drop-offs and getting stuck on a tree. Your camper can be repaired, but it is just as vulnerable as a real camper. Admittedly, in real life we ​​don’t get campers off big slopes that often.

You and your friends all look the same: a bunch of stocky little potato boys in circle-rimmed sunglasses, vests, and hats. As you explore, you can find new hats and glasses and relax with a beer and a cigarette (yes, you can smoke in this game) while your compatriots try to navigate a particularly harrowing turn.

Split fiction

(PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2)

Split Fiction is the latest in Hazelight Studios’ ongoing quest to rethink cooperative gaming. This time you play as two authors (one fantasy, one sci-fi) who find themselves trapped in a machine that is supposedly meant to let them experience their stories in virtual reality, but is actually designed to steal their ideas.

They must work together, working through each other’s disparate story ideas, to come out with their ideas and themselves intact. Split Fiction should be played together, but you don’t have to buy two copies. With each copy, your co-op partner can download a version of the game that will only work if he or she plays it with someone who owns the game.

Split Fiction’s 14-hour running time is packed with creative ideas, ensuring you’re always doing something new as you play, and each of those ideas finds ways to make co-op matter.

This is a game you must play togethernot just at the same time.