If you’re bored with everything you’ve been playing and want to find a new virtual life where you can get lost for 100 hours or maybe just 10, you’ll find it in one of these online multiplayer games.
When choosing the best games to play with friends, the Blix team considered gameplay and mechanics, difficulty, and multiplayer options. We also considered graphics and story, as well as how addictive the game is.
Contents
Highlights
- Top 13 games to play together with friends
- Description of each game and ratings on Metacritic
Top-13 Best Co-op Games to Play with Friends Online
The Blix team has put together for you this list of ten completely different games that can satisfy your craving for a cooperative experience:
| Top-13 Best Co-op Games to Play in 2025 | Baldur’s Gate 3 |
| Sea of Thieves | Helldivers 2 |
| A Way Out | It Takes Two |
| Monster Hunter Rise | Phasmophobia |
| Portal 2 | Split Fiction |
| Valheim | Forza Horizon 5 |
| Stardew Valley | Deep Rock Galactic |
Of course, you can take our advice, but also see what’s recommended on Reddit. However, as far as games go, we’re pretty much in agreement:
Sea of Thieves
- Developer: Rare
- Release Date: March 13, 2024
- Platforms: Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5
- Co-Op Support: 1-4 players
- Metacritic Score: 68/100
We thought long and hard about whether to include the game on the list, as it’s gotten pretty unobvious reviews from players. But we decided to keep it. Sea of Thieves is a purely cooperative game. Playing it alone makes no sense—the whole gameplay is designed for social interactions, teamwork, and skirmishes with other players.
Such gameplay will appeal only to avid pirate fans or hardcore gamers ready to challenge anyone.
The open world in the game is simply marvelous and makes you admire everything around you. Here, you will manage the ship (and it is not so easy – deal with the helm, rocks, sails, and other things).
You can sail around drinking grog until you puke, playing musical instruments, and shooting each other with cannons. Or you can sail to Fort of the Damned and do an entire mission. You can play story missions or fight a ghost fleet.
And the sunsets here are a delight to watch. For more excitement, you can chase other teams, organize fights between ships, search for buried treasure, or destroy the skeleton fortress, but it is no less pleasant to treat the game as a chat with beautiful waves and random kraken.
Game Trailer
A Way Out
- Developer: Hazelight Studios
- Release Date: March 23, 2018
- Platforms: PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4
- Co-Op Support: 2 players
- Metacritic Score: 78/100
A Way Out is a fantastic game in the interactive movie genre. The plot follows two prisoners, Vincent Moretti and Leo Caruso. A common enemy unites our heroes, and they decide to organize an escape while solving their family affairs.
If you expect a breakthrough from the plot of A Way Out, it is not here; however, the game is masterfully riddled with references to movies and books on similar themes.
The gameplay in Hazelight is highly diverse, and the emphasis on cooperative play through makes it unique. The scene of the escape from the cell is indicative—the first player must watch the movement of the guards and timely report the police’s approach.
You will have to overcome many more obstacles, and the camera will choose the most cinematic angles – so think of it as a two-in-one movie and game.
Game Trailer
Monster Hunter Rise
- Developer: Capcom
- Release Date: March 26, 2021
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
- Co-Op Support: 1-4 players
- Metacritic Score: 88/100
You can pick any of the three games in the series, and you can’t go wrong. Monster Hunting is an experience best shared.
This time, unlike in the World, we’re not exploring a new continent as part of an experienced expedition; we’re just living our lives in a quiet village and preparing to become a full-fledged hunter.
If you haven’t played one of these games before, it’s still an uphill battle, but it’s easier if you have a friend by your side, and there are some fantastic ways to complement each other’s play style.
A little tip: two weapons work particularly well in cooperative play:
- The Hunting Horn allows you to boost yourself and allies and knock monsters down with heavy staggering damage, giving you more options for your friends.
- The Sword and Shield can use items without putting your weapon in its scabbard, allowing it to serve as a good team healer or buffer during a tense battle.
The essence of Wilds is the same as in all Monster Hunter games: you arm yourself with massive weapons, explore the map, and kill monsters to collect parts used to build better weapons and armor. However, a lot of additional content has been added to Wilds. We wrote more about the game in our article “What Epic Hunts Await in Monster Hunter Wilds 2025?“.
Game Trailer
Portal 2
- Developer: Valve Corporation
- Release Date: April 19, 2011
- Platforms: GNU/Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch
- Co-Op Support: 2 players
- Metacritic Score: 95/100
Playing as the two test robots, Atlas and P-Body, you and a friend can explore the dark and dangerous side of GlaDOS’ testing procedures. GlaDOS’ree-dimensional GlaDOS’s three-dimensional spatial thinking makes the Portal series so addictive and is only enhanced when another friend gets stumped with you as you solve puzzles.
The plot is tightly woven with the last installment, similar characters, and similar locations. But the game plays completely differently. In Portal, we spend 95% of our play time running around the lab, making holes in space, and no plot twists. Here, the plot takes up a significant part of the game.
Speaking of which, if you’ve already played the game alone and are worried that you won’t be interested, don’t be. In cooperative mode, you won’t see anything in the single-player game. You’ll have new puzzles, dialogs, and a campaign you can’t complete alone.
The puzzles in Portal 2 are much easier than the first part, and we are not the only ones who notice it. However, you are still waiting for challenging tasks.
We also have some game recommendations, for example if you only play on Nintendo: These 15 Nintendo Switch Games Are Set to Dominate 2025.
Game Trailer
Valheim
- Developer: Iron Gate
- Release Date: February 2, 2021
- Platforms: Linux, Windows, Xbox One, Series X/S
- Co-Op Support: 1-10 players
- Metacritic Score: N/A
No one was expecting such a success as Valheim got. Millions of copies sold, many positive reviews, and several hundred thousand regular online users – for a game in early access.
Valheim doesn’t reinvent survival games, but it does get rid of everything we don’t like about them. In this relaxing but punishing PvE trek into Viking purgatory, you’ll never starve to death, and you won’t have to pay a penny to repair items. All the hustle and bustle is gone, replaced by a gorgeous, threat-filled world and an elegant crafting system.
Valheim’s distinctive features include a procedurally generated world featuring five unique biomes, bosses found in each biome, and a remarkable artistic style. Collaborating with friends to organize quests and construct a home together makes the experience even more enjoyable.
Valheim is still in early access but has received excellent ratings from journalists. IGN, for example, gave the game 9 out of 10 points.
Also, read our article about other titles everyone is waiting for: What Everyone’s Playing in 2025:Everyone’s You Can’t Miss.
Game Trailer
Stardew Valley
- Developer: Eric Barone
- Release Date: February 26, 2016
- Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS, Android
- Co-Op Support: 1-8 players
- Metacritic Score: 88/100
Surprised? Well, there’s nothing to be surprised about – this game is a cultural phenomenon that has conquered the world. Stardew Valley doesn’t limit itself to just one genre, as it’s part farm simulator, part survival game, and part role-playing game.
The plot in Stardew Valley may seem very simple. To escape from the city routine, the hero flees to the valley. However, although he escapes, he still doesn’t make it to the end.
It’s a nice place to spend time together, sharing the endless farm chores and watching your overgrown homestead slowly transform into a paradise. Multiplayer works smoothly: you have your own houses, inventory, and relationships with townsfolk, so your whole crew can basically go about their business and then get together for special seasonal events.
Game Trailer
Baldur’s Gate 3
- Developer: Larian Studios
- Release Date: August 3, 2023
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
- Co-Op Support: 1-4 players
- Metacritic Score: 96/100
Baldur’s Gate 3 is the best RPG of our time, and for good reason. Imagine a fantasy world populated by orcs, elves, dwarves… and all sorts of creatures. That’s the world of Baldur’s Gate 3, with many nuances.
The main storyline is built around a straightforward problem: ridding a squad of heroes of maggots. Maggots sit deep in the characters’ brains, providing special skills in telepathy and wordless communication, but they negatively affect the body’s condition.
While the game’s plot revolves around this storyline, you’ll face dozens of unique quests that feature some of the best scripting ever seen in a video game.
The co-op mode in BG3 is the same as in the single-player game, but now your party can consist of additional player-created characters. You and a maximum of three friends can journey around the globe together and even take control of various companions in the group.
Game Trailer
Helldivers 2
- Developer: Arrowhead Game Studios
- Release Date: February 8, 2024
- Platforms: Windows, PlayStation 5
- Co-Op Support: 1-4 players
- Metacritic Score: 83/100
Building Ilon Musk’s Martian colony and other scientific endeavors are interesting but very niche. Another thing is to go to space with your friends and burn out hordes of bugs with napalm or blow up factories producing communist robots with a grenade launcher. By mood, Helldivers 2 is a pure power fantasy.
Throughout the campaign, you’ll jump around different worlds, complete missions ranging from trivial to Super Helldive, and (if you survive) get paid for it. Stock up on the best weapons and armor before returning to battle for another mission.
Despite the entourage of space brotherhood and the battle for the bright ideals of the galactic metropolis, ridiculous and crazy situations arise here all the time: you’ll be crushed by a capsule with supplies, or a friend will mistake you for a Terminator robot, and shoot you.
The game perfectly finds the balance between pathos and comedy and maintains it with both entourage and gameplay.
Game Trailer
It Takes Two
- Developer: Hazelight Studios
- Release Date: March 25, 2021
- Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
- Co-Op Support: 2 players
- Metacritic Score: 88/100
It Takes Two by Yusef Phares is a game that involves not just what you play but who you play it with. It offers the purest cooperative experience aside from Split Fiction.
There’s no option to play alone in the game, so there’s only co-op mode here. Spouses Cody and May are about to get divorced, but their daughter accidentally bewitches them. Now they’ve been turned into animated dolls, and the magic book won’t return them to their usual appearance until they mend their relationship.
You and the second player take control of the dolls and journey through their home. Completely ordinary locations look fresh. A closet with an old vacuum cleaner turns into a massive maze of hoses, a toy railroad goes through cities and castles in a nursery, and a snow globe unfolds into a whole Alpine province. And in each challenge, you’ll find new gameplay mechanics waiting for you.
However, we should note that the plot will be a bit tense: Cody and May are constantly nagging each other until the last couple of levels, and only near the finale do they start praising and cheering each other up.
Game Trailer
Phasmophobia
- Developer: Kinetic Games
- Release Date: September 4, 2020
- Platforms: Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
- Co-Op Support: 4 players
- Metacritic Score: 76/100
Phasmophobia is an indie horror game from Kinetic Games studio that quickly became a real phenomenon among players and streamer circles.
This game offers a unique approach to the genre. Instead of endless scrimmages and a linear plot, you get an atmospheric horror detective with a paranormal investigation, where every action can lead to an encounter with the otherworldly. The cherry on the cake is VR support, adding immersion to every outing.
Game Trailer
Split Fiction
- Developer: Hazelight Studios
- Release Date: March 6, 2025
- Platforms: Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
- Co-Op Support: 2 players
- Metacritic Score: 92/100
The game is designed exclusively for co-op, with plenty of mini-games to play and gameplay-changing concepts to try out.
Similar to It Takes Two, Split Fiction provides a friend pass when you make a purchase, enabling you to invite a friend to play without requiring them to buy the game individually. You can even do this with players on other platforms.
Split Fiction takes the best of It Takes Two and takes it to the next level. The two protagonists are authors caught up in a tech company’s virtual reality experiment. You and your partner control them as they try to escape the new reality. Split Fiction mixes many genres for its levels, but the developers do it amazingly.
You will have to solve many puzzles, engage in battles, ride a motorcycle, snowmobile, and even dragons, overcome various obstacles, and much more.
We wrote a detailed review of this game. Please read it here: Everything We Know About Split Fiction-2025’s Most Anticipated Game.
Game Trailer
Forza Horizon 5
- Developer: Playground Games
- Release Date: November 9, 2021
- Platforms: Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
- Co-Op Support: Up to 12 players
- Metacritic Score: 91/100
This game is about beautiful cars, kilometers of roads, the sound of engines, and driving pleasure, but not about “the ability to find the right trajectory, brake in time, and fight for thousandths of a second”.
Horizon 5 is easy to play. You can pop into the open-world lobby with your friends and do whatever you want. Set on a map of colorful Mexico that looks more like a Coco cartoon, Horizon 5 features hundreds of races, stunt jumps, drift competitions, and cross-country trips that can quickly consume entire nights of play.
Half the time, the roads here are just “directions” in fields or mountains. The lion’s share of races occurs on mud, dust, and grass. However, you can also enjoy first-class roads – there are tracks to suit almost every taste.
Game Trailer
Deep Rock Galactic
- Developer: Ghost Ship Games
- Release Date: May 13, 2020
- Platforms: Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
- Co-Op Support: 1-4 players
- Metacritic Score: 85/100
You’re the game every fan of cooperative gameplay will recommend. Deep Rock Galactic is a phenomenon. Not because it shot some incredible numbers online like Helldivers 2 or Hogwarts Legacy, but precisely because it has never shot and has kept afloat for several years with roughly the same online.
Before starting each mission, players choose one of four playable classes: Scout, Engineer, Gunner, and Driller. Each class has three primary and three secondary weapons, but you’re wrong if you think that’s insufficient. There’s a wide variety of firearms. And you won’t get bored in missions.
DRG is a huge random generator, so every session will be more or less unique. And don’t forget that the entire environment can be landscaped.
Game Trailer
Conclusion
2025 is guaranteed not to be a stuffy year and is going to delight gamers with plenty of solid releases with co-op support. Gamers will see Borderlands 4, Killing Floor 3, Little Nightmares 3, Elden Ring Nightreign, Stage Fright, and other games. We will be waiting for the releases and publish reviews of the most expected novelties.
