Our number one pick for the best co-op games for PC is Divinity: Original Sin 2. If you’re in the mood for a meaty RPG adventure to play with a friend, this is the game for you. This is a tactical, wordy, and comprehensively interactive adventure that is one of the best all-around RPGs to play on the PC, no matter what player mode you’re in.
Do you need a new game to play with your PC friends? Here are our picks for the 10 best co-op games for PC.
Are you tired of playing the same old single player RPG? Traditional one-player games can be fun when you’re feeling less social, but sometimes you just want to wreak some havoc with your friends. There are so many great choices for co-op games out there right now it can be hard to pick. To save you the trouble of sifting through the options, we made you this guide to the 10 best co-op games for PC.
10 Best Co-Op Games for PC of 2019
Read on to learn more about different action-packed games you can play with your friends. These titles weren’t all released in 2019 (some were released in previous years) but they are our top picks for the best co op experience for PC right now.
#10 Destiny 2
Where Destiny 2 lacks in plot, it makes up for it in playability. If the PC version of Destiny 2 is your first time dealing with this massive console game, you’re probably going to start out a little bit confused. It has a thin, relatively uninteresting plot and there isn’t much to do in terms of storyline activities. In about thirty hours, you will have probably seen all there is to see.
By now you’re probably wondering why we’re mentioning this on a list of the 10 best co-op games for PC. And if you were looking for a single player game with a rich plot and backdrop, we wouldn’t be bringing this up. But all of the things that make Destiny 2 a flop for single player gaming is what makes it great for co-op gaming.
Think of Destiny 2 as a social space for you and your friends, basically the online version of a bar where instead of drinking and playing trivia, you get to shoot aliens. You can speed around on hoverbikes, spelunk into caves searching for loot, and conduct raids. No matter what you choose to do, Destiny 2 is designed to work better when you tag team it.
There aren’t many games out there that can give you the thrill of combining class skills, using PvP weapons, or beating down a powerful Nightfall boss like this game does. Even better yet– the server resets every Tuesday and offers up new loot and challenges.
If you’re looking for a weekly virtual meet-up with some of your friends, this is one of the best games to do it with.
#9 Fortnite
If you’ve spent any time in the gaming world, you’ve likely heard Fortnite mentioned by absolutely everyone. When this game dropped, people of all ages went nuts for it. With this game, Epic threw away the brown color scheme they loved so much in the past and blasted Fortnite players with vibrant style and lurid colors. It’s crazy popular for its battle royale mode, but there’s a less popular way to play that’s perfect for all your co-op needs.
Fortnite’s Save the World horde-style mode needs to be mentioned here because it’s still an incredible shooter/builder hybrid game.
When you work with three other people, you can combine your skills to create a fortress around a McGuffin in need of your protection. You build defenses and eccentric traps and you can even send out waves of deadly/cute zombies.
With Fortnite, you get a heavy arsenal of weapons with their loot boxes to keep the undead away from what you’re saving.
The basic components of Fortnite are polished to perfection and fun to play. If building and defense-style gaming aren’t what you’re looking for, you can join in on the last man standing mode for 2 or 4 players.
#8 The Division
The Division is everything you expect from Ubisoft. It’s an apocalyptic hit with a ton of collectibles, side quests that seem repetitive, and weirdly high-detail buildings. But it has what other Ubisoft games don’t have: an option for co-op.
The Division was made for cooperative play. You and up to three friends can team up to take down looters, pyromaniacs, and PMC soldiers who set out to take NYC for themselves. As you play, you’ll find out the best character builds and stumble on roughly a TON of different guns and armor loot drops.
The missions are fun and exciting and obviously designed for co-op. There are office blocks set up like mazes and department stores that offer plenty of opportunity for flanking. The character system is classless as well, meaning that you can change your specs any time so you and your group and balance your skills out more evenly.
The game’s bosses are challenging enough that you feel rewarded when you take them down together. This doomsday shooter is one of the best co-op games around.
#7 Overcooked
Now let’s change things up a bit.
If you’re looking for a crazy stressful but incredibly joyful game, Overcooked is the game for you. It’s meant for four players and your main goal is pretty simple. You need to make food.
But if you or anyone you know has ever worked in catering, you know it’s actually not simple at all. A kitchen is the devil’s den, let’s be real.
In Overcooked, it’s much the same. Timers will tick down and you need to focus on all of the different tasks to do in the kitchen. You’ll have to chop veggies, fry burgers, stir soup, and wash dishes. And every level that comes next hands you a more complicated menu.
And to top it all off, the set you play on changes with each level. Sometimes your kitchen will be broken in half by an earthquake, which means you have to work in separate halves while also timing things just right so you can pass them off to the proper side of the kitchen.
This kind of chaos is what makes up Overcooked best moments. It requires constant thought and communication.
When you pick this game for your co-op needs, come equipped with ear protection. There will be a LOT of screaming and panic as you try to cook your way to victory. That’s why it’s one of the best co op games on Steam.
#6 Don’t Starve Together
If you’re looking for a bit of unique fun to share with your friends that you won’t ever talk about in public later, Don’t Starve Together is perfect for you. It is certainly one of the best 2 player games for PC.
In this Tim Burton-esque world, your pockets are empty. You can choose to spawn in together and get infinite lives or spawn separately and die permanently when you croak.
Players can float around haunting their fellow players and drive them absolutely crazy. Seriously. A solid haunting will lower other player’s sanity and put their lives at risk. And should you want to resurrect yourself, you just pay a piece of your max health and you’re good to go.
Don’t Starve Together is a weird game, too. For example, you get you kill and eat your pigmen slaves while your friends watch. Creepy, right?
#5 Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide
Vermintide has taken notes from all the best zombie games. It pits you against a horde of rat men. In Warhammer, your team will battle with flaming swords and powder muskets. This game focuses mostly on melee and a desperate sort of shooting.
When this is combined with cinematic end goals, we end up with one of the best Warhammer games ever. If you and your friends are up for a little pest control, this is the one for you.
#4 Orcs Must Die! 2
If you’re looking for a little cartoon chaos, check this one out. Orcs Must Die! 2 is one of the best 2 player games on PC. Limbs will fly and flesh will melt as you try to protect your station against waves of orc hordes.
This game offers a lot to think about. You have to set up traps and buy new death machines before your castle is stampeded. And you might think a second player would make this a little easier, but oh no, not in Orcs Must Die! 2.
This game forces you to split up as orcs swarm your base from multiple places, making both players important to winning.
#3 Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead 2 focuses on tight teamwork against a crazy zombie outbreak. There are a crazy number of undead, meaning that you and your friends will have to stick together and figure out what treats need to be dealt with at every turn of the map. And these maps are sprawling.
You have to make sure that someone is always there to watch your back in case of a surprise infected attack or to help you cull the herd of undead so you can escape.
This is a game you should play with headsets because the fast pace means you have to be able to communicate quickly in order to be effective. But it’s not impossible to play with strangers online.
#2 Rainbow Six Siege
Rainbow Six Siege is one of the best multiplayer games in general. It has an incredible player vs player mode built into it. But its co-op mode just isn’t given enough credit.
This game is full of wickedly intense, tactical terrorist hunts. You can go in as attackers or choose to defend a McGuffin against assaulters. No matter which you choose, you need to make the best use of the different operators and what they’re skilled at.
Siege’s co-op mode requires a lot more time and finesse than the multiplayer version does, but sometimes that’s exactly what will hit the right spot.
#1 Divinity: Original Sin 2
Our number one pick for the best co-op games for PC is Divinity: Original Sin 2. If you’re in the mood for a meaty RPG adventure to play with a friend, this is the game for you. This is a tactical, wordy, and comprehensively interactive adventure that is one of the best all-around RPGs to play on the PC, no matter what player mode you’re in.
The plot is based on outlawed magic and the end of absolutely everything. You’ll try to change that with a few friends. You and your buddies will control either a pre-made character with their own goals and backstory or a blank slate that you can make your own.
You can explore doom fortresses, mazes filled with traps, and ethereal realms. As you do so, you’ll find out that there’s a different kind of logic in everything you do. As long as you work within those laws, you’ll find that you’re playing the most satisfying PC co-op game you’ve ever played.
The combat in Divinity: Original Sin 2 is turn-based, which means you’ll need crazy good communication to ensure you beat your enemies. There’s a strategy to consider here and you’ll need to experiment to find out what that is. But when you’ve discovered the best way you and your teammates play, you’ll get lost in the picture it paints for you.
So there you have it, our 10 best co-op games for PC. And with the massive popularity of games like Overwatch and Fortnite, we expect 2018 and 2019 to fill this list up with even more unique, interesting games to play with your friends.
If you want to be in the loop on all the best gaming and computer hardware news, check out the rest of our site to read more! For more co op experiences on other platforms head to our games section.
Happy gaming!
It’s good to have friends. That goes doubly so when you’re facing down a zombie horde or coordinating an attack on a Klingon warship.
Here we’ve rounded up over a dozen co-op PC games that are better in every way to play with friends. Yeah, you could play some of them alone. Sure, you could (if you’re masochistic) play some of them with random Internet strangers who love to use profanity. But if you pair up with a partner or three you’ll have a much more rewarding experience.
Unless one of you is bad at games, in which case you’ll never speak to that person again. Thanks, Chris.
Editor’s note: This article is updated periodically to refresh the list of games.