12 Top PC Co-Op Games You Can Play Right Now With Your Buds

You already know how it is: you load into a match, your buddy's having an off day, you get annoyed, he feels bad, it sucks for everyone. Why not play some games where you cooperate to destroy computerized bad guys? These still give you a lot of room for skill expression, and in some cases, even personal style expression. Here's our list of the twelve best options for co-op gaming on the PC right now, as well as a bonus pick you might not expect.


If you know, you know: ROCK AND STONE! This masterpiece of a co-op shooter has a thriving, meme-loving community for a very good reason. You and your friends play as dwarven miners dropping into highly destructible, procedurally generated caves to extract resources and shoot alien bugs. It is pure, chaotic fun for countless hours.


Since we are primarily a PC hardware site, we like to highlight games that push modern GPUs to their absolute breaking point. PEAK does not do that. However, I highly urge you to look past its lo-fi aesthetic and give it a chance, because it's a wildly entertaining climbing survival game that uses proximity chat to limit communication. This game will have you and your friends screaming in both terror and laughter as you plummet off cliffs together. Truly good stuff.


Spreading managed democracy is a task best handled with friends. This squad-based shooter is a masterclass in cinematic, overwhelming firefights and hilarious friendly fire incidents. For those worried about corporate red tape, fret not! Despite Sony's attempts to the contrary, you absolutely do not require a PlayStation Network (PSN) account to play it on PC. Occasional balance foibles aside, this one is a blast.


The journey of No Man's Sky from a famously disappointing launch to a beloved classic is legendary. As the game hits its 10th anniversary in 2026, there is no better time to jump in. The recent "Remnant" update that dropped early this year even added a highly requested, Half-Life 2-style gravity gun to the game. Exploring a near-infinite universe with your friends has never been better. Jumping in now, you'll be blown away by the amount of content available in this game. There's really nothing else quite like it.


This one is a personal favorite. It perfectly blends the classic beat-'em-up vibes of arcade legends like Golden Axe and Final Fight with modern Rogue-like progression. It features fantastic character customization and supports up to four players locally or online. If you want an addictive gameplay loop to grind out with a group, this is it. There are dozens of different types of weapons to use and a really interesting meta-game progression where you upgrade your camp to make yourself better prepared for each run. It's currently in early access, but the developers expect to launch in Q2 of this year, so grab it now before the price goes up!


This sprawling Dungeons & Dragons RPG is surprisingly accommodating for multiplayer. The game gives your group the freedom to either roll up completely custom characters or take control of its pre-made "Origin" characters, who otherwise serve as the named NPCs of the world, complete with their own unique dialogue and story hooks. It makes every co-op campaign feel highly personalized and reactive to your specific group, and developer Larian Studios went above and beyond crafting contingencies for every eventuality. This one isn't a pickup and play game, but if you can dedicate a weekend or two to it, it's a blast.


Since the newer Monster Hunter Wilds released last year to somewhat mixed fan reception—partly due to PC technical issues and a noticeably easier difficulty curve—World remains the undisputed king for most players. With the Iceborne expansion it boasts a staggering wealth of content and challenging hunts. Plus, because it is an older title, it will run flawlessly on practically any PC build you throw at it. If you've never played a Monster Hunter game but have been curious about them, this is the one to start with.


So we've technically got two separate games here. Elden Ring Nightreign is a stand-alone spinoff of Elden Ring where you and two friends drop into a partially randomized map and try to scavenge your way to strength before fighting brutal bosses at the end of the day. Manage this twice and you'll get to fight one of the Nightlords, super-hard bosses. It blends Elden Ring with elements from battle royale games and works way better than you think.

However, the original Elden Ring is also here because, while the built-in co-op experience is clunky at best, we're PC gamers—we can take matters into our own hands. So saying, the PC gaming community fixed it right up: with the Seamless Co-Op mod, you can play through the whole game front to back with your friends, and you can even optionally disable invasions for a pure PvE experience. It works flawlessly; I've run through the whole game with two friends in a weekend and it was one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had.


If you want deep, punishing combat with a group, Nioh 2 and 3 are top-tier choices. Unlike Dark Souls, where you have to constantly summon your allies for a single boss fight, Nioh features a dedicated "Expeditions" multiplayer mode. You simply create a lobby, group up, and tackle the game's monstrous yokai together without the headache. These titles are more technical and mechanically deeper than anything From Software has created, but if you're down for that Diablo-style procedural loot hunt, these are the games for you.


I waffled over whether to include Warframe, because it's very much not a 'pick up and play' sort of game. You aren't going to dive into Warframe with your buddies for a weekend and come out complete; this game has MMO-style progression, and after thirteen years of updates, you'd better believe there's a lot of content to chew through. However, it's simply hard to beat Warframe for blistering co-op action, and you can't beat the price, either. You can sign up and play without any store accounts, too, which is pretty unusual these days. If you enjoy third-person shooting and melee fighting action, you owe it to yourself to give Warframe a shot.

Our Bonus Pick: Retro FPS Renaissance

While classic shooters are revered for inventing deathmatch, running through them in co-op is a long, proud PC gaming tradition, too. Thanks to the Nightdive Studios renaissance, we have awesome, modernized releases of Doom + Doom II, Heretic + Hexen, Quake, Quake II, and System Shock 2. They all boast killer modern netcode and are an absolute blast to tear through with friends, especially on high difficulties. Also, all of these (besides System Shock 2) include new game content that offers savage difficulty compared to the original campaigns—perfect for picking away at with your friends.

What do you think? Did we miss your favorite co-op game? Let us know in the comments if you hate our list, or if you love one of these games and think it deserves more love.$19.99 at Steam