Best co-op games 2020: top games you can share with friends on console and PC

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Take your pick of the best co-op games on offer for PC and console. They’re proof that there are few gaming experiences quite as exciting as playing alongside a friend. 

Whether you want to team up with some horror fans  to take down hordes of zombies, pull your brain power together to solve puzzles or square up to another team of real-life gamers, playing together pulls the game out of the screen and brings it into reality as you laugh, scream and bicker together.

The great thing about co-op games these days is that you can frequently choose between local and online play. That means if you have a partner or friends gathered around your one TV at your place, then great. But if that’s not possible for whatever reason, it’s easy to round up friends – or strangers – online. 

Whether you’ve got a PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch or PC, there should be something for you here in our list of best co-op games.

Rocket League

Rocket League

(Image credit: Psyonix, Panic Button Games)

The mass hysteria and weekly highlight reels on gaming sites may have died down, but the incomparable physics-based rocket-car footy game remains one of the most popular online games – not to mention among the best co-op games right now.

Matches range from 1-v-1 to 4-v-4, so there’s a lot of flexibility when it comes to gathering your friends for co-op play. It’s a game that requires ceaseless communication, as you try to coordinate your team into a speeding carousel of goalkeeping, defending and attacking. There’s a league-based system online, so you get a nice sense of progression as your team grows from a fumbling mess into a well-oiled machine.

Platforms available: PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Online or couch co-op? Both.

Sea of Thieves

Sea of Thieves

(Image credit: Rare)

A stirring example of a game that hit the ground stumbling but really caught the wind in its sails over the last two years. Sea of Thieves tasks up to four players with manning a ship, and sailing around a vibrant, cartoon Caribbean-style set of islands in search of plunder, adventure and notoriety.

Where the game used to feel loose and a little purposeless, it’s filled out to become an ever-evolving world of possibilities. You follow maps to skeleton-infested coves, fight mythical sea creatures, and take on other player-controlled ships and crews. There’s even a story mode to get stuck into in the form of Tall Tales. 

Sea of Thieves is the ultimate freewheeling pirate fantasy, designed purposely to be played alongside a motley crew of scurvy-infested sea rats you call your friends. 

Platforms available: Xbox One and PC.

Online or couch co-op? Online.

Sea of Thieves Xbox One / PC

Diablo 3

Diablo 3

(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

Diablo 3 is an action-packed role-playing game (RPG), allowing players to choose from six different classes – the Witch Doctor, the Barbarian, the Wizard, the Monk, the Demon Hunter and the newly-added Crusader – and embark on an adventure spanning five Acts to defeat both Diablo (Acts I to IV) and Malthael (Act V), the Angel of Death.

The game includes an adventure mode outside the main campaign that allows players to roam through every available region in the game to collect loot. On consoles, Diablo III is playable with friends both online and offline, whereas the PC version is online only (a sore spot with many PC gamers).

Oh, and you can kill armed, sentient cows in the game – ’nuff said.

Platforms available: PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Online or couch co-op? Both (but local co-op is only available on console).

A Way Out

A Way Out

(Image credit: Hazelight Studios)

The high-risk decision to make this prison-break adventure an exclusively co-op game paid off for developer Hazelight. And as soon as you start playing, you’ll see that this was really the only way this game would ever have worked.

You can play this theatrical adventure split-screen or online, with you and a friend controlling two prisoners who slowly form a bond and plot their freedom. 

From playing Connect-4 to working out, all the way through to covering each other in life-and-death skirmishes, A Way Out is one of the weirdest, most endearing co-op games out there.

Platforms available: PS4, PC and Xbox One.

Online or couch co-op? Both.

Borderlands 3

Borderlands 3

(Image credit: 2K Games)

Borderlands 3 may not be our favorite Borderlands game overall, but we think it’s the best for co-op play. 

At its heart, Borderlands 3 is a shooter, but it offers RPG elements such as gaining experience and leveling up your character. Developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games, players set out on a quest to take down a pair of cult-leading twins who are trying to harness the power Pandora’s Vaults to wreak havoc.

Borderlands 3 is great fun alone but better with others. You have a choice of four characters and can play either split-screen with up to three others or online with friends.

Platforms available: PS4, PC and Xbox One.

Online or couch co-op? Both.

Borderlands 3, Take 2, Xbox…

Minecraft

Minecraft

(Image credit: Microsoft/Mojang)

You knew this would make the list, right? It’s the ultimate co-op experience, allowing players to grab blocks and build worlds together that are only limited by imagination. The beauty of Minecraft is that it can be played co-operatively across different platforms, such as the main world residing on Windows 10 and others jumping in using an Android or iOS device.

Of course, you can go hardcore and join the numerous PC-based Minecraft servers seeded on the Internet using the original Java-based version of the game. And the creations you can find are simply mind-boggling, ranging from the reconstructing of actual cities to a full-scale Starship Enterprise-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

If you don’t know what Minecraft is all about, then get out from under that rock. However, in its simplest terms, Minecraft is a block-building simulator that seemingly has no limits. 

Platforms available: PS4, PC, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One.

Online or couch co-op? Both (but split-screen is a console-exclusive feature only available for certain editions of the game). 

Gears 5

Gears 5

(Image credit: The Coalition)

Gears 5 is fantastic, and it’s made even better if you take advantage of its co-op. If you haven’t played any entries in the Gears series, all you need to know is that it’s a third-person shooter that will get your adrenaline pumping.

Players step into the shoes of Kait Diaz for the first time who, following the events of Gears of War 4, is trying to come to terms with the death of her mother, unravel the twisted roots of her family tree and deal with her own personal baggage. Meanwhile, humanity is being threatened once more – this time by the Swarm, the successor to the Locust horde.

Not only can you play through the game’s campaign with a friend, you can team up with others in multiplayer horde mode, escape mode or in versus matches. 

Platforms available: PS4, PC and Xbox One.

Online or couch co-op? Both.

Rainbow Six Siege

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Even if you’re not the type to rack up headshots every evening after work in Call of Duty, don’t be so quick to write off Rainbow Six Siege as “just another competitive first-person shooter.” It’s not. Ubisoft has come a long way in realizing the Rainbow Six series’ potential. With the advent of online gaming, the publisher was able to take teamwork to an entirely new level with Siege.

While the game is mostly about cultivating brief yet unforgettable relationships with other players in fully destructible environments, it also requires a fair share of planning. Because of the limited resources you’re given in each mission, it’s essential to keep communication purely tactical in order to take down the opposing side.

Unfortunately there’s no real story or local co-op element to speak of here, but if you’re interested in joining up with a few buddies online for countless hours’ worth of strategy-focused competitive gaming, Rainbow Six Siege is a safe bet.

Platforms available: PS4, PC and Xbox One.

Online or couch co-op? Online.

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