20 Best Co-Op Games to Play With Friends in 2026

The best co-op games in 2026 include two-player adventures, chaotic missions with friends, and shared worlds you can live in for weeks. We picked 20 PC games across story-driven adventures, shooters, horror, survival, and relaxed sandboxes, with details on how co-op works and what to know before inviting your group.

Where to start if you want to choose quickly

• Play through a story for two - Split Fiction.
• Shoot things with friends and contribute to the squad - Deep Rock Galactic.
• Laugh at your collective failures - PEAK.
• Bring a group of six - R.E.P.O..
• Play without buying anything - Warframe.
• Spend a relaxed evening, even on a modest PC - Stardew Valley.

All games in this list

• Split Fiction
• It Takes Two
• Deep Rock Galactic
• Helldivers 2
• Baldur's Gate 3
• R.E.P.O.
• PEAK
• Lethal Company
• Phasmophobia
• Valheim
• Enshrouded
• Grounded
• Raft
• Stardew Valley
• Terraria
• Don't Starve Together
• Overcooked! 2
• Portal 2
• Warframe
• Monster Hunter Wilds

Split Fiction

Split Fiction

Want to play something together without first learning ten different equipment tabs? Start with Split Fiction. Two writers are trapped inside their own stories, so sci-fi constantly gives way to fantasy. High-speed chases and futuristic sequences are followed by dragons and fairy-tale obstacles. The change of scenery also changes what the characters can do. Instead of repeating one reliable trick, you keep having to figure out how your abilities can help each other.That is exactly why we put it first. You cannot complete Split Fiction alone, and there is no way to hide behind a more experienced teammate. It supports both local split-screen and online play, while one purchased copy plus Friend's Pass is enough for the full co-op campaign. Cross-play also lets you team up across supported platforms. Agree in advance on when you will continue the story because there is no solo campaign here. And keep in mind that jumps, chases, and synchronized actions require decent reactions. If you want a completely laid-back evening, choose something else.Steam

It Takes Two

It Takes Two

Cody and May already have enough problems before you arrive. The married couple were planning a divorce, but now they have been turned into tiny dolls and need to escape a world that suddenly feels enormous. Both characters have to contribute. Their abilities complement each other, and obstacles are designed so that you first discuss the solution and then each perform your part. Even an ordinary household object can become an entire level with another set of rules.We recommend It Takes Two to couples who want to actually complete a game together rather than simply share the same map. Split-screen makes it easy to see where your partner is stuck, while online play supports the free Friend's Pass for the invited player. Do not mistake the bright visuals for an effortless stroll, though. You still need to jump, fight, and hit precise timings, and some story scenes are far from harmless. If one of you rarely plays games, give them time to learn instead of trying to direct every movement. The game already has plenty of ways to force you to cooperate.Steam

Deep Rock Galactic

Deep Rock Galactic

You descend into a cave for minerals, and the local wildlife is already waiting to eat you. Just another day at work for a space dwarf. What makes Deep Rock Galactic special is that the best marksman is not the only useful member of the team. Someone needs to light huge caverns, someone has to reach minerals on the ceiling, someone cuts new tunnels, and everyone needs to cover each other. Four classes come with different tools, while fully destructible caves let you literally carve your own route to the objective.Pick it if you want separate missions without committing to one long story campaign. Difficulty can be adjusted to suit your group, and matchmaking can fill empty slots in an online squad. There is no local split-screen. We recommend trying every class at least once because the jobs feel far more distinct than a small difference in damage. If the shooting is what you enjoy most, our best co-op shooters in 2026 roundup has more options for a squad. Just be ready for repeated expeditions. The fun comes from teamwork and new caves, not from major plot twists.Steam

Helldivers 2

Helldivers 2

In Helldivers 2, killing enemies is only part of the job. You need to complete objectives on the planet and still make it to extraction. Helldivers call in heavy weapons, turrets, and orbital strikes, so a firefight can quickly become an exercise in figuring out where the enemy ends and your own bombardment begins. Friendly fire makes that a very practical question. Warn the squad before calling support. A teammate who just celebrated being reinforced should not have to guess where your bomb is about to land.The game suits groups that enjoy tense missions but can laugh at their own mistakes. Preparation is also shared. It is more useful to cover several types of threats than for everyone to bring the same cool weapon. Online co-op supports squads of up to four, with no local split-screen. Start at a manageable difficulty and move higher once your team can reliably extract together. A constant internet connection is required, and on higher difficulties a silent group scattering across the map makes everyone's life much harder.Steam

Baldur's Gate 3

Baldur's Gate 3

Imagine that you are preparing to have a calm conversation with a suspicious stranger while your friend has already decided to see what is in the stranger's pockets. In Baldur's Gate 3, that kind of disagreement becomes part of the adventure. You can choose dialogue options together, search for alternate routes, experiment with the environment, and make plans for turn-based combat. Everyone controls their own character, but the consequences of decisions affect the whole group. That is where both the fun and the very real arguments come from.We recommend creating a separate campaign for a regular group and deciding in advance how carefully everyone wants to read dialogue. Someone who searches every cabinet will struggle with a friend who races toward the next fight. If your pace matches, however, you get a very long campaign that gives everyone something to talk about after logging off. On PC, online parties support up to four players and local split-screen supports two. Cross-play is also available. For random short sessions, a mission-based game is easier. Baldur's Gate 3 works best when the same group keeps returning to the same story.Steam

R.E.P.O.

R.E.P.O.

Sometimes the hardest part of R.E.P.O. begins after you have already found something valuable. Now you need to carry it through a room where someone will inevitably pull the object in the wrong direction. Physics turns moving pianos and fragile ceramics into team exercises. The more carelessly you handle the loot, the less useful the entire expedition becomes. Monsters are wandering nearby too, so you cannot spend forever arguing about who was supposed to hold the left side.Choose R.E.P.O. if you have more than four friends and want everyone in the same run. Proximity voice chat helps you coordinate and lose contact at exactly the wrong moment. A teammate who knows when to say "stop" is especially valuable here, although they are usually the person nobody listens to. You can buy upgrades and weapons with your earnings, but the basic job does not change: find valuables, move them carefully, and escape. The game is still in Early Access, so treat it as a source of shared disasters rather than a tightly scripted story campaign.Steam

PEAK

PEAK

Reaching the top yourself is only half the job. Look down and you may see a friend who already spent all their stamina and is now really counting on your hand. PEAK builds its co-op around simple situations like this. You look for routes, help each other climb, use ropes, and divide the supplies you find. Injuries and other setbacks reduce what your character can do, so trying to save resources on preparation can end a run long before the summit.We like PEAK for groups that want a shared adventure without hours of progression before the first attempt. The island changes every 24 hours. You can retry the same route throughout the day, then return later to a completely new layout. Keep in mind that multiplayer is friends-only through Steam. The game will not match you with random players. Agree not to sprint ahead of the entire group because success here is not just about how quickly you climbed the next ledge. If repeated falls and losing a promising run sound miserable, a calmer farming game may be a better choice.Steam

Lethal Company

Lethal Company

The Company expects you to meet quota, so you land on abandoned moons and bring back anything that can be sold. It is easy to lose your way inside the facilities and even easier to lose a teammate. Before every expedition, the group needs to decide what to buy, where to fly, and how much risk to take for the next piece of scrap. Things become more dangerous as evening approaches, which is naturally the exact moment someone decides the room behind the next door probably contains enough loot to pay for the whole run.Unlike R.E.P.O., Lethal Company gives a very noticeable role to the person who stays on the ship. They can watch the crew on the radar, warn about danger, and use the terminal to control certain doors. We recommend trying this division at least once. The team gets a plan, and the operator gets to hear the exact moment that plan stops working. Lethal Company is great for friends who enjoy risk, radio chatter, and discussing everything that went wrong afterward. Just remember that the standard squad is limited to four players and the game is still in Early Access. Larger lobbies require third-party mods.Steam

Phasmophobia

Phasmophobia

In Phasmophobia, your team enters a haunted location with equipment and needs to identify the ghost living there. You gather evidence, compare observations, and use tools rather than simply surviving a series of jump scares. One player checks temperatures, another places cameras, and a third tries to get an answer through the Spirit Box. Dividing responsibilities speeds up the investigation, although not everyone will volunteer to enter the room that just made a suspicious noise.We recommend it to groups that enjoy learning systems together and gradually getting better. A friend who is still too nervous to enter the building can still help from the van using cameras and sensors. For your first investigations, choose a small location and a low difficulty so it is easier to understand what you saw and why it matters. Unlike extraction horror games, the satisfaction comes from reaching the correct conclusion. The game is online-only with no local split-screen, remains in Early Access, and does not require VR for normal play.Steam

Valheim

Valheim

Your group planned to defeat a boss tonight, but first you discovered that everyone needs better food, repaired equipment, and a finished dock. That is a normal evening in Valheim. Domestic chores directly support expeditions. Better food raises Health and Stamina, new materials unlock equipment, and the base becomes the place where you prepare for the next journey. One person builds, another gathers resources, and a third searches for the route. Everyone has something useful to do.Valheim is a good choice if you want to return to one world for weeks and see the results of your shared work. The procedural map, sea travel, and progression through biomes give the group clear goals. Once you reach the major fights, our Valheim 1.0 boss guide can help. We recommend agreeing on which important discoveries and battles should happen together so that a friend who misses one evening does not return as a guest to someone else's progress. A dedicated server also lets the world remain available without the original host. And do not let the cozy house fool you. The world outside can explain very quickly why all that preparation mattered.Steam

Enshrouded

Enshrouded

Like the idea of a shared base but want more to do than haul another cart of resources home? Take a look at Enshrouded. You can explore ruins, fight bosses, build your character around melee, ranged combat, or magic, then return to construction. Rescued survivors help unlock workshops and new equipment. The building system is detailed enough that the group's dedicated architect gets a real activity rather than a temporary chore between fights.The large player limit makes Enshrouded convenient for groups that do not fit into a standard party of four. We still recommend agreeing on the pace of exploration so that one player does not uncover the entire world while everyone else is debating the shape of the roof. Compared with Valheim, character progression and adventures in a handcrafted world are more prominent. The PC version is still in Early Access on October 14, while version 1.0 launches on October 15, 2026. If you are starting around that date, our Enshrouded 1.0 overview explains the release, new content, major changes, and how to prepare your save and shared base.Steam

Grounded

Grounded

One look at the grass towering overhead is enough to understand the scale of the problem. You have been shrunk to the size of an insect. An ordinary backyard becomes a dangerous world where you need to find food and water, build shelter, and prepare for encounters with creatures you would normally ignore. Exploration is tied to a proper story, so the group has a goal beyond making the base look nice. Familiar household objects also make navigation easier while constantly reminding you how tiny the characters have become.We recommend Grounded to players who want a complete survival adventure rather than an endless sandbox. With four people, it is easier to divide chores and prepare expeditions, but gear and knowledge of enemies still matter. Shared Worlds are particularly convenient because another authorized player can launch the save without waiting for the original host. A Microsoft account is required for Shared Worlds and cross-play. If spiders can ruin your evening before combat even starts, check the arachnophobia setting. There is no local split-screen co-op.Steam

Raft

Raft

You start on a tiny raft, hook floating debris out of the ocean, and gradually turn a few planks into a home. Alone, that creates a long list of chores. With friends, the work divides naturally. Someone watches food and water, someone builds, and someone prepares to dive for materials. A shark keeps circling nearby, so the game never becomes completely peaceful. Later, islands and story locations give you reasons to improve navigation and keep moving forward.Raft works well because your base travels with you. You do not have to abandon the home you spent hours building every time you go exploring. Dock, search the location, load your finds, and sail on. For a first group, we recommend two to four players so everyone has enough to do and enough space early on. That is a recommendation, not a hard limit of the PC version. The household routine never disappears, though. Food and water still need attention after a successful expedition. If you only want missions and do not enjoy maintaining supplies, pick one of the story-focused games near the beginning of this list instead.Steam

Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley

Not every evening needs a galaxy to save. Sometimes watering crops, going fishing, and asking your friend why they bought more seeds when everyone agreed to upgrade the tools is enough. Stardew Valley lets a group run one farm while giving each player their own routine. One goes into the mines, another talks to villagers, and a third works on the farm layout. The shared property keeps developing, but nobody has to spend the whole evening following someone else around.Choose it if you want a common world for conversation and small plans for the next in-game day. We recommend deciding in advance whether money is shared and avoiding the temptation to turn the first season into an efficiency contest. The cozy atmosphere disappears quickly when one player starts scheduling everyone else's every minute. On PC, online multiplayer supports up to eight players, while split-screen supports up to four people on one computer. The hardware requirements are far lighter than those of large 3D games, but you still need to agree on access to the host's save for co-op.Steam

Terraria

Terraria

You agree to quickly check the nearest cave and return with new materials, new weapons, and a plan to rebuild half the house. Terraria constantly gives you reasons to abandon the original plan. You dig, find treasure, bring useful NPCs into your settlement, and prepare for bosses that change the usual flow of the world. The 2D perspective does not make the journey simple. There are plenty of places underground that are better left alone until the group is properly prepared.A group can divide interests easily. One player builds the arena, another gathers equipment, and someone else explores an untouched direction. We recommend starting with fresh characters and not importing someone from an endgame save into a new world, or the early discoveries lose their value quickly. Terraria suits people who enjoy learning item systems and inventing their own objectives. On PC, co-op requires network play because there is no local split-screen. If you want the game to tell you exactly where to go every minute, Terraria's freedom may feel frustrating at first.Steam

Don't Starve Together

Don't Starve Together

More friends means more hands, but it also means more hungry characters. Don't Starve Together explains that difference very quickly. You need to keep the camp running, gather food, survive changing seasons, and learn which threats are worth confronting and which are better avoided for now. The world is generous with discoveries, but many of them create a problem before they become useful. By evening, your friend's loot may be just as valuable as their explanation of what exactly tried to eat them.We recommend it to groups that enjoy learning through mistakes and discussing preparation. Divide everyday jobs and agree on shared supplies. A beautiful base expansion will not save anyone if nobody prepared for the next night. Compared with Raft or Stardew Valley, there is much less sense of safe relaxation. Good plans constantly need adjustment, and ignorance of the rules can be expensive for the entire group. Start with manageable world settings. There is no prize for choosing the harshest option just because the game is labeled survival.Steam

Overcooked! 2

Overcooked! 2

The recipe sounds simple: chop, cook, plate, and serve. Now do it while the kitchen is moving, your teammate is blocking the path, and every clean plate is gone. Overcooked! 2 forces the group to decide who is responsible for what, then regularly changes the conditions so the same arrangement never works forever. Ingredients can be thrown, which means even a counter on the other side of a gap becomes part of your workspace. If everyone runs after the same tomato, dinner will not improve.This is a convenient option for local gatherings because the tasks are understandable without much gaming experience, and a failed level can be restarted immediately. Online co-op is available too, but simple rules do not guarantee a quiet evening. Good scores require coordination. We recommend assigning at least chopping, cooking, and serving roles at first, then adjusting them to each kitchen. Do not make a new player chase maximum scores immediately. Learning where the pot is located helps more than hearing five simultaneous instructions about how urgently someone needs to save it.Steam

Portal 2

Portal 2

At first, it seems easy enough to explain where your friend should place a portal. A minute later, you are clarifying which wall they consider the left one. Portal 2 has a separate co-op campaign for two robots built around solving spatial problems together. You combine portals, buttons, and test-chamber mechanisms, and the solution usually emerges through discussion and experimentation. Dexterity matters occasionally, but stopping to see what your partner is actually doing is useful much more often.We recommend Portal 2 to two players who enjoy discussing puzzles and do not want resource gathering or long progression systems. On PC, the co-op campaign supports both online play and split-screen, while the modest system requirements also make it suitable for older computers. Just do not turn the experience into a guided tour if you already know every solution. Let the other player test their idea even when it is obvious the robot is about to fall somewhere again. For two new test subjects, it remains an excellent way to discover how well you can explain simple things to each other.Steam

Warframe

Warframe

Do you not want everyone in the group to buy a game before finding out whether they even like it? Warframe is free to start. You form a squad, complete missions, gather materials, and develop Warframes with different abilities. Shooting mixes with fast movement and melee combat, so standing behind the same piece of cover for long periods rarely works. Over time, the number of equipment options grows dramatically, giving co-op runs a specific purpose: get the resources needed for the next build.The biggest barrier is not the entry price but the number of systems you eventually need to understand. We recommend that beginners first learn the map and basic upgrades, while an experienced friend explains things one at a time instead of delivering a long lecture on the first ship. Co-op missions unlock after the introductory sequence, while parts of the story still need to be completed solo. Warframe is therefore good for shared progression and regular missions, but not for one uninterrupted campaign that the group completes together from beginning to end. If gathering materials and tuning builds already sounds boring, the sheer amount of content will not fix that.Steam

Monster Hunter Wilds

Monster Hunter Wilds

The objective is usually visible from a distance and noticeably larger than your entire group. To defeat a monster, you need to learn your weapon, read the creature's movements, and recognize moments when attacking is safe. Materials from each hunt go into new equipment for the next encounter. That loop works especially well with friends because everyone gradually learns the monsters and starts understanding how each hunter can contribute. A successful hunt feels good not only because of the loot, but because this time the plan actually worked.We recommend Wilds to groups interested in shared battles and gradually mastering a combat system. Do not buy it expecting a seamless four-player story walk, however. Access to co-op quests depends on progression, while some story segments happen outside shared combat. Online hunts support groups of up to four players and cross-play. On PC, try the free prologue demo before buying so you can judge the controls and performance on your machine. The demo does not include online multiplayer. If you want to sit down and play an entire story for two without organizational pauses, go back to Split Fiction or It Takes Two.Steam

How to choose the right co-op game for your group

Start with the simple questions: how many people are playing, whether you are using one computer, and whether the same group can meet regularly. The last point matters especially for long campaigns. Baldur's Gate 3 is difficult to organize around a group that changes every evening, while Deep Rock Galactic or Helldivers 2 are much easier to launch for standalone missions. Shared worlds also need rules. Decide whether everyone needs access to the base without the original host and which important events should happen only when the full group is present.If one of your friends is new to games, think not only about a familiar genre but also about whether there is a comfortable role for them. In Stardew Valley they can focus on their own corner of the farm, in Phasmophobia they can help from the van, while Split Fiction requires both players to handle the obstacles themselves. Finally, check the exact co-op conditions before buying. Online co-op does not automatically mean split-screen, and a PC version does not always connect to consoles. Spending a few minutes checking that now is better than beginning the evening by discovering that one friend cannot join.