Time to pick up your headphones, turn on your microphone or simply call over your buddies to join you on the couch, as our blog team has compiled a list of some of the best co-op survival games to lose yourselves into! Various games may feature an engaging single-player campaign, but it doesn’t change the fact that they provide the best experience only when played with someone by your side. Due to the nature of the survival co-op genre, often these titles are set in post-apocalyptic worlds, requiring players to cooperate in micromanaging resources or fighting off increasing waves of enemies. As you will see, very often they are zombies. Others are more peaceful and invite players to cooperate on joint creative endeavors. Here’s a brief look at some of the best options.
Dying Light
The city of Harran can be a dangerous place, especially at night. That’s why the post-apocalyptic open-world sandbox Dying Light shines among the co-op survival games. The struggles of staying alive are much easier to handle when you have up to three friends by your side. This way you can gather significantly more loot or have someone to watch your back as you pick locks or craft new weapons. However, playing Dying Light in a co-op mode is not limited to increased effectiveness of baseline gameplay. The open-world city you explore can be easily invaded by a random online player who assumes the role of a powerful zombie. If you don’t have anyone playing with you at that moment, the battle can become extremely one-sided in favor of the attacker.
Rust
One of the cruelest co-op survival games is none other than the fan-beloved Rust from Facepunch Studios. There isn’t much of a story going on in this one, as you’ll just be one of the hundreds of players spawning on the same server with absolutely nothing except for a rock and a torch. The gameplay revolves around resource gathering, crafting, building a shelter, micromanaging your supplies and maintaining your health, hunger and thirst meters. What makes Rust exceptionally brutal is its permadeath mechanic. Once you are killed by environmental hazards or hostile players, you lose all the items you had. On top of it all, you can be killed in your sleep while you are offline. For this reason, Rust is more forgiving when played as one of the co-op survival games. Progress gets drastically faster and it becomes much easier to secure your dominance on the server.
World War Z
Set in the same fictional universe as the World War Z movie franchise, the third-person shooter game which bears the same name is an exemplary 4 player co-op experience. Saber Interactive presents a TPS that runs on an appropriately named Swarm Engine. Why is the name appropriate? Because your squad will literally be swarmed by waves of zombies – you will regularly see an impressive number of enemies on screen at once. It makes World War Z as one of the most intense co-op survival games ever: watching zombies climb on top of each other to get you and your friends certainly isn’t a soothing sight. WWZ takes a lot of inspiration from games like Left 4 Dead or even the Alien movie franchise. The defensive mode, for example, has you and your friends deploying automated turrets before an untold number of enemies arrive. Moments like that really pay tribute to James Cameron’s Aliens (1986) and manage to capture the same kind of action-horror thrills.
A Way Out
On the other hand, not everything has to be about zombies and apocalyptic events in good co-op survival games. A Way Out is a definitive co-op experience that features none of those things and still remains one of the most engaging cooperative games to date. As a matter of fact – this narrative-driven game doesn’t even have a single-player mode! You and your partner will embody two convicts – Leo and Vincent – who work together breaking from prison and surviving everything that happens to them in the aftermath. The campaign consists not only of action segments but also of a variety of minigames, which often circle around everyday activities. Have no doubt – this leads to some of the most hilarious in-game moments, especially when you have someone by your side.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
All the previous good co-op survival games are oriented towards action, but Animal Crossing New Horizons fits the standards of the genre perfectly and even elaborates upon them in countless creative ways. Up to 8 Nintendo Switch console owners can inhabit the highly customizable deserted island of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons and shape it together! This is especially convenient since it may take a while to gain access to all of the awesome features this latest installment in the classic Nintendo series has to offer. Work together, sculpt the environment with terraforming tools, participate in an addictive loop of crafting things in order to build new, more complex things! It’s one of the most creative co-op survival games currently on the market and possibilities are drastically expanded with friends around. Show your island to visitors and don’t forget to take a group photo by the end of it!
Visit Eneba to find more co-op games to choose from!
The mentioned titles are without question worth looking into, however, they are far from being the only options. If you already own some of these games or would like to discover even a greater number of alternatives – Eneba has you completely covered. Not only does Eneba’s catalog include the already discussed co-op survival games but it also features a variety of older – but none the less obsolete – titles to choose from. Games like Minecraft, Left 4 Dead or Killing Floor can easily be considered inspirations that shaped and influenced the titles above and will continue to do so in times to come. Find them all for a cheaper price at Eneba and prepare for some of the most memorable co-op experiences out there!
