Have you ever wanted to experience the chaos of cooking, cleaning, and serving in the kitchen of a popular restaurant? What if you had the chance to do so alongside your friends? The hectic coordination of real-life kitchens is no mystery to the general public — and Overcooked does a fantastic job of recreating and exacerbating this manic cooperation. As a sequel to the critically acclaimed title Overcooked, Overcooked 2 shockingly outshines the former glory of its predecessor, while setting new heights and expectations for the series’ subsequent releases.

Play alongside three of your friends in chaotic, catastrophic, and confusing kitchens as you struggle physically and verbally to ensure that customers receive the right orders at the right time. Having been made to be intentionally overwhelming, expect to run into friends as frequently as you run past them. Whether you’re running between a kitchen’s moving floors, rushing to serve a plate before your kitchen crash-lands, or you’re putting out uncontrollably large fires, there will be a myriad of obstacles to overcome as you co-op your way through Overcooked 2’s story and online modes.

Filled with a variety of DLCs and additional content, regardless of how frequently you play this game, you’ll always have new kitchens and characters to experience. Overcooked 2 is an enjoyable, albeit at times stressful, gaming experience that players of all ages can mutually enjoy. There’s no need to play the first title either — Overcooked 2 presents you with everything the original title had to offer and more.

A Way Out is a recently released title that’s made to be played exclusively in multiplayer, so it’s perfect for anyone looking for a long-form, replayable co-op campaign.

In A Way Out, you’ll play as two prisoners who have to coordinate to break out of prison. Players will engage in the prison break separately but concurrently, meaning that players can reach different stages of the process at separate points in time. At its core, A Way Out is an homage to the nature of co-op games; players will need to communicate as they perform different tasks, ensuring that actions are coordinated so that each player can progress past their unique obstacles.

In addition to the main campaign, there are a large number of ‘minigames’ that can be played within A Way Out, giving the game a bit more depth in of game modes. Whether you’re playing darts, basketball, piano, or are doing pull-ups, sit-ups, and dips, there are tons of ways to challenge and play along with friends in this inventive action-adventure title.

A Way Out’s biggest drawback is its lack of single-player features; this doesn’t directly impact the game, but it inadvertently limits the number of true game modes and diversity of gameplay elements. Although the campaign feels exciting and dynamic, it also feels repetitive and somewhat lacking after players have had the chance to complete it more than once. But if you’re looking for an inventive co-op experience that will give you a few exciting run-throughs, then A Way Out is right up your alley.

Destiny 2 has long been a popular title for fans of multiplayer first-person loot shooters. As the sequel to its extremely popular predecessor, Destiny 2 is a mixed bag of fantastic gameplay and character customization, alongside a sparse narrative and limited innovation. For many fans of the series, the endless amount of paid DLC became a tedious experience, reflective of a problematic trend that continues to occur with multiplayer titles. Players want to experience multiplayer games, from launch, as a full game — rather than a game that feels incomplete due to the implication of subsequent, continuous DLC.

To the surprise of millions of fans, however, Destiny 2 was released as a free-to-play game at the end of 2019, giving millions of new players the opportunity to experience something that many had began to lose interest in.

Destiny 2, much like its predecessor, involves too many types of gameplay: PvP and PvE. In PvP, fight against other players in custom battles (either on teams or in free-for-alls) as you race to get the highest amount of kills or points. In PvE, players team up together to perform ‘raids’, where you’ll fight through hundreds of enemies and bosses as you continue to progress through the game’s story and collect bigger, bolder, and more beautiful loot. Play alongside a total of five of your friends as you improve your abilities, weapons, and armor.

Destiny 2 is truly a fantastic game that, in the beginning, was lacking in of its story and innovation. And with all of the DLC being included in the recent free release, there’s truly no better time than now to give this gorgeous game a try. Its gameplay is as fluid as its cinematics, and the finesse of Bungie is truly at work in almost every element of this game.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a game that truly has taken the Nintendo Switch base by storm. With its record-high sales, continuous updates, and relaxing gameplay, it’s an ideal game that players of all ages can enjoy and partake in. This iteration of Animal Crossing has not only perfected everything that fans have loved about the series, but adds innovative and necessary elements to ensure that gameplay remains refreshing and engaging.

Taking place on an island where you decide its name, Animal Crossing functions as a second life of sorts. The in-game time is based on real-world time, meaning that whenever you open up and return to your island, it’ll be exactly the same time as your specific time zone. This creates a wormhole of effects; certain activities and events are only available at specific times, and certain time periods increase the likelihood of encounter or item availability. As you take time building your entire island from the ground up, you’ll fall in love with the characters, the move there, the buildings and objects that come to exist, and with the unavoidable sense of comfort that the game’s visuals and soundtrack instill in you.

Players are free to not only explore their own island, but are also able to explore the islands of their friends (and vice versa). Once you’ve arrived on a friend’s island, you’re free to perform all of the same activities that you would on your own island — meaning that you can get that same sense of comfort, enjoyability, and relaxation alongside some familiar faces.

Borderlands 3 — the bombastic, high-octane cap to the looter shooter trilogy. After gaining widespread fame and acclaim for the innovative gameplay, detailed cooperative campaign, unique cel-shaded graphics, and the addictive looter shooter elements, the Borderlands series seemed like it had concluded with the release of its second title back in 2012. But to the surprise and delight of millions of fans, Borderlands 3 was announced as a 2019 end-of-year release.

Borderlands 3 is a game that, at its core, is meant to be played co-op. With an extremely detailed, layered world filled with a multitude of missions, players are free to choose from a variety of routes on their path towards story completion. If you haven’t played a Borderlands title before, you can look forward to fast-paced first-person shooter action, combined with questing, looting, and character customization. The game revolves largely around learning and improving abilities while collecting increasingly powerful weapons.

With up to a four-player co-op campaign, you’ll be battling hundreds of enemies alongside a group of your friends. Borderlands 3 isn’t necessarily the best game in the trilogy, but it’s a fantastic representation of everything that made longtime fans originally fall in love with the series. Gameplay elements have been optimized and upgraded — but sadly, not particularly innovated — graphics and art style have been beautifully improved, and the story is arguably one of the most compelling tales of the world of Borderlands. But the true enjoyability of this game comes from its ability to entice both experienced and new fans of the series.

Grand Theft Auto V is a revolutionary title for the GTA series that was originally released in 2013, but that still maintains its impact, presence, and popularity for millions of fans on a daily basis. This is due in large part to its continuously updated and successful online multiplayer, which has essentially taken on a life of its own. If you’ve been looking for an exciting co-op experience that will be constantly updated and maintained, GTA Online just might be the answer.

GTA Online involves lobbies filled with a maximum of 30 players. In these lobbies, players can roam across the open-world environment as they encounter heists, jobs, races, other players, and a myriad of other playable features. The heists and jobs are the true centerpieces of GTA Online’s gameplay, allowing players to consistently and frequently engage in cooperative play via missions, matches, and modes. Whether you’re looking to fight against other players, to engage in bank heists, to fulfill missions for familiar characters, or simply to roam the open world, all of this can be done alongside your friends. GTA Online is all of the best parts of GTA V, with the added benefit of continuous and consistent free updates.

If you’re a fan of the GTA series, and you’ve been hoping for announcements related to GTA 6, then you should consider giving GTA Online a try in the meantime. Announcements regarding the next GTA title seem to be extremely far off, and with the constant maintenance and updates for GTA Online, you might not even recognize it compared to the last time you played it!

Far Cry 5 is a groundbreaking title for the series that transcends the accomplishments of many of the previous titles. With a bigger, bolder campaign than any of the previous titles, and a much more expansive array of game modes, Far Cry 5 feels more akin to a GTA title than it does to its own predecessors. The biggest draw of the game, however, is the fact that players can fully experience the campaign through online co-op. If you and a friend are looking to play an impactful campaign, and have been looking for a game with a detailed and compelling narrative, then look no further.

Far Cry 5 is set in a fictional location named Hope County, where an apocalyptic cult — named Eden’s Gate — is in full control of the county’s people and facilities. As the main characters, you and a friend will encounter and work with a resistance group to overthrow Eden’s Gate and restore order to Hope County.

But Far Cry 5 also offers enjoyable modes aside from its campaign: online competitive matches and a map creation/edit mode. So once you’ve completed the campaign with a friend, there’ll still be a lot of enjoyable gameplay to experience. But neither of these modes can truly compare to the campaign, which stands as a crowning achievement by Ubisoft. Between the fast-paced first-person shooter gameplay, the open-world navigation, and the gorgeous visuals, Far Cry 5 offers an authentic and exciting co-op experience that millions of fans have enjoyed to date.

To say that Portal 2 is a masterpiece would be underscoring its revolutionary and impactful influence. Having been released nine years ago, Portal 2 still holds up as a title that can stand its ground against a multitude of present-day, current-gen releases. Succeeding the cult-classic, groundbreaking original title Portal, Portal 2 was a response to the delight and desires of an ever-burgeoning fanbase.

Portal is a game that revolves around puzzle-solving with complex, navigable environments. Unlike a variety of games that offer Co-op options, Portal 2’s co-op story offers additional tidbits and gameplay elements that are inaccessible in the single-player story mode. Taking place in a mysterious, decrepit experimenting location referred to as Aperture Science Enrichment Center, players explore the puzzle-based tasks and missions as they’re guided by GLaDOS, an all-knowing, enigmatic supercomputer. Combining puzzle and platforming gameplay elements in extremely novel contexts, Portal 2 provides players with a unique style of gameplay that is both challenging and relatively easy to learn.

This flawless sequel is the perfect example of a magnum opus. With the detailed commitment to a well-written plot, enticing but challenging gameplay, thought-provoking comedy, and an impeccable cast of voice actors, each element of the game cohesively compounds an unforgettable experience — one that millions of fans continue to enjoy today.

So if you’re a fan of puzzle-solving games and you’re looking for a meaningful challenge that will engage you narratively, look no further than Portal 2. This game is a beautiful depiction of the heights that Valve was once able to reach and reflects a period in gaming where developers focused equally on innovation, narrative, and gameplay.

Overwatch is a product of the popularity of various genres at the time of its conception. With the colossal popularity of MOBAs (Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas) like League of Legends, Smite, and Dota 2, Blizzard wanted to create a game of their own that fit into the omnipresent genre with a unique twist. Employing a mixture of gameplay elements from first-person shooters and MOBAs, Overwatch creates a completely novel gameplay experience while refining elements of both genres that so many fans have come to enjoy.

Since its release in 2016, Overwatch has gone through a series of updates, including the addition of a multitude of new characters, new areas/environments, and a myriad of buffs and nerfs, compounding an ever-changing meta to make the game continuously appealing to both longtime fans and newcomers. With a total of 30 characters, and with each character having their own unique gameplay style/abilities, this game encourages character mastery. Teams are composed of six individual players — meaning you can constantly play with a large group of friends — and characters have specific classes; ideal teams will incorporate 'heroes' of each class to have a balanced team composition.

Overwatch is an exciting game to play for many because it serves as a seamless transition for fans of first-person shooters into their first MOBA. With this many characters to choose from, the variety of gameplay is seemingly endless. So whether you're a fan of Blizzard, first-person shooters, or MOBAs in general, Overwatch will be a game that gives you endless hours of fun with up to five of your friends.

Risk of Rain 2, the sequel to the cult-classic Risk of Rain, is a game loaded with a surprising amount of content, missions, and gameplay. Choose from a range of unique characters with specific skills as you fight your way across a mysterious planet solely for the sake of survival.

Risk of Rain 2 drops you straight into the game without any substantial or formal introduction. Players awake on a mysterious alien planet where they must fight their way through monsters, enemies, and bosses. In essence, this title plays like a loot shooter, but with the foundational elements of the roguelike genre (e.g., players explore procedurally generated, dungeon-like locations). The leveling system in Risk of Rain 2 encourages dedicated play, with the difficulty of the game becoming increasingly difficult as your progress and obtain better loot. This game functions at its best as a cooperative third-person shooter where players are able to meticulously battle their way beautifully designed bosses and enemies.

If you're looking for a casual gaming experience that you can enjoy in your free time with friends, then Risk of Rain 2 will be a perfect fit. But at the same time, the game does provide quite a substantial challenge; coordination is key, and leveling and looting will allow you to reach god-like levels of damage. If you're a fan of games like Warframe and Destiny 2, and you're looking for a game that's somewhat similar, make sure to give this fantastic title a try.