Couch co-op games have become rather rare of late.
You don’t see them around as much as they used to back when the Nintendo Wii was popular with games such as Wii Sports, Mario Kart, and Mario Party.
In this article, you will find some popular couch co-op games you can play with friends and family in no particular order.
Collection of Mana
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Players: “Secret of Mana” (1-3 players) and “Trials of Mana” (1-2 players)
Metacritic Rating: 83/100
The Collection of Mana is a series of games that has been put on the Nintendo Switch that is made by Square Enix.
Mana games are wildly popular but only two of the games available give you co-op options. These games are reminiscent of Final Fantasy as they are made by the same developers.
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Castle Crashers
Platform: PC, Mac, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4
Players: Up to four players
Metacritic Rating: 83/100
Castle Crashers is a 2D side-scrolling hack-and-slash game with multiple different modes. You level up your characters however you want while causing absolute mayhem with your friends.
Castle Crashers is a 2D knight game widely available on Steam and other platforms.
There are different game modes that you can explore with your friends that range from the normal mode to arcade mode to insane mode.
What are you waiting for? Choose your knight and get crushing!
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Stardew Valley
Platform: PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS Vita, iOS, Android
Players: 1-4 players on a farm, Couch co-op on Switch is available for 2 players
Metacritic Rating: 89/100
Stardew Valley is a farming simulator game developed initially by a single developer, Eric Barone who is the founder of Concerned Ape. There are tons of fun RPG elements that have captured the hearts of many players around the globe and the community is still growing.
In this game, you can farm crops depending on the season and form friendships and romantic relationships with the local townspeople.
In co-op, you and your friends can run the farm together and split tasks. If you’d like, you can even marry each other and live like a happy couple on your farm.
Unlike other games, there is no real learning curve to Stardew Valley so anyone can easily pick it up and play, making it a great co-op game for couples or people who casually play games. It’s no wonder this has become one of the top multiplayer games globally.
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Divinity: Original Sin 2
Platform: PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iPad
Players: 1-2 players on local co-op, up to 4 players on LAN/System Link
Metacritic Rating: 93/100
Divinity: Original Sin 2 is a multiplayer RPG where you can choose the type of character you’d like to be and the world reacts to who or what you end up choosing to be.
Rich in story, and surprisingly complicated as you need to think of good tactics to defeat your foes. You can also make use of the environment to gain an edge in combat.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 (DOS2) features turn-based combat and a Game Master Mode where you can craft your own unique stories.
As you can see from the video above, the game is quite complex, so it might not be the best video games to play with your girlfriend if she is not into games.
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Outward
Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Players: 1-2 players split screen or online multiplayer
Metacritic Rating: 65/100
In Outward, you explore the vast world of Aurai in either solo or co-op.
There are tons of things you can do in Outward, whether that’s exploring dungeons or city buildings. Currently, 2 DLC packs are available, which open up new build options for your character as well as a completely new quest line to play through.
We would highly recommend playing the core story + the first expansion pack (The Soroboreans) which in essence completes the story and add new build options.
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Diablo III
Platform: PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Players: 1-4 in local co-op
Metacritic Rating: 90/100
Diablo III is a hack-and-slash RPG and picks up 20 years after the second game, Diablo II. You as the player can pick between five different classes and use powerful items, spells, and abilities.
The Ultimate Evil Edition of Diablo III is one of the best cooperative titles available where you can just run around together and slay a bunch of demons which is incredibly fun, especially when you start playing through Adventure Mode or challenge yourself with Rifts.
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Children Of Morta
Platform: PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Players: 1-2 players couch co-op. If you are on Switch, you need 2 sets of Joycons for local co-op
Metacritic Rating: 82/100
Children of Morta is a story-heavy RPG about a family of heroes. You don’t play just one character, you play as the whole family in this hack-and-slash game. In a way, Children of Morta is similar to titles like Hades in terms of progression, and Diablo in terms of gameplay.
It has rogue-lite features and you can change who you play between dungeon runs. Playing with a friend in 2 player mode in the same room makes the game so much more fun as you battle against monsters.
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Minecraft Dungeons
Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Arcade, Nintendo Switch
Players: Up to four players in local co-op
Metacritic Rating: 70/100
Minecraft Dungeons is an exciting action-adventure RPG that is inspired by classic dungeon crawlers with a Minecraft twist.
Gameplay is once again similar to Diablo, however this is more family-friendly and better for kids to get in to.
You go on an epic quest to save the villagers and take down the evil Arch-Illager while powering up. You can customize your character and this game more fun to play with your friends.
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Cat Quest 2
Platform: PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, tvOS
Players: Up to two players in local co-op
Metacritic Rating: 76/100
Cat Quest 2 is a 2D open-world cat RPG game set in a fantasy realm of cats and dogs. In this game, you play as two kings trying to reclaim their thrones.
In this epic adventure you can either explore the kingdoms by yourself or with a friend. There are a lot more options with the things you are able to do than in the previous game.
In the original game (Cat Quest 1), you play as only one person so Cat Quest 2 really added a bunch of new features that were not seen in the first game.
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Tales of Vesperia
Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Players: Up to two players in local co-op (battles only)
In Tales of Vesperia, you play as different characters on an epic adventure of friends traveling on separate paths.
It is very story driven JRPG and has a turn-based combat system that can be played in single-player or with a shared split screen.
The actual roaming around is controlled by just one person, however, when you enter combat mode you and your friend can battle it out against the enemies.
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Kingdom Two Crowns
Platform: PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android, and iOS
Players: Up to two players local co-op
Kingdom Two Crowns is a 2D side-scrolling strategy game with a modern pixel art style. You play as a monarch in the medieval period who can recruit loyal subjects with coins, build a kingdom and protect it from monsters called “Greed” who attack at night.
While core mechanics and gameplay appear simple, the game itself is quite complex to master. You can explore a lot of different environments and discover many different secrets that the world has to offer. In co-op, you can work together to create a wonderful kingdom while dropping in and out at will.
