The 12 Best Co-Op Games Of 2022

These days, video games are often thought of as a solitary activity, something you do to unwind after a long day of interacting with colleagues and customers, paying bills, and running errands. Gaming is certainly a good way to curl up on your own and escape into another world for a couple of hours (or longer, we're not judging you), but it's also a great way to spend some quality time with friends or loved ones.

For every sprawling open-world adventure there is another, more cooperative multiplayer game that will keep you and your gaming companions entertained until the last snack is munched and the last challenge completed. Gaming was always meant to be a communal endeavor. The very first video game, a version of electric tennis called "Tennis for Two," was designed to be just that: a two-player game (via APS News). Later, arcades provided a place for gamers to hang out, make friends, and drop quarters.

The epic quests and solitary wars against an army of foes might make headlines more often, but gaming need not be an entirely solitary endeavor. There is an entire world of cooperative multiplayer titles out there and they keep making more all the time. These are some of our favorites from 2022.

Released January 18, 2022, before the year even had a chance to get its feet on the ground, DrinkBox Games released its action RPG "Nobody Saves the World." In it, you play as Nobody, a pale and mostly featureless human-shaped creature with no memories. Not the most obvious of heroes, but it's what we have to work with.

If amnesia isn't enough to deal with, the world has been covered over by a mysterious fungus and monsters have emerged across the landscape. Worst of all, the powerful wizard Nostramagus is missing and you, armed with his magic wand, are the world's only hope. That want gives you the ability to shapeshift into 15 unique forms, each with its own weaknesses and abilities.

As you progress through various puzzles and dungeons, you'll unlock new shapes and new abilities which will inevitably help you solve looming challenges. You can even mix and match abilities, once you unlock them, allowing you to combine the abilities of one form with that of another (via IGN). Multiplayer lets a second person jump into the action with a copy of the host player. That means player two has access to all of the same forms and abilities. Moreover, having a second player unlocks a new set of unique attack combinations you can't pull off on your own. You can play "Nobody Saves the World" on a PC and all major consoles.

"Elden Ring" dominated the gaming conversation for much of 2022, and for good reason. By all accounts, critics and players have hailed is as a masterpiece and it took home the main prize, Game of the Year, at the 2022 Game Awards (via Game Informer).

It comes to us from game studio FromSoftware, the same folks who previously brought us "Dark Souls," with worldbuilding by none other than George R.R. Martin. While it is generally considered to be a solo experience, cutting a path through the landscape fighting monsters, "Elden Ring" does have a multiplayer component that allows you to call in reinforcements from your family and friends for particularly difficult battles.

Multiplayer in "Elden Ring" is limited, with one player serving as the host while others join the fray as phantom companions. First, they'll each have to gather a Small Golden Effigy, which can be found in the game's first area. The host will also need to locate a token, specifically a Martyr Effigy, which is commonly located around the world. Once you've gathered your friends, they are limited to the area in which you've summoned them. Once you've completed the primary task of that area, your phantom companions are sent home (via Games Radar).

Of course, the game modding community is always looking for a workaround and Forbes reports that user modder LukeYui has crafted a way to play true, unbounded, multiplayer inside "Elden Ring," just like the developers never intended.

If you're looking for a multiplayer gaming experience with equal parts nostalgia, creativity, and fun, you can't do much better than a Lego game. The company utilized its longstanding licensing deals with all of our favorite properties to put players in the shoes (plastic as they may be) of their favorite characters.

"Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga" isn't the first time our favorite galaxy far, far away has been given the Lego treatment. In fact, there are six different "Lego Star Wars" games dating back to 2005, including "Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga" which was released in 2007 and turned out not to be complete after all.

That's where the latest installment comes in, allowing fans to play through the entire "Star Wars" mythos from "The Phantom Menace" through "The Rise of Skywalker" all in a single game. The game can be played alone but you'll want a second player to help you cut through the more than 400 playable characters and a galaxy's worth of worlds to explore. Besides, every Jedi needs an apprentice.

"We Were Here Forever" is the fourth installment in the "We Were Here" series, a collection of cooperative first-person puzzle games. Unlike other games which give you the option of solo or multiplayer play, "We Were Here Forever" requires that you sit down with a buddy (or find one online) in order to progress through the story.

While some entries in the series have been a little lackluster, the common wisdom is that "Forever" is one of the best, even taking the Best Co-op slot in our own Best Video Games of 2022 list. The game drops you and a friend inside a haunted castle and forces you to work together to solve each challenge. As you move through the game, you'll leave the castle and travel to an abandoned village and other spooky environments while solving puzzles that can't be mastered alone.

The puzzles are designed to force cooperation, with navigational puzzles requiring one player to guide the other or visual puzzles in which each player has to describe what they're seeing to the other (via IGN). The idea is that you succeed together, or not at all. It harkens back to those earliest video game days when a second player wasn't an exception but the rule.

The "Evil Dead" franchise launched Bruce Campbell into cult stardom with its perfect milieu of horror, wacky hijinks, and pseudo-demonic lore. It's the sort of thing that practically begs to be made into a solid video game. Since 1984, nine attempts were made to translate the franchise into a popular gaming experience. "Evil Dead: The Game" is the 10th attempt and the first to really and truly pull it off.

According to PC Gamer, the game takes inspiration from the likes of "Dead by Daylight" casting players as either "survivors" or "antagonists." In "Evil Dead: The Game" four players take the role of Ash or one of the other humans, while a fifth player controls the demonic forces of the Deadites. Over the next half hour, the Deadite player opens portals to Hell, controls demonic entities, and can even take possession of a human player if certain criteria are met.

Meanwhile, human players scour the nearby woods in search of artifacts that will bind the ancient evil and save the world. It's a race against the clock in a cooperative battle for your very lives, dressed up in the clothing of Sam Raimi's famed comedy-horror classic.

Kirby has long been a mainstay of the Nintendo lineup, headlining his own games and making appearances in collab games like "Super Smash Bros." Now, with the release of "Kirby and the Forgotten Land," Kirby makes his way to the first truly 3D world he's ever encountered.

When a rift opens up in the sky and sucks away the Waddle Dees, Kirby embarks on a journey to an alternate world in order to save them using his incredible lung capacity and copy ability. Unlike previous Kirby games, which were largely side-scrollers, "Forgotten Land" allows you to navigate segmented worlds at your leisure.

While the game can be played solo, the multiplayer option opens up a new flavor of competitive gameplay. Player two controls not another Kirby-like character, but one of the endangered Waddle Dees. Player 2 doesn't have the same abilities as Kirby, but the bandana-wearing Waddle Dee has its own ways of contributing to the fight.

Multiplayer isn't available at the start of the game but it's relatively easy to unlock. Once you've completed the first level, you'll meet Elfilin and touch a star, then the level ends and co-op play is enabled (via iMore). It's the perfect game to play with a young kid, allowing them to play a supporting role while you lead the charge.

"Tiny Tina's Wonderlands" entered the arena with a built-in advantage. It's a spinoff of the popular "Borderlands" series and plays with familiar characters and settings in a wholly new way. As the game opens, you and your friends are invited to a game of "Bunkers & Badasses," an obvious allegory to the real-world tabletop RPG "Dungeons & Dragons," with Tiny Tina as the Bunker Master.

Gameplay alternates between you and your friends sitting at the game table discussing your next moves and actually entering the game to act out your decisions in person (via Game Informer). It's a mashup of a first-person shooter and an RPG with up to four players, available on the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation.

You'll design your own character, right down to their personal attributes and appearance, just like you would if you were rolling up a character in an actual game of "DnD." The game comes to life with a performance by Tiny Tina voice alum Ashly Burch (who also voices Aloy in the "Horizon" series) as well as the vocal talents of Andy Samberg, Wanda Sykes, and Will Arnett. Joining your friends inside "Tiny Tina's Wonderlands" is the next best thing to actually spinning up a quest and rolling dice together.

From the very first moments, "The Quarry" is immediately recognizable as a slasher turned video game. You follow a group of teenage camp counselors on their way to a summer camp. You find yourselves in the stereotypical forested horror setting when you encounter dark forces that will absolutely claim your life or the lives of your friends if you're not careful.

Unlike conventional video games, "The Quarry" is a more passive experience, spiritually closer to a movie or choose-your-own-adventure novel. That feeling is helped by the star-studded game cast which includes "Scream" alum, David Arquette. It comes to us from Supermassive Games, a studio known for this sort of narrative game experience, and follows a similar philosophy to its predecessor "Until Dawn," also from Supermassive Games.

When playing solo, you control the actions of the characters and progress the story toward one of 186 possible endings (via Variety). But in multiplayer mode, each player controls the actions of their chosen character, adding a new layer of complexity and conflict to the gameplay. "The Quarry" is the sort of game you can play again and again, trying out different strategies to see what might happen. You can even play it even more passively, setting up conditions like "everybody lives" and letting the story play out on its own.

Every new generation needs a version of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" all their own. Luckily, there is plenty of material to choose from. What began as Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's dark parody of "Daredevil" comics has since spun out into cartoons, feature films, and video games (via Screenrant).

This year saw the release of a new entry in the Turtles video game canon in "Shredder's Revenge." The game owes a lot to its predecessors. Turtles games tend to stick to a tried and true formula, and this is no exception. But we're not mad because that formula works and it's always fun to spend time with our favorite crimefighting reptiles.

You'll return to the fictionalized streets (and sewers) of New York as you battle all of your favorites from the "TMNT" rogues gallery. Like previous Turtles games, it can be played alone but the Turtles work best when they're all fighting together. The game offers up four player co-op with character choices including the four main turtles, Casey Jones, April O'Neil, and Splinter (via Nintendo Life). Cowabunga!

If you're sitting on the couch with your buddies and looking for something to play together, you can't go wrong with a good old fashion smash 'em up. "MultiVersus" offers just such an opportunity and attempts to answer the age old question of who would win in a fight between ...

"MultiVersus" features characters from a wide slate of popular media franchises. Crafted by Warner Bros. Games, it has access to all of the intellectual property under that umbrella. It's essentially "Super Smash Bros." with characters from Warner Bros. movies, DC Comics, Cartoon Network, and more. If you've ever wanted to know who would win in a fight between Jake the Dog and the Iron Giant, now's your chance to find out.

Available on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, players will move through the game in a series of brutal 2v2 battles, meaning you'll need a partner to get the most out of the experience. The game makers promise an expanding roster of characters, which means the game is never really over, and you can fight with your friends to your hearts' content. Best of all, it's absolutely free, with optional microtransactions (via Screenrant).

The "Splatoon" franchise has been one of Nintendo's most popular for the better part of a decade, ever since the first installment was released for the Wii U in 2015. The story takes place on a post-apocalyptic Earth filled with evolved cephalopod-like creatures. Together, you and your friends will engage in battle, not with bullets, but with colored ink (via Games Radar).

At its core, "Splatoon" is a turf war, and "Splatoon 3" is no exception. You win by having the most ink on the ground, uncovered by any other colors, at the end of the match. "Splatoon 3" continues the overall narrative with new challenges, areas, and characters, including the ominous Salmonids (via Nintendo).

There is an offline story mode, which you can play with a digital sidekick, but the real fun begins when you play with others. Stack your friends up on the couch or join the party online with up to eight players engaged in four-on-four combat. An array of inky weapons from explosives to swords help you to blast, slash, and otherwise spread pigment onto everything your eyes touch. Items also rotate in and out with seasonal and special events, so the gameplay never goes stale. "Splatoon 3" is the perfect game for a party or a night in with your online friends, and it's available only on the Nintendo Switch.

Despite having only hit store shelves on November 18, it should come as no surprise that a Pokémon game would make a best-of list. But the franchise isn't really known for its multiplayer capability, at least not in the core games. That's one of the main ways in which this latest installment shakes up the game.

In addition to the core story, which you're likely to primarily play alone, "Pokémon Scarlet" and "Pokémon Violet" introduced the Union Circle, which allows players to warp into a friend's game and exist in a shared world. You can battle together, adventure together, and you can even catch version-exclusive Pokémon you won't be able to find in your own copy (via Polygon).

Unlike many of the games in the series that came before, "Pokémon Scarlet" and "Pokémon Violet" allow you to traverse most of the game together with friends if you want to, which adds an entirely different layer to your quest to become the very best, like no one ever was. Come to think of it, Ash always had a friend or two by his side. Why shouldn't you?