Are you a fan of statistics? No? Oh well, here are some numbers anyway. In April, we counted 38 new co-op-releases on PC, 19 for the Switch, 13 on PlayStation 4, nine on Xbox consoles, and eight that were specifically optimized for PlayStation 5. And our database was expanded by another 111 titles, including all the relevant games from the Knights of Valour beat 'em up-series which was mainly released in Chinese arcades.
1970s action heroes took no guff. They walked into a room and blasted criminals without hesitation. Fast forwarding to the present, Monster Bath Games and Limited Run Games have combined that gritty '70s atmosphere with the colorful shooting of the arcade classic, Sunset Riders, to create Deathwish Enforcers. Up to four local players can join the police force to save the city from an evil army of criminals and zombies in this stylish run-and-gun shooter.
The shoot ‘em up genre lends itself well to cooperative multiplayer, but few shmups support more than 2-player co-op. That’s what makes Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story (AKA Dogfight) so exciting. Dogfight supports 4-player local co-op, allowing a whole team of friends can join together and shoot down the planes, tanks, and mechs of the...
The House of the Dead: Remake was a fun rail shooter, but nobody would accuse it of being colorful. If you want a spooky rail shooter that actually has some colors on the screen, Aksys Games has you covered. Spooky Spirit Shooting Gallery is a Switch-exclusive port of an arcade game in which players blast away at yokai (Japanese spirits and monsters), alone or with up to 3 local players.
Modern shoot 'em ups can often be dark and imposing, but not so for Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story from Katsu Entertainment and Hound Picked Games. Dogfight is colorful, a little bit silly, and more approachable than many shmups. Most impressively, it supports 4-player local co-op. We interviewed Anthony Marinello, Director of developmen...
Scarlet Moon Records, the leading producer of video game music albums, recently announced the thirteenth album in its long-running Prescription for Sleep series. The new album, Prescription for Sleep: Game Music Lullabies Volume III (several albums in the series aren't numbered), will include 12 piano/jazz renditions of songs from classic games. Most excitingly for us, two of the cover songs will come from co-op games: Diablo and Legend of the Mystical Ninja.
Humble Bundles regularly bundle a variety of games together on the cheap, though only for a limited time. The latest Humble Bundle, "Fight 4 Your Friends," is of particular interest since it contains nothing but co-op games! Players can get 4 great games for $10 or donate $15 to get the full six games, including Back 4 Blood and Zombie Army 4. Having played 5 out of the 6 bundled games, I can assure you that this is a great value, especially if you can get a friend to grab the bundle for some cooperative multiplayer!
After a period of timed Epic Games Store exclusivity, the PC version of Koei Tecmo and Square Enix's Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin recently launched on Steam. It should be easier to play the Steam version on Steam Deck, but there's a catch: the game isn't Steam Deck compatible by default. Thankfully, there's a workaround that will let you take the Warriors of Light on the go, and our guide makes it relatively painless to implement!
Last year, Berserk Studio and The Arcade Crew released Infernax, an amazingly good Metroidvania platformer, on all platforms. Since then, the game has received two major updates, the most recent of which added 2-player local co-op! Very few games gain multiplayer modes after they come out, so we interviewed Mike Ducarme, the "Get s***&nbs...
Atari and AdamVision Studios have spent the last few years producing modern “Recharged” versions of classic Atari games. Yars: Recharged is a new but faithful sequel to Yars’ Revenge, the Atari 2600 shoot ‘em up from 1982. This one casts one or two local players as the insect-like Yars who must shoot and bite their way throu...
We've been waiting a long time for ENDLESS Dungeon, the upcoming sci-fi Roguelike from Sega and Amplitude Studios. First announced back during the innocent days of the year 2020, ENDLESS Dungeon is a very promising mixture of third-person shooting, tower defense, and Roguelite mechanics. It will also feature 3-player online co-op, making it pretty much irresistible to connoisseurs like us. Alas, the game has now been delayed from May to October, so we'll have to make do just a bit longer.
Last year, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin seemingly came out of nowhere to become something of a cult hit among discerning RPG fans. The premise is all you really need to know: a prequel to the first Final Fantasy, mixed with Dark Souls-style challenging combat and 3-player online co-op. Sounds amazing, doesn't it? Stranger of Paradise launched on Xbox, PlayStation, and Epic - but not Steam. Finally, the Epic store's timed exclusivity has expired, and PC gamers can buy the game on Steam.
