There are plenty of Vampire Survivors-style "Bullet heaven" games in the sea, but it's hard to care about the ones that don't have co-op. If you don't at least bring the same features to the table as the game you're inspired by, what's the point? Well, Survivor Mercs from Wandering Wizard is already out in Steam Early Access, and when it fully launches, it will bring the co-op. Having tried the single-player demo on Steam, I'm excited for it.

Cthulhu's Reach from The Fine Arc and First Break Labs is a Steam Early Access roguelike shooter based on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos. It features a unique retro art style and isometric graphics, plus the all-important 4-player online co-op. While the game had some good foundations when it debuted, it was somewhat lacking in content. The latest update goes a long way to rectifying that by adding a map editor, not to mention some balance and bug fixes.

Tribute Games might be working on this year's most anticipated beat 'em up (MARVEL Cosmic Invasion), but apparently that's not enough. The Montreal-based developer craves an even bigger piece of the pie, so they've just announced another brawler for next year: Scott Pilgrim EX. That's cool enough news on its own, but much of the talent behind the original Scott Pilgrim VS. The World: The Game will be involved. We can't complain about that!

Tribute Games struck gold with TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, a nostalgic beat 'em up that is loved by fans and critics alike. The next big project from Tribute and Dotemu is sure to find the same success: MARVEL Cosmic Invasion, another cooperative brawler that's coming out later this year. Adding to the excitement, two new characters have just been announced for Cosmic Invasion: the irascible Rocket Racoon and the sensational She-Hulk.

Drop Point is an upcoming open world survival game from a New Zealand developer called Tiny Indie Studio. It will offer both first-person and third-person gameplay, allowing large groups of players to explore a zombie-infested island, scavenge for resources, build bases, and fend off hordes of enemies. That might sound a lot like DayZ and other games, but Drop Point has plenty of good ideas that will help it stand out when it arrives on Steam Early Access later this year.

Iron Meat is an extremely bloody run and gun shooter in the style of Contra. The Steam version of the game now has even more meat thanks to the addition of a Boss Rush mode, an Arcade mode, and new weapons and enemies. That'll keep players on their toes! The update is out today on Steam and will come to consoles in the near future as well.

Sea of Stars is a popular 2D RPG in the style of Chrono Trigger. Since it first arrived in 2023, the game has continued to improve. First, the developer added local co-op for up to three players. Now, Sabotage Studio has released a free DLC called "Throes of the Watchmaker'" that adds hours of new content to the adventure. The game is currently on sale for 35 percent off on all platforms, so it's a great time to visit the Sea of Stars.

There are plenty of beat 'em ups in the sea. Most of them are pretty good, of course, so how does a new one stand out from the crowd? With dragons, of course! Heroes of Mount Dragon will feature plenty of dragons when it comes to Steam and Switch. In fact, all 4 local or online co-op players can change into dragons and bombard enemies with fire. That's pretty cool!

As loyal readers know, Earth Defense Force 6 is one of my very favorite games. My wife and I have collectively put hundreds of ours into it, mostly on the Steam Deck, Valve's portable gaming device. Many of those hours were spent in online co-op, a key selling point of the EDF series. Sadly, however, we can no longer play together fro...

What's a surefire way for a Steam game to reach more Steam users? Steam Deck support! That's just the tack adopted by Cthulhu's Reach from The Fine Arc and First Break Labs. This Steam Early Access title is a horror-themed bullet heaven shooter that features 4-player online co-op. Now that it's safely playable on Steam Deck, players can battle the terrors of the deep on the go.