We're back for another week of Gloomhaven on PC. The four player co-op strategy game captured our attention last week and the crew couldn't wait to get more. Perhaps the best thing about it is just how well a session fits into an hour or so of play making it bite sized, but still providing solid progress for players.

The other night an extra heavy weight Co-Opticrew dove into the early access version of Gloomhaven, a tactical RPG based on the board game of the same name. In it we check out some four player co-op in the game's Guildmaster mode all while learning the ropes from Locke, who clearly has lived a few lives in these dungeons.

Thanks to a recent sale, the 2018 title Shadow of the Tomb Raider and its entire catalog of DLC could be had for around $10. So I jumped at the chance to check out the game, having mostly skipped its predecessor, Rise of the Tomb Raider. One thing the latest title added was the ability to play through tombs with a friend in co-op fashion. 

For our first stream of 2021, we thought we'd take a little more chill approach. Reconnecting with nature and the world as we done our camo pants, spray ourselves with animal musk, and go hunting in theHunter: Call of the Wild. Full disclosure - none of us are hunters.

It's been over a year since Gears 5 launched, and the Co-Opticrew is finally getting back to it. Nick just wrapped up the campaign and will be heading into the new Hivebusters DLC that just launched, and the whole team decided to dive into the Escape mode, the new 3 player co-op scenario in the game.

The next game in the Earth Defense Force series is going to be a little different. Called Earth Defense Force: World Brothers the game makes uses of voxels instead of polygons to convey its destructive nature. While the game was always over the top, the new style gives it a slightly more kid friendly feel but still B-Movie all the same. The game isn't a change in direction for the series, it's merely a spin-off.

The original Door Kickers was great tactical title that reminded me of the original Rainbow Six's planning mode with overhead execution. It wasn't until late in its life that the game got a patch to include co-op play. Now, learning from that experience, developer KillHouse Games have created a proper sequel with co-op in mind from day one with Door Kickers 2: Task Force North.

With Endless Dungeon just announced, and Human Kind on my brain, we thought it might be a good timed to revisit the classic Amplitude Studio's roguelike Dungeon of the Endless. Released in 2014 the game puts players in the shoes of various characters in a tactical strategy game about saving their crashed shipped. 

The last time we checked in with Marvel's Avengers was over three months ago. At that time the game had only just launched and it was loaded with bugs, glitches, and frankly was almost unplayable in co-op. Recently the game got its first character DLC with Kate Bishop, released for free for all players. So we decided to dive back in.

ASTRO debuted its first A20 (Gen 1) wireless headset three years ago as a mid-tier alternative to the pricier A50. As the gaming industry prepared for the launch of the current gen consoles (PS5 and Series X), so, too, did ASTRO; this past October they launched the Gen 2 version of the A20 wireless headset, which touts a couple new features over the Gen 1 while still maintaining that mid-tier pricing.