Thanks to the advent of casual,cozy co-op gamesin abundance, I think gamers generally agree that co-op games are easier affairs than most.
Often, they are a means of socializing, decompressing, and enjoying low-effort gameplay with a tight gameplay loop.
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Something seems rather familiar about these heroes and villains.
Those games are great and have their place, but that’s not all the co-op scene has to offer. In fact, there are a slew of co-op games that offer a stern test.
Co-op games aren’t just a means of coaxing your non-gamer friends to engage with your special interest. They are a means of teaming up with fellow gaming veterans and using your combined skills to overcome the odds.
So, if you’re someone on the lookout for a co-op game that’ll actually give you a tough time, we have a few that fit the bill.
Like A Hardcore Left 4 Dead
At first, I considered slotting Left 4 Dead into this list due to its revolutionary adaptive difficulty engine. But then I remembered, GTFO is a thing. A brutal, relentless thing.
This game is much likethe survival horror,L4D, in many ways, serving as a 4-player survival shooter where you’ll need to take down a variety of mutated nasties and get out of the area in one piece before the horde engulfs you.
However, unlike L4D, the game doesn’t back off when it knows you’re struggling, it just keeps coming at you until your whole team falls.
It’s a game all about tactical planning, picking your battles, managing resources with care, and, of course, pumping enemies full of lead when the need arises.
It’s essentially Left 4 Dead, but an uncompromising version that isn’t tailored to the casual player, and only most methodical tactical shooters will prevail.
9Salt And Sacrifice
2D Co-op Dark Souls
Salt and Sacrifice
There are a lot of Souls games that have co-op features, but few actually allow you to play the campaign from start to finish with a friend. This is something that Salt and Sacrifice remedies, allowing players to take on the gritty, punishing Souls-Like world together.
This one is the follow-up to the outstanding original Salt and Sanctuary, and generally serves as more of the same, but with some enhancements attempting to refine the core experience.
It still maintains the harsh but fair combat of the original, the class system for varied approaches to combat, and you also have a world steeped in lore and intrigue. However, I will admit that a lot of the changes do seem to dilute the experience that the original offered.
But, critically, the first game doesn’t have co-op. So, if you want a2D co-op Souls experience, this one is the best option. Plus, there’s still more than enough DNA from the first game present here to make it a worthwhile outing.
8Overcooked
If You Can’t Stand The Heat…
Overcooked! All You Can Eat
In a lot of co-op games, the primary factor that will be the difference between winning and losing will be communication. However, this couldn’t be more true than in Overcooked.
It’s a frantic cooking game where you need to read tickets, cook orders and serve them up before the timer runs down. The premise is incredibly simple and accessible, but in practice, only the most skilled, organized, and adaptable chefs will prevail.
Getting into a rhythm is key, but due to the thematic maps with gimmicks designed to throw you off your game, that’s easier said than done.
You’ll find yourself roleplaying as Carmen in The Bear as you call out tickets and get really hotheaded when orders go out wrong.
It requires incredible teamwork, but if you have a sous chef you can rely on, then this might be a great option for your next game night.
7Remnant 2
Shoot The Root
Speaking of co-op Souls-likes,how about a Souls game that swaps out your swords and shields for guns and explosives?
Remnant 2 is a game that revels in offering its players an arsenal of weapons but equally balances this with a brutal procedurally generated world and tonnes of punishing bosses that will absorb those bullets like big ol' lead sponges.
What makes this process a little easier is taking a partner along for the ride, and together, you can work to push back the disruptive entity known as The Root.
The third-person gunplay is tight and responsive. The gameplay loop as you head out to otherworldly locales and then back to Ward 13 is engaging from start to finish, and thanks to the game’s procedural missions, there’s a lot of replay value with this one, too.
In short, if you want Souls level difficulty but with all the bombastic action of a shooter, this is the perfect blend for you.
6Baldur’s Gate 3 (Tactician)
A Turn-Based Tango
Baldur’s Gate 3
I needed to be a little specific on this one, as the standard difficulty present in Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t all that tough, provided you have a basic grasp ofturn-based CRPG combat.
The AI is pretty brain-dead in easier modes, and as a result, there tends to be a lot of room for error. However, if you slip the game into Tactician Mode, suddenly, every decision has weight, every combat encounter is a slog to ensure, and every turn doubles in length as you meticulously plan your next move.
It also means that you’ll need to consider your choices outside of battle much more carefully, as those narrative decisions and skill checks that could help you avoid conflict become all the more important.
It means you and your party need to be on the same wavelength to complete this adventure in Faerûn in one piece, but seeing as this game is easily one of the best of all time, we reckon you’ll have a blast as you struggle your way through.
5Enter The Gungeon
Flip Those Tables
Enter the Gungeon
When it comes to difficult game genres outside of the obvious souls-like remit,Bullet Hell gamestend to be a category of game that offers ample challenge across the board, and that’s because of games like Enter the Gungeon.
Enter the Gungeon is a typical twin-stick shooter where you need to pick a character that suits your skill set, parade through a series of levels filled to the brim with enemies, and dodge a bucket-load of projectiles. And, if you manage to do that, you’ll be rewarded with a boss encounter that cranks that difficulty up a notch again.
However, bringing along some extra gun-toting pals can make your quest to kill the past a lot easier, but only if you all master the art of looting, shooting, and get the most out of the variety of unique weapons on offer.
It’s a tough ask, but the fact that it’s oodles of fun makes the process of slowly but surely progressing and becoming the best Gungeoneer you may be a worthwhile one.
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Look At The Pretty Purple Grass!
Often referred to as ‘Dark Souls for couples’, Outward earns that accolade by being one of the few modern open-world games on the market completely unwilling to hold your hand.
The game systems are deep and nuanced, but to understand them and get the most out of them, you’ll need to do the legwork yourself. Not to mention, there aren’t a lot of quest markers, tutorials, or mechanics that serve as get-out-of-jail-free cards. If you make a mistake, you usually die.
This is why you need to take the time to plan excursions meticulously with your partner, learn how to survive in combat against hostile creatures that would happily tear you limb from limb.
Plus, you’ll need to explore the vast world and do so through actually engaging with what NPCs have to say, and following the clues and context provided, so turning your brain off is impossible here.
It’s one of those games that you may progress far, look back to where you were at the beginning, and marvel at how far you’ve come, and that’ll be all of your own back. So, if you want the satisfaction that comes with that, grab a pal and give into this fantasy adventure.
3Don’t Starve Together
Deceptively Cute
Don’t Starve Together
When asked, I often refer to Don’t Starve as one of the most inaccessible video games for beginners. Mainly because the game simply drops you into a punishing Tim Burton-style nightmare and asks you to survive by any means necessary.
But the issue is that the game never explains how it is best to go about that. So, inevitably, you’ll die; note how you died, and with enough trial and error, you just might survive a respectable amount of time.
But, this process can be a lot easier if you have a friend in your corner, because when working out these survival systems, the old adage ‘two heads and better than one’ usually holds true.
you’re able to come together to keep food provisions high, build a solid base, and explore the world around you. And if you do, then who knows, you might even have a slim chance of surviving your first winter.
2Code Vein
BloodyHard
While there are quite a few Souls-likes on the market that you can play in co-op, I would argue that Code Vein is one of the only ones that wants you to play in co-op, as the solo experience always just feels like you’re missing a companion by your side, mainly on account of your AI companion being a complete dope.
Code Vein is a hack and slash vampire epic with strong visuals that sway more toward the likes of God Hand, on account of some former devs lending a hand to this one.
But the real star of the show is the fast-paced and frantic gameplay, which feels great in practice and thanks to the ability to swap classes and combat focuses on the fly, you’re never locked in to one set build.
Granted, the story has a bit of B-Movie ridiculousness about it, and it’s definitely not as refined as a FromSoft outing, but in this game’s defence, very little is. It’s a co-op game tailor-made to test multiple players at once, and for that reason, it ranks high in this list.
Vaudeville Violence
We finish up with what is easily the toughest co-op game on the market by some distance. You could easily be fooled by the game’s cute and charming vaudeville art style, but under the hood, you have a punishing world with bosses tailor-made to strike you down mercilessly.
Due to this focus on boss design and boss rush format, this truly feels akin to most Souls games, asking players to learn the choreography for each fight if they want to come out the other end victorious.
You need to have sharp reactions, a mastery of the mechanics present, and if you’re playing in co-op, you really need to be in-sync to revive your pals when the going gets tough.
Add in the equally tough run and gun sections and a DLC that ups the ante again and you have a punishing co-op experience that keeps on giving. So, if you and a pal are feeling particularly sadistic today, this is the one for you.
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