A great co-op game leaves you with a memorable shared experience, something you can reminisce with a friend about months or even years later. They can forge friendships, maybe test the limits of others, or even just bring people closer together. We love co-op games at IGN, which is why we wanted to take some time to put together this list of the top 10 cooperative games of all time.

Before we start though, a few caveats as we define what “co-op” means for this list. First, we wanted to focus on games that were truly built around that cooperative experience. This is a list of the top 10 cooperative games, not the 10 best games that happen to be playable cooperatively, which is why you’ll see a lot of games, or separate modes, that can only be played with two players. There are going to be a few that can be played solo, but these experiences are really defined by their cooperative versions. To make room for those games, we had to make some tough cuts, including Halo and Borderlands.

Also, to keep this from stepping on the toes of other genres, we’re omitting MMOs, MOBAs, and any games that are solely focused around competitive cooperative play. Rainbow Six Siege and the Battlefield games are amazing cooperative experiences for those on the same team, no doubt, but for this list, we want to highlight the games that bring people together to work towards a common goal that’s not simply “beat the other team.”.

With that said, here are the 10 best cooperative games of all time.

10. Splinter Cell Conviction

Even as a complementary mode to Splinter Cell: Conviction's main story, the co-op campaign absolutely shines as a thrilling and fun way to team up with a friend to eliminate tons of bad guys from the shadows. Set as a prologue to Sam Fisher’s story, you take on the roles of a US and Russian agent working together to stop a deadly black market sale, and can use the “Mark and Execute” mechanic in tandem to pull off some amazing, cinematic takedowns.

Communication is key when crouching through the dark, ratcheting up the tension as you split up to take different paths or protect your friend as they put themselves in a vulnerable situation, cleanly and quietly picking off interlopers as they try to attack your exposed partner. This surprisingly meaty campaign caps off with one of the most surprising and exhilarating endings to a co-op story ever, which may end up putting a slight strain on your friendship.

The one bummer is that servers were turned off in 2019, making it exceptionally hard to play in 2021. Just another reason why it's high time to bring both Splinter Cell and this incredible co-op mode back for all to play.

9. Overcooked 2

Overcooked became the foundation for a job-based co-op genre that has spawned many similarly frantic experiences, but there's a level of polish and iconic charm that keep us coming back to Overcooked specifically.

With the addition of the throwing mechanic in Overcooked 2, level design transformed from teetering on the edge of somewhat manageable to total, gleeful kitchen chaos. Story campaigns have chefs running back and forth between moving food trucks, pirate ships on the ocean, tossing food over active volcanoes and other varied locales that you wouldn’t normally plan to cook a plate of spaghetti at.

Nailing perfect coordination and understanding the fine-tuning of each kitchen's quirks is the key to going for perfect ratings, and it's truly a feat that only the most iron-willed chefs working in tandem can pull off.

8. Streets of Rage 4

Street of Rage 4 is anything but a nostalgia play, despite coming out over 15 years after the last entry in the series. This is one of the best beat-em-ups of all time, straight up, and it shines even brighter in co-op mode, and not just because you’ll have a much better chance to survive it’s challenging difficulty. More than anything else, what makes Streets of Rage such a great co-op game is its balance of approachability and depth.

It’s super easy to jump right in, adjust the difficulty and assists to your preference, and have a blast even with someone who doesn’t know all of the ins-and-outs of the franchise. But gather together a group of veterans who know how to really dig into Streets of Rage 4’s mechanical depth, and it’s even more fun to challenge yourself to get as far as you can, especially with the Mr. X Nightmare Survival mode DLC released after launch.

Whichever side of the fence you’re on, grab a metal pipe off the ground, an apple for health out of a trash can, and jump into one of the most fun co-op games around.

7. Divinity Original Sin 2

Much like its clear inspiration, Dungeons and Dragons, Divinity Original Sin 2 is a tremendously fun cooperative experience, but it does require finding the right partner or group to play with. After all, it’s an incredibly dense RPG with tons of dialogue, character customization options, and turn-based combat, but if you do find that right person or people willing to engage with its depth and commit to a full campaign much like you would with a D&D group, Divinity Original Sin 2 is an unforgettable co-op experience.

Every fight is its own cooperative puzzle where you must coordinate with your party, plan moves ahead, and make careful use of your own character's unique skills in order to overcome some truly tough battles. And just like a good D&D game, it’s all about exploring the story as a group, discovering how your choices impact the world, and working together to achieve your goals.

6. Monster Hunter World

Monster Hunter: World brilliantly retains its intricacy, difficulty, and sense of wonder through multiplayer. A great single-player experience is catapulted into the amazing category with fellow hunters in co-op. Whether on the hunt against a fantastic beast, or back at the hub just getting silly, sharing the exhilarating process of prepping for a difficult battle and barely making it by the skin of your teeth is one you have to experience with your pals, and not just your Palicos.

Admittedly, playing through the main story with friends can be a bit of a tedious task at times, but the story missions are just a ludicrously small fraction of the hundreds of hours of adventure Monster Hunter: World has to offer, especially when much of the “post-game” content is at its best when played in teams, like the intimidating Behemoth with recognizable MMO mechanics from the Final Fantasy 14 crossover, or the sincerely difficult arch-tempered Elder Dragons, and the most challenging of all, Fatalis.

Defeating these fiercest of foes with your bestest of buds will strengthen those bonds even more – or make you want to disown someone for not drinking their Armorskin. Either way, it’s a great time.

5. Left 4 Dead 2

The Left 4 Dead games drop players into what is essentially a video game version of the zombie movies 28 Days Later or Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake. That is, it’s you and some friends versus thousands of hungry and very fast zombies. And teamwork is essential if you want to survive the legions of the undead in this magic experience that developers have been trying to recapture ever since its debut.

Each campaign’s objectives will be much more achievable if all players work together, consistently communicate, and take on specific roles within the group. One of Left 4 Dead’s most genius inclusions is the A.I. director, which monitors your team’s progress and tones down — or ramps up — the difficulty based on how well you’re doing. If you’re doing too well, the A.I. Director can make success practically a nightmare, and having real human buddies at your side may just give you the edge you need to make it through.

Oh, and why Left 4 Dead 2 over the original? It’s got better Special Infected (the Jockey is a personal favorite), a better campaign, and Valve even ported over everything from L4D1 into the sequel…so you don’t even need the first game to experience all its fun.

4. Sea of Thieves

To those who have had dreams of donning a pirate's hat and setting sail on the salty waves in search of treasure and wonder, Sea of Thieves is the game for you. From following lore-filled Tall Tales that lead to valuable treasure or manning the 4-pirate vessel, The Galleon, to battle enemy ships on the water; a coordinated band of friends makes everything a lot more manageable, and fun, in this swashbuckling world.

Having your crew at your side when setting foot on islands of nautical baddies and delving into caves with powerful pirate captains is always optimal to assure a bountiful voyage. Hilarity can ensue at any moment with a collection of pirate items on hand like a banjo and hurdy-gurdy for sea shanty sing-alongs or a tankard for some booze-based camaraderie.

And for those who always hoped for a Pirates of the Caribbean video game, the Disney-collaborated Pirate’s Life storyline now available in Sea of Thieves makes these virtual high seas all the more alluring to explore. Savvy?

3. It Takes Two

If creativity was electricity, It Takes Two power an entire town. Hazelight Studios’ brilliant co-op-only adventure released just this year and yet it is so good that it clearly deserves a spot in the upper echelon of the all time great co-op games.

The key to It Takes Two’s success as a cooperative experience is that it always maintains its core as a co-op platformer, but with every new area, it changes up the rules, and how its two characters, Cody and May, must interact with each other. The result is a game that always feels fresh, and always encourages its co-op partners to figure out new ways of working together.

Just when it feels like the game has done everything it can with one mechanic, it moves on to a new one that’s just as fun as the last. And most importantly, everything is built around the idea of cooperating with your partner, as it literally cannot be played alone.

2. Rock Band 4

Guitar Hero may have started the plastic instrument trend, but when Rock Band came out, it turned it into a co-op phenomena, and while we could really put any of the Rock Band games here, we’re going with Rock Band 4 simply because it’s the most available one to play in 2021 and features years of iteration under its belt.

Rock Band is quite simply the ultimate four-player co-op experience for two key reasons: it’s a damn good rhythm and karaoke game first and foremost, regardless of what instrument you’re playing, with an expansive catalogue stretching across genres and eras. But secondly, there’s a unique social aspect to Rock Band that just isn’t present in any other game.

You can play Rock Band to achieve high scores and gold star every song on expert, but its most joyful version is one where you’re not worrying about any of that. Instead, the most important part is goofing off with your friends and pretending to be rock stars together, an experience Rock Band delivers in (ace of) spades. For those that continue to virtually rock, we salute you.

1. Portal 2

Portal 2 is one of the greatest puzzle games of all time, but what’s even more impressive about it is that, in addition to having that stellar single-player campaign, on top of that is, in our opinion, the best co-op experience of all time. It’s perfectly paced, brilliantly split up into multiple areas, each focusing on a different puzzle mechanic, and strikes just the right mix between tests of skill and tests of the mind.

The puzzles themselves are more complex than ever before, especially since you now have four portals to work with as opposed to the two in single-player mode, but they somehow never become frustrating because it’s always fun to experiment, piece together the puzzle bit by bit, and collaborate with your buddy whether through voice chat or the clever pinging system. Even 10 years later, there’s still nothing quite like playing Portal 2 with a friend.

And that’s our list! Like so many others, this was a very tough list to cull to just 10, with games like Resident Evil 5, Destiny 2, and the aforementioned Borderlands and Halo games just missing this list for one reason or another. Let us know what you think in the comments.

It's official: with the latest firmware update, you can now add an SSD to your PS5. But Sony's new console won't take just any SSD you have lying around. Solid-state drives must meet some very specific metrics, or else they won't fit, may overheat, or simply won't work in your PS5. You can check out our full rundown on PS5 SSDs for all the details.

But to cut through the confusion, all of the SSDs below are compatible with PS5. Better yet, they're also on sale. We've separated out the ones that come with a heatsink from the ones that don't. If you get one without at heatsink, you can add your own before installing it in your PS5 — though you'll have to make sure it will fit in the slot. Let's get to the goods.

PS5-Compatible SSDs With Heatsink

Installing a heatsink isn't difficult, but you do have to make sure to buy a heatsink that won't make the SSD too thick to fit into the PS5's expansion slot. The SSDs above are in stock, on sale, come with a heatsink, and fit into the PS5.

PS5-Compatible SSDs Without Heatsink

If you're comfortable purchasing and installing your own heatsink, you can save some cash by going DIY.

How to Install an SSD in Your PS5

Sony released a handy video that shows you exactly how to install an SSD into your PS5.

Ninjas and the stealth genre are like PB&J sandwiches: even with stale bread, it's usually a mix powerful enough that it can overwhelm any unpleasant flavors — though Aragami 2 is the exception that proves that rule. This sleuthy third-person adventure is an utter delight when you're exploring its brilliant serpentine levels or disposing of evil-doers by way of some creative supernatural powers, both of which are even more fun while hip-tossing your way through the campaign in co-op with a buddy. Even so, a lackluster story, painfully repetitive missions, and one too many bugs keep Aragami 2 from being a tale worthy of legend.

Set in an entrancing, war-torn feudal fantasy land known as Rashomon, Aragami 2 puts you into a stoic hero's spiffy tabi boots as they try to save the Kurotsuba clan from a miasma of death and disease. It seems a rival clan known as the Akatsuchi wants to wipe any competition from existence, no matter how war-crimey things get. Despite Aragami 2 sewing compelling seeds involving themes of spiritualism, the story never blooms into anything meaningful in the 15-hour long campaign. It's all just shallow set dressing to justify why you're throat-punching armored guys around the countryside. At least, as a silver lining, you don't need to know what happened in the first game to enjoy this one.

That doesn’t really slow Aragami 2 down, though, as prowling around enemy encampments is a ton of fun early on. I typically find the best way to approach levels is to get a good lay of the land via high ground, then proceed with whatever attack plan allows for maximum sneakiness. If an assassination target is on a building's second floor, climbing up its siding to dip in through a window for a silent takedown will minimize unnecessary encounters. Or, if a situation calls for knocking out several guards, slinking behind them one at a time via back alleyways is an excellent means by which to ensure you're not overwhelmed. The labyrinthine quality of Aragami 2's levels encourages crafty, meticulous strategies that are a blast to plan and execute.

That fabulous self-expression only amplifies once shadow skills come into the fold and wildly expand on how you can approach levels. My favorite is Dark Flame, a skill that, on command, will turn lamp posts into explosive clouds of sleep-inducing gas. It comes in handy when there's a posse of baddies hanging around a choke point, where individually taking them down is nearly out of the question. If you're lucky, though, there'll be a lamp post close by that's eager to send them off counting sheep. Which there often is! Few moments in Aragami 2 are quite as satisfying as witnessing your wild schemes come to fruition in a fell swoop.

Of course, there are times when a plan goes awry, and things devolve into duels that are about as enjoyable as pushing a wheelbarrow full of rocks in knee-deep mud. Combat in Aragami 2 is bizarrely swampy and awkward for a game about ninjas, where the timing of both hits and misses feels off, as if the animations aren't keeping up with the fights themselves. I'm relatively confident the parry maneuver is partially to blame as it often doesn't, well, actually parry incoming sword-swipes. Frustration sets in quickly when parrying fails, and then enemies wail on your defenseless carcass. Only two or three hits will send you belly-up, so it's best to sprint, hide, and wait for the guards to get back to patrolling, particularly if two or more are on your tail. Considering guy-with-sword is the only enemy type to encounter for the vast, overwhelming majority of playtime, you'll likely grow tired of fights, regardless of the outcome. I came to avoid combat at all costs for these reasons alone, even forgoing lethal takedowns when possible out of the fear that they might somehow trigger more tussles later on.

There were more scraps in my future, sadly, especially as I steadily lost patience with Aragami 2's excruciatingly slow pacing. Missions have a nasty habit of returning to the earlier levels ad nauseam, upwards of five times in the most egregious instances. Sure, you might be gathering intel now instead of rescuing prisoners like last time, but visiting a stone quarry for the umpteenth occasion aggravates beyond belief. Worse yet, virtually every objective is either just a boring fetch quest to nab random items or assassination contracts with no substance. There's just a staggering lack of variety across the board. It feels like developer Lince Works wanted to draw out the campaign to reach an arbitrary hour count, but Aragami 2 could have nearly half of its missions cut and would be better for it. If that were the case I probably would not have resorted to madly sprinting towards a mission's finish line near the campaign's last few hours, often fumbling quieter sequences and resulting in more tiresome fighting.

As is true of nearly every game that supports it, having buddies by your side goes a long way in alleviating Aragami 2's more tedious sections. Outside of a handful of short tutorials, the entire campaign is available in online co-op for up to three players, and it's a blast. In the beginning, my friend and I would usually congregate just beyond a group of enemies’ line of sight, carefully scanning ahead of us while coming up with the best means to take multiple targets out at once together. If two guards split off from each other, I'd strangle whichever veered left while the fool that went right got blitzed by my friend. Synchronization came so naturally that it wasn't long before all it took was a quick countdown before an attack because we knew what the other was thinking. Even combat isn't so bad when someone else is there to pull aggro off you and share the load.

Not even co-op can save Aragami 2 from its disastrous glitches, though. These range from harmless, chuckle-worthy stuff, such as guards running laps as if they're in an intense ring-around-the-rosey match to inexcusable game-ending things where you clip out of a level and have to restart the whole mission to progress. Bugs aren't frequent, as I only encountered a handful during my time with Aragami 2, but the effects are pretty severe when they do crop up. For example, during a co-op session, my friend and I couldn't complete a mission because the resources we had to gather were missing the "pick up" button prompt, forcing us to hard restart. When a game is already trying your patience, that kind of thing can push it over the edge.

Anthony Mackie will star in PlayStation’s upcoming, live-action adaptation of Twisted Metal playing the amnesiac John Doe.

As reported by Deadline, Mackie will lead in the latest video game adaptation from PlayStation Productions. With a lead star on board, PlayStation is now planning to shop the series to potential buyers.

The Twisted Metal TV series is being described as a “high-octane action-comedy” written by Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Deadline reports the series will follow a “motor-mouthed outsider” who could earn a better life for himself but only after delivering a mysterious package through a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

In the video games, John Doe is an amnesiac who can’t remember anything about himself but is covered in tattoos that may hold the clue to his past.

Mackie is best known for playing Falcon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He starred in the Disney Plus series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and will star in the next Captain America movie following the events of the series.

This is also a sign that PlayStation Productions — a division set up to take successful PlayStation video games and adapt them for film and television — is ramping up its efforts to translate notable games to screen.

Other projects currently in the works include an Uncharted movie starring Tom Holland, The Last of Us TV show for HBO, and a Ghost of Tsushima movie.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Now that the PS5 has officially released an update that allows for internal M.2 SSD expansion, it might be worthwhile for you to upgrade your storage. The WD Black SN850 has always been the most recommended SSD for this upgrade. A heatsink is strongly recommended, but there's no need to waste money buying an expensive SSD with a pre-installed heatsink. You can easily buy a heatspreader off Amazon for much less and install it yourself. The install takes no more than a few minutes and you'll come out at least $50 richer.

The WD Black SN850 M.2 1TB SSD Without Heatsink Is $70 Cheaper Than the Same Model With Heatsink

The WD SN850 is currently the most popular (and probably the best) SSD to get for your PS5 storage upgrade. It's blazing fast drive with transfer speeds rated at up to 7,000 MB/s and a PCIe Gen4 interface. It's also confirmed by Western Digital themselves to be compatible with the PS5. Save $70 and get the model without heatsink, then buy a cheap PS5 compatible heatsink on Amazon and put it on yourself (it's super easy). If, on the other hand, you're looking for the 500GB or 2TB model, WD Store does have discounts on those.

Apple AirPods Pro Noise-Cancelling Earbuds

If you regret not picking the Airpods Pro up on Amazon Prime Day, here's your chance to get it today for an even lower price. Today the price of the AirPods Pro has dropped $70, or 28% off. This is the lowest price we've seen for a brand new pair of these highly rated earbuds. The AirPods Pro is considered by many to be the best truly wireless noise-cancelling in-ear headphones you can get, and a very big step up in quality from the standard AirPods.

New Oculus Quest 2 VR Headset with More Storage, Same Price, and Bonus Newegg Gift Card

The Oculus Quest 2 has so far been the best value when it comes to VR gaming. It's hundreds of dollars cheaper than its competitors, it has phenomenal tracking, it doesn't need to be tethered to a PC, and it boasts a huge library of games (even Half Life: Alyx is easily playable on the Quest 2). Now, Oculus has re-released its Oculus Quest 2 VR headset with double the storage (128GB vs 64GB) for the exact same price. There's even less of a reason now to pick something else. I purchased an Oculus Rift when it first launched, played the heck out of it, and now own a Quest 2. In my opinion, and with price factored in, it's far and away the best VR headset to get into Beat Saber.

Buy Quest 2 Accessories, Get a Newegg Gift Card

The Oculus Quest 2 is a bargain at $299, and thanks to the low price, you can pick up some very convenient accessories without having to feel like you just stepped out of your budget. Newegg is offering a bonus gift card when you purchase any of the accessories below. That includes the Elite Strap, the Elite Strap with Battery Pack, the Link Cable, and more.

$2,600 Off Lenovo ThinkPad 15" 4K RTX 3080 Laptop

Update: The ship date listed on Lenovo's site shows 4+ months, and that seems to be exaggerated. Some buyers have reported receiving their laptops in about 2-3 weeks.

Lenovo ThinkPad laptops are known for their best-in-class ruggedness and reliability, and even if it ever breaks down, Lenovo offers the best customer service in the business. Usually there's a steep price premium for this. Today, however, this $5000 MSRP laptop is discounted by $2600 thanks to a combination of an instant discount and a new coupon code that popped up today. If you're looking to purchase a ThinkPad that's got the power to do some serious gaming, you won't find a price like this anytime soon.

Dell XPS Intel Core i7 RTX 3060 Ti PC for $1369

Enjoy high end PC gaming on a budget. There is one of the best deals we've seen for an RTX 3060 Ti equipped PC and handily beats out a similar deal we saw on Labor Day by over $100. The RTX 3060 Ti is a very powerful video card; it's better than the previous generation's RTX 2080! It's a big upgrade from the 3060 non-Ti model and the one to get if you're going to play games at resolutions of 1440p or higher. This particular deal is found on the Dell Small Business site, but anyone can purchase there just like on Dell's regular site; you can treat Dell Small Business as exactly the same as Dell Home.

WD Easystore 5TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive

This portable hard drive adds more storage to your PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Portable drives are much smaller than their desktop hard drive siblings and require no additional power other than the obligatory USB port.

Cooler Master Caliber R2 Gaming Chair

This Cooler Master chair normally sells for $299, but this particularly slick purple/black color scheme is on sale right now for $209, or 30% off. If you want something higher quality like a Secretlab but don't want to pay over $400, then this chair might be right up your alley. Cooler Master is a reputable brand that's known to make quality products, and this chair is no exception. It has all the bells and whistles you'd except for a high-end gaming chair, like molded foam and PU leather upholstery, up to 180-degree recline, 2D armrests, included headrest and lumbar pillows, full adjustability, and more.

Amazon Prime Student Members Get 3 Months of Free Audible Premium Plus

If you're an Amazon Prime Student member, you get a lot of pretty amazing perks like 6 months of free Amazon Prime membership followed by 50% off your Prime membership for up to 4 years, Amazon Music Unlimited for $0.99/mo, and more. Now, there's yet another perk exclusive to Amazon Prime Student members; get 3 free months of Audible Premium Plus (normally $14.95/mo). If you're a current student or faculty, you're eligible for an Amazon Prime Student membership.

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