Upcoming Coop Games We’re Excited About

Summer is over.  We’ve had the thrill of Civil War, Inside, Blood and Wine and Uncharted 4.  We’ve had the vague dissatisfaction of No Man’s Sky, Ghostbusters, and Star Trek Beyond.  And then there’s rest of the summer, crap like Suicide Squad and the Zika virus.  Fortunately, there’s a lot to look forward to this fall that we can now start getting excited about, even for coop gamers like us.  Here’s our list of upcoming coop games that we’re excited about.

Destiny – Rise of Iron

We’ve kind of fallen out from playing Destiny over the last year but we’re looking forward to getting back to it with Rise of Iron.  Destiny remains our most consistently enjoyable cooperative shooter experience but we’d grown a little bored with the game over the years (admittedly not as quickly as we got bored with No Man’s Sky).   We’re really looking forward to having a reason to pick it up again.  New weapons and locations are promised.  We’re a little miffed at the price (though that may change between now and launch) but – of all the games coming up – it’s one of the surest bets out there.

Can’t wait to see who’s hanging out at the hubworld. I gotta show off my new dance moves.

Cuphead

We’re excited about Cuphead.  Reports of its difficulty aside, the classic style graphics and gameplay look terrific.  The game reminds us of some of the old Nintendo platformers we used to love (particularly Mickey Mousecapade).   Being honest, we’re a little concerned about how long this game has been in development, but we’re optimistic that the final product will be worth the wait (much like our other most anticipated title: The Last Guardian).  The graphics look amazing and we’ve been impressed by the gameplay we’ve seen so far.

Everything in this world looks very cute and sinister all at the same time.

Shadow Warrior 2

Shadow Warrior was a fun game but a little dated by the time we got a chance to play it.  We still enjoyed the fast paced action, variety of enemies and interesting environments.  The sequel appears to have a four-player coop version which could be a real game changer.  We’ve always felt that cooperative gameplay older style games way more interesting and could have saved a number of titles that were otherwise unplayable (Duke Nukem’s recent reboot comes to mind).  Shadow Warrior could be perfect for just this kind of addition.  If the game keeps its sense of humor and ability to create fascinating environments, this could be a title to watch.

Oh all the unremarkable first person shooters to get a second life on the later consoles, Shadow Warrior is not one you’d expect.

Crackdown 3

Crackdown was a great cooperative shooter where you drove around a futuristic city killing criminals and ending organized crime.  The sequel introduced this weird mutant population that would emerge at night and also had to be dealt with but, unfortunately, used a very similar map to the original, making the game feel more like DLC than a true sequel.  Crackdown 3 looks like a lot of fun; the destructive environments could lead to some great gameplay.  We aren’t expecting a lot in the way of plot, but if we’re given some fun guns to shoot and a big playground to play in, we’ll be happy enough.

I will do whatever I need to do to save this city. Even if I have to destroy every building down there.

Watch Dogs 2

We weren’t big fans of the original Watch Dogs, a game which we felt had a lot of promise but quickly collapsed into traditional shoot-em-up content.  The sequel promises some version of open-world cooperative gameplay which – if executed well – would work for us.  We’re not of the opinion that every game is improved with cooperative of single-player gameplay, but we do favor adding a cooperative mode to the open elements of the game (Far Cry 4 did this really well).  It looks like Watch Dogs is going to move this direction in their title and that seems like a smart move to us.  Keep the quest single player if you like, but let us poke around the enormous open environment with a buddy.

I feel like a Watch Dogs 2/Mr. Robot crossover would be awesome. How about it, science?

Gears of War 4

Xbox could use a win.  We haven’t really enjoyed an Xbox exclusive in a while (Inside is not an exclusive anymore!).  With Halo dropping the ball, another edition of Xbox’s other great coop shooter series may be exactly what we need.  We don’t know much about the plot; we’re under the impression that the game takes place years after the original trilogy.  We aren’t hoping for anything new here, just more of the same would be excellent.  Of all the games on this list, Gears of War 4 is by far the safest bet for delivering a fun, addictive cooperative gameplay experience.  We sure hope it makes its release date this year.

That crossbow looks cool, but we really miss our bow and arrow. I hope we see that bow and arrow.