Co-op games worth giving to someone you want to play with
Giving someone a co-op game comes with a second offer: some of your time. That can be the best part of the present, provided you choose an activity you will both enjoy. A friend who likes organising a farm may hate being hurried through a jumping sequence. Someone who enjoys a chaotic half-hour may have no interest in keeping a shared save going for months.
Start with the evening you have in mind. Will you be on the same sofa or in different countries? Do you want something to finish together, or somewhere to return for a chat? And when a plan goes wrong, does this person enjoy trying again?
These four games ask for quite different kinds of company. The session lengths below are suggestions for making room to play, rather than promises about how quickly you will progress.
Split Fiction: for a pair who want a proper adventure
Split Fiction sends two writers through their science-fiction and fantasy worlds. Its appeal is the constant change of activity: a new set of abilities, another way to move, a puzzle that needs both characters. You get the pleasure of discovering what comes next with someone else, rather than each clearing the same enemies on opposite sides of a map.
This is a good gift for the friend you already enjoy playing action games with. Both of you need to steer a character, manage a camera and react to changing situations. One experienced player cannot simply do all the difficult work while the other follows. If your partner is still learning movement and camera controls, the pace can turn an invitation into a lesson they did not ask for.
Set aside an hour or two when you can both pay attention, and expect several evenings for the campaign. Budget around 15 hours for the campaign, with retries and optional detours changing your total. The frequent new mechanics are also its drawback: it offers less room to settle into one familiar activity while talking about your week.
It needs exactly two players and supports couch co-op and online play. You only need one purchased copy: the other player downloads the free Friend’s Pass to join the owner online. Cross-play connects PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2. Online play needs the appropriate accounts, including EA accounts, and console online-service requirements still apply. For couch play, have two full controllers, or keyboard and mouse plus a controller on PC.
That purchase model makes the gift easy to share, but decide who should own it. If you give your friend the full game, they can later invite somebody else. If you buy it for yourself and invite them through the pass, you are offering an evening together rather than giving them their own game. The pass also lets two people try the opening levels before either buys the full version.
Stardew Valley: a shared project with room for different interests
A farm gives two people useful things to do without demanding that they stay side by side. One can water crops while the other fishes, explores the mines or visits the town. That makes Stardew Valley a stronger fit when your tastes overlap only partly: you can contribute to the same place through different activities.
It can work well for siblings or friends who want a regular catch-up. Start a new farm together so that the newcomer gets to make decisions, rather than receiving a tour of somebody else’s efficient operation. Leave room for experiments. Explaining the most profitable crop before they have planted anything can remove much of the discovery you meant to share.
The gentle appearance does not remove the clock. In online multiplayer, opening your inventory does not pause the world; the host can use the pause command when you need a break. You still have to manage energy and get to bed. Agree to stop after a chosen in-game day, and allow enough time to reach that day’s save instead of closing midway through your work.
On Windows, Mac and Linux, online multiplayer supports up to eight players, with a copy for each player. Steam and GOG players can join each other. PC does not join the PlayStation, Xbox or Switch versions, so check where you both play before buying. On one PC, local split-screen allows up to four players with one copy and controllers for the additional players.
The larger commitment is maintaining a farm together. The ordinary online setup needs the host to load the farm before the others can join. It is a poor fit if you want everybody to drop in independently whenever they happen to have time. Keep a separate solo farm if either of you wants to race ahead between shared sessions.
Overcooked! All You Can Eat: for friends who enjoy a messy half-hour
Overcooked turns preparing dinner into a coordination problem. Ingredients need chopping, pans need watching, plates need serving, and the kitchen layout keeps interfering. A group can understand the immediate goal quickly, then spend the next round discovering how badly four people can obstruct one doorway.
Choose it for friends who laugh at failed plans and like improving them. The satisfying part is making a practical adjustment: one person handles preparation, another stays near the cooker, and somebody finally remembers the washing-up. A short session can contain several attempts, so you do not need to organise a whole campaign evening.
It is less suitable for someone who feels scrutinised when making mistakes. Simple controls do not make the game calm. Orders arrive, food burns and another player may start issuing instructions. Decide together whether chasing scores is fun; a gift recipient should not spend the evening defending their chopping speed.
The Assist Mode gives you ways to ease that pressure, including longer level timers and the option to turn off order expiration. You still need to move around a busy kitchen and coordinate the work. Use those options early if the default pace is getting in the way.
All You Can Eat supports up to four players locally or online, with cross-play across Windows PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. One copy covers a group playing on the same system; separate systems playing online each need access to their own copy. Check the full title carefully: someone with the original Overcooked or Overcooked 2 cannot join an All You Can Eat session. The compilation containing those games does not make the editions interchangeable.
Untitled Goose Game: a local invitation without a performance target
For someone less interested in scores or action, two geese causing trouble in a village are an appealing alternative. One can draw a person’s attention while the other steals an object. You can discuss a scheme, try it, and discover why it failed without managing an order queue.
The tasks are puzzles, though, and their solutions are not always obvious. Someone who dislikes wondering what a game wants them to do may find the wandering frustrating. It also helps if the more experienced player resists solving everything immediately. Let the other person try the ridiculous idea; that is much of the reason to play this together.
Allow half an hour to explore and tackle a few tasks, rather than treating the whole village as a checklist to finish tonight. The shared camera limits how far apart the geese can go. You cannot each disappear into a different area, so it suits a pair happy to work on one scheme at a time.
The two-player mode uses one copy on one system. Versions are available for Windows, Mac, Switch, PS4 and Xbox One. On Switch, a pair of Joy-Cons lets each person use one; on PC, you can use keyboard and mouse plus a controller. It has no built-in online multiplayer or cross-play. Steam’s Remote Play Together can stream the local game to a distant friend, but for a straightforward sofa visit, the local setup is the reason to choose it.
Whichever game you give, make the invitation specific enough to be usable: suggest a day and leave room for them to choose another. Install your own copy or pass beforehand, check the controllers, and be willing to stop when they have had enough. The next session is easier to arrange when the first one ends with somebody wanting another go.
