There are some genres that work very well with co-op gameplay. From looter shooters to puzzlers, it is easy to find an experience that allows players to team up and work together to thrive. One underrated genre that is also perfect for those looking for their next co-op experience is base-building.
13 Best Co-Op Open-World Games, Ranked
Here are a variety of options for the best co-op games that can be experienced in an open world setting.
Players can work together in base-building games, creating structures that will help further their progress. Managing the various systems with a partner or multiple players can be very satisfying, whether in a zombie apocalypse scenario or studying an unknown world. There are so many base-building co-op games that offer this kind of experience.
7 Grounded
Survival games can be rather intense, especially when having to deal with aspects such as weather or hostile creatures. It gets even more daunting when players are shrunken down to the size of ants and forced to figure out a way to survive. This is the general premise of Grounded.
Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, Grounded tasks players with making the grass their home while fighting back against giant insects. Playing with up to four players in a session, players will be able to gather materials and build up their base, so they are able to withstand some of the brutal conditions thrown at them in their shrunken state.
6 PlateUp!
It is not very often that there are base-building cooking games, but PlateUp has building up the restaurants as a core part of its roguelike gameplay. Luckily, it's also a game that doesn't have to be played alone, as up to four players can get involved in dinner service.
Restaurants are built from scratch, which includes what appliances are used, where they are placed, and what's on the menu. Then, players will see if their strategy works out as customers begin pouring in, and it's up to the players and their decisions to make sure service goes off without much problem. Expanding the restaurant and upgrading the kitchen will help to make the process smoother.
5 7 Days To Die
When the dead are walking the street, it's either keep moving or build the best fort to survive the incoming attacks. While there is plenty of room for the former, 7 Days To Die encourages players to set up a base that will not only protect them but also potentially fight back as well.
There are five biomes available to explore in 7 Days To Die, all of which are huge across the open world map. Players can work together to build forts that include traps that will be good to combat both zombies and other players who are looking to get a kill. There are over 1,300 building blocks to choose from.
4 Raft
Survival games usually take place on a large landmass, but Raft flips that around where players need to survive in the middle of the ocean instead. Luckily, the game is all about building up the piece of wood that players start on into something that keeps them alive for as long as possible.
18 Best 4-Player Co-Op Games
A group of friends can find hours of fun with the following co-op games.
Players can work with their friends as they look to gather material that floats towards them while also trying to avoid attacks from creatures such as sharks. There are a lot of different tools in Raft that can be crafted to make life sustainable on the float, whether its weapons for defense or plants for growing food.
3 Satisfactory
Building up a nice place to live in a new world is fun enough in video games, but what if players could build up a massive factory to collect materials? Those who like this level of creativity in base-building may want to check out Satisfactory, an open-world game set on an unknown alien planet.
With a group of friends, players can run around and explore the various biomes on a planet. Then, they can set up shop to farm for resources. There are many layers to the factory system in Satisfactory, with players being able to use conveyor belts and vehicles for transport and machines that use material to create something useful.
2 Factorio
While Satisfactory is more of a first-person exploration game, Factorio is a top-down 2D environment with a similar premise: create factories to gather material and create items that will ultimately lead to better technologies. There is also a very active mod community for those who want to tailor their experience. And yes, players are able to work together with friends on one map.
Each player can tackle different areas of the map and everyone can work together to make the whole operation run smoothly. The world of Factorio also happens to be very hostile, however. Along with building up factories, players will also need to build defenses to ward off aliens who are looking to stop the factory's production.
1 Minecraft
It would only make sense for a game made out of blocks to have base building be an important aspect of it. For over a decade, Minecraft has been one of the more popular multiplayer games out there, with developer Mojang releasing over 20 major updates since the game's initial release in 2011.
The core concept of the game is that players are dropped in a procedurally generated world where they collect resources and must figure out ways to survive. One method for survival is building a home, with plenty of blocks available in Minecraft for players to use to make their base beautiful, safe, or both.
