Highlights
- The Last of Us and Horizon series may finally offer co-op gameplay, exciting news for fans.
- Astro Bot, Dark Cloud, and Gravity Rush series have potential for co-op gameplay if new entries or remakes are developed.
- inFAMOUS and Jak and Daxter series have never had co-op options, but it would be a great addition to the gameplay experience.
There are two giant series that have never offered co-op before and have been wishing for it. First, The Last of Us has had multiplayer, but never campaign co-op even though it would have made sense for both games. Naughty Dog is reportedly working on a multiplayer-focused title though, so co-op may be on the way.
Guerrilla Games is in the same boat with their Horizon series. It’s not known whether the third game will offer multiplayer or if a side project will offer it instead. Either way, it is coming. That’s exciting news for fans of those two franchises. What about these other PlayStation series though? Will they ever get co-op?
8 Astro Bot
Astro Bot is a small series within Sony’s catalog right now. The first game was Astro Bot Rescue Mission and it was a PSVR exclusive. The next game, Astro Bot’s Playroom, was a pack-in launch game with the PS5 in 2020. Both of these titles offer engaging platforming sequences and they have received near-universal praise.
Sony presumably will revisit this adorable robot again and maybe this time a friend can join the player on the couch. It would be wild to get co-op in VR, but it’s not completely unheard of.
7 Dark Cloud
Dark Cloud was a series of two games released during the early days of the PS2. These action RPGs offered players a unique experience as there was also a building simulation element to the gameplay. Dark Cloud 2 was the last game, and it was released in 2003. It refined what the original started by limiting the number of playable characters to two.
Max and Monica each had unique abilities like the former being able to ride a robot named Steve. The sequel would have been the game to add co-op to, but the opportunity is there if a remake ever comes to fruition. Also, if Level-5 decides to revive this great series, the next entry could also center around multiplayer.
6 The Getaway
The Getaway was a series of Grand Theft Auto-like open-world games but with a more refined gameplay hook. It was obvious that these games were inspired by UK gangster films and maybe even by Hollywood blockbusters like Heat. The last game technically was a spiritual spinoff for the PSP, Gangs of London, which was released in 2006.
There was a third core game planned after the last on PS2 in 2005, but it was canceled. The Sony UK team could look at Grand Theft Auto 5’s online multiplayer mode for inspiration on how to add co-op to a new game.
5 Gravity Rush
Gravity Rush started as a PS Vita exclusive before getting remastered on PS4. It also received a sequel on PS4 which was back in 2017. It was a short-lived series wherein the heroine, Kat, could control gravity. Players could use gravity to float in the air and then come down hard on enemies with a flying kick.
There were opportunities to add co-op to the sequel via Kat’s friend, Raven, but maybe that could instead be added to a third game on PS5. This series isn’t dead unless Sony says it is.
4 inFAMOUS
inFAMOUS was a unique series of superhero games, even if the releases did not define the genre like Batman Arkham Asylum and Marvel’s Spider-Man. There were three core games and they each had some DLC expansions and spinoffs. The last game was released in 2014 and was a standalone project called inFAMOUS First Light.
After this, the developer, Sucker Punch, went on to develop Ghost of Tsushima. Presumably, a sequel to that is what they are working on next. That doesn’t mean Sony can’t outsource an inFAMOUS successor to another developer. A multiplayer game like Destiny but with the ability to give players the option to design their superpowers could be incredible. That would make for a cool co-op experience.
3 Jak And Daxter
The Jak and Daxter series surprisingly has never received a co-op option in any of its mainline games or spinoffs. Their fellow Sony mascot duo, Ratchet and Clank, did though. The spinoff games, Daxter and Jak X: Combat Racing, both received versus-type multiplayer modes but not co-op.
It seems like such a no-brainer now to allow two players to control Jak and Daxter individually. Maybe one day this can happen, but it has been a while since the franchise received any love and fans are starting to lose hope. The last game was on the PSP and PS2 in 2009, which was called Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier.
2 Tearaway
Tearaway was another game that started as a PS Vita exclusive. It was a unique platformer wherein everything had a papier-mâché aesthetic. Media Molecule was seemingly used to this whimsical design approach since they also worked on LittleBigPlanet which had a DIY vibe to it.
Those games also feature four-player co-op, so it is wild that Tearaway didn’t have any cooperative features. The 2015 remake for the PS4 didn’t add co-op either. Will Media Molecule ever revisit this series to add co-op, or will the developer stick to Dreams instead?
1 Wild Arms
Wild Arms is a long-forgotten Sony-exclusive RPG series dating back to the PS1. The gimmick was that every game had a Western tinge to it, but they were turn-based RPGs. That’s probably why the games never received co-op as turn-based multiplayer doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Sony could help the developer, Media.Vision, create a new game in the series and reboot it as an RPG shooter. It’s been a while since the last console/portable experience which was in 2008 via Wild Arms XF. There was a mobile game recently, Wild Arms: Million Memories, but that hardly counts in this discussion.