While the Switch 2 has backwards compatibility, Nintendo is releasing upgraded versions of its old games with enhanced framerates and resolution, as well as extra content. It's also selling upgrades cheaper than full games, which you can get for titles you already own. The upgrades for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom will set you back $10. Now, the company has started revealing more upgrade prices for old games, and it looks like the ones for Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Super Mario Party Jamboree will cost you twice as much at $20. 

NintendoLife first posted about the upgrades' potential prices based on their eShop listings for Europe. The company has updated its US eShop since then to show that they're also being sold for $20 in the country. If you buy the upgrade for Kirby and the Forgotten Land, you're getting access to a new part of the game called Star-Crossed World, wherein you have to uncover the mystery surrounding the meteor that struck the world. Meanwhile Super Mario Party Jamboree comes with Jamboree TV, a game show hosted by Toad. The Switch 2 version of the title uses the console's Joy-Con 2 and microphone, and if you use its camera, you can also put your face into the action during mini-games. 

Super Mario Party Jamboree for the Switch 2 will be available on July 24, while Kirby's Switch 2 edition will be available on August 28. Both games will set you back $80 if you buy the full Switch 2 version instead of upgrading an old copy. Nintendo has yet to release the prices for the Switch 2 editions of Pokémon Legends: Z-A and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which will be available later this year. 

What feels like a million video games with online multiplayer seem to arrive every week, but good games you can play on the couch with a loved one have only become rarer. If you’re looking for some cooperative fun, let us help. Below we’ve rounded up several of the best couch co-op games we’ve played across the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox and PC. Just note that we’ve limited our selection to genuine co-op experiences, not games that have local multiplayer but aren’t truly cooperative in practice. (So, no Mario Kart or Jackbox Party Pack.) Still, our guide covers everything from platformers and puzzlers to RPGs and arcade shooters.

Best couch co-op games for 2025

Couch co-op games FAQs

What's the difference between a multiplayer game and a co-op game?

A co-op game is a type of multiplayer game that's designed to let two or more players to play together as a team — or, cooperatively. For this guide, we specifically focus on couch (or "local") co-op games, which allow you and your partner(s) to play from the same device, in the same place. Online co-op games have you play together from separate devices over an internet connection. The latter are much more common these days, but they can be a bit less intimate. (This guide would also be a much more daunting endeavor if we had to keep track of every new game that supports online co-op.) A multiplayer game, meanwhile, is simply any game in which multiple players can play in the same in-game space at the same time, be it cooperatively or competitively, locally or via the internet.

Recent updates

April 2025: We’ve added Split Fiction as a recommendation and noted Donkey Kong Country Returns HD as another good option in our Tropical Freeze write-up.

Check out our entire Best Games series including the best Nintendo Switch games, the best PS5 games, the best Xbox games, the best PC games and the best free games you can play today.

Remedy's first foray into co-op shooters, FBC: Firebreak, is officially launching on June 17. Following employees tasked with cleaning up The Oldest House, the mysterious headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control, the game balances team-based action with the supernatural abilities and enemies that made Control so interesting. 

In our hands-on with the game, the biggest and most positive point of comparison for Firebreak''s chaotic action was Left 4 Dead, but the game's unique collection of "jobs" (Remedy's name for missions) includes plenty of weirder tasks, too, like dealing with ominously multiplying sticky notes. Remedy plans to support Firebreak with new jobs after launch and into 2026. All new playable content will be for free, save for cosmetics, which Remedy plans to charge for.

The developer originally announced it was making a multiplayer game set in the Control universe in 2021, when the game was still being published by 505 Games. Following the success of Alan Wake II, Remedy acquired the rights to the entire Control franchise from 505 Games in 2024.

FBC: Firebreak will be available on June 17 for $39.99 on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC. A $49.99 "deluxe edition" will also be available with exclusive cosmetics. If you subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass or PlayStation Plus Premium or Extra, you'll be able to download and play the game for no additional cost.

The wait is (kind of) almost over. Ghost of Yōtei will be available for PS5 on October 2. This is a sequel to the 2020 hit Ghost of Tsushima and was first announced last year. It’s a PS5 exclusive, as it’s developed by Sony-owned Sucker Punch.

It doesn’t follow the story of Ghost of Tsushima. Rather, it’s an original adventure with new characters that's set in a new era. Ghost of Yōtei takes place in Hokkaido, Japan in the early 1600s. This is over 300 years after the events of the first game.

It’s still an open-world adventure, though Sony promises "even more freedom and variety than in Ghost of Tsushima." For instance, you can hunt down the six big bads in whatever order you choose. There’s a new trailer that reveals the basic story beats and some gameplay. It looks pretty darn fun.

Preorders will open up on May 2 at 10AM ET for those in the US. This being a modern console game, there are a few different editions to choose from. There’s the Standard Edition, which is just the game, that costs $70. The Digital Deluxe Edition adds in-game bonuses, like armor, weapons and costumes. That one costs $80.

Sony

The Collector’s Edition, which costs a whopping $250, comes with all of the aforementioned in-game items, but that’s just the beginning. It also ships with physical items, like replicas of the protagonist’s mask, katana and sash. Sony is calling this the best Collector’s Edition it has ever produced. All preorders, no matter which edition, receive a "unique in-game mask" and a handful of PSN avatars.

It’s rare for a turn-based RPG to excite the editorial team beyond Engadget’s usual core RPG fans. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has many excited, however. Maybe it’s the dreamy Belle Époque aesthetic and design. Maybe it’s the gloriously pulpy concept of an all-powerful Paintress dooming humankind to an ever shortening mortal clock. Maybe it’s the characters, bolstered by a starry voice artist roster, and nuanced animation and story. Maybe, at this point in gaming, it’s the $50 price tag.

Maybe it’s just the treat of a turn-based RPG for those of us not looking for another real-time action RPGs. Expedition 33 does a great job setting up its world in a way that allows everyone to get on board. Lumiere, which seems to be a chunk of Paris plus change, is doomed to repeat a cycle of death, with a powerful godlike figure, the Paintress, looming on the horizon. The vestiges of humanity send out expeditions each year to “the Continent” in a bid to stop the death. This is the story of Expedition 33, although it’s not the 33rd, but closer to the 77th, with the clock counting down from 100.

Sandfall

Once you’re exploring the dangerous world beyond the safety of the city, you’ll discover that each expedition, while failing at ending the Paintress, made progress in different ways, paying it forward for the expedition that followed. Some groups set up grapplehook points across the world, while others figured how to use the world’s painty powers to tattoo themselves to boost their combat powers. Some tried to reach the Paintress on boats and submarines, but failed miserably.

It gets the player excited about exploring the world and the lore, even before you’ve left the safety of Lumiere. You start the game as Gustave, picking up party members throughout the early part of the game. While not all of them are part of your battle party, Gustave seems to have a connection with many other members of Expedition 33. A farewell party, tinged with hope, pessimism and loss, sets up the journey before things go wrong, pretty much as soon as they land.

Expedition 33 introduces its battle system and its take on turn-based RPGs in easy-to-digest parts. First you’re taught the basics of parrying and dodging, as well as a Free Aim shooting mode, which gobbles up your activity points just as much as a straightforward attack, but can be used to hit weak points or sabotage powerful attacks of your enemies. Quick-time actions, pressing the right button at the right time, will ensure your skills do even more damage, but are more crucial for parries and dodges.

You’ll want to refine your ability to parry attacks as soon as possible. Parries have a shorter success window than dodges, but offer extra action points for the character, and if performed perfectly, set up an automatic (and powerful) counterattack. Later abilities, learned from Pictos (sort-of accessories) can augment your parries to offer mild healing, extra action points, and even more powerful counter attacks. From the mid-game onwards, parrying will likely be your life.

Sandfall

There’s then the addition of elemental attacks, which can apply status effects, augment future attacks and more. Initially, I found the skill sets of each character, which are entirely different, a little complicated. Sure, Gustave’s shot ability was laced with Lightning, but it also applied the Mark status effect, which adds 50 percent more damage to whoever attacks the same enemy next. It all soon clicked into place, though, and I was cuing up each character’s attack to build upon the last.

Alongside their unique skills and spells, each character has their own fight mechanic too. Our preview touched on Gustave’s super-charged robot arm, Lune’s elemental stains which she can store up and apply to add more oomph to spells, and Maelle’s battle stances that can risk weakened defense for heavier hits.

The party is eventually joined by Sielle, who has a light-dark mechanic that tags enemies, building up momentum to convert into considerable damage, or a mixed hit-and-heal attack. Then there’s monkey-monk Monoco who is both the comic relief and blue mage, collecting defeated monster’s feet (!) and wielding their moves in combat. Those skills are further complicated by a Beastial wheel, which spins after each attack Monoco makes, and augments certain families of attacks. For example, if wearing the Caster mask, a regen spell will also heal the party substantially. Like I said, initially confusing, but you get to grips with it.

In the later game chapters, enemies will often deliver seven-hit combos, with some attacking all of your party each time. You’ll find yourself dodging, parrying and leaping over attacks in a bid to shore up ability points, or just keep yourself alive, and it can get a bit stale at times.

But! When you nail that boss’ attack pattern, flawlessly countering the evil older man (there shouldn’t be anyone alive over 33!) and his eight laser cane attacks, and your three-person party coalesce into a group counter attack, severing a considerable chunk of his health bar.

Urgh. I felt like an athlete—an artist.

Sandfall

There are no random encounters, so like Metaphor Re:Fantazio (There are a lot of parallels there) enemies exist in the world, ready for you to sneak attack – or just avoid. The auto-save system is forgiving, and even kindly keeps three saves at hand, so you can perhaps retreat from an area you’re not quite ready for. And you will get thrashed by a random super enemy when you push your luck. There are also a few difficulty spikes, but it’s often a matter of attack pattern recognition.

While there are distractions and optional areas to explore, Expedition 33 guides you in a relatively linear fashion for most of the game. As more exploration options become available, you’re eventually able to easily return to past areas, and go obliterate that one monster with the giant spear that shamed you in the early hours of your playthrough.

Most transport options come from befriending a giant plushie-kind-of-mythical-creature called Esquie, who can swim, blast through rocks and eventually fly you around the world. To do so, however, you’ll have to find his friends. Those friends are stones that add skills. So while he can fly as soon as you meet him, he can’t carry you until you find his special stone buddy. I love this kind of RPG nonsense. Gestrahl villages (another species that inhabits the continent) add some welcome comic relief amid all the death, family strife, and betrayal.

Fortunately, the cast of Expedition 33 have the dramatic bonafides to deliver on the emotional beats, including Charlie Cox (Daredevil), Jennifer English (Baldur’s Gate 3’s Shadowheart) Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI) and Andy Serkis (do I even have to say?).

There are both French and English VAs, and I’d recommend playing through at least part of the game in both. It adds a certain je ne sais quoi – or at least made me feel somehow cultured. There are numerous other playfully French touches and clichés, including a droopy Eiffel Tower and a series of formidable enemies: a tribe of mimes.

Sandfall

Sandfall decided to forgo maps; there’s an overworld map, accessible by pressing up on the D-pad, but it lacks an overlay, and you’ll have to zoom in significantly to see the areas’ labels.

The bigger frustration is the lack of mini maps in core areas. While it’s not an open-world exploration kind of game, there’s some latitude for exploring off the beaten path, which is nearly always rewarded with new equipment (or a strong enemy). However, without a map, I often found myself running in circles, struggling to find a way forward.

It’s a good thing, then, that the environments are gorgeous and filled with detail. I need a camera mode added to this game, as soon as possible. The sinister Monolith, counting down the years, always seems to be visible from cliff sides, valleys, and abandoned train stations, always in a very aesthetically pleasing way. Even the campsite that the group uses to save, rest and develop friendships overlooks the Paintress’ countdown clock.

We covered the faux underwater level from the early part of the game in our preview, but there are several more meticulously designed levels and areas later in the game. One optional distraction partway through is a vertiginous structure made of gravity-defying floating objects and parts of buildings that you can climb up for a (frustrating) mini-game. There’s also a fractured snowy Belle Époque ski resort that you have to hike up, and a broken city, skewered by swords of light, to fight through on your way to confront the giant, weepy Paintess, who’s always slumped on the horizon.

Side quests and distractions from the main story are minimal until later in the game, and I found myself happily moving on without completing them, hoping for an easy way to backtrack to areas. That doesn’t quite ever happen, although a Doctor Who-esque house found within the game, with doors attached to various places across the Continent, would have made a convenient shortcut. Instead, you have to wait until you’ve found Esquie’s stone for flying, which comes pretty late into the game.

Once Esquie takes to the skies, there’s no shortage of mini quests and new areas, including gorgeously hued floating islands, paintings to test your battle strategies and curios that help bolster smaller story beats. I haven’t finished all of the optional bosses and quests, but the only frustrating ones so far have hinged on some precarious platforming segments. It’s not great; it's frustrating. These characters were not built for leaps of faith. And if you’re sprinting, don’t be surprised if you parkour roll off the platform you landed on, and fall to your death.

Without spoiling the story, many of the characters have a degree of plot blindness that stretches incredulity. It can be especially jarring when woven amid a lot of heaviness, themes of loss, death of close friends and the whole attempting-to-save-the-world when no-one even knows if it’s possible.

Sandfall

I’m willing to forgive the high-concept wankery to an extent (It’s an RPG!). Still, when new characters join you, almost certainly connected to mysterious enemies trying to kill you, you’d expect other party members might have a few questions.

You can tell the team loves RPGs. The director said he was “starving for turn-based RPGs” and he’s helped make quite the meal. The RPG inspirations come from many places. You can easily see the affection for both the Persona and Final Fantasy series in places. Still, during the battles, it was Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario, of all things, that came to mind, with the judicious use of timing and quick button presses being the best way to win – or at least survive.

Another thing that Expedition 33 does right is a rather fantastic run of battles, cinematic set-pieces and exploration towards the end. The final villain, too, is someone I was hoping to fight – no random evil big bad here, like we have suffered in one or ten RPGs past.

Expedition 33 is a solid, enjoyable RPG – and I’ve already started. However, later into the game, and on the higher difficulty level, it devolves into a rhythm action game, especially on damage-sponge bosses. Although that might not be what turn-based RPG fans want, it adds urgency and focus to fights. It’s also a gorgeously made and well-considered world. A strong endorsement for it all is that I’m still hunting down records of every expedition that came before Gustave, Maelle and Lune.

Wheel of Time is getting a new video game adaptation. The popular fantasy book series has already seen an imagining for the small screen with an Amazon Prime Video series that is currently airing its third season. Now iwot Studios, which has a hand in creating the Amazon show, is launching a new game studio to create a AAA open-world RPG set in the same fictional universe.

iwot brought in Craig Alexander to helm its new video game studio. Alexander has held management and leadership roles at game operations including Warner Bros. Entertainment, Activision, EA and Sierra On-Line. According to Variety, the studio is projecting a three-year development for the game, which seems pretty ambitious considering the it's still hiring team leads. iwot is also behind a planned live action movie as well as an animated feature film set within the same world as Wheel of Time. According to iwot Studios CEO Rick Selvage, the company will have "a lot of continuity in regards to how we approach our transmedia strategy" across the different projects.

This isn't the first time Robert Jordan's books have been source material for a game. Legend Entertainment released a first-person shooter based on Wheel of Time in 1999, and it's still available to play on modern hardware thanks to the preservation efforts at GOG.

One of the worst-kept secrets in games is now completely out in the open. It's true, Bethesda has been shepherding along a remaster of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion with the help of external developer Virtuos. The publisher formally revealed the remaster on Tuesday. Never mind that screenshots leaked on Virtuous' website last week.

You can play it right now as the game has landed on PC (via Steam and the Xbox App for Windows PC), Xbox Series X/S and PS5. Since this is a project from Microsoft-owned Bethesda, Oblivion Remastered is on Game Pass. The base Oblivion Remastered game includes the the Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles expansions. There are extras available, such as bonus quests, of course, horse armor DLC (that was a whole thing, trust me). A deluxe edition has these, and other gear, bundled in.

As you might expect, Bethesda and Virtuos (a long-time partner of the publisher) have given the 2006 original a huge visual overhaul, updating the look of the RPG for modern systems. The remaster, which was built using Unreal Engine 5, has 4K Ultra HD graphics and it can run at framerates of 60 fps. Virtuos says it used the same base mesh system for for every race of characters. As such, the developers say they were able to make the lip-sync system more effective regardless of the characters' facial features. There's plenty of new dialogue too, including unique voice lines for all races.

The user interface, lighting effects, landscapes, audio and, of course, gameplay have all been refined here. The levelling system has been given an overhaul too, with the developers taking cues from both the original game and Skyrim. Fans of third-person adventuring will be please to learn that perspective has been upgraded too — there's now a crosshair, for one thing. Bethesda is also promising additional autosaves, enhanced accessibility features and improvements to enemy scaling.

Bethesda is currently working on The Elder Scrolls 6, but that doesn't mean the studio has left the past behind entirely. Bethesda Game Studios head Todd Howard said in the announcement video that each chapter of The Elder Scrolls "tried to define role-playing games and open-world games for their generation." Oblivion, in particular, "was a real defining moment in the series and for how we make games as a studio," he added. "Every time we think about Oblivion, it's 'what if we could give that moment to everybody again?'"

If you think Just Dance would be a great addition to your library of virtual reality games and experiences, then mark this date: October 15. 2024. Ubisoft is launching Just Dance VR: Welcome to Dancity that day for the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 3. You'll be able to customize your avatars for the game and choose your own body shape, facial expression, skin color, hair and outfit. Once you're done creating a virtual version of yourself, you can enter the Dancity social hub to meet other players. 

You'll also have your own "apartment" in game, where you can dance with up to six players or do other interactive activities with the group, like play basketball. The game will let you send emote stickers to players who aren't in your friends list, but you can do voice chats with dancers who are. Welcome to Dancity features 360-degree environments and what Ubisoft describes as an "all-new gameplay with two-hand scoring."

You'll be able to dance to 25 hit and original songs at launch, including Don't Stop Me Now by Queen, Bad Liar by Selena Gomez, Starships by Nicki Minaj and Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen. As UploadVR notes, the game was supposed to be exclusively available to Pico headsets. However, after the ByteDance-owned company laid off a big portion of its workforce, Ubisoft started working with a new partner (Meta) to develop the game.

The long-running Assassin’s Creed video game industrial complex has finally reached Japan – and I’ve been waiting. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is set in feudal Japan, in the late 16th century, to be precise, at a time of political upheaval that birthed the ninja. While I didn’t get to play Shadows, at Summer Game Fest 2024, Ubisoft offered a hands-off gameplay demo, revealing how the game will play with two different but equal protagonists.

If you missed the initial reveal, Shadows' protagonists are Yasuke, a powerful outsider samurai who can strike the armor off enemies, and Naoe, an assassin/ninja with a killer “sickle on-chain” kusarigama and those traditional AC killing methods — she has a wrist blade.

Instead of choosing a single character to play the entire game, you can switch between the characters for assassination runs and exploration segments. I prefer my assassinations stealthy, so I was surprised by how intrigued I was with the beastly Yasuke.

Yasuke is based on a historical figure: An African man who served as a retainer to the Japanese lord Oda Nobunaga for roughly a year. Naturally, this is Assasin’s Creed, so the team has taken some liberties with historical fact. Here, he plays the part of an outsider, a foreign-born samurai walking a path of honor. He’s also a powerhouse. What he lacks in parkour elegance and dive drops, he makes up in having the power to cut down powerful enemies, charge through doors and enemies and scare the crap out of locals. As Yasuke walked through a village in the demo, villagers rushed to get out of the towering samurai’s way, bowing respectfully at the side, while children just gawped, frozen still.

As the duo fight to end the corruption rife in Japan, they’ll learn hints and tips on where to find their next assassination target. These will narrow down where you need to search. Once you’ve identified where they are, the characters can then task NPC recruits to hoedown exactly where, although this mechanic wasn’t explained in any detail.

Later in the demo, Yasuke cuts down some abusive guards and goes head-to-head with another samurai, and I got a deeper look into how Yasuke fights. He’ll have a range of weapons, and this time, he was swinging a hulking club, cracking skulls and armor alike.

After Yasuke wins his duel with the samurai opponent – with swords – he’s joined by the other main character, Naoe, the assassin. She moves like an assassin, vaulting up walls and kicking off surfaces before launching her grappling hook into roof awnings directly above her. Like the most recent AC entries, she can utilize Eagle vision for a better view of enemies and obstacles. A new addition in Shadows is the ability to kill light sources like lanterns and fires, so Naoe can easily get up close and assassinate. She’s not the only one with upgrades – I also saw Yasuke wielding a musket-style single-use gun during the demo too.

The game is very pretty, too. I say this as a huge fan of the style of Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima. Ubisoft’s take is a more detailed one: there are more people simply living in this feudal Japan. The shifting seasons and weather make for even richer environments, too. In a later assassination attempt during the demo, Naoe had her infiltration interrupted by a torrential downpour. I’m not sure yet whether this will affect visibility dynamics, but hopefully, it will have some effect on how you play Shadows.

I’m intrigued. I’ve long carried a torch for the cult ninja series Tenchu. It offered its own takedown animations (in PS1 graphical glory), grapple hooks and stealth gameplay. It also offered two different characters: a speedy kunoichi assassin and a powerhouse ninja with samurai moves. Doesn't that sound a little familiar?

Assassin's Creed Shadows will land on November 15, coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Mac and iPad.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest 2024 right here!

After all the delays, studio switches and confusion, and following plenty of updates on those spinoff Prince of Persia games, Ubisoft's SGF 2024 presentation included a release... year for its troubled Sands of Time remake. We're not really getting any more details yet, but it's confirmation that the project is still underway. It's just years away, still. 

Ubisoft Montreal, which worked on the initial Sands of Time. took over the project from Ubisoft Pune and Mumbai, scrubbing the launch date of January 2021 in the process. Back then, Ubisoft Montreal was apparently "building upon the work achieved" by its studios in India. Last year however, producer Jean-Francois Naud revealed that the project was still "in conception" — so what exactly did those Ubisoft studios make? It sounds like a mess. And this is about a game that's a reboot of a reboot. 

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest 2024 right here!