GDC 2025 wasn’t only a celebration of revolutionary mechanics or contemporary narratives—it was a transparent signal that co-op gaming is having a second. Whether or not you’re sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on a sofa or queuing right into a match throughout time zones, the way forward for enjoying collectively is trying higher than ever. From lighthearted puzzle-solving to chaotic mech fight, listed here are our most anticipated and upcoming co-op video games from this yr’s present.
These upcoming co-op video games vary from shooters to puzzlers to ARPGs and even an creative tackle tabletop gaming. Whether or not you’re seeking to play with one different individual or an entire group, these upcoming co-op video games from GDC had been standouts and a giant motive you ought to be excited to play with different folks.
Metal Hunters
From Wargaming comes Metal Hunters, a mech-based PvEvP shooter that places teamwork, techniques, and terrain destruction on the coronary heart of each match. You and a associate drop into an unlimited, shifting battlefield as sentient mechs known as Hunters, every with distinct personalities, playstyles, and lore. Whether or not you’re a heavy Nordic tank or a stealth sniper with a Colombian accent, your decisions—and synergy along with your co-op associate—form each encounter.
In contrast to different hero shooters chasing velocity, Metal Hunters thrives on weight and intention. You loot, survive, and extract whereas outmaneuvering AI threats and enemy duos. The destructible environments add verticality and strategic depth, whereas the sport’s early entry philosophy (no monetization, no wipes) affords a refreshing strategy to reside service. It’s a recreation constructed to develop with its gamers—and one which already feels grounded in one thing extra than simply mechs and bullets.
ARK: Aquatica
To mark ten years of ARK: Survival Advanced, Snail Video games is diving deep with ARK: Aquatica—a daring new enlargement set fully underwater. Gamers awaken in a corrupted ARK submerged within the Atlantic Ocean, the place survival means mastering buoyancy, managing stress, and constructing bases from pearls on floating and anchored platforms. With 5 large biomes, 17 new aquatic creatures, and revamped traversal programs, this DLC affords a radically contemporary tackle ARK’s core loop.
Designed with each veterans and newcomers in thoughts, Aquatica softens the brutal early recreation with out sacrificing rigidity. Co-op play is on the coronary heart of the expertise, supported by official servers and scalable problem. Whether or not you’re gliding via kelp forests with a Monodon or braving the abyss along with your tribe, ARK: Aquatica invitations gamers to rediscover survival beneath the floor. Launches June 2025.
Pathfinder: Abomination Vaults
BKOM Studios is bringing one among Pathfinder’s most iconic campaigns to life as a completely cooperative, party-based ARPG—and it really works surprisingly properly. Abomination Vaults drops gamers right into a 10-level dungeon beneath Gauntlight Preserve, the place as much as 4 heroes (both solo or in on-line/native co-op) combat via monsters, traps, and puzzles in the hunt for a resurrected sorceress. It’s quick, versatile, and refreshingly streamlined. Whether or not you’re swapping between AI-controlled companions or combating alongside buddies, the sport’s good management scheme and shared-screen setup make it extremely simple to choose up and play.
Whereas rooted in Pathfinder’s deep lore, the expertise by no means feels overwhelming. Every character has a number of construct paths, gear upgrades are dealt with merely on the town, and combo-based boss fights encourage coordination with out punishing experimentation. Even dialogue and facet quests mirror your occasion decisions, including a private contact to the journey. In case you’ve ever wished to play a tabletop marketing campaign with out the rulebook overhead, this one’s for you.
Sunderfolk
Mixing the spirit of a tabletop marketing campaign with the benefit of a sofa co-op recreation, Sunderfolk is shaping as much as be one of the crucial considerate and revolutionary RPGs of the yr. Developed by Secret Door, this 1–4 participant tactical journey enables you to play out of your cellphone or pill whereas a central display drives the motion—no cube or stat sheets wanted. The sport’s cooperative fight, card-based talent system, and versatile occasion construction make each flip really feel strategic and collaborative. Whether or not enjoying solo or with buddies, it affords the texture of a full marketing campaign with out the scheduling complications.
Between missions, gamers discover the city of Arden, improve their heroes, and construct relationships with NPCs. A narrated story (voiced by Anjali Bhimani) and intuitive controls spherical out an expertise that’s excellent for seasoned gamers and newcomers alike. It’s a marketing campaign that matches your life, not the opposite approach round. Sunderfolk launches on April 23, 2025.
Wild Gate
Wildgate is chaotic, colourful, and designed with buddies in thoughts. The highest-down motion recreation throws gamers into fast-paced workforce skirmishes full of elemental spells, environmental traps, and shapeshifting trickery. It’s not nearly reflexes; it’s about studying the room, anticipating your allies (or betrayers), and leaning into the pleasant mess of multiplayer chaos.
Even on this early trailer, the sport pulses with power. Talents flash, characters explode, and the map appears to shift underfoot because the match unfolds. It feels just like the type of recreation the place something can occur—and normally does. In case you’re searching for the following massive co-op occasion recreation that dials the stress and comedy as much as 11, Wildgate may be the one to observe.
Hela
In a sea of spectacle, Hela stood out for its coronary heart. This cozy co-op journey casts gamers as magical mouse familiars on a mission to assist a beloved witch get better. With its heat tone and creative design, Hela affords a contemporary tackle teamwork, prioritizing exploration, puzzle-solving, and small acts of kindness over fight. Gliding on frog companions, swinging throughout towering furnishings, and brewing potions collectively all develop into a part of a magical rhythm that’s each enjoyable and rewarding.
Whereas Hela helps as much as 4 gamers on-line or regionally, its design feels particularly tuned for one- or two-player sofa co-op. There’s a ravishing simplicity to its mechanics, with intelligent solo options and dynamic puzzle setups that invite collaboration. It’s the type of recreation that reminds you why sharing a display nonetheless issues and why co-op doesn’t want chaos to be significant.
Honor of Kings: World
Whereas we didn’t get to play Honor of Kings: World in its multiplayer setting, the strategy to fight and character builds goes to make for a improbable co-op recreation when its all mentioned and finished. With fast dynamic fight and boss designs with a number of area-wide mechanics that can facilitate communication and teamwork, this can be a title I can’t wait to play with different folks.
Developed by TiMi Studio Group, Honor of Kings: World is part of an IP that at present stands because the world’s most-played MOBA. Moreover, after talking with the devs, they’re placing participant selection over meta-building and seeking to facilitate co-op play and solo play thoughtfully.
Revenge of the Savage Planet
Revenge of the Savage Planet is a sequel to Journey to the Savage Planet, and it ups the co-op recreation by shifting to third-person and including in sofa co-op. An open world metroidvania impressed recreation, you get up from cryosleep having been laid off after your organization will get acquired. It’s a topical joke to say the least, particularly since Raccoon Logic launched the final recreation beneath the banner Hurricane Studios whereas part of Google, solely to be shut down. Yeah, it’s on the nostril, but it surely matches so many people proper now.
However the environmental comedy all fuels sofa co-op mayhem in among the finest methods. Whilst you could need to play on the most important display you could, a comedic strategy to a capitalistic dystopia is the enjoyment we want proper now, and this satirical co-op affords environmental puzzles, platforming, and a number of planets to roam.
Whether or not you’re diving into mech warfare, brewing potions with a associate, or commanding a celebration of spell-slinging heroes, GDC 2025 made one factor clear: co-op is evolving. This yr’s lineup of upcoming co-op video games proves that enjoying collectively isn’t nearly shared screens or on-line matchmaking—it’s about shared experiences constructed with care, readability, and creativity. With so many creative, versatile, and emotionally resonant upcoming co-op video games on the horizon, there’s by no means been a greater time to seize a good friend (or three) and press begin.
