Gaming

Valheim is good even if you can't be on at the same time. Just slowly build out a world as you would in Minecraft and save the biome raids for when you can get the party together. It's flexible.

Try Helldivers, it's isometric twin stick shooter, with second game coming this year switching to third person kinda like Risk of Rain 2

Try Factorio!! It’s got a demo you can try to get a taste as well. I spent ~20 hours in the demo itself before I bought the game. Looooved it.

Try Overcooked, cheap and fun, also might get mad at each other

Golf with Friends is casual and at times frustrating fun. Don't have to wait for each person to hit the ball before you hit yours either, so the games courses don't drag on.

Ready or Not is fantastic in co-op

I once did a weekend on the campaign of Borderlands 2 with friends, it was awesome. Also, PlateUp is a nice coop game to play over a WE

I can always recommend Guild Wars 2. It is f2p but the base game still has alot of content with some restrictions to not get overrun by bots.

Big detailed world to explore together and do stories which you get every 10 levels. If you pick different races and decicions at character creation, it all converges after lvl 60.

You also unlock all waypoints for every starter zone from the get go, so you can play together immediatly.

It can feel very easy there so you might want to tackle zones above your level, but the game gets harder in the 80 zones, group content and the expansions. Especially in Heart of Thorns, where the whole jungle tries to kill you.

It has no subscription which makes it perfect to play and then take breaks and even if you outlevel your friends you get downscaled and still get loot, so you can help or the other way around.

My friend I have been playing Children of Morta and it's a pretty fun coop experience.

I would recommend Vermintide, its like left 4 dead but you're bashing rats

We had a lot of fun with V Rising. It's a bit like Diablo I'd say, but with base building and crafting and the level is based entirely on gear, so if someone misses a few sessions you can just craft one extra set of the latest armor you unlocked and they are on your level instantly.

Me and my wife have been really enjoying Bread and Fred. Your two oenguins tied together who have to use your momentum to climb a mountain. It's in the genre of "getting over it" where you can fall at any time and lose all progress. Two player only, it's more a couple game.

I don't see overwatch 2 on the list. I think the game gets an unfair amount of hate, it's one of my favourite games. One of the few games that is competitive but nit Grey army colours. Community is toxic, and it takes a long time to learn though. It can be an exceeding satisfying game, but unfortunately I think it only really gets fun at Plat and higher elos (similar to csgo in that regard)

Stardew valley is a great vibe game that I don't see listed. One if the best games for casual chat and play imo.

I don't know how much of a good fit it might be but maybe Divinity original sin 2?

PULSAR is pretty amazing if you have a few friends to play with. It really feels like actually running a spaceship together. You can shout things like "Divert all power to main turrets" and actually mean that.

I liked multiple of the Tom Clancy games, like Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon.

My friend and I have fun playing Bro Force. It's like contra. If you like beat em ups, the ninja turtles game or streets of rage 4 are fun.

I don't think Barotrauma has been mentioned yet? Survival in a submarine, as far as I know. Haven't played it, but it reviews well.

Ark and other survival/crafting games like 7days to die and Raft are great fun. Persistent worlds for collective fun.

There's a new Starship Troopers co-op shopter out with 16 simulataneus players kilming bugs.

And Legion Td2 for a co-op campaign/bots experience.

overcooked, though its only got the one campaign and little replay ability

phasmophobia is extremely fun, though getting into it brand new can probably be a bit overwhelming

fall guys is a pretty fun party style game, pretty casual and all

skribbl.io is a little browser charades with drawing type deal if youre just feeling like doing something easy and low effort

valheim i definitely recommend if youre into terraria dst and minecraft together, same with the forest

You could try dead by daylight

• I'd recommend 9 parchments if you just want to play together. My roommate's got a play list similar to yours and he's obsessed with it right now.
• I'm not one for multiplayer, but if you ever do two player my favorite is wizard of legend. I usually play solo. If you play with friends it's fun though since you can design complimenting loadouts and you get different dungeons.
• Trine is a puzzle platformer that's fun but can be frustrating if you've got a "smash everything" friend with you. It's 3 player IIRC.

Last games I had fun with co-op :

• Rocket League (free)
• Overwatch (free. Still my main game solo)
• Gloomhaven (boardgame adaptation. I'm a boardgamer so I may be biased but it's just a good turn by turn with cards for abilities. It's hard :))

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but Hunt Showdown is a blast with a friend. Me and my buddy have played it a long time. They're always patching and adding content here and there. :)

Not sure what the price is unfortunately.

I haven't played it just yet, but people have been praising Crab Champions a lot.

Also if it's just you and one mate, and you'd like to enjoy an experience together in one session and be done with it, try A Way Out but make sure to not Google a single spoiler.

If you like horror Outlast Trials is pretty good. It's a little short on content (there are 9 unique missions) but the experience is well worth the money, I'm hoping they add new content soon.

Barotrauma! I even set up a lemmy community for it.

There’s Hell Let Loose which is a ww2 multiplayer: it’s strength lies in the fact that tactics will over win over kills, and each map lasts just a few hours. You get to advance your level but that only opens new loadouts (usually a different, not always better weapon), and there are different squad roles to try. There was a very recent major controversial update that has changed a core gameplay mechanic (run/sprint speed), but the game itself is pretty fun, especially if you play with friends.

Pummle Party: it's basically a Mario Party clone for PC.

Starship Troopers: Extermination is PvE wave/extraction shooter, from the company that developed Squad. Looks pretty fun but if you are not into that universe nor have enough friends you'd need to rely on other players as well.( basically max 12 players in 3 teams atm.) Warning: early access so if you are not tolerant to EA type of development/update cycle just avoid.

There is a couple other PvE wave/extraction shooter as well, so give them a try.( Just google that term, usually around $30 and could go on sale.)

Rocket League, this one I played since launch and really good game to start before your group all come online and then move on to other games.(since it supports up to 4v4, but usually people only queue 2v2 or 3v3 matches.)

My husband and I have easily gotten hundreds, maybe thousands of hours out of each of the Gears of War games. I would recommend the first three absolutely.

While I find the campaign OK, I love the Horde mode in the games.

I would like to add Sanctum 2 as a fun game. Also

• Grounded
• Raft

warframe is a lot of fun

Monster Hunter World and/or Rise.

This is an odd one, but Powerwash Simulator has been an blast for me and my wife. We used to play a lot of Overwatch, but didn't like the new direction with 2. It somehow manages to scratch some of the shooter itch while being really chill.

Check out Phasmophobia.

It's a ghost investigation game that's easy to pick up, and has some really awesome scary moments. It's only about $14 and it's got an overwhelmingly positive rating on Steam.

What do u think about League of Legends? It's lots of fun with friends & u can queue in parties of 5 (the team limit across the game) maximum. Should u not have a full party, u can queue with whoever's ready to play and have randoms autofill.

I really like playing League and especially with friends. If everyone's a total newbie to the game then it's better to make friends with someone who can coach you .. or just play customs v bots 😄🧡

I've had lots of fun playing the game over the years and don't mind playing alone or teamed-up 😁 Takes some getting used to if* u aren't acquainted with mobas but trust me when I say it's a world of fun once one gets the hang of it (ime & mi mates' anyway).

I've over time moved on to playing aram (a single-lane accelerated mode). It's more chaotic haha but also sweet for learning how to dodge and read through the fow 🌁

I hope u find a game !! 🤗

Core Keeper has a Terraria / Zelda: Link to the Past vibe if you are looking for something like that.

Based on your played games you would probably all enjoy World of Warships. It’s F2P, possible to play and enjoy without spending money (though of course spending money does allow you to get more stuff), has deep gameplay and large learning curve but matches are all less then 20 minutes.

Streets of Rogue. It's a top-down roguelike with many different characters and items. You can do the missions in different ways playing solo, but co-op opens even more possibilities.

It may not be something you can complete in an evening, but Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a cross platform co-op game based on the ruleset of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.

It's available on game pass, and has bee a ton of fun for my friends and me.

The Dead Island games are great for co-op

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a local co-op where you share the controls of a spaceship. Your goal is to save the space bunnies. Not quite the same style as the games on your list but it's inexpensive and cute.

For the King (and coming soon, For the King 2) has been a go-to coop game with one of my buddies. It's a turn based, low poly dnd-esque game with a handful of different campaigns. FTK 1 has 3 character parties, so one of us will just play 2 characters, but otherwise it's pretty perfect for 2 people.