PC based Co-op game recommendations?

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

So a friend of mine wants to get back into online Co-op games with me, and has a slight preference for co-op games with a good story.

Now, good story is just a preference for him (We've had a blast playing Resident Evil 5 several times in the past, after all), but it's something he's looking for nonetheless.

Given that Outward still has no release date, I'm wondering if any of you guys have good suggestions for in the meantime.

So far, the only thing I've really thrown out there to him as a suggestion is Warframe, but he's worried it won't have enough "story meat" for him since I've already told him that the story is kinda barebones unless you really dig into the lore, at least until Second Dream happens.

Bonus points for suggestions that will definitely run on a mediocre laptop (his, not mine, I have a pretty decent desktop rig now), or have a solid challenge to it, or are reasonably cheap-ish.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

There's always Borderlands 2 which has pretty good story and is super fun in co-op. Maybe the Gears of War series since those are a blast to play with friends and the story just stays the same.

Then there's Divinity: Original Sin I and II which has pretty good co-op and story, if your friend is into RPGs, and there's also Path of the Exile as well.

Kinda hard to come up with anything else since the only games I can think of are shooters that tend to be either bare-bones story or not story at all.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Maybe Left 4 Dead 2?

 

[sanquin]

If you want story, Divinity: Original Sin 1 and 2 are definitely options as mentioned before. For some reason good story co-op games have become rare these days though...

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

<link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Eden_%28video_game%29>Project Eden is an action-adventure game emphasizing puzzle solving.
It features a team of four players that has to perform tasks that allows the others in that team to advance.
Those four characters can be divvied up between 2 to 4 players.

I used to play this quite a lot with one of my cousins. Quite fun.

 

[Elijin]

<link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Eden_%28video_game%29>Project Eden is an action-adventure game emphasizing puzzle solving.
It features a team of four players that has to perform tasks that allows the others in that team to advance.
Those four characters can be divvied up between 2 to 4 players.

I used to play this quite a lot with one of my cousins. Quite fun.

Jesus, there's a throwback.

I loved that game. Playing it in the days when you couldnt just google everything, wandering around a stage for an hour trying to work out what the fuck we were missing to gain the next piece of progress. Only to discover that tiny vent you walked by 800 times can be opened up, and your little RC tank could drive in and flip a switch a few rooms down.

Sadly, it has that puzzle game issue of once solved, forever obvious. So those long sessions wracking your brain with a friend to try make ANY progress at all are a one time deal.

(Also, a single player can switch control between all 4 characters, so it's actually 1-4)

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Writing the response to Elijin got me thinking of another game that fits.
Phantasy Star Online.
I don't know the availability of it, however, I do know there is a way for one party to host a server and have others join though.

<link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Eden_%28video_game%29>Project Eden is an action-adventure game emphasizing puzzle solving.
It features a team of four players that has to perform tasks that allows the others in that team to advance.
Those four characters can be divvied up between 2 to 4 players.

I used to play this quite a lot with one of my cousins. Quite fun.

Jesus, there's a throwback.

I loved that game. Playing it in the days when you couldnt just google everything, wandering around a stage for an hour trying to work out what the fuck we were missing to gain the next piece of progress. Only to discover that tiny vent you walked by 800 times can be opened up, and your little RC tank could drive in and flip a switch a few rooms down.

Sadly, it has that puzzle game issue of once solved, forever obvious. So those long sessions wracking your brain with a friend to try make ANY progress at all are a one time deal.

(Also, a single player can switch control between all 4 characters, so it's actually 1-4)

Now I feel old again. Thanks!

I, too, have many fond memories of it. Happy times.
I think many games from that era ('95 - '05) has stood the test of time and still shines.

Lots of games are a one-time thing. I don't really see why it would preclude a play-through.

1-4 players. Of course. I was just so focused on accounting for his co-op needs.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

We've already played Left 4 dead 2 and Borderlands 1 and 2, and gears of war a whole bunch, and Phantasy Star Online was the co-op game that got my close friends into co-op to begin with (we spent what I'm sure are over a thousand hours over about 5 years playing the hell out of that game on our gamecubes). My friend was considering jumping onto PSO2...But honestly I kind of fell out of love with it after a while.

Divinity Original Sin 1 and 2 is a great suggestion that I'm going to float by him, as well as potentially Path of Exile and Project Eden.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. :s It really is a shame how rare good co-op games with decent stories are.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Army of 2? Not the best story but fun.

 

[wings012]

Halo Combat Evolved? I feel it popularized the idea of co-op campaigns. No idea if servers still run or whatever, but probably can be solved with some simple hamachi or similar fake-LAN type programs.

If you guys don't mind going old and using emulators - plenty of SNES games to play out there. Seiken Densetsu 3 is great for some longer term RPG fun. Otherwise just about every arcade port under the sun is good for at least a few hours each.

 

[Signa]

I came to post Borderlands 2, but I was already beaten a few times.

You could also try Path of Exile, but if either of you need to climb the learning curve, the other is going to need to have some patience. Totally worth it if you both are in the same place on that scale though.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

For the gameplay: L4D2, Vermintide 2, Borderlands 2, Diablo 3, Payday 2, Warframe, Starbound, Don't Starve Together, Darks Souls 1-3, GTAV.
For the story: Splinter Cell: Conviction (highly recommended if you can get it working), Divinity: Original Sin 1/2, Secret World (F2P MMO but not like a traditional MMO), Styx: Shards of Darkness.

There are probably a couple of decent MMOs out there at the moment too that could be worth considering. If it's two of you, find one with the "Holy Trinity" and one of you goes tank, one healer. You'll have a blast thru the game and never have to wait to find a party for dungeons. I've found in the past it's great fun while levelling but stops being as much fun at max level when it becomes a gear grind.

Of the above, I highly recommend the Dark Souls games in particular. Two players will have a much easier time of the games by summoning the other as a phantom to help. It will mean completing each area twice tho, once in each of your own worlds (beating a boss doesn't count for a phantom). You'll have an easier time and find you have more souls for levelling and gear on account of doing each bit twice. They're great fun to play with a friend, and DS1 was recently remastered so has a large community again, making it a great time to experience it.