We have all been there. It is 5 PM, and your palms are sweaty, knees weak, and arms heavy. Your uncle’s belt buckle lies loosened, exhausted, and broken. With a turkey stuffed deep in your stomach, and football slowly playing out on the main TV, you desperately look around for something to take your mind off the fact that you could have lived without that second slice of pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving dinner is over, but its presence lingers in more ways than one. So, let’s talk co-op games.
If you are in a massive group primarily composed of people who do not play games, you should go down the party route during this Thanksgiving; however, if it is just you and a couple of gamers, then a more traditional co-op title might be the better option. Heck, you can even jump online and join forces with a few friends, escaping your family in the process. Whatever works for you.
Overcooked! 2
The Thanksgiving Dinner Goes Full Co-Op Circle
The Overcooked games are fantastic co-op experiences suitable for seemingly all circumstances, but they are particularly fitting for Thanksgiving night. Most of the day is spent preparing dishes in the kitchen, so returning to one to work off the food coma adds an element of synergy. For the uninitiated, these games task you with running a restaurant’s kitchen, where you have to complete orders while (ideally) coordinating seamlessly with your fellow chefs.
8 Most Fun Local Co-Op Games, Ranked
Players who want the good, old-fashioned fun of local co-op will find plenty to love with the following games.
Even when everyone is at peak alertness, Overcooked sessions can quickly descend into a circus, while still being entirely dependent on the players’ performances. If the kitchen is mostly manned by sleepy cooks, the games’ inherent silliness tends to be maximized, devolving a playthrough into an absolutely hilarious explosion of yells, laughs, and groans. It is brilliant fun.
Overcooked! All You Can Eat has both games in the series, and Overcooked! 2 is better than its predecessor.
Castle Crashers Remastered
Save The Princesses To A Chorus Of Thanksgiving Burps And Farts
Beat ’em ups are perfect co-op games, but most of them are a bit too punishing to be viable after Thanksgiving dinner. Shredder’s Revenge could work, but the players would need to be familiar with its basic mechanics. Now, Castle Crashers can definitely be a rewarding skill-based experience, especially if you want to go far in the campaign…however, it also welcomes button-mashers who are craving a (slightly) mindless romp filled with pretty colors and over-the-top animation.
The Behemoth’s game strips the genre down to its core fundamentals, simplifying them in a way that makes for an accessible but still addictive loop. Castle Crashers incorporates a few RPG mechanics, but those are not really important in this case. Just boot the remaster up, spread out a few controllers, and sleepily knight your way through a vibrant adventure.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
End A Wonderful Thanksgiving Day With A Touch Of Co-Op Mario Magic
Honestly, you can have your pick of Mario games, as so many of them are local multiplayer staples. Mario Kart and Mario Party are the obvious PvP candidates, and something like Luigi’s Mansion 3 delivers an easy-going co-op campaign. However, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the best modern co-op game in the franchise, and its core gameplay is so traditional Mario that almost anybody will be able to find their groove quickly.
7 Best Co-Op Games That Are Instantly Fun, Ranked
These co-op games throw players right into the action, and are all the more fun for doing so.
The stages are generally gorgeous, low-stakes, and pretty easy, while still demanding that players actually pay attention to what they are doing. Wonder‘s defining feature is co-op, as it turns good solo stages into great ones that can get chaotic at times. Honestly, I prefer 2-player co-op as 4-player can be a bit too much, but “a bit too much” is like a cornerstone of Thanksgiving.
Human Fall Flat
The Closest Thing To A Post-Thanksgiving Dinner Simulator
“Relatable” is not a term many would use to describe Human Fall Flat, but that kind of fits this situation. After all, what represents a food coma better than a group of Bobs clumsily stumbling around like their body’s equilibrium has been shaken to its core?
The physics puzzle-platformer can be quite challenging if you are actually trying to complete a level’s tasks, but Human Fall Flat gets actively better when everyone is at their uncoordinated worst. Sessions are pretty much always pressure-free, and the mechanics are straightforward enough that you can still get things done even as you slowly drift off to Never Never Land.
Stardew Valley
The Ultimate Co-Op Game If You Want To Relax And Put Thanksgiving Behind You
Stardew Valley might be the best post-Thanksgiving game for both solo and co-op players. Now, the farming sim supports local multiplayer, so you can technically play with family members; however, let’s be real, most people opt to go with online co-op. So, you can plan a session with a few friends who will also be looking for a way to decompress after a long and tiring day.
Stardew Valley gives you endless things to do that have depth, but are nowadays second-nature to most of its players, which is exactly what you want when you don’t want anything mentally taxing but still wish to be productive. Also, Stardew Valley‘s Fall-ish aesthetic just screams “Thanksgiving.”
Best 6-Player Co-Op Games
Larger groups of players teaming up often have difficulty finding great games to play together, but there are some excellent options out there.
