The Best Co-Op Survival Games

The survival genre has taken off massively over the last decade, with a huge number of games coming in the wake of Minecraft after it ignited a passion in many gamers for base-building, crafting, and battle against enemies that come out during the night. Since that initial revolution, survival games have only continued to grow in popularity, with many of them focusing more on different aspects of what has helped make the survival game genre truly great.

One of the biggest innovations is the continued attempt to build immersive worlds that multiple players can partake in together. Cooperative gameplay has been a huge part of gaming for a number of years, but players being able to play alongside their friends, building bases, and tackling enemies as a team, has been a huge piece of what makes survival games so successful in the modern day.

Updated on September 28, 2024, by Chris Harkin:Though the survival genre may not have quite as much steam as it once did, there are always more upcoming survival games for fans of the genre to get hyped about. Additionally, the emphasis on multiplayer within the gaming community is continuing to soar, meaning that most upcoming survival games will include a multiplayer mode of some sort. This will hopefully mean players are never going to be in danger of running out of great survival titles to play alongside their friends. This article will continue to be updated as more great co-op survival games are added to the annals of this wondrous genre.

Conan Exiles

Brutal Unique Survival

• For 1-10 Players

The fascinating world of Conan the Barbarian has never been explored as deeply or as wonderfully as in Conan Exiles. With all the updates since the original release, adding new biomes and areas to the game, a group of players can easily join and find endless adventure now in the fictional Hyborian Age.

While players begin by being crucified (literally), they can work their way up as part of a faction of players that can contain up to 10 characters. This means that, on a server which can fit as many as 70, co-op play with friends can give some big advantages. In survival terms, the game isn't too bad. Gameplay focuses on on hunger, thirst, and an endless array of dangerous enemies. Making friends is a priority in such a deadly place.

7 Days To Die

Inevitable Demise But Hugely Fun

• For 1-8 Players

Although it might seem counter-intuitive for a survival game to almost certainly kill the player eventually, 7 Days To Die is all about how long crafty players can manage to keep going. With at least eight players able to fit onto a server together without causing issues in the gameplay, 7 Days To Die makes for one of the best co-op zombie experiences available on the market.

While many zombie co-op games are more like Left 4 Dead, this adventure is still very much a survival game. Players will need to help each other find food, water and shelter, in addition to trying to avoid or take down as many zombies as possible to make the world a little bit safer. And of course, they'll need to scavenge supplies.

Valheim

Amazing Visuals, Unique Progression System

• For 1-10 Players

As with many survival games, there are certain aspects of Valheim that require grinding, the mining of materials in order to craft items and build bases is a lengthy process. However, there isn’t a single part of the grinding that isn’t quicker and much more enjoyable with friends along for the ride, making coop the best way to handle this newer entry in the survival video game genre.

Up to ten players can join in together on Valheim in a fight against a harsh, Norse mythology-inspired environment. The world is set as one where fallen warriors come to prove themselves worthy of entry to Valhalla. Players start with nothing and are forced to go up against various evils on their journey through this beautifulopen world, which is much easier and more entertaining if some friends are brought along for the journey.

Raft

Frantic & Hilarious Ocean Survival

• For 1-8 Players

A much less polished but equally lovable coop survival experience can be found in Raft. This game was in early access for a long time as more chapters were added, but players were finding this game and engaging in it with their friends from the very start. Initially, players are dropped with their friends on a tiny raft in the middle of the ocean, an experience that has been known to make or break friendships.

The difficulty in Raft is keeping moving constantly. The pressure of sharks trying to eat pieces of the raft in addition to visiting islands and gathering resources without often being able to keep the raft from moving on means that groups of friends trying to play together may be able to accomplish a lot, but they will constantly be put under stress while attempting to do so.

Rust

The Most Savage Survival Game

• For 1-500 Players (Approx)

Rust is a very different type of survival experience, often much more focused on PvP than on PvE. Players have to advance from stick-wielding lost souls all the way to highly advanced military warriors, complete with huge bases and a vast array of loot and weapons that can be used to get even more loot and materials or to destroy other players who have tried to build their own empires on the same server, helping make the world brutal and immersive.

Rust is a difficult game to get into initially, with many servers presenting a fairly unfriendly atmosphere as other players are always ready to take advantage of a new group coming in. However, Rust can be hugely fun with a group of friends who are ready to back players up in any conflict they come into. Besides the PvP aspects, the progression in Rust is excellent and feels truly rewarding, and it is well worth trying for survival coop fans.

Ark: Survival Evolved

Excellent Breeding/Taming Survival Life

• For 1-4 Players (Local); 1-70 Players (Dedicated Servers)

Another highly praised game that is great for multiple players to come together for, Ark sets players down in one of the least friendly worlds ever created in the survival genre. Covered in historical and mythical creatures and possibly other players who are looking to kill, Ark presents players with an incredibly stressful world to navigate. Fortunately, it can be played with friends to make the experience much more enjoyable and less stressful.

Ark is all about crafting and taming animals, which can then be ridden around. So if players have always wished to ride around with their friends on dinosaurs, it is the perfect game. Generally considered less intense than similar games like Rust, Ark is the perfect experience for a more action-packed survival game that can be played in a co-op format.

Palworld

Beautiful Genre-Blending Action

• For 1-4 Players

Although dedicated servers can manage as many as 32 players, Palworld's normal co-op play allows a maximum of four. This is still plenty though, since the normal grinding requirements of a survival game are lessened greatly in this incredible world. The game is filled with all kinds of creatures that can be befriended, captured, and put to work doing the kind of tasks and building things that players would normally be stuck doing themselves in survival games.

This mixing of genres allows players to work together, get the full survival game experience, while additionally getting to have fun battling, chasing after creatures, and helping build each other's bases. Palworld still isn't finished, but it remains one of the greatest and most surprisingly beloved games of 2024, making for a brand-new corner of the survival genre.

No Man's Sky

Literally Endless Possibilities

• For 2-4 Players

One of the most impressive games ever created, No Man's Sky gives players an incredible sci-fi experience, allowing them to experience a universe that generates an endless number of planets, giving players continuously new experiences to share with their friends as often as they can possibly wish.

No Man's Sky has the ambition that players years ago dreamed games could have, and with all sorts to do in the multiplayer mode together, this is one of the few games that can be considered to have nearly endless content. Survival games with non-linear storytelling like this are great to get into with friends because a group of up to four players can work together, engaging in all sorts of adventures.

Green Hell

Intense Jungle Survival

• For 1-4 Players

Another survival game set in a brutal environment, Green Hell brings players to the Amazon Rainforest in one of the most realistic and surprisingly tough games the survival genre has ever seen. The Amazon is a crazy place to try and survive, but doing it together with some friends can make it a little easier and more enjoyable.

Green Hell tasks players with unusual survival mechanics, making the environment and climate even more a part of the task than is usual for the genre. Players will need to deal with a steep learning curve in a luscious landscape, with a lot to learn and do before they can rest easy and gain a modicum of safety. Green Hell is a challenge, but in co-op, it can become a much more reasonable experience, or players can at least freak out and struggle alongside their friends.

Terraria

The Ultimate Learning Curve

• For 1-4 Players

A game known to many as being similar to Minecraft, but existing in a purely 2D world, Terraria has been a long-serving classic for many fans of the survival genre. In Terraria, there is a huge volume of crafting that can be done, as well as exploring, while players attempt to build their bases and reputations across this beautiful 2D world.

From mining and battling to building and exploring, friends can come together to do any number of familiar survival game things in Terraria. This excellent game has received its own copies and clones, despite originally being a very similar experience to Minecraft. Terraria has also been praised for being one of the best Metroidvania experiences released in the last decade, a truly unique idea since Metroidvania-style games don’t usually fit into the survival genre.

Grounded

Creates The Perfect Backyard Sandbox

• For 2-4 Players

Taking a very different approach to a survival setting, Grounded shrinks players down and makes them the size of an ant. This forces on them a very different, but equally challenging and intriguing, sort of survival setting. Fighting against and alongside enormous insects and dealing with the horrors of the back garden, Grounded is a fun but intriguing game to play together.

Up to four players can join together in this survival journey, attempting to navigate a fascinating variety of landscapes, all of which fit inside the world of a single garden. Providing a realistic but fantastical look at the survival genre, and coming up with a truly unique setting that works brilliantly, players get everything they could want out of Grounded.

Minecraft

The Enduring Popular Favorite

• For 1-10 Players (On Realms); 1-Hundreds (On Larger Servers)

The game that really kick-started the video game world’s obsession with survival games, Minecraft is about a world made up of blocks where there is no narrative except that which the player chooses to create. This has inspired a lot of people to create their own worlds, filled with incredible builds and featuring a huge number of fascinating characters, whether it is on Bedrock, through Java realms, or larger online servers.

Minecraft has become one of the most popular games for friends to play with each other over time, due to the ease of access it provides in bringing people together. There is a way for everybody to get involved in Minecraft, no limits to the number of friends that can come together to play cooperatively, and an amazing sense of freedom that is complete. There are barely any limits to the world and no end to the potential projects except for the limits of one’s own imagination, and it remains a showcase for the evolution of the survival genre.

The Forest

Terrifying Constant Cannibal Wars

• For 1-8 Players

With a sequel currently in early access, The Forest has made its way from a great individual mature survival game to a franchise of innovative survival ideas. Following a plane crash onto an island that initially seems to be deserted, players take control of a man trying to save his son, who has been taken by the cannibalistic cult on the island. The strange story aside, players have to survive on the island while they continue to explore for clues and equipment, meaning they have to base build, find clean sources of water, and hunt for food.

The Forest is an amazing example of a game that makes survival itself feel challenging while also adding elements of survival horror into the mix. Cannibals and worse monstrosities can show up at any time, prompting players to enter fight or flight mode as they attempt to take on the speedy, the large, and even the flying evils that inhabit the island. The Forest is at its very best when a group of friends come together to share the fear and craft larger bases together, making the game the most complete and entertaining experience it can be.

Dont Starve Together

Created Specifically For Co-Op

• For 2-6 Players

Don't Starvewas already one of the best early survival games, allowing players to enter a simplistic world as a character not just trying to stay alive, but also stay sane. But Don’t Starve Together prompted players to begin doing so with friends along for the ride, which made for a simplistic indie experience that provided endless fun for players as they took on the different roles.

Players can join together in a world filled with darkness and danger, as they try to fight off creatures while gathering resources and trying to keep everybody’s sanity meter from dipping. Don’t Starve Together provides one of the earlier survival coop experiences, and it represents many of the quintessential elements for a coop survival experience executed perfectly.