The 15 best cooperative games for weak PCs

Solo adventures can become tedious when the locations are memorized, a strategy for each boss has been devised, and the skill tree is completely filled out.

This ceases to be a problem when friends join the game, with whom you can find alternative paths and have a great time. To pass time with companions without fretting over the power of your PC, we present to you a selection of cooperative games that can be launched on almost any machine.

Diablo 2: Resurrected

Image: diablo2.blizzard.com

Diablo 2 is an action-packed RPG set in a dark fantasy universe filled with angels, demons, and fantastic creatures. Players choose from one of seven character classes to smash, shoot, and clear their way to the final boss through hordes of demons.

The paradox is that there is no real action and almost no role-playing aspect, apart from leveling up. This is not Bloodborne or The Witcher 3. Don't expect combat acrobatics or varied dialogues. Here, even quests do not grant experience: almost all character development is built through the extermination of countless enemies.

Click on a monster with the mouse – you get a corpse, click on a second – another corpse. Hold down a key – you get ten corpses. But what makes the game thrilling is the cooperative mode, where you can compete to see who has killed more monsters.

System requirements for Diablo 2: Resurrected

Left 4 Dead 2

Image: Steam

Set in a zombie apocalypse, Left 4 Dead has you playing as one of four survivors trying to fight their way through hordes of wild infected to reach the end of the map. The sequel unfolds in the southeastern United States. The new cast of characters is more memorable as they seem to be more aware of their situation, chatting incessantly and commenting on everything around them.

The emphasis on chatter is deliberate. Left 4 Dead 2 forces you to work as a team if you want to keep yourself and your teammates alive. Every squad member must communicate what they are doing, identify locations where ammunition, weapons, and medkits can be found, and ask for help when trouble hits.

The catch is that no scene ever plays out the same way twice because the action is directed by an artificial intelligence known as the Director. This makes each encounter unique and encourages replayability as it adapts to the challenges of players at any skill level.

System requirements for Left 4 Dead 2

Don't Starve Together

Image: Steam

The game features three main modes: survival, wilderness, and endless. Survival is the core mode, encouraging players to cooperate to stay alive and avoid death at all costs. Indeed, the ghost of a dead character can and will harm team members because the presence of ghosts is detrimental to anyone's sanity.

The endless mode is more relaxed, allowing players to respawn after death and keep the same map from game to game, providing greater potential for exploration and resource accumulation.

Wilderness can be described as a survival showdown, where death is permanent and the map is regenerated for each replay.

While it's possible to play alone, playing with friends or strangers is much more appealing. Teamwork is even highlighted in the game's title, and coordinating actions can extend the lifespan of all participants. Collaborative maneuvers such as searching for food and exploring levels make this game a great option for spending evenings with company.

System requirements for Don't Starve Together

Trine

Image: Steam

Trine is a physics-based platformer puzzle game, meaning that objects and characters in the game are governed by the laws of gravity and react realistically to each other and to surrounding items.

Gamers control three unique characters: a thief, a wizard, and a knight. Each has their own abilities that can be used to navigate levels and defeat enemies.

The goal of our heroes: to free themselves from a curse that has bound them together and to rid the Earth of evil. Along the way, they must solve puzzles, defeat mobs, and earn experience points that can be spent on acquiring new skills.

When you play alone, you only need to worry about getting one body through an obstacle. In multiplayer, each player must figure out how to get their character from point A to point B, which complicates the game and stretches the challenge.

Stretches, undoubtedly, in a good way. There's nothing better than putting heads together to figure out how to bypass an obstacle. Also, the camera allows players to wander off-screen, but in this case, they may be killed by something unknown.

System requirements for Trine

Torchlight 2

Image: Steam

The story of this game begins a few years after the first Torchlight, opening with a scene where the Alchemist — one of the character classes from the first game — has been corrupted by the dark energy from the Heart of Ordrak, destroyed the town of Torchlight, and embarked on a path of destruction. As a new hero, you are responsible for this. Therefore, you need to find out what happened to him and ultimately put an end to his vile deeds, as well as do everything possible to help the affected people.

At the beginning of the game, you choose from four different classes, each with its own play style and skill tree. The world is divided into a series of large segmented maps, each overflowing with loot, villains, and NPCs offering quests.

You can take up to 5 people in your team to save the world, but be aware that the smart AI adjusts to the number of players and complicates your run through the map, so don't expect a quick playthrough.

System requirements for Torchlight 2

Borderlands

Image: Steam 

Borderlands is a first-person shooter with elements of a role-playing game. The game begins with you being thrown off a bus. You meet a starter character who explains the basics of the game and gives you a brief mini-tutorial. Once you reach the first town, you will be assigned your debut quest, and the game really begins.

Fighting in the borderlands is a lot of fun. Although the game is a first-person shooter, a certain strategy is necessary for successful completion. Every enemy has a weak spot you can attack for damage. For humans, it's their heads. For skags, it's their mouths.

While the combat may seem relatively simple at first, as you progress, the game becomes quite challenging, and you will need to carefully manage your resources, health level, and surroundings.

Borderlands was designed as a cooperative game, and it really shines in this respect. It's easier not only to deal with enemies in a group of four but also to share loot that might not fit your build.

System requirements for Borderlands

Titan Quest

Image: Steam

The essence of this game is that the gods are unimpressed with humanity, and one of them has unleashed titans, ancient harbingers of global destruction, onto Earth. You, with your knife and modest equipment, are tasked with putting an end to them. Traveling from Greece through Egypt to the legendary Chinese Silk Road, you will encounter numerous mythological monsters like centaurs or medusas.

Like in Diablo 3, in multiplayer, you participate in your friends' adventures, helping each other throughout the story. Teaming up allows different classes to shine together.

System requirements for Titan Quest

Serious Sam 3: BFE

Image: Steam

The key to the success of this game is considered to be the bestiary of creatures fighting against Sam, our barrel-shaped hero with a low voice, who saves the world from hordes of aliens. It's a whimsical campaign taken straight from a collection of surreal arcade games.

Skeleton-like horse creatures shoot you with chain balls. Cyclopean monkey-like creatures try to flatten you. Headless humanoids with bombs for hands run at you with wild screams, while screeching harpies swoop down from above.

If you have friends, these problems disappear, as Croteam has done everything possible for a good multiplayer experience. The entire campaign is cooperative, and the number of enemies increases depending on the size of the lobby. Traditional competitive modes have also returned: to deathmatches and capture the flag, new ones like Beast Hunt have been added, where you earn points by killing monsters, then exchange these points for a chance to kill another player.

System requirements for Serious Sam 3

ARMA 2

Image: Steam

This time we find ourselves in the politically complex fictional state of Chernarus, a dynamic world that spans 225 km2. This is much larger than what might be expected for such a detailed game. Americans try to stabilize the region, but numerous groups in Chernarus do everything possible to tear it apart. At its best, ARMA 2 leaves you with military tales, vivid, unexpected battles, and a vast world to explore.

The single-player game unfolds at a slow pace, leading your small team through plot missions that transform you from a squad leader to the leader of an entire army. Your four-person team is a reconnaissance group that sticks together throughout the campaign.

The cooperative mode adds spice to the gameplay. As in real life, most of the action consists of maneuvers, and the more cohesive you become with your team, the higher your chances of successfully completing missions.

System requirements for ARMA 2

Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop

Image: Steam

Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop is an amazing game in which you fight aliens with a team of four players. There are four classes to choose from: Sergeant, Heavy Weapons Specialist, Technician, and Medic. After this, you need to select a campaign and location to play. Each mission has a specific objective that you and your teammates must accomplish.

Unfortunately, the overhaul of Alien Swarm does not include features that allow team members to assist each other. Other soldiers still cannot help support specialists reload their weapons, they cannot transfer magazines with the same bullets to others, and technicians cannot help each other hack computer systems. But this does not spoil the impression of the many varied campaigns that await you in the game.

System requirements for Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop

Minecraft Dungeons

Image: Steam

In a nutshell, the story of Dungeons is as follows. The Arch-Illager, shunned by others, found the Orb of Dominance and now controls the entire kingdom, repaying those who exiled him. Your task is to solve this problem.

The game has no character customization, no stats, or skills. Minecraft Dungeons is strictly based on items and levels. There are two slots for weapons - melee and bow, a place for armor, and three slots for artifacts. Since there are no classes, you can change your play style whenever you want.

Minecraft Dungeons supports both single-player and cooperative modes. Players can team up in a quartet to clear dungeons. Unlike other crawlers, gamers cannot drop or exchange items with other players. Each participant in the run can strengthen or heal another depending on their artifacts.

System requirements for Minecraft Dungeons

Magicka 2

Image: Steam

By inputting combinations of 10 magical elements one button at a time, Magicka 2 allows you to experiment and discover an insane amount of different spells. Surprisingly, they all eventually prove useful at one point or another. There is a clear logic in how spell weaving works: fire and water create steam, water and cold become ice, and so on.

You can play in multiplayer with up to four players, and it's extremely helpful because allies can revive each other. This balance of life and death often turns strange accidents into comedy, dividing sides. Friendly fire is fully operational here, creating many humorous situations.

System requirements for Magicka 2

The Forest

Image: Steam

The Forest starts like the first episode of "Lost," where you crash-land a plane in uncharted territory without any technology. Despite the brevity of the scene, the plane crash is thrilling and reminiscent of how BioShock starts. After the not-so-gentle landing, you are free to roam the island and do everything necessary for survival.

Enemies in The Forest are warriors from hostile tribes who will destroy you if you're not careful. Besides the axe given to you on the plane, you can also make spears for quick attacks, bows for long-range shooting, and even a bomb from a lighter and a hairspray can. The enemies generally attack in groups, so it's crucial that you and your friends work together.

System requirements for The Forest

Warframe

Image: Steam

Warframe is an online action game that combines melee mechanics, rapid shooting, and exceptional character mobility with multiplayer battles and science fiction.

You play as a Tenno — a person psychically linked to one of several biomechanical surrogate bodies known as Warframes. These advanced bodies are capable of incredible acrobatic stunts.

Essentially, you control a sci-fi ninja who pulverizes everything in their path. The reward is loot used to upgrade your arsenal, combat frames, and appearance.

Missions include targeted assassinations, rescuing non-playable characters, collecting key items, or fighting the main boss. The levels have a fantastic degree of verticality, and even enclosed areas feature multi-level architecture and alternative paths, providing a choice of playstyle.

System requirements for Warframe

Payday 2

Image: Steam

As part of a team of four mercenaries, you've signed up to do jobs for a guy named Bain. He introduces you to various shady characters and presents you with a city map with constantly changing tasks.

Some, like robbing stores and nightclubs, are a matter of a few hours. Others, which involve stealing artwork, transporting contraband, dealing with gang members, and stealing from senators, take a couple of days to plan and execute.

You need people on your team if you hope to succeed in any job beyond the most basic. Friendly AI characters shoot cops well and revive downed players, but if you want to plan a really brilliant bank robbery, you need friends in co-op. Team play allows you to plan heists, better adapt to situations, and leave with more loot.

System requirements for Payday 2

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