I enjoy playing games – lots of games, but I also like getting into each game to understand what it is that gets me hooked and why I go back again and again.

But I had to really think when someone asked me what some of my favourite co-op games are. Growing up, I didn’t have too many friends that played games, and when I did, I didn’t exactly have the time or access to play online. While I saw the world go by, I enjoyed being taken on journeys through RPGs, where characters told me their stories and problems, and looked to me as a capable friend that resolved things in their world!

So, when I finally had friends who liked and owned the games I did, I was super excited to get into games with them… then I moved, and distance, and having several hours between you makes it REALLY hard to play together, so when you do, and its sporadic, its very difficult to follow giant narrative masterpieces like Divinity II…

Now you could say that’s a me problem because I refused to move ahead with the save when my friends weren’t around, but where was the fun in that?? What we started together we should finish together, whether that’s killing everyone on the island or not (yes someone barely got past Act 1)… except that when we came back, neither of us could remember what the heck we were doing.

I enjoyed the way some games resolve this specific issue, like Horizon Zero Dawn, when Aloy talks to the main quest and what she needs to do next by talking out loud to herself as if making a checklist. As the player, this reminds you very quickly what you were upto, where to go and you’re just back in your adventure.

Divinity II has a journal system… but it doesn’t quite achieve the same thing in the same way.

So we started trying a couple other games and one that I found was a lot of fun ended up being Borderlands 2 – where you can continue with your campaign and anyone can drop in or out at any point, with damage scaling based on player levels… I got pummeled a couple times and was surprised by how many times I had to shoot to kill things, coz one of my friends was twice my level, but oh well.

This ended up being the game I picked up on and off, on the same character I had, with many different friends over the years! The best part was – if you don’t feel like a quest and just want to blow off some steam, you can find the nearest bandit locals and pew pew.

For a very long time though, I didn’t have a cozy equivalent to the RPG genre. A lot of it was fetch quests and shooting and looting (no complaints here), but after a while I did want a game where me and my friends could chill out together without the gunfire or constant threat of something attacking us as we turned the corner.

Palia ended up filling that gap, and with the community values and the core mechanics of the game, in the way its set up, is very satisfying. While Palia does have a strong narrative that drives itself forward, the individual quests themselves are quite short and sweet, though, I do wish that as a party if you both have the same quest you could complete it together.

Regardless, Palia became the cozy game to play with friends as we could do activities together – like catch bugs, chop wood and so on, and then scatter when we’re back at the village only to group up together and decorate our houses and then we’re off on our next adventure.

On the darker, more gothic medieval side, you’ve got V-rising which very quickly became one of my favourites to play with friends for the base building aspect. We built our own castles of course, and what started out as necessity initially became their own works of art. I constantly revisit V-rising with every update to see what’s new, what’s changed and be an absolute terror to the poor villagers in the game.

There’s loads of other games out there that I’m sure I’d love just as much, but these three are my current go-to list that I would definitely advise people play if you enjoy relatively low stakes and a drop-in-out campaign!