Acquiring Xbox Game Pass does not solely entail solo play-time. Fun experiences are just lying in store for duos with access to the console’s greatest gaming service. A decent amount of titles available on Xbox Game Pass (and EA Play) allow for the pleasure of local co-op. And as any gamer worth their salt knows, playing a game with a buddy using good old-fashioned couch co-op is one of the best joys to be had.
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Whether the action occurs on a single screen or double the participation necessitates split-screen, these games ensure entertainment between friends. From sci-fi shooters to goofy physics-based playgrounds, Xbox owners can’t go wrong with these fun, local co-op titles.
Kingdom Two Crowns
- Released
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December 11, 2018
- ESRB
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E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Fantasy Violence
The sign of a healthy, happy game subscription service is how many local co-op games it can give you. And brother, Xbox Game Pass keeps giving us healthy and happy. Recently (at the time of this writing), Game Pass added Kingdom Two Crowns to its library, and it’s a joy to see the local co-op offerings further diversified. You and a friend play as burgeoning royalty looking to explore your kingdom and expand your borders in a pixelated, 2D side-scrolling adventure.
You start off small, wooden fortifications protecting your base and retinue from the creatures of the night. But as you gather resources and rescue prospective citizens, you grow your realm more and more. Kingdom Two Crowns lightly encourages you and your friend to work together with great visuals and a nice soundtrack in the background of your kingdom-building. And even though you’re both limited by the scope of a side-scroller, the loop of exploring a land, building a kingdom, and then sailing to a new one, feels infinitely enjoyable.
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
- Released
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June 21, 2019
- ESRB
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E10+ For Everyone 10+ due to Cartoon Violence, Comic Mischief
Local split-screen fun can be either cooperative or competitive, and which is best is all up to personal preference. The majority of options on this list are of a more cooperative nature. You’re usually working together to clear levels, cause chaos in an open world, or solve cute puzzles. Today, we add a game that just embodies that classic split-screen competition that we know and love from the olden days: Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. Nitro-Fueled is the fully remastered version of the original game.
Just as with the iconic Mario Kart, you’ll compete against friends in tracks, racing your little karts around and around during laps, using your knowledge of the track and power-ups to beat them all to the finish line. The only difference is you’re playing as Crash Bandicoot characters. Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is a perfect title for game night, without a too high-stakes level of competition and with an easy learning curve.
Battletoads
- Released
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August 20, 2020
- ESRB
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E10+ For Everyone 10+ due to Animated Blood, Cartoon Violence, Crude Humor, Mild Language
That’s right, it’s everyone’s favorite froggies (yes, I realize they’re toads, but the alliteration doesn’t work there) named after various cutaneous conditions — the Battletoads.
The 2020 reboot of Battletoads wears what it is on its sleeve — it’s a humorously juvenile side-scrolling brawler that packs in a ton of couch co-op goodness. If you’re looking for an enthralling, deeply engaging gameplay loop or award-winning narrative experience, keep on trucking. But frankly, if you’re still reading, you’re past that already.
Battletoads supports up to three players, with each playing one of the unique characters (Rash, Pimple, or Zitz) and allows the relatively novel option of any unpicked characters being allowed to “tag” in, so you get the benefit of exhausting your healthbar then bringing in whoever’s on the bench. It’s a light, fun, not-too-serious party game or short session slug-a-thon with enough surprises and gags to keep you glued for a good while.
We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie
- Released
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June 2, 2023
- ESRB
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E For Everyone // Mild Fantasy Violence, Comic Mischief, Alcohol Reference
We love We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie! Not just because it’s a fun mouthful of words to say or the hilarious gameplay of it all, but for the comforting cooperative vibes. We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie is the remake of the sequel to the original Katamari Damacy. Confusing? No need to worry about that. Once you start gathering items into your katamari, things like the play order of Katamari games will fade away.
All you need to concern yourself with is the language of the universe, i.e., building a nice, big katamari. This gem of an addition to Xbox Game Pass makes for the perfect game for couples to play together. As a pair, you grow your katamari, listen to jazzy tunes, and just vibe with the universe. Is there a better plan for your evening?
Doom + Doom II
- Released
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December 10, 1993
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
If you’re craving a bit of retro boomer shooter goodness, you’ll be hard-pressed to do better than the original — and id Software has recently taken pains to ensure you can do just that in the best way possible.
Doom + Doom II is essentially a repackaging of id Software’s already slightly touched-up modern Doom ports, but with a few additional cherries on top. The original games come with an updated soundtrack, mod support, and practically every Doom episode that’s ever been released, including John Romero’s Sigil and a brand new campaign by Nightdive Studios and MachineGames.
And more to the point of this particular article, you can play through all of that goodness with both online and offline multiplayer support — seeing that FPS games with four-player split-screen support are something of a rarity these days, it’s highly recommended you give it a whirl next time you’ve got three like-minded friends over.
Army Of Two
- Released
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March 4, 2008
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Intense Violence, Strong Language
Army of Two is an often overlooked little piece of Xbox 360-era third-person shooter history — and that’s a bit of a shame, really, because despite its shortcomings, it’s a blast to spend an evening with.
This is most definitely not a game that’s ever going to make you think too hard. It knew its audience. Gears of War was an entrenched favorite at the time of its 2008 release, and it straightforwardly shot to get a piece of that action. That said, the basics are going to be entirely familiar to any Gears fan. The core differences are a relatively in-depth weapons upgrade system and a much, much bigger emphasis on cooperative play — so much so that the campaign demands that you play with a suped-up AI companion if you don’t have a friend immediately available.
In terms of plot, it’s… well, about run-of-the-mill. Former military dude-bro mercenaries have to fight the terrorists, there’s a betrayal of some sort along the way that ups the stakes, and yadda yadda. It’s absurd, over the top, and so full of delightfully ham-fisted campiness that it’s incapable of taking itself seriously. But that’s meant in the best-possible way.
Diablo IV
- Released
-
June 6, 2023
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language
Blizzard’s beloved hack-and-slash series went bigger than ever with its fourth numbered installment, but still managed to maintain most of its intrinsic charm, not least of which is the immense fun factor of journeying alongside a friend in seamlessly integrated local co-op.
Diablo IV’s narrative plonks your custom-made hero into the middle of a developing quarrel between the forces of fallen angel Inarius and his demonic ex-lover, Lilith (the daughter of Mephisto, for established fans that might care). As you journey through the world of Sanctuary to stop her schemes from taking root, you’ll slay a whole host of demons, tick quests off of your to-do list, and, of course, sift through absolute gobs of loot to maximize your chosen hero’s potential.
The number of bells and whistles that Blizzard’s tacked onto the tried-and-true series formula is fairly dense, but refreshingly, most of them land pretty well. Swapping Diablo III’s vibrant color palette for a dingy, gothic style more reminiscent of Diablo II’s visuals is an entirely welcome shift. The most ambitious is the game’s “MMO-lite” style — filling town instances with fellow players and randomly allowing them to drift past each-other in real-time during gameplay lands in a way that successfully makes the world feel “bigger” and more community-oriented without ruining its ARPG roots.
PlateUp!
What is it about the act of cooking that makes for great co-op games? PlateUp! follows in the footsteps of Overcooked as another fantastic local multiplayer game that tasks you and your friends with operating a restaurant and dealing with the chaos that ensues. But where Overcooked focuses on timed rushes assembling various dishes, PlateUp! has you building your entire restaurant from the ground up.
You design the layout, the placement of kitchen devices and seating arrangements, and then you go about serving customers. Crafting the most easily automated kitchen that won’t get entangled in complicated pathways is key to having a smooth experience. So the frenetic action that running a kitchen and dining area entails, albeit in an arcade-y fashion, is perfectly encapsulated in this solid co-op title. As you and your friends hurry to make it to that final day, tempers will be strained for sure, but hilarity will be had by all.
Vampire Survivors
- Released
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December 17, 2021
- ESRB
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T For Teen // Blood, Violence
2022’s surprise smash-hit roguelike already had a legion of adoring fans mincing up legions of vampires and undead fiends while eating copious amounts of chicken off of the floor — but they were forced to do so in abject solitude… until 2023’s 1.6 update, that is. Now they can engage in floor chicken feasts with up to four friends! Now that sounds like a dinner party for the ages.
Vampire Survivors’ still-relatively-fresh cooperative mode is just about what you’d expect, and just a wee bit more. The core gameplay remains unchanged — idle-shoot your way through progressively difficult hordes, scoop up items to become even shootier, rinse-and-repeat until you’ve met your match or the game decides to stop you. However, the developers did include a few mode specific nuances to really make the experience shine. For example, you can elect to “pass” your level-up item selection to a cooperative partner if you happen to nab a particular item they’re holding out for.
It’s just more Vampire Survivors, but tailored to share with friends. And that’s all it needs to be.
Goat Simulator 3
- Released
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November 17, 2022
- ESRB
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t
You’ll notice a lot of games on this list embrace the good humor you can find in being silly with friends, and none do it quite as well as Goat Simulator 3 and its predecessor (also an inclusion on this list further down). Hilarity is the name of the game, and what makes the goat shenanigans you can get up to even better is when you throw up to three other people into the mix. Next thing you know, you have four goats traipsing across suburbia, mountains, and city streets, wreaking all sorts of mandated chaos.
That means four goats headbutting gas tanks to make them explode. Four goats wall-climbing buildings to reach air vents that will propel them further into the sky. Four goats licking pedestrians and taking them along on adventures. Four goats baa-ing and dressing up to the heights of fashion. Just four goats having a good time. Goat Simulator 3 was practically made for local co-op fun.
Quake II
- Released
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December 9, 1997
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Violence, Language
As with most sequels (the good ones, anyway), Quake II improves upon its predecessor in nearly every way, including in its co-op offerings. The sequel’s campaign missions take you through even wilder arenas, from alien-looking ziggurats to mind-boggling sewer tunnels. The more open spaces, with the ability for you and your co-op partner to attack enemies from different angles, clearly showcase the thought put into Quake II’s level design. It’s bigger in scope.
And if you and your friends are more competitive by nature, you can hop into a local multiplayer match and duke it out among yourselves. One of the things that makes Quake II’s inclusion on Xbox Game Pass even more special is that it’s not just a simple port. It’s been remastered, with a more polished enemy AI and the inclusion of previously cut content.
Cassette Beasts
- Released
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April 26, 2023
- ESRB
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E10+ For Everybody 10+ due to Fantasy Violence
Playing Cassette Beasts alone is a delight, which is not to be understated because not many Pokemon clones reach the same levels of joy and entertainment as their inspiration. But one of the other great things about Cassette Beasts is that it comes with a local co-op feature! The game’s main character is accompanied by companion characters, and if one of your buddies is interested in taking on the world of retro monsters alongside you, they can step into the shoes of these companions.
While you might have to get through the first few bits of the game solo, it very shortly deposits a cooperative vehicle for your friend in the form of Kayleigh. At that point, you can have a second player jump in and take control. You can seriously have your cake and eat it too with Cassette Beasts; it’s a superb Pokemon-like and it’s couch co-op. What more could you want?
Goat Simulator
- Released
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April 1, 2014
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood, Crude Humor, Drug Reference, Strong Language, Violence
What’s better than chaotic goat madness? Chaotic goat madness with a friend in tow. Goat Simulator allows local couch co-op hilarity as players wreak havoc on a town and city as unhinged goats. Physics madness ensues as players garner arbitrary points for destroying property, leaping into the air, bleating, and other normal goat activities. The lack of structure in Goat Simulator is actually one of the game’s strengths. Two players can easily lose an entire day exploring the environment, uncovering secrets, and unlocking new types of goats.
GoldenEye 007
- Released
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August 25, 1997
- ESRB
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T for Teen: Animated Blood, Animated Violence
If you’re raring for a classic split-screen experience, GoldenEye 007 has suavely stepped its way out of the past and into the present thanks to its inclusion on Xbox Game Pass. Don’t expect a swanky remaster; GoldenEye still shows its age. Controls feel floaty, and the graphics are definitely nothing to cry home about. That said, GoldenEye 007 also shows its timelessness. Despite the clunky gameplay and blocky visuals, playing through this hallmark of gaming history is still a lot of fun, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the split-screen multiplayer component.
Grabbing some buddies and playing against each other couch co-op style is as enjoyable as it always was. In fact, there’s something incredibly appealing about how dated the game is when you have friends by your side to experience it with you. And you should be happy to note that aiming feels (a bit) better than it used to.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
- Released
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June 16, 2022
- ESRB
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E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Fantasy Violence
If a dash of nostalgia and a jam-packed evening of beat ‘em up fun is what you want, you can’t go wrong with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. The titular Turtles are back, and they’re in top form. Playing as either Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Splinter, or April, you and up to four friends can roam the streets with the sole intention of foiling Shredder’s nefarious plans.
One of the great things about Shredder’s Revenge is how easily you can devote a single evening to it. It’s not a long experience that you have to dedicate an entire month to. It genuinely brings to mind the arcade cabinets of old and the delight of spending a night playing through each level. The only difference this time is that you can fight your way alongside the Turtles from the comfort of your own home now.
Peggle
- Released
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February 27, 2007
- ESRB
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E For Everyone
Peggle’s “cooperative” mode relies on passing the controller back and forth, similar as to how co-op play would turn out on an arcade machine. But given how fantastic Peggle’s base game is, you shouldn’t mind how staggered this cooperation feels. Though first released in 2007, you do not feel a single day of Peggle’s age. Its gameplay loop is still immensely satisfying, and being able to share it with a friend just heightens the experience.
Together, you and a buddy work to eliminate all orange pegs with a limited number of shots. You can play as different characters, and each possesses unique abilities to make your goal that much more attainable. One ability allows you to fire multiple balls in one shot. Another allows you to path out ricochets from peg to peg. It’s straightforward fun you simply can’t beat.
As Dusk Falls
- Released
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July 19, 2022
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs and Alcohol, Violence
If you’ve ever wanted to play a Telltale-esque game with a friend that isn’t some horror title from The Dark Pictures Anthology, then look no further than As Dusk Falls. While this thrilling narrative adventure doesn’t exactly break boundaries with its mechanics, it’s an undeniably fun experience to play with friends. You and up to seven other players can work your way through the story of a motel hold-up gone terribly wrong.
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Votes are taken on which dialogue options to choose and quick-time events are performed jointly, so all players contribute to reaching the outcomes they desire. It can be a tense and hilarious experience at the same time. As Dusk Falls is the perfect example of a narrative-driven game that is fantastically suited for being played cooperatively.
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator
- Released
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April 1, 2019
- ESRB
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T For Teen Due To Violence
The goofy nature of Totally Accurate Battle Simulator (or TABS) is made twice as ridiculous with a friend in tow. Pitting the creatures on your battlefield against those arrayed by your bud on the opposite side is a hilarious experience. Watch as your googly-eyed monstrosities amble, lurch, and fall over themselves as they make sad attempts to fight their opponents. Gape in frustration as ranged units miss enemies that are right in front of them.
Cry out in shock as a single overpowered unit decimates a veritable army of mediocre units. TABS might be called a “totally accurate battle simulator,” but even just loading this game up and watching the main menu screen prepares you for the height of hilarity.
Halo Infinite
- Released
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December 8, 2021
- ESRB
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T for Teen: Blood, Mild Language, Violence
Is it the conventional co-op experience players fervently wish would have shipped with the campaign? Not precisely, no, but Halo Infinite does at least feature splitscreen functionality in the multiplayer suite.
So while you may not be able to smash Grunts into a fine paste with your best pal, there’s something to be said about being able to pile into a Warthog together for an adrenaline-pumping flag run into the opposing team’s base alongside the person you’re sharing the comfort of your couch with. Couch co-op is part of the DNA of the Halo series. Without screen-peeking, you wouldn’t be able to call it Halo.
Gears 5
- Released
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September 10, 2019
- ESRB
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M
The Gears series was one of the premier line of games touting the universal appeal of local co-op, so why not try your hand at the latest entry in the series. Gears 5 is the pinnacle of everything the Gears of War franchise has achieved. Its story contains multiple callbacks to the original while still forging ahead and carving out its own chunk of the mythos.
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The gunplay has never felt better, and new open-world environments spice up the Gears formula. Nothing is as good as playing Gears 5 with a friend, and it supports both local splitscreen and online co-op. Kait Diaz’s journey is one of the most harrowing yet faced by a Gears protagonist, but it’s definitely an enjoyable action title for fans.
