According to PCGames, that is. 
A somewhat light-hearted list, but interesting choices, nonetheless.Games offer up magic in lots of different guises. Its best spell though is bringing us together in multiplayer. But whilst competitive death matches and tense capture-point games may be brilliant, it’s working in harmony with other players rather than against them that can provide some of gaming’s true high points.
In co-operative gaming you can explore new worlds with a buddy by your side, triumph over evil as a team, introduce a novice to the wonder of the medium, or simply just beat each other over the head with questionable weaponry for kicks. These are ten of the very best co-op games for you to share with your favourite people.
How many do YOU play?Best for excessive loot drops:
Diablo 3What is it? An Action Role Playing Game where you click on enemies to make them die
Supported players: 2-4 (online)
Playing Diablo as a team makes tremendous sense. With two players you can compliment each other's classes, such as combing the long-range Wizard with a melee Barbarian. Teaming up also allows you to be a bit braver with your skills; playing solo as a Wizard would require you to think about shields and defence, but with a close-quarters friend acting as a tank you can focus on all-out firepower; the “glass cannon” approach.
The Reaper of Souls expansion and patch work did a lot for improving Diablo this year, and Loot 2.0 will ensure that you’re constantly filling your pockets with treasures. But it is Adventure Mode that does most for co-op play, allowing you to undertake missions anywhere in the world of Sanctuary without being tied to a plot. It means you can continue play even without a pal around, and you won’t have to wait for them to catch up or replay areas when they’re next online.
Best for bursting neurons:
Portal 2What is it? A physics puzzler set in a science lab managed by a genocidal AI
Supported players: 2 (online)
Portal 2 is frequently cited as the king of co-op for numerous good reasons. It requires genuine teamwork to solve its conundrums, preventing that frequent co-op problem of one player running off and impatiently doing everything before the other has chance to even move the mouse. A microphone and a good friend is recommended, but Portal 2 has a neat voiceless chat system that uses emoticons and pointing to make co-op with strangers easier.
There’s no denying that Valve’s dedicated co-op campaign is a work of genius, especially in puzzles where both players are required to be working simultaneously, but it’s the Steam Workshop that makes Portal 2 a co-op must. The range of user-created puzzle chambers is vast, with phenomenally well-designed challenges that can make Valve’s work seem like preschool logic toys.
Best for mass slaughter:
Orcs Must Die! 2What is it? A tower-defence game where you make use of traps to kill waves of orcs
Supported players: 2 (online)
Orcs Must Die! 2 is murder at it’s most gleeful. Limbs fly high as blades swing out from walls triggered by the hordes that storm your castle’s corridors, and flesh melts as acid rains down. The cartoony chaos almost disguises the vast amount of tactics that Orcs Must Die! 2 demands.
There’s a lot to think about. Before each wave of orcs stampedes through your halls, you have time to set up your traps and purchase new machines of death. With a second player involved, you essentially have two inventories, as each player can purchase different traps to create two complementary loadouts.
Orcs Must Die! 2 doesn’t ease up with two players though, and forces players to split up as enemies swarm from two entry points; a great move to ensure that both players are integral to achieving victory.
Best for dicking around:
Saints Row IVWhat is it? A gangster's open-world playpen, invaded by aliens and super powers.
Supported players: 2 (online)
Saints Row IV doesn’t earn bonus points for being a brilliantly thought-out co-op experience: the campaign is exactly the same should you wish to go it alone. But have a read of our review and you’ll soon realise this is an experience to be shared. From playing tennis with pedestrians and genitalia-shaped baseball bats to racing each other across the city with Flash-like speed, as with all comedy Saints Row IV is just funnier with other people around.
Best for epic expansion:
Shogun 2What is it? An grand strategy game with turn-based management and real-time combat
Supported players: 2 (online)
Common sense dictates that you don’t go to war without allies. In Total War: Shogun 2 you’ll be warring with seven other factions, so it would be pretty useful to cut that down to six and gain a friend who’ll do some of the heavy lifting for you.
With an allied nation fighting alongside you, the expansion of your empire becomes significantly more exciting. Each player can take territory to create a pincer movement on a notable threat, invading land with troops from either side of the battlefield and leaving the enemy with nowhere to run.
In the turn-based overworld elements of the game each player is left to their own devices, so managing your cities and provinces still requires some individual thought. In real-time battles you can assign troops to your co-op buddy, essentially making him a second-in-command, which ensures that both player stay involved even when not warring over their own territories.
Best for boomsticks:
Borderlands 2What is it? A colourfully violent FPS with over a gazillion guns to try out
Supported players: 2-4 (online)
Borderlands 2 is a seriously great shooter. Its Diablo-influenced approach to loot means there’s literally uncountable weapons to find, and the discovery and sharing of these guns is half the charm of Borderlands’ co-op play.
The harsh truth about Borderlands 2 though is it’s actually a little bit boring. It’s a long game, the quests are mostly of the ‘go fetch’ variety, and there’s a lot of fairly mindless grinding involved. Bring a second player to the party though (or a third and fourth) and Borderlands suddenly becomes the best game on the planet. Taking down swarms of mobs feels heroic rather than tedious, you can assign MMO-style roles to each player for tactical advantage, and - like Saints Row - the game’s comedy is simply funnier when enjoyed with others. Exploring Pandora becomes an epic adventure rather than a time-consuming slog, and half your skill tree suddenly becomes useful.
Best for a relaxed Sunday afternoon:
Trine 2What is it? A gentle physics puzzle platformer with beautiful fairytale aesthetic
Supported players: 2-3 (online or local)
Trine 2 casts you as one of three fantasy archetypes: a warrior, a wizard, or a rogue. Naturally each one offers different abilities and are solutions in themselves to puzzles. The entire game is designed to be tackled solo, but it’s when two players with two different abilities come together and essentially subvert the game that Trine becomes really fun. Playing solo, there are plenty of areas that feel inaccessible, but in co-op one player can cast a levitation spell as a wizard and lift a second player to where they need to be.
Trine 2’s puzzles are never quite as demanding as Portal’s, but having extra help from friends is always useful, especially when things get fiddly and timings become crucial. But like Portal, discussing the problem and solving it with friends feels much more of a co-op victory than taking down a boss in a shooter ever will.
Best for not spending a penny:
Path of ExileWhat is it? Free-to-play Diablo
Supported players: 2-6 (online)
Path of Exile is the most surprising free-to-play game around right now. It feels like a AAA game, coming very close to replicating Diablo’s core appeal flawlessly. The combat is great for itchy index fingers, there’s a massive skill tree to work on, and its production values are far higher than its penniless entry fee suggests.
Path of Exile does lack the finesse of Diablo’s character building, but its grand world, great enemy design, and relentless pace means there’s a massive amount of give for very little take. It’s not too story heavy, meaning it’s ideal for an hour here and there for more casual players, but if you want to sink the time in there’s plenty to keep focussed teams happy.
Technically Path of Exile is an MMO, but only in the sense that the original Guild Wars was: towns and camps house hundreds of players, but quest areas are instanced to party members only, making pretty much anything other than shopping and quest hand-ins a co-op experience.
Best for on the couch:
LEGO Marvel Super HeroesWhat is it? Every Marvel comics character built from Lego bricks and stuffed into an adventure bigger than The Avengers
Supported players: 2 (local only)
Realistically you could replace Marvel Super Heroes with any of the LEGO games - Batman, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings et al - and gain a largely similar experience, so select on personal taste. Traveller’s Tales’ LEGO games are frequently lauded for their charm, character, and loving respect for their source material. Marvel Super Heroes is no exception, bringing together pretty much every Marvel character you can think of (and about sixty more) and interweaving them in an epic narrative to defeat intergalactic hungry man Galactus. You’ll also have to smash a lot of things and rebuild them into useful puzzle-solving devices.
They’re fun but exceptionally simple, making them a super introduction to games for the people in your life who don’t normally play. If you’re a parent these are spectacular games to enjoy with your kids, but equally they’re great fun to play with an uninitiated partner, or even your skeptic older relatives. With two of you playing together, your character can act as the leading guide in-game, physically demonstrating how to do things rather than simply shouting at the person holding the controller. If you want to share the fun of games, there’s no better starting point than the LEGO games.
Best headless chicken simulator:
MonacoWhat is it? A quirky 8-bit stealth-em-up heist game
Supported players: 2-4 (online or local)
Success in Monaco is brilliant: sneaking into a casino, bank, prison .etc, lifting your target without leaving a fingerprint, and escaping not having moved guards from their patrol paths. The reality though is that this won’t ever happen. You’ll trip an alarm, bump into security, or accidentally fire off a gun before you’ve got halfway to the loot. With sirens wailing and enemies hunting you down, rather than keeping cool the default reaction from seemingly every player is to scream and frantically dart from one room to another in desperate hope you can still make it out alive. It sounds frustrating, but it’s not: it’s hilarious.
Missions do become more demanding as the game progresses - especially in DLC territory - but it’s kind of wonderful that you can still complete a lot of Monaco’s missions when almost everything has gone to pot. It’s the closest games have ever come to replicating the ‘caper’ style of movies, and everyone talks in fantastic French accents. You can also play as a pickpocket with a pet monkey, and if that’s not a convincing argument I don’t know what is.
http://www.pcgamesn.com/10-best-co-op-pc-games
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