Read more: our guide to the best platform games on PC Learning the enemy’s various attack patterns and coordinating parries and attacks is key to victory, but if – no, let’s face it, when – one of you messes up and takes a projectile too many, you’re able to parry their immortal soul back to the land of the living – if you can reach them in time before they slip off screen into the afterlife. Playing as the eponymous Cuphead and his crockery-in-crime Mugman, you make your way through a top-down overworld, unlocking new areas by beating levels that usually consist of boss fights with multiple evolving stages. Well, that’s not entirely true, but at least it gives you someone to blame when you die repeatedly to a 1930s style wibbly carnation, as beautifully animated as it is unsettling. This devilishly difficult co-op game becomes a little easier when you add a Mugman to the mix. Like Valve’s masterpiece, 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. 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. Playing alone, 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. The entire game is designed to be tackled solo, but it’s when two players with two different abilities come together, essentially subverting the game, that Trine 2 really sings.
Naturally, each one offers different abilities, all offering solutions to puzzles. This gorgeous side-scroller cast you as one of three fantasy archetypes: a warrior, a wizard, or a rogue. It’ll leave you glowing.Įasily the strongest entry in this charming platformer/puzzle series, Trine 2 remains a delightful co-op game. The best strategies lie in experimenting with Divinity: Original Sin 2 builds combining the elements to explosive or paralysing effect having your mage open the clouds so that your comrade can zap the resulting puddle with lightning, or breaking open a barrel of oil for a friend to light on fire. Though combat is turn-based, it requires close communication if you’re to have any hope of besting enemies. Work within those laws, and as our Divinity: Original Sin 2 PC review points out, you’ll be treated to one of PC’s most satisfying co-op games. As you explore doom fortresses, trap-filled mazes, and ethereal realms, you’ll soon discover that there’s a unique and fun logic at play in everything you do. You’ll each take control of either a pre-made character complete with their own goals and backstory, or a blank slate on which you can project all your fantasy… fantasies.
The plot revolves around outlawed magic and the impending end of everything, which you’ll attempt to avert with the aid of a friend or three. Then, somehow, it was made even better with the Divinity: Original Sin 2 Definitive Edition, with Larian expanding and enhancing its already-wonderful yarn.
This Ultima-indebted adventure is more tactical, wordy, and comprehensively interactive than any other modern RPG you’d care to name, cooperative or single-player, and ranks as one of the best RPGs on PC. The game chucks both players into a well of mechanics, then waits patiently for them to get their bearings. Unlike many co-op games that sacrifice depth to speed up conversation and inventory management, Divinity: Original Sin 2 is a full-fat RPG adventure.