The funniest co-op games always seem to involve some combination of chaotic countdown timers, awkward miscommunications, slapstick physics, or out-of-the-box ideas. Whether you're shouting at each other across the room in couch co-op or losing it over voice chat as everything falls apart, these games are designed to make you and your pals laugh, while still providing a solid gameplay experience.
The best new co-op games are those that do something a bit different, offering more than a single-player experience with another player thoughtlessly tacked on. These multiplayer games account for groups of friends all wanting their own role, with a shared goal in sight and plenty of chaos on the path to getting there.
I don't know that we've ever seen a year quite like this one when it comes to new co-op experiences. From major-publisher-backed hits like Split Fiction and Grounded 2, to indie darlings like REPO and Peak, there hasn't just been a significant quantity of games meant for co-op play, but they've gone in so many different, yet similarly exciting, directions.