"When a friend invited me to play a new game called REPO earlier this year, I thought I was wasting my money - not because the game looked bad, but because it looked like Lethal Company. The surprise-hit 2024 co-op survival horror game has players wander through unnerving ruined structures collecting trash while evading monsters. Lethal Company was popular with my friends ( and just about everyone else), but its eerie liminal spaces spooked me too much."
"REPO has become one of my favorite games, and was one of the biggest co-op titles of 2025, along with similar indie co-op hit Peak. Over the past several months, the two titles have become the faces of a new niche of games with a somewhat controversial name: "friend slop." The term usually refers to indie co-op games that are best experienced with friends and have an emphasis on humor. They're typically PC games, cost less than $20,"
Low-cost indie co-op games labeled 'friend slop' prioritize chaotic, humorous multiplayer experiences optimized for friends rather than solo play. Examples include REPO, Peak, and the surprise-hit Lethal Company, which blend eerie or messy environments with comedic avatars and emergent player-driven fun. These titles are typically PC releases priced under $20, favoring accessibility, short play sessions, and streamability. Developers lean into imperfect mechanics and slapdash aesthetics to encourage improvisation and social interaction while relying on community and streamer uptake for visibility. The niche reframes 'slop' as a design choice that cultivates laughter, shared moments, and repeatable group play.
Read at The Verge
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]