By Mark Sammut & Maya Sattar
Co-op has been a staple of gaming for most of the medium's lifespan, and it is alive and well on Steam. While arguably associated more with PvP games, the PC scene is certainly no stranger to cooperative games, particularly ones that are played online. Local co-op options can be a bit harder to find since the feature is not typically prioritized on platforms like Steam, but they also exist, and there are some great titles out there.
When looking for multiplayer games to play with friends, players will likely gravitate either to team-based shooters or MMOs, two genres that have produced more than their fair share of great releases. However, there are plenty of great Steam co-op games that go beyond those categories.
Note
Co-op games that focus exclusively on PvP will be largely ignored. Counter-Strike 2 and Rainbow Six Siege X are examples of omitted games, although modes like Wingman can satisfy players looking for PvP co-op. That said, we will include a few exceptions, especially new games that you might have missed.
While the rankings are mostly based on quality, new additions will be mentioned first for visibility's sake.
Updated January 20, 2026, by Mark Sammut: As there aren't too many new games to add, we have introduced a quick picks section with recommendations across a few categories.
Quick Picks: Best Free Steam Co-Op Games To Play Right Now
While we will get to the individual games in a moment, let's first go through a few quick recommendations. If you are just looking for something to play today and don't want to dive deep into the titles themselves, this section should help direct you to the best place to start across a few different categories/situations.
| Game | Best For | Session Length | Co-Op Type | Complexity | Why It's Perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop | Casual Friends | 30 Minutes | Online (Up To 8 Players) | Low Entry, High Skill | Truly free, designed around co-op, perfect for either short or long sessions, accessible but with depth, nonstop action |
| We Were Here | Couples | 2 Hours (Full Playthrough) | Online (2 Players) | Low to Moderate | Truly free, self-contained, co-op is mandatory, revolves around communication, short, accessible |
| Team Fortress 2 | Competitive Squads | 30 Minutes To 1 Hour (Typical Match Length And Mann vs. Machine Co-Op Mode) | Online (Up To 12 Players / Co-Op Mode Supports 6 Players) | High (For Competitive) | Truly free (competitive mode), Mann vs. Machine Bootcamp is free (not Mann Up), teamwork is a must, competitive infrastructure, high skill ceiling, runs on a toaster |
| Palia | Chill Co-Op | As Long As You Want | Shared World (Up To 25 Players) | Low | Truly free, no pressure, drop-in and drop-out, perfect with friends, comfort-game |
| The Expendabros | Beginners | 1 Hour (Full Playthrough) | Local (Up To 4 Players) | Low Complexity, Fairly High Challenge | Truly free, pick-up-and-play, failure is fast and funny, no pressure to fulfill a role, gameplay is simple |
We Were Here
Steam User Rating: 90%
Following the same thread as innovative puzzle co-op games like Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes, We Were Here sees two players lost in a frozen wasteland and separated. The only form of communication they have is through their handheld radio devices. Both players must have working microphones to communicate as they work together through challenging puzzles to reunite, and they will have a unique gameplay experience.
Seemingly inspired by real-life escape rooms, I was surprised at just how well We Were Here manages to replicate those experiences. The game proved to be a big enough success to produce four sequels, none of which are free. That said, they are all very good and are not that expensive when bought together.
Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop
Steam User Rating: 94%
Alien Swarm might just be Valve's most forgotten game, although the 2010 release is by no means bad. In fact, anyone seeking a twin-stick co-op shooter can certainly do worse than this title; however, they should consider jumping into Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop instead of the original game. For one, Reactive Drop is still being updated despite coming out in 2017, which cannot be said for Alien Swarm. Secondly and more importantly, the expansion does exactly what it advertises: improve the base experience.
While not lacking PvP, Reactive Drop is primarily about co-op. 8 players can take on one of the game's 10+ campaigns, each consisting of a couple of missions. Naturally, the gameplay loop boils down to players going up against wave after wave of enemies while they try to work toward a level's endpoint. Straightforward as this concept is, Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop manages to incorporate quite a bit of nuance through its classes and tactics-driven gameplay. This is not one of those forgiving games that allow players to effectively disregard the rest of the team as they live out their Rambo fantasy; no, teamwork is necessary for survival.
Where Winds Meet
Steam User Rating: 88%
What a timeline we live in that something as impressive as Where Winds Meet would be free-to-play. While it has been out in China for a while, Everstone's open-world RPG is finally available internationally, and it covers a surprisingly wide net.
If you want to play Where Winds Meet as a single-player experience, you can do so without having to worry too much about interacting with the MMO features. If you are specifically looking to take your campaign online and join up with strangers, you can pick the Online Mode, which is its own thing that has unique dungeons and its own level system. Realistically, you will need to go back and forth between solo and online play, as you cannot do the former's quests in the latter and vice versa. Finally, if you want to play with your friends, you can use co-op mode, with one person acting as the host while everyone else serves as the guest.
Where Winds Meet goes out of its way to be as accommodating as possible, and it manages to shine in nearly every area. The game is, ultimately, best played with a couple of friends, as this quickens the process of completing story missions (as co-op covers the same ground as Solo Mode).
Wuthering Waves
Steam User Rating: 89%
Wuthering Waves took quite a while to make its Steam debut, but the delay was worth it since the game is nowadays in a much better state. At launch, Kuro's project garnered a notably mixed response, with the visuals and gameplay being considered decent but nothing too incredible. While the story is still not great, in my opinion, Wuthering Waves arguably offers the best combat in the gacha genre, along with pretty great traversal. Anybody craving a free-to-play open-world action RPG should give this a try, as they have nothing to lose but time.
For its co-op, Wuthering Waves allows up to three players to share a world, with one of them acting as a host. They all control one playable character, and having some allies can be useful for taking out bosses (although the game is not really that difficult). Honestly, Wuthering Waves' co-op is not much of a selling point, especially since players need to reach Union Level 22 just to unlock it. That is a lot of time to invest for people specifically looking to play with friends.
Rec Room
Steam User Rating: 88%
Rec Room is somewhat of a special case as it is a social platform that lets you create your own games and play them with friends. VR is the best way to jump into this title, but it does not need the technology either; therefore, you can play it with just Steam and a halfway decent PC. People can create rooms to house their games, and they can vary wildly in terms of genre, tone, length, and so on.
Besides the many, many player-created projects, Rec Room also has original games created by the developers, and they are generally fun and also give you a good idea of what can be created on the platform. Stuff like Isle of Lost Skulls, Quest for the Golden Trophy, and The Curse of the Crimson Cauldron are good places to start.
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This article originally appeared on GameRant and is republished here with permission.
