Editor's Note #5: 2023, Co-Op... Collaboration Or Chaos?
What co-op games did you check out in 2023? Conall runs down his experiences, hopefully you'll enjoy grouping up for the read!
Welcome to Editor’s Note, a new editorial column from myself, Conall. I’m the longtime video editor of Bellular News, occasional researcher and in these columns I'm hoping to provide some interesting, (sometimes) alternative views on the industry.
In the last edition, I focused on my personal journey in games across 2023, but single player titles only amounted to part of that experience. Wanting to avoid losing touch with a few friends who have grown tired (at the ripe old age of . . . their late 20s!) of the grind required to keep having fun in more intense competitive games, we sought out some less taxing, - though I wouldn't say unanimously relaxing - multiplayer options.
With that in mind, and as a counterpart to the prior post, I'd like to present you all with a few anecdotal recommendations if you find yourself tiring of the grind of whatever live service treadmill you may have found yourself on!
Part 2 - Co-op
Co-Op "Relaxation"
When planning to get a weekly games night going, the "no sweat" rule was something I mistakenly assumed was broader than it really was. . . Horror is not really my scene, I'm not the most jumpy or anything, just not my vibe. Phasmaphobia however still managed to hook myself & some of our more fearful friends through the wonderful variety of remote-use gadgets in play. Its a simple premise: unveil and deduce the type of ghost present within a variety of locales before upsetting the creature enough that it kills you & your friends.
Its the freedom of approach that worked for us though. Our more fearful friend became our "guy in the chair", setting up cameras and sensors before monitoring them & throwing us updates while we took on the riskier tasks. Phasma is just seeped in atmosphere & the relatively recent overhaul patch showed that the small team clearly understands how to grow this project into a deeper, more substantial project. At their own pace of course thanks to how successful they've been since the game's launch amidst the height of Covid in 2020.
Despite the enjoyment found within our sessions of Phasma, having your neck repeatedly snapped upon failed attempts to navigate some of the more complex haunted abodes really lent itself to a palette cleanser (pun firmly intended!) for our group. . . enter Plate Up! Organized chaos packed into an adorably tense package. Just like the industry it apes, there's a wondrous madness to the easy to learn, never truly mastered gameplay loop present here. Almost rogue-lite at times with the layering of new dishes to prep, kitchens to arrange & appliances to trip over, PlateUp! is a great example of co-op gameplay done right. More than anything else we dabbled in across the past year I think this is where we were able to truly coordinate & communicate. Well, when we weren't screaming across Discord at one another that the soup was boiling over! o.O
Quite honestly I think we've had more conversations about forgetting it existed than actually made use of them despite them being fairly decent ways to pass the time without much planning.
Having found a routine, PayDay 3 (un?)fortunately found itself as the first new release that fit what we were looking for. In particular one of our number was caught so much up in the hype due to fond memories of the 2nd that he doubled down with a Gold Edition pre-order. Then the launch happened. You'll maybe recall from the channel that didn't go so well. Fast forward a couple weeks post-launch (& one Gold Edition refund later!) and we finally gave it a chance, thanks to Game Pass. In every sense its a great "Day 1 on Game Pass" title, particularly given that, despite a great amount of fun to be had running a few passes of each of the small array of 8 launch heists, we found yet another example to add to the pile of games spoiled with attempts to add "live service grinds" where they aren't warranted. If you've got a full party to dive into this, its well worth the dl via Game Pass, just maybe hold off if you're there for the progression, as we've put a pin on booting again until the inevitable progression revamp that I can only imagine is being looked into by Starbreeze for 2024.
Following our bank robbing & hostage-taking escapades, we did attempt to stick with the theme somewhat by dipping our toes back into Rainbow Six Siege. We hoped that the 'guy in the chair' role that we'd grown to enjoy including in our team comp would be able to be replicated somewhat in a hopefully 'sweat-free' manner in Siege's "casual" playlists. The experiment was an utter failure & we promptly moved on. Though it did at least inspire a prior edition of this very Editorial!
Speaking of failures, Diablo IV is a title I'd fully expected to feature more prominently in my memory for the year past, especially as I loved what I played of the beta alongside a friend. So much so I expected it to comfortably slot into my weekly co-op rotation. I had the game on launch, played for an hour or two only for a bout of family sickness to put me so far behind the curve - & those I wanted to play with - that I simply couldn't be motivated to catch-up.
Why mention it at all then? I wanted to reinforce the value of replayability that isn't built around a grind. Intrinsically motivating games are exactly what our group has been seeking out, & my year has been so much better for having time set aside to focus on that!
Before closing things out this time, Lethal Company really deserves a shout-out. We've not delved too far into it as of yet, it crossed our radar around the time that commitments surrounding the holidays kicked in notably, but Zeekerss dude, you've really created a fantastic, focused experience! Top tip: If you enjoy a bit of added chaos, ignore the diegetic tutorials on the ship during your first loop or two, just to feel out how things work. I found the experience of doing so hilarious, Conor (our lead News writer) was possibly a little less enthusiastic, though that's a tale for another day, as I fully expect the game will inspire me again in the coming weeks & months.
Aptly, & unexpectedly given the co-op focus today, I'd like to wrap things up with mentioning The Finals. Over the past few weeks its quite honestly bullied its way into the rotation despite on paper checking all the boxes of what we didn't want to include. The key difference, and where Siege failed, is that we've been able to find the fun in a way that suits all our preferences and quite frankly the game has launched in a state that's just too damn fun to ignore. Embark's pedigree of ex-Mirror's Edge & Battlefield Bad Company devs is plain as day, and, similar to some of my single player highlights for the past year, The Finals does a truly joyful job of making the toy box an absolute delight to be immersed in.
We've been playing purely for the joy of playing, yes we want the wins, but the gameplay loop means we're doing so on our terms rather than that of the enemy teams. Honestly, I think its that plural 'teams' that allows it too... if the waves of cops in PayDay were all controlled by uncoordinated randoms is something we've joked about as justification for this "counting" as co-op. It doesn't really matter though, as ultimately, its another great game to group up and play, genuinely rewarding us for communicating and playing our roles.
Destroying entire maps remains endlessly entertaining too! Its free to play too so well worth checking it out if you haven't already!
No long-winded sign off this time. . . Catch you in the next one!
