2018 PC Coop Games

Welcome the definitive listing of all the cooperative oriented PC video games for 2018!
This list will be continuously updated throughout the year.

Coop list for a different year 

The games on this list, must meet the following criteria:

• PvE - Player vs Environment
• Online, split screens limited
• Available/announced for PC
• Involve 2 or more human players
• Players must work along a progressive storyline, campaign, or various goals
• Generic RTS Skirmishes and Team based game types like CTF and Deathmatch are not included
• No MMOs (game must have a conclusion or set goal)
• Greenlight & Early Access games are generally not listed unless intent for release is stated
• I'll be subjective with Survival/Horde modes as the genera has matured a bit. However, most are slapped-on after thoughts and not list worthy.

Shooter

State of Decay 2  - survival - 4 player
[ Metacritic - 69 ]
Open world, Survival RPG people v zombies.  Coop player in campaign is fairly limited to actions of primary player, more of a helping hand at most.

Far Cry 5 - 2 player
[ Metacritic - 79 ]
Entire campaign will be coop.

Vermintide 2 - 4 player
[ Metacritic - 82 ]
L4D in the Warhammer universe.  This time, its bigger, more open, more variation, and adds chaos along with the rats.

Strange Brigade  - 4 player
[ Metacritic - 76 ]
1930s pulp adventures shooting monsters.  A bit of Dead Island in a Indiana Jones inspired universe.  Defeat waves of baddies, to get to the boss dude.

OverKill's The Walking Dead - 4 player
[ Metacritic - 51 ]
Makers of Payday hit pay-dirt with this upcoming licensed shooter with the same winning formula of payday gameplay.  Expect people to be shoot'n at ya, while dodg'n them zombies.

Earthfall - 4 player
[ Metacritic - 61 ]
L4D clone, with Aliens!


RPG

Pit People - tactical  aRPG - 2 player
[ Metacritic- 78 ]
"Battle in turn-based hexy combat, finding loot, and generally questing".  Has a cartoon humor approach with Castle Crashers art style because it is from the same studio.

Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr -aRPG
[ Metacritic - 67 ]
Starcraft mimics Warhammer, so in fair trade, Warhammer will mimic Diablo.  Made by the studio that did the Helsing series.  This game exists because Warhammer didn't have an aRPG yet.

Strategy
  
We were here Too - Puzzle 
[ Metacritic - 71 ]
Communication-based, cooperative puzzle adventure.  A much better showing then its predecessor.

HackTag - 2  player
[ Metacritic - 73 ]
Monaco type gameplay, with heavy emphasis on stealth. One person hacks, while the other is in the field.

Catastronauts - 4 player
[ Metacritic - 78 ]
One part FTL, one part Overcooked.  Find out just how badly you coordinate under pressure.

Call to Arms - RTS 
[ SteamDB - 71 ]
From the makers of Men at War, comes a modern warfare take to their micromanager styled RTS.  Has RTS/1st person swap option.

Simulator

Stardew Valley - farming simulator - 4 player
[ Metacritic - 89 ]
I keep saying when I retire from tech, I'll take up gardening.  This isn't what I meant.  I dont get it, but the smash hit gets coop over a year later.

No Man's Sky - 2 player
[ Metacritic - 61 ]
Same game, getting a new coop updated tacked onto it.

Bus Simulator 18 - 4 player
[ Metacritic - 67 ]
Drive your route and drive some more. Drive slowly..

Overcooked 2 - 4 player
[ Metacritic - 80 ]
Very similar to the original, with added online coop.  The game revolved simple cooking, cleaning around chaotic environments and poor team decision making.


Action

Sea of Thieves - 
[ Metacritic - 67 ]
Not quite like piloting a starship, here you work together to sail a ship and find piratey treasures n stuff.  A Thieving pirates life coop for all.  Taps on all the highlights of piracy  (treasure hunt, ship battles, romance)  in one nice little package.

God's Trigger - 2 player
[ Metacritic - 79 ]
Isometric, feel's a bit like Hotline Miami.  Story teams up an angel and demon (Judy) to defeat the 4 horsemen.

A Way Out - 2 player
[ Metacritic - 80 ]
From the makers of Brothers, expect a rich story based on an escape with creative coop components.  one license will yield a copy for your coop pal.

Metal Gear Survive
[ Metacritic - 56 ] 
Zombie survival.  Takes place in an alternative MG universe.

2018 Summary

6 Shooters avg 76.  A 2 point increase, the lack of lasing every game would help bump up the avg.

4 Strategies avg
2 RPGs, avg 73. Nose diving 11 points.

.

The Winners

Vermintide 2
What dark sorcery is this?  Not only a L4D inspired game, but a Warhammer licensed game winning the coop annual?  ITs no mistake at all, instead we get a second chance to revisit the Warhammer coop fantasy world and learn from the mistakes from the first.  What you get is a brilliant coop experience without it feeling like just another L4D clone.

Notables

Farcry 5
The Farcry series continues to include coop into the campaign while managing to not compromise the single player experience.

Coop later is now
Games that said they would eventually add coop, actually did. Stardew, No Man, and God's Trigger all managed to expand on gameplay withut it being a tacked on novelty.


L4D inspired coop
See this year's winner and loser.

The Losers

RPGs 
RPGs had a dismal turnout for 2018.  Strange given the success of Divinitylast year and disinterest in MMOs.

OverKill's The Walking Dead  
It probably didn't help that the Walking Dead franchise has run its course. Burnt out.  Finished.  As a companyTelltale died on the license model, now so might Overkill.  Yet here it is, a L4D clone based on TWD; without the tight coding from Valve, instead you get the micro slop fix-it-later Payday developer nose diving with the license it adopted.