Gaming

Valheim is good even if you can't be on at the same time. Just slowly build out a world as you would in Minecraft and save the biome raids for when you can get the party together. It's flexible.

Ready or Not is fantastic in co-op

Try Factorio!! It’s got a demo you can try to get a taste as well. I spent ~20 hours in the demo itself before I bought the game. Looooved it.

Try Helldivers, it's isometric twin stick shooter, with second game coming this year switching to third person kinda like Risk of Rain 2

My friend and I have fun playing Bro Force. It's like contra. If you like beat em ups, the ninja turtles game or streets of rage 4 are fun.

Try Overcooked, cheap and fun, also might get mad at each other

I once did a weekend on the campaign of Borderlands 2 with friends, it was awesome. Also, PlateUp is a nice coop game to play over a WE

I don't know how much of a good fit it might be but maybe Divinity original sin 2?

PULSAR is pretty amazing if you have a few friends to play with. It really feels like actually running a spaceship together. You can shout things like "Divert all power to main turrets" and actually mean that.

I can always recommend Guild Wars 2. It is f2p but the base game still has alot of content with some restrictions to not get overrun by bots.

Big detailed world to explore together and do stories which you get every 10 levels. If you pick different races and decicions at character creation, it all converges after lvl 60.

You also unlock all waypoints for every starter zone from the get go, so you can play together immediatly.

It can feel very easy there so you might want to tackle zones above your level, but the game gets harder in the 80 zones, group content and the expansions. Especially in Heart of Thorns, where the whole jungle tries to kill you.

It has no subscription which makes it perfect to play and then take breaks and even if you outlevel your friends you get downscaled and still get loot, so you can help or the other way around.

You could try dead by daylight

I would recommend Vermintide, its like left 4 dead but you're bashing rats

Gold with Friends is casual and at times frustrating fun. Don't have to wait for each person to hit the ball before you hit yours either, so the games courses don't drag on.

I haven't played it just yet, but people have been praising Crab Champions a lot.

Also if it's just you and one mate, and you'd like to enjoy an experience together in one session and be done with it, try A Way Out but make sure to not Google a single spoiler.

Check out Phasmophobia.

It's a ghost investigation game that's easy to pick up, and has some really awesome scary moments. It's only about $14 and it's got an overwhelmingly positive rating on Steam.

Starship Troopers: Extermination is PvE wave/extraction shooter, from the company that developed Squad. Looks pretty fun but if you are not into that universe nor have enough friends you'd need to rely on other players as well.( basically max 12 players in 3 teams atm.) Warning: early access so if you are not tolerant to EA type of development/update cycle just avoid.

There is a couple other PvE wave/extraction shooter as well, so give them a try.( Just google that term, usually around $30 and could go on sale.)

Rocket League, this one I played since launch and really good game to start before your group all come online and then move on to other games.(since it supports up to 4v4, but usually people only queue 2v2 or 3v3 matches.)

We had a lot of fun with V Rising. It's a bit like Diablo I'd say, but with base building and crafting and the level is based entirely on gear, so if someone misses a few sessions you can just craft one extra set of the latest armor you unlocked and they are on your level instantly.

Pummle Party: it's basically a Mario Party clone for PC.

If you like horror Outlast Trials is pretty good. It's a little short on content (there are 9 unique missions) but the experience is well worth the money, I'm hoping they add new content soon.

I don't think Barotrauma has been mentioned yet? Survival in a submarine, as far as I know. Haven't played it, but it reviews well.

Ark and other survival/crafting games like 7days to die and Raft are great fun. Persistent worlds for collective fun.

There's a new Starship Troopers co-op shopter out with 16 simulataneus players kilming bugs.

And Legion Td2 for a co-op campaign/bots experience.

Me and my wife have been really enjoying Bread and Fred. Your two penguins tied together who have to use your momentum to climb a mountain. It's in the genre of "getting over it" where you can fall at any time and lose all progress. Two player only, it's more a couple game.

I don't see overwatch 2 on the list. I think the game gets an unfair amount of hate, it's one of my favourite games. One of the few games that is competitive but not Grey army colours. Community is toxic, and it takes a long time to learn though. It can be an exceeding satisfying game, but unfortunately I think it only really gets fun at Plat and higher elos (similar to csgo in that regard)

Stardew valley is a great vibe game that I don't see listed. One if the best games for casual chat and play imo.

Last games I had fun with co-op :

• Rocket League (free)
• Overwatch (free. Still my main game solo)
• Gloomhaven (boardgame adaptation. I'm a boardgamer so I may be biased but it's just a good turn by turn with cards for abilities. It's hard :))

Barotrauma! I even set up a lemmy community for it.

My friend I have been playing Children of Morta and it's a pretty fun coop experience.

This is an odd one, but Powerwash Simulator has been an blast for me and my wife. We used to play a lot of Overwatch, but didn't like the new direction with 2. It somehow manages to scratch some of the shooter itch while being really chill.

Streets of Rogue. It's a top-down roguelike with many different characters and items. You can do the missions in different ways playing solo, but co-op opens even more possibilities.

• I'd recommend 9 parchments if you just want to play together. My roommate's got a play list similar to yours and he's obsessed with it right now.
• I'm not one for multiplayer, but if you ever do two player my favorite is wizard of legend. I usually play solo. If you play with friends it's fun though since you can design complimenting loadouts and you get different dungeons.
• Trine is a puzzle platformer that's fun but can be frustrating if you've got a "smash everything" friend with you. It's 3 player IIRC.

I liked multiple of the Tom Clancy games, like Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon.

warframe is a lot of fun

Core Keeper has a Terraria / Zelda: Link to the Past vibe if you are looking for something like that.

Based on your played games you would probably all enjoy World of Warships. It’s F2P, possible to play and enjoy without spending money (though of course spending money does allow you to get more stuff), has deep gameplay and large learning curve but matches are all less then 20 minutes.

The Dead Island games are great for co-op

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but Hunt Showdown is a blast with a friend. Me and my buddy have played it a long time. They're always patching and adding content here and there. :)

Not sure what the price is unfortunately.

It may not be something you can complete in an evening, but Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a cross platform co-op game based on the ruleset of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.

It's available on game pass, and has bee a ton of fun for my friends and me.

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a local co-op where you share the controls of a spaceship. Your goal is to save the space bunnies. Not quite the same style as the games on your list but it's inexpensive and cute.

For the King (and coming soon, For the King 2) has been a go-to coop game with one of my buddies. It's a turn based, low poly dnd-esque game with a handful of different campaigns. FTK 1 has 3 character parties, so one of us will just play 2 characters, but otherwise it's pretty perfect for 2 people.

Warframe is weird and generally best if you have a buddy that's already in the game. But it's really fun with something for everyone, and really great if you aren't all able to play at the same time frequently. The multiplayer is a similar structure to DRG, squads of 4 with 5-60 minute missions.

For your base building survival fix, I highly recommend Raft or Subnautica Nitrox, the unofficial multiplayer mod

If you hate your friends or want to hate your friends, try Pico Park or Overcooked. Also the space game Heavenly Bodies, but it's only 2-player