PS5 co-op games: Best experiences for the holidays

The best PS5 co-op games are an incredible way to spend the holiday period with your friends and family members. It could be a tough-as-nails action platformer or something cute and cuddly. Whether you’re thinking of playing split screen on the couch or engaging in online multiplayer, we’ve rounded up 10 titles you won’t want to miss during the downtime on the way.

We kick off with a quick rundown of the ten titles we’ve picked in this article, and then we’ll get into the details. Our list includes award-winning, cute, action-heavy, relaxing, intense, and compelling games. All titles that are ready for you to link up with a buddy to enjoy. Here are the best PS5 co-op games, ranked from 10 to one. 

The Escapist recaps

• Top PS5 co-op games where the story is key include It Takes Two and Split Fiction.
• You can team up with multiple friends in titles like Overcooked, Stardew Valley, and Baldur’s Gate 3.
• A casual couch-co-op drop-in session can be had with LEGO Star Wars.
• Action awaits in multiplayer Helldivers 2 and Arc Raiders.

Best PS5 co-op games in brief 

We’ve made our choices of the top 10 PS5 co-op games based on value, replayability, and fun factor, whether that’s playing with a friend or family member. There’s a wealth of content available from big-budget studios, indie darlings, and the AA market to get immersed in together. Sackboy, Lego Star Wars, and Overcooked offer family-friendly experiences for the holiday period.

10. Overcooked

It feels bad putting Overcooked at 10 because it’s a heck of a lot of fun: one of those PS5 couch co-op games, you’ll go to again and again. Up to four players can unite to deliver culinary masterpieces to waiting customers through clear communication, or otherwise lose business. But there’s more than co-operative cooking available here. 

You can also play Overcooked single-player, working through the levels from simple recipes and requirements to more complex culinary goals. Plus, there are head-to-head cooking challenges to keep you and your friends on your toes. You may even want to order the sequel, which adds even more challenging treats to prepare.

9. Dying Light: The Beast

We really pondered putting this as low as nine, because Dying Light: The Beast is certainly one of the Best co-op games on PS5, particularly if you’re an action fan who enjoys online co-op with pals. There are more than 40 hours of chaotic zombie-smashing adventures to be had in Castor Wood, thanks to The Beast’s up to four-player co-op.

One host player needs to complete the second solo quest, Safe Haven, before handing out the invites. Then you can create your unit, all playing as Kyle Crane (yep), with his beastly powers on hand. Unlike in Dying Light 2 co-op, Campaign progression is shared. That makes it well worth your time if you’re keen on finding co-op horror games, PS5-style.

8. Stardew Valley

The cosiest title on this list? We think so. Stardew Valley is an iconic farming simulation and one of the better couch PS5 co-op games (or any other platform). With local split-screen for two to four players, you can enjoy ultimate cozy and laid-back console vibes with friends in the same room, as you bring your grandpa’s farm back into order. 

Stardew Valley is one of the games where hanging out really adds an extra element of joy to your progress. And you’re not limited to local play. The online multiplayer allows up to eight gamers to play together in a hosted environment where you can adventure, explore, and build the life and farm you want. Not just one of the top PS5 split-screen co-op games. 

7. It Takes Two

It Takes Two is a multiplayer creation designed with shared fun as the focus. One of the best PS5 co-op games for couples, you can also play the Hazelight Studios title in online co-op. Regardless, you’ll need to guide Cody and May (a couple turned into dolls) along their adventures in all kinds of outrageous and magically weird settings. 

The goal? Save their relationship from disaster by pulling together to overcome challenges like piloting a pair of underpants. Funny, ridiculous, and all kinds of weird, It Takes Two is a must-have recommendation for co-op story games, PS5 or otherwise. The nonsense you’ll see and overcome is only matched by the quality of the time spent with a partner.

6. Split Fiction

Another excellent and reliably psychedelic Hazelight game, Split Fiction is regarded as one of the very best couch co-op games PS5 has to offer. Mio and Zoe are sci-fi and fantasy writers, pulled into stories of their own creation, while under threat of their own ideas being stolen. They need to depend on each other to escape parallel, if starkly different adventures.

An unexpected action title, with plenty of wow moments, Split Fiction is also an online co-op game, but there’s no single player. It’s a multiplayer game through and through, which makes it a wonderful experience if you’re looking for a title to play with a friend. From futuristic to fantastical landscapes, it’s one of the best new co-op games on PS5 in 2025.

5. Sackboy: A Big Adventure

A resident of most PS5 co-op games lists, Sackboy continues to charm even years after it was first released. An up to four-player local or online experience, the game is a wild 3D platformer with a race against time. The evil takes Sackboy’s friends captive, to build a Topsy Turver, to transform Craftworld into the stuff of nightmares.

Can Sackboy fulfil his destiny and the prophecy of the Knitted Knights, and will you team up with friends to do so (go on, it’s great). This cute and highly playable title, along with its well-imagined levels and environments, places Sackboy among the best 4-player co-op PS5 games the system has to offer: simply a great way to fill your day with multiplayer gaming joy. 

4. Helldivers 2

Few PS5 online co-op games offer the outright action that Helldiver 2 has to offer. And it’s for that reason that it sits fairly high on our list. If you’re prepared to wage war for peace and protect the democracy of Super Earth, this frenetic shooter has a lot to offer. A title where big guns and gadgets are the key tools of elite Helldiver soldiers, as is co-operative gameplay.

One of the most chaotic and action-packed co-op games available, this isn’t just one for fans of PS5 2-player co-op games. Up to 4-player co-op is available online, and that just ramps up the action and explosive firepower your unit has at its disposal. Perhaps the best third-person shooter since Gears of War, deadly aliens won’t know what hit them.

3. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

There are good couch co-op games on PS5, and then there’s Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. A couch co-op classic featuring family-friendly LEGO humor and fun, players can drop in or drop out at any time during the game. It is a local co-op title with split-screen action, not online co-op, which means it’s good for friends, family, or partners to join in.

You’ll find all nine of the Star Wars saga films represented here, as you take control of potentially hundreds of characters, including droids, Sith, and Jedi. This is an expansive title with plenty of Star Wars fun to be had as you forge your own hero’s journey. The lord of all PS5 local co-op games? Maybe, but definitely the biggest LEGO game ever.

2. Baldur’s Gate 3

As we near the end, one of the very best co-op story games PS5 has is Baldur’s Gate 3. The epic D&D-inspired Baldur’s Gate series returned with the mind-flayers having captured and laid siege to Faerûn, with the Forgotten Realms under threat from unthinkable corruption. Four players can join online for multiplayer co-op, and the adventure is up to you.

As with standard D&D rules, your decisions shape your journey. So your custom characters can resist the darkness, or be tempted by the lure of absolute power? The depth is immense as you loot and battle your way through the story, with massive potential for replayability. Romance, betrayal, and adventure all await your party.

1. Arc Raiders

Arc Raiders is The Game Awards’ best multiplayer title of the year (2025). With that comes the acknowledgement that it is perhaps the best co-op game available for the console. Although there’s lore, there’s no defined story, but you can party up in duos or trios to quest, loot, or go looking for gunfights Topside. Just make sure you extract back to Speranza.

A stunning PvPvE experience, Arc Raiders is laden with retro-futurism in a dystopian future where humanity has been forced underground. Above, robots known as the Arc provide a persistent PVE threat, as do unfriendly Raiders. An extraction adventure game where every run is different; you win if you manage to make it home. 

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