Best Multiplayer Games of 2018
It’s award season here at Twinfinite! Let’s look back at the best multiplayer games of 2018. Voted on by our editors, these were the games that our team felt were the best experiences if you’re looking to compete online or battle it out with your friends.
Let’s start with our honorable mentions, before going on to our runner-ups, and finally, of course, our overall winner!
Honorable Mention: Super Mario Party
Contributor Tony Cole-Cocking: It’s fair to say that the Mario Party franchise, much like Nintendo themselves a few years ago, was at risk of growing stale. In the Switch, both have found salvation, with Super Mario Party representing the best that the series has been for quite some time.
The concept of using only a single Joy-Con may seem obtuse at a glance, but it’s in this accessibility that Super Mario Party shines brightly. Grab your friends, familiarize yourself with the single-button objectives, and away you go.
The unique control scheme allows for some fantastic innovation, and the mayhem rarely lets up. It’s about as definitive a Mario Party as you could find, really, devoid of the cumbersome gimmicks that have plagued its recent predecessors.
Of special mention is the newfound emphasis on co-op play, thanks to features like the River Survival Mode. At its heart, Mario Party has always been about competition and betrayal, but in this alternative option, it bucks those trends and harbors an atmosphere of cohesion.
That being said, there is still something supremely satisfying about refusing to high five your teammates and watching their distressed responses. Indeed, betrayal comes in many forms.
Best Multiplayer Games of 2018
Honorable Mention: Overcooked 2
Associate Editor Tom Hopkins: If you’re unfamiliar with Overcooked 2, you might be surprised by just how emotional a quick level or two can be.
Yes, it all about putting together a dish and feeding the hungry diners, but be prepared for quite a lot of shouting and arguing. Beating the target score is the aim, you’re against the clock, and you need to rely on your partner to do their job. It’s a recipe for disaster.
However, when everything comes together, your plan working to perfection, you feel like cooking masters. Smashing the three star score on your second attempt makes you feel triumphant.
Overcooked 2 is also a big step forward for the series. Not only are the recipes far more complex and varied than before, but the levels are more exciting. They change on the fly, with platforms moving and whole sections of the stage being cut off as you scramble for ingredients.
On top of all that, online multiplayer has finally been added, so that you can increase the chaos even further. Without generally having the ability to communicate properly, it often descends into complete madness.
Overcooked 2 is the perfect couch co-op game. It’s fast paced, fun, and hilarious, but be prepared for your relationships to be tested.
Best Multiplayer Games of 2018
Second Runner-up: A Way Out
Contributor Darby Hallman: It’s rare to see a story-based game that can only be played with two players, but this year’s A Way Out is one of those games. However, as soon as you start playing it becomes apparent why this is the case.
In A Way Out, the two players play as convicts Vincent Moretti and Leo Caruso as they attempt to break out of prison and seek vengeance over a man who wronged them both. The game thrives by forcing the two players to work together to break locks, distract guards, run from the law, and a number of other thrilling tasks over the course of their adventure.
The game is constantly giving you and your partner new puzzles, action scenes or decisions that require you to work together in creative ways. A Way Out gives you the multiplayer cooperation of games like Overcooked or Snipperclips while also telling a compelling narrative.
Developer Hazelight Studios were able to brilliantly fuse cooperative gameplay with character development. As the two players get better at working together, Vincent and Leo also grow closer in the game. The pacing is great and gets you invested in their relationship.
A Way Out’s unique blend of couch co-op gameplay and storytelling usually reserved for single-player games makes it a stand out. The game is fun and compelling but doesn’t overstay it’s welcome, making it a perfect experience for two people to play over two or three sittings.
While a different sort of experience than most other multiplayer games, A Way Out is easily one of our favorites from 2018.
Best Multiplayer Games of 2018
First Runner-up: Monster Hunter: World
Contributor Jesse Vitelli: Just last January, Monster Hunter: World set the world on fire when it redefined the series without compromising the core values of the game.
With numerous crossover events with beloved franchises like Mega-Man, Devil May Cry, and Final Fantasy, Capcom has been hard at work to give players a place to return to time and time again.
Hunting with a group of friends or strangers elevates the game far beyond the already stellar bar it has set for itself. Quickly fire out an SOS Flare to have strangers join in on a tough monster hunt, or visit the quest board to jump in and help someone who’s struggling.
Monster Hunter: World demands communication from its players. With a large list of weapons, armor, and skills, it is vital to create synergy between teammates. High level monsters are extremely challenging and tackling this with friends is unlike most experiences you can find today.
This game has crafted such a rich and lived-in world that is inviting to players of all skill levels. It makes a world you and your friends want to constantly come back to. All of this is on top of the riveting, edge of your seat gameplay. All of the game’s systems have been streamlined to make sure players are given the tools to succeed if they have the skill required.
Best Multiplayer Games of 2018
Winner: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
Contributor Wesley LeBlanc: When it was first announced that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 would be foregoing the inclusion of a single-player campaign, the internet collectively lost its mind, and rightfully so. Not one Call of Duty game had done this before.
Now, a little over two months since its release, I am 100 percent confident in what you are about to read: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is without a doubt the best multiplayer Call of Duty experience this generation and perhaps the best in the series.
It tweaked just enough to make a franchise that has effectively been doing the same thing for more than a decade fresh and exciting, but it kept just enough of the core gameplay intact to keep it familiar and comfortable.
With the inclusion of health bars, and subsequently health packs, Black Ops 4 has transformed the standard Call of Duty gameplay we’ve all come to adore — whoever shoots first wins — into an action-forward game that allows for significantly more strategy.
If I’m feeling overwhelmed, or if I’ve taken on too much damage, I’m free to back out and heal up. This coupled with the return of specialists elevates the multiplayer experience to new heights.
This change aided the transition from the traditional multiplayer of Call of Duty to the game’s take on battle royale, Blackout. On the surface, Blackout is exactly what it looks like: Call of Duty’s version of the game variant that PUBG popularized.
But a deeper look reveals that this mode is so much more. Sure, it’s a battle royale, but it’s a battle royale with Call of Duty gameplay. Unmatched in the first-person shooter space, Call of Duty feels better than any other shooter and because of that, Blackout feels better than any other battle royale.
To wrap up the full package, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 comes with the series’ most expansive and exhilarating zombie experience to date. It’s beautiful, brutal, and everything you’d expect from Treyarch.
These three experiences, Zombies, Blackout and Multiplayer, all come together to form the best Call of Duty game this generation and more importantly, demonstrate that Treyarch was right all along: we don’t need single-player campaigns in Call of Duty anymore.
