Games have increasingly become a social medium, something that you can play with friends and family regardless of where you are in the world thanks to online multiplayer. However, sometimes, there’s nothing better than the hilarious conversations and antics that happen when playing couch co-op games. Here, we’ll be running you through the best Xbox Series X|S couch co-op and local multiplayer games that you simply have to download.
Diablo IV
Making its way to Game Pass imminently, Diablo IV is the latest game in Blizzard’s long-running fantasy RPG series. In the months since its release we’ve seen plenty of new seasons, alongside more classes and areas to explore.
While it was slightly more divisive at launch compared to the previous entries in the series, Diablo IV is the only place on Xbox to experience new Diablo content as it releases. Of course, you could dive into the remasters of the second and third entries in the series, too.
Baldur’s Gate 3
The RPG sensation of 2023 and Twinfinite’s own game of the year, Baldur’s Gate 3 is playable in split-screen on Xbox Series X, but not S. This means you and a friend can dedicate hours upon hours to each meticulously customizing your own character, adventuring together, and aligning your skills and moves to become an effective drow-slaying machine.
Gang Beasts
If you love to play fighting games with friends but haven’t got the time to dedicate to learning an entire moveset, then Gang Beasts is the perfect solution. Skill and practice go out the window, as you mash buttons to knock out other players.
The physics are completely busted, but that’s all part of the fun. You’ll grab your friends to throw them into meat grinders, or run away from a sprawling octopus as it engulfs an aquarium-turned-battle-arena. When it comes to sheer laughs, few games are quite as good as Gang Beasts.
Cuphead
Whatever you do, don’t let Cuphead’s cartoony art style lull you into a false sense of security. This game is an absolutely grueling challenge and quite possibly the hardest game on this list, regardless of whether you’re playing solo or in co-op.
Combining boss fights with tricky platforming levels, Cuphead will see you take on whatever the cartoony world throws at our heroes as they try to pay back their debt to the devil.
Cuphead is couch co-op for two players.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition
Divinity: Original Sin 2 is an isometric RPG of epic proportions and is perfect if you’re looking for a couch co-op experience that’ll keep you and your friend occupied for over 100 hours if you’re intent on seeing everything the world has to offer.
There’s a staggering amount of content in here, from different NPCs to befriend or kill, nearly every object being interactable, and plenty of quests to have you exploring every corner of the world.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 is couch co-op for two players on Xbox Series X|S.
Don’t Starve Together
In Don’t Starve Together, your objective is simply to stay alive for as long as possible. That means gathering resources, building items, and using your various abilities to stave off the sinister threats of the world… and hunger as you uncover the weird and wonderful world you find yourself in.
Don’t Starve Together is couch co-op for two players. Its online co-op allows for up to six players in a single game.
Gears 5
If you can’t get enough of chainsawing your way through all manner of nasty alien creatures, then Gears 5 has you covered. With its co-op campaign for up to three players, the latest entry in the series has plenty for you to sink your (chainsaw) teeth into.
The game does also feature the ever-popular Horde mode for up to five players, and the all-new Escape mode that tasks you with escaping a Hive after planting a bomb, but both of these are online co-op only. Even so, playing through the semi-open-world campaign with a friend or two is a blast all the same.
Gears 5 is couch co-op for up to three players.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Queue the epic music, the bad-mouthed grunts, and grav hammers galore, because Halo: The Master Chief Collection has more of all three of these things than you can shake a stick at. Even better, it can all be played in couch co-op multiplayer, too.
Including six mainline Halo titles, players can hop into the campaigns with up to two players in couch co-op (four players online), taking on the Master Chief’s saga over 67 epic-scale missions.
If you’ve yet to do the driving final mission on Legendary difficulty in Halo 3 or delivered the final blow to a Scarab with the help of your friends, you’ve yet to experience some of the very finest couch co-op action to grace the video games world. And when you’re done with all the campaigns, you can hop into multiplayer, too.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection features couch co-op for 2 players.
It Takes Two
It Takes Two is the latest game from Hazelight Studios and is yet another title that’s been built from the ground-up with co-op gameplay in mind. In fact, it’s not possible to play this game solo… unless you like juggling controllers in a frankly impossible manner.
Assuming control of the clashing couple Cody and May, players will need to use the different, complimenting abilities or weapons that each area throws at them together in order to overcome little platforming sections and boss battles, as the two remember why they fell in love with one another in the first place.
It’s a heartwarming, light-hearted couch co-op game that’s perfect for playing with your significant other, or just a really good mate who enjoys games!
It Takes Two is a couch co-op title for two players.
Minecraft
When every other game fails you for couch co-op, Minecraft certainly won’t. What more could you ask for than an enormous blocky world where you’re free to create whatever your mind can conjure up? Where you can battle beasties or spend hours on end trying to dig up diamonds and, most importantly, where you can tame and breed an army of doggos.
Whatever you all fancy doing can become this enormous collaborative effort and Minecraft has this habit of gobbling up hours of your time without you noticing. A true GOAT of the couch co-op games on Xbox Series X|S. We’re just still waiting for a native next-gen version!
Minecraft is couch co-op for up to four players.
Overcooked: All You Can Eat
If you’ve ever thought you might be a bit of a Gordon Ramsay when it comes to an uncontrollable rage whenever you’re in a culinary conundrum, then Overcooked is here to assure you that you’re assumptions are absolutely correct.
Overcooked sees you and up to three friends frantically making different dishes in increasingly hazardous kitchens full of gaps, moving tiles, and rules that’ll be sure to infuriate you as you try and manage an increasingly-hectic list of orders, cook the food and wash the dishes. It requires stellar communication and co-ordination… which makes it absolutely perfect for couch co-op when everything inevitably goes wrong.
Overcooked: All You Can Eat combines both the first and second games into one convenient package with couch co-op for 2-4 players.
Unravel Two
Unravel Two is all about forging new friendships and memories in the present, rather than holding onto ties to the past. This time around, the adorable Yarny is joined by a blue counterpart, who together can overcome puzzles and obstacles just one little woven creature cannot.
It’s also got a beautiful visual art style, and the introduction of a second player makes for far more interesting puzzles along the way.
Unravel 2 is couch co-op for two players.
Stardew Valley
Not every co-op game has to be some fast-paced shooter or grueling adventure. Sometimes you just wanna kick back and chill with a friend, soaking up some quiet time and maybe just tending to a few crops and livestock. Y’know, everyone’s casual everyday fantasy.
Well, that’s where Stardew Valley comes in. This retro-inspired farming simulator allows you and up to three friends to tend to your various crops and creatures together, and interact with the locals.
They can mine, fish, fight, forage, marry NPCs and take part in festivals. Essentially, they can do everything player one can do, making things far more interesting for the second, third, and fourth players.
Stardew Valley is couch co-op for up to four players.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Here’s a great, recent couch co-op game for Xbox Series X|S that we can’t recommend enough. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga contains over 45 levels spanning all nine of the mainline Star Wars movies, recapping the most iconic moments and bringing a cast of over 300 characters along for the ride.
Its gameplay is simple but that just makes it great for a casual session with your friends and family, and even better for gaming newcomers that need something relatively low-stress to get to grips with.
Plus, as each character has a different ability that they’ll need to use to complete the level, the co-op gameplay is actually pretty engaging for both players, rather than player 2 just being a glorified spectator.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is couch co-op on Xbox Series X|S for up to two players.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a great game to play in local co-op thanks to the fact that this is basically a Borderlands game with a Dungeons and Dragons skin draped over the top.
With a big focus on loot, crazy creatures, and the Borderlands series typical humor, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a great game to enjoy with some friends on your couch. It’s particularly good if you’re looking for a slightly lengthier runtime than other titles on this list.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is couch co-op for up to four players to join in the fun of shooting enemies and grinding out the best loot.
A Way Out
A Way Out is a more serious and grittier true co-op experience than It Takes Two — the more recent game from developer Hazelight Studios.
In A Way Out, two players assume control of two inmates as they escape prison and embark on an epic adventure avoiding the police in their life from out behind bars. This isn’t some single-player experience with co-op tacked-on, though. This is a co-op story-driven experience through and through and has to be played to truly be appreciated.
A Way Out is couch co-op for two players.
Rocket League
A giant football + rocket-powered remote-control cars = Rocket League, and what a genius combination it is.
The premise can’t be described much more than that, but Rocket League is a prime example of a game being easy to pick up but difficult to master, and that’s what makes it so special. Team up with up to three of your friends and take on rival teams online or the AI offline.
Rocket League is, without a doubt, one of the best couch co-op games on Xbox Series X|S, complete with enhancements for the current hardware, and it’s free-to-play, too!
Rocket League is couch co-op for 2-4 players.
The Dark Pictures Anthology Games
Best Xbox Series X|S Couch Co-Op & Local Multiplayer Games
How many times have you screamed ‘don’t go in there!’ with your friends when watching a horror movie? Yes, we’ve forgotten how many times too. Well, The Dark Pictures Anthology is here to finally put you in the unlucky shoes of various protagonists as they face sinister and spooky scenarios on an abandoned ship, creepy village, and ancient tombs respectively.
With Movie Night mode, The Dark Pictures Anthology sees each player selecting a character(s) and then passing the controller round as the story focuses on a different character. You’ll need to choose what dialog options each character will make and, more importantly, how they’ll react to all the scary goings-on in the adventure.
Can you and your friends get all of the protagonists out alive, or will you try and send them to their untimely deaths? The choice is yours.
The Dark Pictures Anthology games are couch co-op for up to 5 players.
Portal 2
There are few games that go down in video games history the same way that Portal 2 has. Offering a hilarious narrative, absolutely brain-melting puzzles, and clean visuals, Portal 2 is the perfect co-op game for when you’re looking for something a little more high-brow than blasting away some Locust in Gears of War.
Take on the puzzles with the help — or hindrance — of a friend and share all the highs, lows, and laughs that the game has to offer.
Portal 2 is couch co-op for up to two players.
Halo Infinite
Halo Infinite brings the dangerously compelling FPS gameplay back to our Xbox consoles, complete with a couch co-op option.
That means you can hop into the game’s multiplayer and take on other teams with a friend by your side. It does require you to both have Xbox Live accounts and to be logged into them, but once this is done you’re all set to dive into Slayer, Capture the Flag, Strongholds, or whatever other mode you fancy. Want to show off your prowess together? Then dive into the Ranked playlists and grind your way to Onyx.
Later this year, Halo Infinite will also receive a co-op campaign update, allowing you to play through the story with a friend, too. No official release date has been shared for this as of yet, though.
Halo Infinite is couch co-op for up to two players.
EA Sports FC 24
Team up to take on other players online in the ever-popular, card-based UItimate Team mode, or just pick your favorite team and take on another duo online in Online Seasons.
With all of the updated rosters, latest player ratings, and a new engine powering the Xbox Series X|S version of EA Sports FC 24, you can bet your bottom dollar this is the best couch co-op soccer game you can play on Microsoft’s latest console right now.
EA Sports FC 24 is couch co-op for up to two players.
Madden NFL 24
Regardless of whether we’re in the off-season or mid game week, there’s never a bad time to settle down and duke it out with your favorite team in Madden NFL 24. With the latest rosters and player ratings, playbooks, and everything else you’d want from the definitive football experience, Madden 24 is the perfect couch co-op game to set up with your friends.
Madden NFL 24 features couch co-op for up to two players.
Minecraft Dungeons
If the slow-paced, building-based experience in vanilla Minecraft just doesn’t do anything for you and your friends, you can take on the endless waves of enemies in Minecraft Dungeons, instead.
In this dungeon crawler set in the Minecraft world, players will fight their way through various stages based on the different biomes in Minecraft, earning materials to upgrade their new gear, or just new equipment altogether.
Minecraft Dungeons is couch co-op for 2-4 players.
You can check out our list of best Xbox One couch co-op games, too, if you’re looking for games you can play on the last-gen console.
