The mutual blame when a deerclops stomps through your camp, ruining days worth of winter prep, is a strategy game in itself. Turns out the developer needn’t have worried, because a disaster shared is even more fun. Klei fought shy of adding co-op to its brilliant game of goth survival whimsy for a couple of years, reasoning (not unreasonably) that the addition of other people might break its esoteric spell, which relies on feelings of isolation and discovery.

Release date: 2016 | Developer: Klei Entertainment | Players: 1-4 | Steam Read more: Portal Reloaded is the closest we’re likely to get to Portal 3 Best four-player co-op games No Man's Sky

Luckily, Valve's excellent map editor community has created a full array of excellent new maps to explore, and get stumped in, together.

Several years after release, though, finding two fresh players would be a rare trick indeed. Portal 2's co-op is strongest when neither of you know the answer: if your partner waits patiently for you, you feel like a moron if they don't, they'll be rushing you through all the discovery that makes the game great. The three-dimensional spatial thinking that makes the Portal series so addictive is only magnified when there's another friend getting stumped at the puzzles with you. As the two testing robots Atlas and P-Body, you and a friend get to explore the darker, more dangerous side of GlaDOS's testing routines-the stuff that's too dangerous for (non-protagonist) human testers. There's no denying the raw quality of Portal 2's distinct co-op campaign. Release Date: 2011 | Developer: Valve | Players: 2 | Steam

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