The Next Wave of Co-op Games Is Already Taking Shape
From moving-company disasters to haunted mines, zombie survival, and stop-motion platforming, the next year has some very different ways to play together.
There are still several interesting co-op games coming before 2026 is over, and the 2027 lineup is already filling up. Some are huge releases, while others are exactly the kind of strange indie projects we tend to keep an eye on at Fix Gaming Channel.
If you want something to play right now, our 15 Best Co-op Games to Play in 2026 covers games already available. This list is about what comes next, and we will keep updating it as studios confirm new dates, delays, platforms, and co-op details.
Gears of War: E-Day Official Trailer
Watch the official Gears of War: E-Day announce trailer on YouTube.
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Upcoming co-op games still coming in 2026
1. Gears of War: E-Day
Release: October 6, 2026
Genre: Third-person shooter
Developer / Publisher: The Coalition / Xbox Game Studios
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S and PC
Co-op: 2-player split-screen on console; up to 4 players online
Gears of War returns to the beginning with E-Day, following Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago during the Locust emergence. The campaign brings back the series’ co-op focus, making this one of the biggest recognizable names here for players who still associate Gears with clearing campaigns beside a friend.
Gears of War: E-Day launches October 6, 2026, with split-screen and online campaign co-op.
2. The Halloway Haunting
Release: October 2026
Genre: Co-op horror
Developer / Publisher: New Bones Studios
Platforms: PC – Steam
Co-op: 1–4 players, online or local split-screen
The Halloway Haunting is a first-person horror game about investigating abandoned buildings, restoring power, and trying not to get caught by whatever is hunting in the dark. Splitting up to cover more ground sounds useful right up until somebody realizes they are completely alone.
3. SONIC PICO PARK
Release: November 11, 2026
Genre: Co-op puzzle platformer
Developer / Publisher: TECOPARK / PICO PARK Inc.
Platforms: PC – Steam
Co-op: 2–8 players, local or online
PICO PARK already understands how quickly a basic puzzle can fall apart when several people need to cooperate. Adding Sonic to that formula makes SONIC PICO PARK one of the stranger crossovers here, mixing speed with teamwork-heavy puzzle design.
SONIC PICO PARK supports local and online co-op for 2–8 players.
4. Carry On Together
Release: November 16, 2026
Genre: Co-op simulation
Developer / Publisher: Butiq Games
Platforms: PC – Steam
Co-op: Up to 4 players online
Carry On Together turns running a moving company into a co-op disaster generator. Furniture breaks, vehicles crash, and teamwork tends to disappear the second somebody gets stuck in a doorway with a sofa. That sounds like exactly the kind of simple setup that can create very good co-op stories.
5. Hela: of Mice & Magic
Release: December 1, 2026
Genre: Adventure
Developer / Publisher: Windup Games / Knights Peak
Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2
Co-op: Local split-screen or up to 4 players online
Hela: of Mice & Magic takes players into a Scandinavian-inspired open world as tiny mouse familiars trying to help an ailing witch. Exploration, potion brewing, and environmental puzzles sit at the center of the adventure. It is considerably calmer than most of this list, which is exactly why it stands out.
Hela supports local split-screen and online co-op for up to four players.
Upcoming co-op games in 2027
6. KITMAN
Release: Q1 2027
Genre: Co-op job simulator
Developer / Publisher: Outlier
Platforms: PC – Steam
Co-op: 1–4 players online
KITMAN might have one of my favorite setups on this list. Instead of playing soccer, you and your friends work behind the scenes at a stadium. Clean boots, repair jerseys, mop floors, keep the club running, and apparently meddle with the manager’s tactics when nobody is looking.
7. Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember
Release: March 4, 2027
Genre: Action RPG
Developer / Publisher: Team NINJA / Koei Tecmo Games
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, PC
Co-op: 2–3 players online
Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember brings Team NINJA’s dark Three Kingdoms action RPG back with demons, martial arts, and larger battlefields. Players who prefer dealing with brutal encounters as a group will be able to bring friends into the fight instead of taking every beating alone.
8. JOIN US
Release: March 2027
Genre: Open-world survival
Developer / Publisher: Wolf Haus Games
Platforms: PC – Steam
Co-op: 1–4 players online
JOIN US is an open-world survival game where the resource you are really collecting is people. Players build a doomsday cult, recruit followers, establish a compound, customize its beliefs, and prepare for the apocalypse. It is difficult to complain about co-op survival games feeling the same when one of them asks you to start a cult.
9. No Prospects
Release: Q2 2027
Genre: Co-op mining / survival horror
Developer / Publisher: Michaelsoft Johnline
Platforms: PC – Steam
Co-op: Online co-op
No Prospects sends a squad of prisoners into procedurally generated haunted caves to mine resources and somehow make it back out. Proximity chat is part of the design, which means hearing a teammate disappear into the darkness may be just as important as seeing it happen.
10. Lazy River
Release: Summer 2027 Early Access
Genre: Co-op first-person shooter
Developer / Publisher: Mike Boxleiter, Kevan DuPont, Jake Yetter, Joel Corelitz and Karlee Esmailli / Mike Boxleiter
Platforms: PC – Steam Early Access
Co-op: Online co-op
Lazy River is a co-op first-person shooter set in a space waterpark immediately after a zombie outbreak. The plan is to build a raft out of whatever junk you can find and ride the lazy river toward safety. Waterpark physics, improvised rafts, and zombies already make this one difficult to confuse with anything else.
11. State of Decay 3
Release: 2027
Genre: Open-world survival
Developer / Publisher: Undead Labs / Xbox Game Studios
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC, PS5
Co-op: Up to 4 players online
State of Decay 3 continues the series’ mix of zombie survival and community management, with co-op built around keeping a settlement alive together. The interesting part has never been only killing zombies. It is deciding who survives, what gets built, and what risks are worth taking.
State of Decay 3 is targeting a 2027 release with up to four-player co-op.
12. Outward 2
Release: 2027
Genre: Survival action RPG
Developer / Publisher: Nine Dots Studio / Nine Dots Publishing
Platforms: PC – Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG
Co-op: Online and local split-screen
Outward 2 continues Nine Dots Studio’s approach to fantasy RPGs where simply surviving the journey is part of the challenge. Hunger, weather, preparation, inventory management, and dangerous travel all return, along with both online and local split-screen co-op.
Outward 2 continues the series with online and local split-screen co-op.
13. Out of Words
Release: Early 2027
Genre: Co-op platform adventure
Developer / Publisher: Kong Orange and WiredFly / Epic Games Publishing
Platforms: Epic Games Store, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2
Co-op: 2 players, couch or online cross-platform
Out of Words may be the visual standout of the entire list. Its world and characters are physically handcrafted for a stop-motion look, while the game itself is designed specifically around two-player cooperation through platforming, puzzles, friendship, and first love.
14. KEMURI
Release: 2027
Genre: Action adventure
Developer / Publisher: UNSEEN Inc.
Platforms: PC and PS5
Co-op: Up to 3 players online
KEMURI comes from Ikumi Nakamura and the team at UNSEEN, combining supernatural action with a vertical city filled with yokai. It can be played solo or in online co-op, and its strange city and paranormal hunting already give it a very different identity from the survival-heavy games around it.
15. Into the Unwell
Release: 2027
Genre: Action roguelite
Developer / Publisher: She Was Such A Good Horse / Coffee Stain Publishing
Platforms: PC – Steam
Co-op: 1–3 players online
Into the Unwell is a rubber-hose action roguelite where up to three players fight through a fever-dream world using ridiculous weapons. It is weird, visually distinctive, and exactly the sort of co-op project that can either become brilliant chaos or completely fall apart. Either way, I want to see where it goes.
Into the Unwell brings its strange rubber-hose world to 1–3 player co-op in 2027.
2027 is already looking good for co-op players
The interesting part about this lineup is how little the games have in common beyond playing them with other people.
Gears of War: E-Day and State of Decay 3 give the list some big names, but the games I will probably be watching most closely are the stranger ones. Running a football locker room in KITMAN, building a doomsday cult in JOIN US, floating through a zombie waterpark in Lazy River, or exploring a handmade stop-motion world in Out of Words are much harder ideas to replace with another game.
That is what I want from co-op. Give us a reason to talk about what happened after everyone logs off.
This list was last checked on September 25, 2026. We will update release dates and co-op information as developers announce changes.
Related Reading
15 Best Co-op Games to Play in 2026
12 Best Co-op Horror Games on Steam in 2026
Best Crossplay Games That Work Across Mobile, Console, and PC
Written by Ronny Fiksdahl, Founder & Editor-in-Chief of Fix Gaming Channel.
Send interview pitches, corrections, tips, or developer stories to contact@fixgamingchannel.com.
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