Over the past few years, crossplay has become a much bigger topic of conversation, as more games have integrated the feature into their product, thus bringing players together across every platform. One of the most interesting genres to be affected by this shift is open-world, as suddenly, players can not only experience gigantic landscapes and epic adventures, but they can also share the joy with virtually anyone in the world, regardless of what console they decide to buy.
Best Co-Op Open-World Games
Here are a variety of options for the best co-op games that can be experienced in an open world setting.
There are so many great games within the genre already, so the ability to enjoy them together on any platform just makes them even better. Yet even within such a stacked space, there are a few titles that manage to deliver a more enjoyable, engaging, and fun experience, ticking every box for players who love the large-scale worlds as well as the cooperative nature of the gameplay within them.
Sea of Thieves
Charting The Waters Together
Details:
- Casual multiplayer with surprising depth
- Slightly limited progression for longer-term play
Sea of Thieves sends players to the open waves, giving them all the tools they need to become swashbuckling pirates without a care in the world. A lot of the gameplay revolves around exploration, as rather than overwhelming players with an endless list of mechanics and features, the game instead focuses on the joy of sailing and the emergent activities that come with it.
Because there aren’t too many major routes of progress, players are free to jump into a lobby with any of their friends, regardless of how much they have played the game and what console they are playing on. It might not have a huge range of end-game loops to aim for, but the core gameplay is fun enough to keep players happy for plenty of time.
Grounded
Survival On The Smallest Scale
Details:
- Comedic take on open-world survival
- Narrative drive rather than pure freedom
Grounded shrinks the traditional survival gameplay down to a miniature size, forcing players to navigate a gigantic world full of bugs and spiders that now tower over them. The story and characters are very charming, never taking things too seriously, and are constantly self-aware of how absurd and silly a lot of the gameplay elements are.
All Open-World Games On Xbox Game Pass
Discover the full list of open-world games available across all Xbox Game Pass tiers, including Core, Standard, Ultimate, Console, and PC.
Playing with others turns the game from a light survival experience into a coordinated push to thrive, as players slowly progress towards stronger gear and carve out their own place in the backyard world. Within the open-world space, it is one of the most unique games that players will ever find, and it will quickly become a favourite for both PC and console players alike.
Satisfactory
Feeding Into Every Automation Fantasy
Details:
- Heavy emphasis on optimization and scale
- Accessible yet highly complex at the same time
Satisfactory is a problem-solver’s dream, with players being presented with an alien canvas on which to create whatever mad and insane creations they can think of. Because the game is cooperative, players can build sprawling factories together, turning otherwise basic progression into a shared logistical puzzle.
The open world isn’t about combat or story, but learning how to optimize and refine production lines over larger and larger scales. And with so much depth behind every build path, players can easily sink over a hundred hours into the game without ever running out of things to do, purely from the insane amount of paths available to them right from the start.
Borderlands 4
Back To The Glory Days
Details:
- Satisfying looter shooter gunplay
- Co-op campaign and late-game content
Borderlands 4 feels like a return to the early greatness of one of the best open-world franchises of all time. Starting as one of several distinct classes, players are thrust head-on into the action, blasting their way through enemies and picking up weapon after weapon, each with their own unique properties and powers.
The game was made with co-op in mind, and playing with others makes every encounter feel so much more enjoyable than in solo play. Despite being available on virtually every platform imaginable, there are no advantages for playing on PC or a specific console, ensuring that all players get to experience the same fun and action regardless of where they choose to play.
Where Winds Meet
The Start Of Something Great
Details:
- Visually stunning world
- Shared cinematic narrative
Where Winds Meet is a breathtaking MMO that sends players to a mythological ancient China, where magic and blades coalesce into a single force. From a visual standpoint, the game is truly breathtaking, and despite how large the world is, players are able to traverse it in style and reach long distances in no time.
Because the game has crossplay, players can not only engage with fighters across different platforms but also progress their own characters on the go with the mobile version. This transforms traditional loops of daily activities and quests into a much more fluid experience that isn’t limited to a single device, giving players more ways to play and progress at no additional cost.
Valheim
Mythology Becomes Reality
Details:
- Grounded survival loop
- Coordination needed for trickier battles
Valheim is an incredibly unique procedural survival game that thrives on shared discovery and organic exploration. Players can simply run across the landscape freely, and instead, they need to manage resources and slowly transport objects in order to have a chance of progressing further.
Cooperative play brings something entirely new to the game, as suddenly, fearsome enemies feel far more manageable thanks to the extra manpower. Also, the game runs incredibly well on even low-end systems, letting old-school gamers and newcomers all enjoy the same experience in one shared world full of adventures and mysteries to uncover.
Genshin Impact
Mystical Powers And Beings Collide
Details:
- Huge landscapes full of quests
- Long-term goals and replay value
Genshin Impact is both beautiful and massive, both in terms of the world itself and the mechanical depth within it. Players begin to build out and optimize their party, growing stronger over time and preparing themselves for the tougher threats that await them down the line.
Best Crossplay Games On Xbox Game Pass To Play Right Now
These great Xbox Game Pass games support cross-platform multiplayer, granting players access to PS5 and PC players.
Being a largely single-player RPG, the ability to load up the game on a mobile device as well as a console means that players no longer have to wait to grab their dailies or complete time-sensitive quests. This removes a lot of the stress and pressure and makes the game feel far more enjoyable for those who are willing to grind long-term and be fully invested in the story.
Palworld
Not Your Average Creature Collector
Details:
- A hybrid of survival and creature collection
- Mechanics and elements for all to enjoy
Palworld blends creature collection, base-building, and survival into a surprisingly cohesive experience that should never have worked in the first place. Players can collect Pals and put them to work, automating based and then using them to traverse the lands in search of treasures beyond their wildest dreams.
The world encourages experimentation in a big way, especially when multiple players are all trying out new things at the same time. There is a lot of content to absorb and progress through, so giving console players the chance to play with one another as well as their PC pals makes every session feel so much more communal and cooperative than other system-locked titles.
No Man’s Sky
Exploring The Universe Together
Details:
- Limitless exploration
- Obscene variety in gameplay and environments
No Man’s Sky is pretty much the limit in terms of open-world expansiveness. There is a whole universe for the players to explore, filled to the brim with planets and organisms that range from strange-looking plants to aggressive beasts, without any limits placed on where players can or need to go.
The joy comes from the constant desire to see more, and being able to experience this remarkable world with so many more players means that the universe doesn’t feel quite so lonely, and instead, more like a gigantic hub crammed with explorers all with the same noble mission.
Minecraft
The Premier Open-World Sandbox
Details:
- Accessible for people on any platform
- Seamless joining of other worlds
Minecraft has managed to remain at the top of the gaming world for well over a decade, and since launch, it has been updated, modded, and played to death by hundreds of millions of players from every corner of the globe. What makes the game so alluring is the amount of creativity afforded to the player, as basically anything they can think of can be built within the blocky worlds generated before them.
It doesn’t matter if players are running around in a survival world or building absurd structures in creative; the game always feels casual, making it the perfect place to relax and have a good time for players of all platforms. With crossplay enabled, players can suddenly adventure into unknown lands together and construct even more absurd creations, having all the same tools and abilities regardless of whether they are using a controller on the couch or a keyboard on their desk.
5 Open-World Games With Better Exploration Than Elden Ring
Elden Ring’s exploration is excellent, but there are a few games that arguably deliver an even better experience.
