Best Cooperative Board Games to Play With Friends (Our Top #Picks) – Destructoid

Do you love board games and want to play them in a way that removes the competitive aspect and gives you the feeling that you are going on an epic mission with your friends to save the world?

Then it’s time to drop the likes Risk And Monopoly to engage in games where the only opponent is the game itself, and the end goal is truly to make friends along the way. Here’s our list of the best cooperative board games to play right now.

If, like me, you grew up with the Saw movies, you probably have an inexplicable hankering for escape room-style games. Exit: The Game lets you challenge your friends to solve the most difficult riddles in board game history.

This series has many games, each with a difficulty level for beginners, intermediates, and experts. You can start with an easier game until you are experienced enough to tackle the harder games, or skip straight to the Catacombs of Horror if you find your current game to be child’s play for the already massive swarm brain of your team.

The only real downside to the Exit games is their limited replayability. You’ll probably only truly enjoy each of the offerings the first time you play them, or at least until you forget the solution to every puzzle.

You and your friends are stranded on a sinking island. You must work together to get out of this always procedurally generated situation before it sinks and takes you and your friends to the bottom of the ocean with it. The premise is as simple as the gameplay itself, but not all great board games need to be wildly complex.

Forbidden Island is one of the most fun games to play with younger family members or friends who are not yet into board games.

If you want a game that’s more about exploring the dynamics of your party than it is about extremely unique or complex mechanics, The Mind is a great choice. It’s a card game that requires you to mentally align with your friends and avoid verbal communication as you try to overcome the game’s challenges. The spirit is quite simple, yet fun and provides a great workout for any group looking for alternative ways to stay in sync.

Even if you’re already a bit bored with the zombie genre, I still want to keep you on your toes by talking about an awesome zombie game that puts a unique spin on the genre.

Zombiecide: Black Plague ditches the usual modern setting, allowing you and your friends to play as a bunch of fantasy characters from a regular game D&D campaign and move from scenario to scenario until you end the zombie threat.

Think of it as a turn-based version of Left 4 Dead, where instead of assault rifles you pick up the best weapons of the Middle Ages to kill as many zombies as possible. What’s not to like?

Pandemic ensures that you and your team deploy the best strategies to prevent the world from being overrun by all kinds of diseases.

Although not the first of its kind, the 2008 film Pandemic is the game that really got the ball rolling for cooperative board games. Matt Leacock’s brainchild is responsible for inspiring a string of great and hugely successful titles, and has also spawned countless expansions and spin-offs. Still, I’d argue that the original game is the most fun you can have as you rally your friends to stop a deadly disease from taking over the world.

Do you like it? Stranger, Dead space, Return, DOOM, or Event horizon? Of course you do, and Nemesis: Lockdown brings you alreadyThe horrors of the above, plus a dash of paranoia, in a package you can share with your friends.

You find your team stranded on a Martian base that has been invaded by an evil alien that will kill anyone it detects. Nemesis has you and your teammates coordinate to covertly complete a series of tasks necessary to survive. Nemesis is one of the most exciting board games you will ever play, and therefore probably one of the most memorable out there.

How do you get something as family-friendly as a board game to actually convey horror? While there is no single answer, designer Nikki Valens has managed to do just that by creating a board game that is simply incredibly challenging. The original Arkham Horror doesn’t settle for a group of friends taking on an old Lovecraft horror film. You may notice that the first time you try it.

My first attempt at the game saw one of my team members die on their very first roll of the dice. Sure, we were pitted against the most brutal horror the game could throw at us, but that taught us to never be unlucky again.

Defeating the cosmic horrors seen in the works of HP Lovecraft should be too much for one human to handle alone. It could even prove too much for a good team of people. If you want to avoid the disappointment of being exhausted after long hours, I recommend Arkham Horror: The Card Game. It is just as good, but will probably take a lot less time to complete. Both are excellent options.

If you’re looking for the blockbuster of board games, look no further than the incredibly heavy DarknesshavenThe huge and expensive box isn’t just for show though, as this game offers you a great package.

Darknesshaven is less of a one-person board game and more of a treasure trove of epic, long-lasting adventures to experience with your friends. The missions in Gloomhaven don’t have to be extremely long, but they can take hundreds of hours if you want them to.

This is the one you should give a try if you want something similar Dungeons & Dragons in theme, but without role-playing elements, with an emphasis on a tactical approach to combat that more pragmatic players will certainly appreciate.

This is one of many games likely inspired by Pandemicand one that many claim has surpassed the original. Instead of fighting disease, you and your friends must defend your island from colonists. Regardless of your favorite game, I’d say this premise is by far the cooler of the two.

Ghost Island requires players to take on different asymmetric roles with each new session. It’s a very challenging title that may put some off due to its complexity, but it’s perhaps the most rewarding co-op board game for those willing to go the extra mile to give what the island demands of them.