Highlights

• CRPGs have evolved over the years to offer both engaging single-player games and successful cooperative digital tabletop adventures.
• Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition focuses more on combat than narrative and allows for full party customization in cooperative play.
• Wartales offers a character-driven, relationship-oriented cooperative gaming experience with semi-random story scenarios for high replay value.

CRPGs have always tried to capture the narrative depth and roleplaying possibilities of tabletop adventures. But unlike their table-based contemporaries, CRPGs struggled for many years to replicate the collaborative spirit of shared play.

While Richard Garriott’s Last First released in 1979, the series created the blueprint upon which all subsequent CRPGs would build for a solo experience. It was not until the release of BioWare’s Baldur’s Gate In 1998 – a full 19 years later – it was announced that the concept of a cooperative digital tabletop adventure would be successfully integrated into a single-player CRPG. Thankfully, the wait was worth it, as it laid the foundation for many great cooperative multiplayer CRPGs that have been released since then.

8 Icewind Dale: Expanded Edition

A combat-focused iteration of AD&D 2nd Edition

First released in 2000 by Black Isle Studios and remastered in 2014 as an “Enhanced Edition”, Icewind Valediffers from its D&D brothers, such as Baldur’s Gateby shifting the focus from narrative to combat. There is still a gripping and interesting narrative, but Icewind Dale’s main ingredient is sword and board rather than pen and paper.

In contrast to its competitors, Icewind Vale has no companion characters, allowing players to create a fully customized party of six, making it ideal for cooperative play. Despite AD&D 2E’s cumbersome ruleset and the sequel’s unplayability on modern systems, it offers plenty of hack-and-slash fun among friends.

7 Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition

More fun with giant miniature space hamsters

Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amndeveloped by BioWare and later remastered by Overhaul Games, had its co-op functionality restored in the Enhanced Edition. The game focuses heavily on the narrative, which heavily emphasizes the companions in the game. Consequently, this results in a combat experience that is less about sheer power and more about tactical party composition, meaning additional players may have less to do depending on their build. Limited equipment can also cause disagreement, as players naturally gravitate toward quests with the best rewards for their characters.

With good communication and compromises on quests, Baldur’s Gate II offers a narrative experience unprecedented for its time. In addition, players can import their characters from Baldur’s Gate and its extensions in Baldur’s Gate II.

6 War Stories

A tactical tabletop RPG spiced with a pinch of management simulation

Players control a mercenary force through the lands of Tiltren, a county plagued by bandits, criminal ne’er-do-wells, and the real plague. War Stories lacks a traditional overarching narrative, instead focusing on the relationships between mercenaries and their reactions to regional story scenarios. This character-driven, personable approach is also highlighted in co-op mode, where, either by design or due to technical limitations, players share loot and map space with little independent autonomy.

Despite these limitations War Stories still offers a worthwhile co-op experience, as the almost immeasurable number of story scenarios and the variations in which they unfold always make multiple playthroughs worthwhile, either alone or with a friend.

5 Wasteland 3

When Lone Ranger meets Mad Max

Wasteland 3 and its prequel developed by inXile Entertainment are often touted as spiritual successors to the original Stand out Series from Interplay Productions, which itself was a spiritual successor to the first Wasteland game – thus closing the circle of spiritual succession. Perhaps Bethesda will deliver a spiritual successor to the successor of the spiritual successor in the form of Fallout5successful.

Unlike previous Wasteland titles Wasteland 3 offers co-op with full character customization for each player, as well as a rich narrative and tactical experience. While there are still some bugs present in the final version and they are unlikely to be fixed by that time, none of them are game-breaking, so players can have a rewarding experience even when playing with a friend.

4 Wilderness myth

A tactical CRPG in Paper Mario style

Wilderness myth is the debut release from indie game studio Worldwalker Games. It straddles the line between TRPG and CRPG, riding between the two genres and offering players an iterative, procedural storytelling adventure – all brought to life through a distinctive display of papercraft graphics.

While other CRPGs focus on broad narratives and number-intensive character development, Wilderness myth captures the improvisational spirit of tabletop RPGs through semi-random, pre-written narratives that evolve based on the players’ actions. Fans of the Age of Miracles You might recognize a familiar mechanic in the series in the form of a pantheon system, where characters are saved in a “legacy” at the end of a campaign (or their life) so they can reappear in future playthroughs.

3 Baldur’s Gate 3

You must assemble your group before you leave

Baldur’s Gate 3aka the “pushing goblins off a cliff” simulator, is hailed by many gamers as one of the best CRPGs of all time. While some argue that much of the praise from gamers is due to the existence of Astarion alone, the meticulous craftsmanship that went into translating a D&D 5E campaign into a digital experience is undeniable.

The implementation of the co-op mode isn’t quite perfect, however. The linear focus of the story and the important role that companion characters play in the progression of the narrative mean that players will miss out on important content if they don’t select a source character at the start.

2 Solasta: Crown of the Magister

A combat-focused CRPG that uses D&D 5E mechanics

Solasta: Crown of the Magister takes everything players love about character creation and combat in D&D and distills it into its purest, digital form. It’s one of the few CRPGs designed from the ground up with multiplayer in mind. The game comes with Dungeon Maker, an included game module that lets players design and create their own adventures. This means that even if the included campaign doesn’t quite resonate with some players, there’s a wealth of additional fan-made content to keep players busy for years to come.

Combined with the easily accessible co-op features, such as DLC sharing and cross-platform support, there is little reason not to recommend it Solasta: Crown of the Magister for players looking for a cooperative CPRG.

1 Divinity: Original Sin II – Definitive Edition

A cooperative CRPG sandbox

First act of Divinity: Original Sin II Players are accused, convicted, and sent to a penal island from which they must escape – an introduction that does a good job of introducing players to the game’s expansive sandbox environment. The gameplay style is almost perfectly suited to cooperative play, with combat mechanics that allow for environmental combinations between party members and a narrative that allows for multiple main characters with fully autonomous play.

To make things even better, the base game features a “Game Master” mode that recreates a tabletop role-playing game in a digital environment. One player controls the environment, NPCs, objects, map, etc., while four others participate in the scenario created by the Game Master. Divinity: Original Sin II— and thus its predecessor — is an easy sell to any player looking for a cooperative experience.