Catch up on the essentials
- Buy it on sale if your Discord is ready to fill lobbies; otherwise the free demo plus the 30% discount is the smarter entry point until the devs tighten kicks and tame the worst custom-move abuses.
- At $9.99 on a 75% discount, Darktide is the easiest entry point yet for friends who want a grim 40K horde shooter with strong melee and gunplay, but expect a real onboarding grind and almost no solo options.
- Buy if you have a reliable co-op group and tolerate grind; solo players or anyone skittish about aggressive data collection should wait for a deeper discount and further patching.
Selected from this article · 2026-10-17
Read on for the full picture01Gladio Mori – physics-driven gladiator arena fights rewarding patient players who build custom movesets with friends
STEAM DEAL · 30% OFF
Gladio Mori
Gladio Mori is genuinely inventive anatomy combat that punishes button-mashing, but the online scene is currently hostile to paid players, so grab it only if you have a friend group ready to queue up together — the $11.19 discount (30% off the $15.99 list) makes that easier to stomach as a shared buy.
Game highlights
Anatomy-based damage instead of health bars
Every strike targets the body part it connects with, so severing an artery triggers bleed-out, piercing a vital organ ends the fight instantly, and losing a hand or leg permanently changes what that fighter can still do mid-match. Blunt weapons stagger and crack bones while blades cut along their edge, so angle and stance actually matter. It is a thoughtful system that rewards precision over raw DPS, and it is the single biggest reason combat feels different from typical arena fighters.
Pose-by-pose move editor plus community gallery
You build attacks one body pose at a time, set stance and timing, save the move, then chain them into a full moveset you take straight into a match. If that sounds like work, the in-game gallery ships premade movesets from other players and you can mix and match individual moves. It is essentially a sandbox layered on top of the arena, and it is where long-term value lives if you enjoy tinkering instead of just queuing up.
Four-player cross-play across PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S
Lobbies support up to four players with cross-play enabled across Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, so finding bodies is rarely the problem. There is also a solo campaign against AI opponents plus replay tools with a free-cam timeline, which doubles as a decent practice mode when randoms get tiresome. Shared/split-screen support is included too if your group prefers same-couch brawling.
34 weapons, three shields, 17 armour pieces, plus painting
The base game ships 34 weapons ranging from gladius and spear to kanabo and guandao, three shields, unarmed combat, and 17 equippable armour pieces that physically cover what they rest on — every gap is still a target. On top of that you can paint a skin directly in-game or download the PC template for Photoshop work and share through mod.io, which is the loop creative players will sink the most hours into.
What players are saying
What keeps coming up positively
- The organ-damage and dismemberment system consistently surprises players who expected a standard slash-em-up, and many call the core combat concept genuinely fresh and funny in co-op.
- Players who queue with a pre-made friend group report that the campaign, custom move sandbox, and replay tools produce some of the hardest laughs they have had in ages.
- The move editor and community moveset gallery get steady praise from creative players who like building techniques rather than just picking a preset loadout.
Where the friction shows
- Public lobbies are repeatedly described as hostile: paid players report being kicked or banned by demo hosts for winning, using non-demo weapons, killing the host, or simply owning the full game.
- Custom moves are routinely called OP or cheesable, with multiple reviewers saying newcomers get blindsided by community builds that have no clear counter.
- Movement and controls draw frequent criticism — slow walking speed, stiff dodges, weapons that feel weightless, and a general sense that fundamentals like blocking are the only reliable defence.
- Several long-time players describe the solo campaign as thin and repetitive once the damage-system novelty wears off, which makes a stable friend group almost mandatory for sustained play.
Is it worth buying?
At $11.19 the core idea is still a bargain for an anatomy-combat sandbox you can sink hours into with a friend group, but the current public-lobby experience and the amount of player-reported cheesing mean full price is hard to justify if you are buying solo. Buy it on sale if your Discord is ready to fill lobbies; otherwise the free demo plus the 30% discount is the smarter entry point until the devs tighten kicks and tame the worst custom-move abuses.
Price checked 2026-10-17：$11.19，down from $15.99（30% off）。Player-fit tags
Good fit
- Players with a ready-made co-op friend group who want a shared sandbox to build custom movesets and arenas together.
- Tinkerers and modders who enjoy pose editors, community moveset galleries, and painting skins to drop into matches.
- Patient learners willing to grind through a steep first-hour curve to grasp angle, anatomy, and bleed-out timing.
- Fans of physics-driven melee who want hits that cut specific muscles instead of chipping an abstract health bar.
- Replay-watchers who like scrubbing through fights with a free camera and chasing clip-worthy moments with friends.
Probably not for you
- Solo players hoping for a polished single-player campaign, since the AI loop is widely described as thin and repetitive without multiplayer variance.
- Anyone planning to jump into public servers as a paid owner, given how often demo hosts kick full-game players for winning, switching weapons, or simply existing.
- Button-mashers who want responsive movement and weighty weapons, since multiple reviews flag sluggish walking, limited dodge options, and a block-dominant defensive meta.
- Players allergic to a brutal learning curve, as the opening hours demand deliberate positioning and strike-angle awareness before matches feel fair.
- Anyone unwilling to wade through cheesed community movesets in classic lobbies, since 'Crab'-style abuse and similar builds frequently break fights.
02Overcooked! All You Can Eat: chaotic couch co-op for friends who can laugh through broken online
STEAM DEAL · 70% OFF
Overcooked! All You Can Eat
If you've got friends or a partner on the same couch, this remastered package is a riot and the 70% discount makes it easy to justify — but anyone planning to play online should wait until the long-standing connection issues are resolved, because multiple players report being unable to reliably finish a session together.
Game highlights
Both campaigns in one package
All You Can Eat bundles the first Overcooked and Overcooked! 2 into a single purchase, including 22 new levels and three new chefs that are exclusive to this edition. That effectively gives buyers two full campaigns and most of the series' content under one roof, which makes the discounted price feel like genuine value for newcomers who never owned either game. Solo players can also work through the story, since the campaign supports single-player in addition to co-op.
Cross-platform online and local play
The game supports online co-op and online PvP with cross-platform multiplayer between consoles and PC, along with shared/split screen for same-couch sessions. The official pitch is that a shared multiplayer queue reduces wait times, which is helpful when a large group is rotating in and out. Steam Remote Play Together is also supported, giving owners another option for spreading a couch co-op session across machines.
Assist mode and accessibility settings
Assist mode is new to this collection and adds configurable options like slower recipe timeouts, longer round timers, and the ability to skip levels when a stage becomes a wall. The game also includes scalable UI, dyslexia-friendly text, and colour-blindness options. Players who struggle with the standard difficulty can therefore tune the pace, although colour-blind players should still expect some overlap between similar ingredient colours.
Visual remaster at 60 FPS
Both games have been rebuilt for 4K resolution running at 60 FPS, and the original kitchen designs carry over with sharper textures. For anyone who bounced off the older releases due to muddy visuals, this is the cleanest way to revisit those levels. The content library also extends to over 200 levels and more than 80 chefs, so there is a lot to chew through beyond the campaigns.
Multiple modes beyond the story
Beyond campaign, the collection includes survival and a practice mode for replay value, plus arcade-style play for shorter sessions. That variety helps when a group wants a quick round instead of committing to a full level. Modes can be played locally or online depending on the session setup, and they reuse the same kitchen designs players will recognise from the main games.
What players are saying
What keeps coming up positively
- Couch co-op with a partner or small group is consistently described as fun and easy to pick up, with many players saying it produces genuine laughter and good cooperation.
- The value of getting both campaigns plus extra levels and chefs in one package is a recurring positive, especially when caught on sale.
- The remastered visuals and 60 FPS performance are frequently praised by players revisiting the originals.
- Assist mode and the accessibility options are appreciated by players who want a calmer experience or who struggle with the standard difficulty.
Where the friction shows
- Online multiplayer connectivity is the dominant complaint, with multiple recent reports of disconnections, lobby errors, and friends being unable to join each other for the campaign.
- Players report that even after contacting support they received generic troubleshooting steps rather than fixes, leaving groups unable to play the mode advertised as a major selling point.
- Controller detection and three-plus-player sessions are flagged as unreliable, with crashes or controllers dropping out when a third player joins.
- Some ingredient icons and colour choices are described as hard to distinguish, which slows down play for colour-blind users despite the accessibility toggle.
Is it worth buying?
At $11.99 versus a $39.99 regular price the discount is steep, but the persistent online complaints make this a cautious buy: the local experience is great value, while anyone whose group can only meet online is essentially gambling on a feature that other players say still does not work reliably after years.
Price checked 2026-10-17：$11.99，down from $39.99（70% off）。Player-fit tags
Good fit
- Friends or couples who can play on the same couch and enjoy loud, chaotic communication
- Groups of up to four players who already own both original games and want the remaster and extras
- Solo players who want to work through two full campaigns with adjustable difficulty
- Players who like accessibility toggles like slower timers and skippable levels
- Anyone who primarily cares about local play and treats online as a bonus rather than the main draw
Probably not for you
- Groups whose only realistic way to play together is online multiplayer across separate networks
- Players relying on three or more controllers joining a single lobby
- Anyone expecting a calm, low-pressure cooking sim — the standard mode is designed to be hectic
- Colour-blind players who need clearly differentiated ingredient icons without slowdown
03Warhammer 40,000: Darktide co-op horde shooter for friends-first groups who love grim melee-and-guns combat and don't mind a grind
STEAM DEAL · 75% OFF
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
At $9.99 on a 75% discount, Darktide is the easiest entry point yet for friends who want a grim 40K horde shooter with strong melee and gunplay, but expect a real onboarding grind and almost no solo options.
Game highlights
Best-in-class melee married to WH40K gunplay
Fatshark's heritage shows in the swing-and-block rhythm of chainswords and other melee weapons, and the official pitch confirms ranged combat has equal billing. Lasguns and heavies are built into the core design, so a squad of four can pick complementary ranged and melee roles each run instead of stacking the same archetype.
Co-op is mandatory, not optional
The store page is explicit: characters only regenerate toughness near teammates, and special enemies like Chaos Hounds and Moebian Trappers will pin a lone player until allies rescue them. Several negative reviews spell out the consequence, namely that the game has no real solo or bot mode and the private-server option still requires a second human, which is the single biggest friction point for new buyers.
Deep character customization inside four classes
Players create their own reject with selectable appearance, voice, and origin, then specialize through class trees rather than picking from a large roster. The Sept 2024 progression rework reworked how difficulty and gear unlock, so returning players can be sent back to low-difficulty missions to relearn the curve before higher content opens up.
Mission variety lags behind combat quality
Official materials advertise Chaos mutators and Hive environments from acid-rain maintenance zones to boiling factories, but multiple long-time players describe roughly sixteen missions with map variants rather than a steady stream of new content. Combat and atmosphere are repeatedly called top-tier, while mission count and replayability are the common complaints.
In-app cosmetics shop is present at launch and ongoing
The Steam category list confirms In-App Purchases, and reviews from multiple years flag the real-money cosmetic shop as a standing frustration alongside progression grind. Buyers should expect a live-shop presence on top of the base price, even with no alternatives.
What players are saying
What keeps coming up positively
- Combat and gunfeel are repeatedly described as satisfying and easy to lose hours in, especially with a coordinated squad
- The 40K atmosphere, industrial hive environments, and soundtrack land well for fans of the setting
- Fatshark's customer support has stepped in to restore progression for players locked out after rework changes
- Difficulty and buildcraft give long-term players a reason to keep running the same missions together
Where the friction shows
- Mission variety is thin, with around sixteen maps plus variants that recycle familiar layouts
- Performance and crashes are recurring pain points, especially on AMD GPUs where RAM usage spikes
- There is no proper solo or bot mode, only private servers that still need a second human
- The grind to unlock higher difficulties and play with friends frustrates returning and new players alike
Is it worth buying?
At $9.99 against a $39.99 regular price, the 75% discount makes this the cheapest realistic entry for a friends-first group that already owns four copies and a stable squad time. If you mainly play solo or want fresh content every patch, the thin mission pool and lack of bot support make it harder to justify even at this price.
Price checked 2026-10-17：$9.99，down from $39.99（75% off）。Player-fit tags
Good fit
- Friends-first groups of four who already have regular squad nights
- Players who enjoy high-difficulty horde runs and learning weapon timings together
- 40K fans who care more about atmosphere and melee feel than mission count
- Groups willing to grind early-difficulty content together to unlock harder tiers
- Players who already use Nvidia hardware and are comfortable tweaking settings for stability
Probably not for you
- Solo players who want a real offline or bot mode
- Anyone who wants a constant drip of new missions rather than variants on existing maps
- Players on AMD GPUs who are not willing to edit config files and adjust settings every patch
- Buyers who dislike live cash-shop cosmetics layered on top of a full-price release
04RuneScape: Dragonwilds: friends-first co-op survival in Ashenfall with rough launch edges and a steep solo grind
STEAM DEAL · 30% OFF
RuneScape: Dragonwilds
Buy if you have a reliable co-op group and tolerate grind; solo players or anyone skittish about aggressive data collection should wait for a deeper discount and further patching.
Game highlights
Ashenfall survival with RPG skill growth
The official store copy frames RuneScape: Dragonwilds as a co-op survival adventure on a forgotten RuneScape continent, mixing gathering, building, crafting, and skill-based RPG progression. Combat leans into high-fantasy RuneScape foes like Zogres and Black Knights and culminates in the Dragon Queen. Anima-powered abilities let you summon spectral axes, blink, conjure fish tornadoes, and explode ore veins, giving gathering a more magical spin than the typical survival crafter.
Built around a small, focused group
Steam lists Online Co-op and Multi-player alongside Single-player, and Jagex explicitly calls out community-driven development including launching dedicated servers earlier than planned. The Anima-rich world, shared lore, and coordinated dragon fights read as a game designed for a tight squad rather than a sprawling MMO audience, which matches what players describe when the co-op session actually clicks.
Region-by-region progression with escalating demands
The official pitch and reviewer accounts describe a world of vibrant regions where wild magic spills from fractured lands, and players unlock new abilities and spells through each skill. Reviewers flag that progression is gated by region power levels, so a one-point deficit makes enemies hit harder while your damage drops, forcing you to chase the meta-stat before moving on.
1.0 launch state with roadmap-shaped gaps
Jagex launched dedicated servers and shipped new combat and quest content during development, but multiple negative reviews describe the 1.0 release as feeling unfinished, with planned features still on the roadmap and UI or UX rough edges such as burrows that cannot be used when overlapping quest objectives. The early-access-to-1.0 transition also brought frustration around cosmetic DLC timing.
What players are saying
What keeps coming up positively
- Long-time RuneScape players enjoy the reorchestrated classics and the way Dragonwilds echoes familiar lore while trying something new.
- Group sessions where recipes, aggro, and progression actually synchronize feel genuinely rewarding and lean into the game's co-op design.
- The Anima-driven gathering abilities break up what could otherwise be standard survival crafting and give exploration some spectacle.
- The world art direction and region variety come up repeatedly as a visual highlight once players get past the early grind.
Where the friction shows
- Gathering, crafting, and skill progression are widely described as a repetitive grind that scales up rather than opening up mechanically as you move between regions.
- Co-op systems feel half-built: recipes, waypoints, and quest progress reportedly do not share properly, and there is no real aggro management, so groups often fight next to each other rather than with each other.
- Solo play is called incomplete and lonely, with reviewers pointing to a dead-feeling world lacking interactive NPCs and to crashes or lost progress when Steam authentication servers wobble.
- The mandatory data-collection plugin and aggressive EULA are common deal-breakers, and several players refuse to link Steam with OSRS for security reasons.
Is it worth buying?
At $20.99 USD on a 30% discount off the $29.99 regular price, this is a fair entry for a co-op survival game with Jagex's roadmap momentum behind it, but it is not an all-time low. The price does not undo the grind complaints or the privacy concerns, so a friends-first group will get more value than a solo buyer. If you are on the fence about the EULA, want shared progression in co-op, or need accessibility options that are not there yet, wait for a deeper discount or a patch that addresses the launch friction before committing.
Price checked 2026-10-17：$20.99，down from $29.99（30% off）。Player-fit tags
Good fit
- Groups of three to six friends who want a shared survival project with weekly sessions
- RuneScape fans curious to see Ashenfall's lore and reorchestrated music in a new genre
- Players who enjoy explicit region-by-region power progression and do not mind resetting their mental timer each zone
- Builders who like co-op base crafting and want magical abilities to spice up gathering
- Players comfortable with online authentication, an Epic account, and partial controller support
Probably not for you
- Solo players without a group, since progression and the world feel thin alone
- Players who avoid repetitive resource grinding and region-stat chasing
- Anyone who needs robust shared co-op systems like shared recipes, waypoints, and quest tracking
- Privacy-sensitive players put off by the mandatory data-collection plugin and broad EULA
- Users who rely on full offline play, deep accessibility options, or Linux/Mac support
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