2021 – Best Coop Game Nominees

Its amazing what we can achieve when we work together, both in real life and in tabletop games.  Coop content continues to explode in the gaming industry, and as you’ll see below, incredible cooperative experiences are available for casual gamers, hardcore enthusiasts and families looking to scratch the itch.

The Diamond Climber Awards are in their 4th year, and with each year we’ve grown and changed, sometimes in uncomfortable ways. Because our team has such a wide and diverse taste in games it was tough this year to come to a consensus on a single game that really fit the category. So this year we’re presenting multiple picks for Best Coop, written in the words of each author who loved this category. We feel this will better represent the breadth and diversity of the games on the market, and offer a more genuine selection for our readers.

The Crew: Mission Deep Sea

Andrew Lynch

They made The Crew, one of my absolute favorite games, better. I don’t know how, but they did. God bless them for it. The pressure for this game to be good was enormous. It ended up being excellent.

Roll Player Adventures

David McMillan

Based on the Roll Player system, this ‘adventure in a box’ will keep you and your group engaged from start to finish. Each combat/decision point is an intriguing puzzle that’s going to require everyone at the table to put their heads together in order to resolve it. The writing is superb, the encounters imaginative, and the fact that you can import the character that you create from playing Roll Player is just the cherry on top of the sundae.

Sleeping Gods

Jesse Fletcher

Sleeping Gods is an epic adventure game where you take a crew of displaced sailors through a massive open-world mystical land. Between the innovative combat system that rewards cooperation and synergy, to the joint experience of discovering the universe that designer Ryan Laukat has so masterfully created, this game is an immersive experience that is best when shared with friends at the table.

Immune

Bob Pazehoski, Jr.

Immune is not a game that many will know. It was a Kickstarter-only production from David Campo, who completed the game as a tribute to his friend and fellow designer. In Immune, players take up the role of the body’s immune system, battling against a specific disease as it infects the heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver. Campo is a biologist, so the game is scientifically accurate. His design is wonderfully balanced, so that it puts you on edge from the start and leaves you there until you either come out victorious or succumb to illness. Immune is challenging and plays well from solo up through 4 players (though it scales to 6 players).

Groundhog Day: The Game

Andy Matthews

“Groundhog Day the movie has long been one of my favorites; a cult classic acted brilliantly by Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. Groundhog Day poses the question, what if you were forced to relive the same day over and over and over again. In the movie, Murray’s Phil responds to this question with a life of crime, despair, and finally self-enlightenment, as he realizes that an endless day isn’t so bad if you can change yourself.

Groundhog Day: The Game from Funko Games asks players to relive Phil’s famous day by playing cards in ascending order, each of which represent one choice that Phil made that day. Some of them are terrible choices (the grey “”selfish”” cards), while others represent the perfect solution (the red “”perfect”” cards). The catch is that players only have 60 seconds to play 7 cards…oh, and you can’t talk once you start the round. Once cards are played, they’re gone for good, which means you have to get smarter about playing the cards you have, all the while hoping for the best. Win the game by playing 7 red cards in a single “”day”” (round) and win the game. Lose by playing running out of time, or if your current day isn’t “”better”” then the previous day ( by adding the cards together).

Like Jim said in his review: “If you loved the movie Groundhog Day, you’ll love the game. If you didn’t love the movie, it’s still a great game!”

Read our review of Groundhog Day: The Game.

Fast & Furious: Highway Heist

Andrew Holmes

Want to collaborate with your friends to take down a helicopter, destroy a tank or rob a swerving semi? Want to pull off ridiculous stunts to the sounds of cheers round the table? Want to leap between cars and brawl with henchmen before throwing them off the roof of your speeding corvette? Want to talk a lot of heartfelt platitudes about the importance of family whilst simultaneously punching someone else’s? Of course you do! Happily Fast & Furious: Highway Heist has got you covered!

Watch our review of Fast & Furious: Highway Heist.