The PlayStation 4 is perhaps best known for its incredible library of first-party single player experiences, but how many of the best PS4 co-op games can you list off the top of your head?
Sony’s fourth home console is host to a variety of gaming goodness with a range of experiences to suit any discerning gamer.
I adore co-op games and have enjoyed playing them ever since I was handed the second controller and could jump about as Tails while my older brother zoomed through Emerald Hill Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
While my experience of controlling the two-tailed fox in Sonic was rather rudimentary with plenty of accidental deaths and sibling bickering, thankfully the PlayStation 4 offers a more refined co-op experience for the modern age.
Nowadays, we’re now blessed with this little thing called ‘The Internet’, which means our co-op adventures are no longer limited by the number of controllers we own or the number of friends that can tolerate being in the same room as us. Our list reflects this with a variety of games for local and online co-op play.
Enough chit chat; let’s kick off with our favourite co-op game on the PS4!
Table of Contents
1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
The best PS4 Co-op game of all time is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge.
This bodacious beat ’em takes the top spot in our list for it’s pixel perfect recreation of the classic TMNT arcade experience.
Up to six players can jump into the action together online and bash through the streets of Manhattan as Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Splinter, April O’ Neil or Casey Jones.
Even better is the ability to play in offline couch co-op with four players taking the pizza-loving Turtles on their adventure to defeat the evil Shredder.
Every character comes fully equipped with a range of entertaining ninja moves, crazy combos and special abilities, perfect for kicking some shell alongside your buddies.
Developer Tribute Games absolutely nails the retro vibes in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and manages to capture the excitement and the humour of the original 1987 cartoon show.
I’m not the only Dodo that loves Shredder’s Revenge with our own Seb giving the game a glowing review when it released back in 2022.
2. Rayman Legends
A setting sun. The laughter of an infant. Finding a fiver in the pocket of your jeans after they’ve been in the wardrobe for two weeks. These are all beautiful things, but none of them compare to how gorgeous Rayman Legends is in motion.
Ubisoft’s 2D platforming masterpiece exhibits exceptional level design and artistry that can be fully appreciated when playing the game in single player, but adding up to three friends in local co-op means there’s no time to stop and gawk at the sights on display.
Co-op in Rayman Legends is frantic. Early levels see your group traversing lush jungles but before long you’ll be desperately dashing through underwater mazes, hurtling over hellish shadow monsters and working together to bop naughty dragons.
All of the escapades in Rayman Legends feature stunning soundtracks that gel with each level and are effectively used to ramp up the pace.
The joy of running through ‘Castle Rock’, smashing goons and timing jumps to the beat of Ram Jam’s stonking classic ‘Black Betty’ is turned way up to eleven when there’s four of you manically racing across the burning rooftops and chinning baddies.
Rayman Legends is the perfect game for anybody looking for a fun yet challenging platformer on the PS4 and it only gets better with friends.
3. Bloodborne
From Software’s gothic masterpiece might not be the first game that comes to mind when you think of PS4 co-op games but Bloodborne is so brutally brilliant that it would be a crime to keep all the fun for yourself.
Bloodborne, like it’s stablemates Dark Souls, Demon Souls and Elden Ring, throws some exceptionally hard challenges at players, with Lovecraftian horrors lying in wait down every dark and dingy cobbled street of Yarnham.
The online co-op in Bloodborne allows for up to three hunters to unravel Yarnham’s mysteries together.
The co-op experience is in-keeping with Bloodborne’s deep and intricate lore too. Players don’t use menus to assemble their teams but players must summon their fellow hunters using the Bell of Dream Summoning and the Small Bell of Resonating.
Naysayers may suggest that Bloodborne should be played alone to experience the true terror of this world overrun with a strange illness that turns man into beast. While there is certainly plenty of fun to be had playing Bloodborne solo, the act of dismantling a previous unpassable boss with a friend at your side is an experience to relish.
The Orphan of Kos won’t stand a chance with three hunters gunning for it!
4. Stardew Valley
Is that Keanu Reeves holding a Junimo? No, of course not. It’s me showing you how much I love Stardew Valley, and keeping with our co-operative theme, this photo was taken by my life’s co-op partner (and the one that the pulls most weight on the PS4 co-op games in this list).
While the majority of the games on our list feature explosive and fast-paced action, Stardew Valley offers a more serene co-op experience.
Heavily inspired by Harvest Moon, the game sees players inherit their Grandpa’s decaying farm with the ambition to turn it into a lovely homestead away from oppressive city life.
Arguably, the greatest part of Stardew Valley is the ability to build your new life in the country with a friend or three.
Stardew Valley offers a ludicrous amount of content. From farming to mining, fishing to dungeon crawling, Stardew can offer a complete second life experience for you and your co-op partners to lose hundreds of hours in. Seriously, my current playtime on Stardew Valley is over 700 hours!
With the amount of detail and care that solo developer ConcernedApe put into Stardew Valley, it’s easy to fall in love with this dreamy game, and as we all know, love is better when it’s shared.
5. It Takes Two
It Takes Two is a strictly co-op experience and is impossible to play solo. It’s so adamant that you play through this story-driven adventure in co-op that every copy shipped with a second game code to share fun with somebody else online.
Fantastical magic transforms warring parents into toys. The pair must learn to work together to return to their human bodies and reconnect with their estranged daughter. And thus, the stage is set for an endearing romp through a smorgasbord of gameplay mechanics as soon-to-be-divorcees Cody and May adventure through the imaginative and thrilling world of It Takes Two.
Along the journey you’ll encounter a cast of memorable characters including frogs that act as taxi drivers and squirrels obsessed with war. There’s even an anthropomorphic ‘book of love’ that gyrates and thrusts like a thirsty Elvis impersonator.
The story of It Takes Two is wonderfully sculpted and full of heart. It is also darkly comic at times and anyone who has experienced It Takes Two will still remember that scene with Cutie the Elephant.
The variety of gameplay on offer in It Takes Two is seriously impressive and will keep any co-op partnership on their toes from start to finish.
6. Borderlands: The Handsome Collection
If you’re looking for bang for your co-op buck then look no further than Borderlands The Handsome Collection. Gearbox’s package bundles the brilliant Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel into one convenient package.
Borderlands’ universe is stuffed to the brim with memorable character and literally millions of guns. The writing is consistently sharp and funny throughout, making Borderlands the most enjoyable way to experience mass digital homicide.
Across both games you can join forces with up to three friends, either online or in local co-op to administer death from the huge arsenal of guns on offer. You will need to work together to tackle hordes of enemies in your search for loot as you travel through Borderlands’ desolate wastelands.
Thankfully, each character comes equipped with their own skill trees, full of abilities ready to be unlocked for players to tailor the experience to their liking.
Fancy yourself as a ninja that can turn invisible when you kill somebody? You can do that. How about the ability to make your enemies explode in showers of claret? You can do that too! And all while you and your friends laugh and have a jolly ol’ time.
7. Lego Marvel Superheroes
Long before Marvel decided that we all needed an increasingly complex multiverse and that Antman Quantumania was a good idea, Travellers Tales and WB games teamed up to deliver the best Lego Marvel game.
Launching alongside the PS4 in 2013, Lego Marvel Super Heroes is the quintessential superhero game. There’s a huge amount of characters to inhabit with everyone from the Avengers to the X-Men receiving the Lego treatment.
By this point in the sacred timeline Lego games had already mastered drop in/drop out co-op and Lego Marvel Super Heroes excels with it’s original story of Doctor Doom trying to conquer the world with the help of some cosmic bricks.
Lego Marvel Super Heroes really shines in co-op. The opening level is the perfect demonstration of this.
During my co-op playthrough I chose to take over the rocket-boots of Iron Man and relished in zapping bad guys from a distance while I soared over them. All the while, my co-op partner is smashing enemies to literal pieces as the Hulk and screaming ‘Hulk Smash!’ whenever they can.
It’s chaotic moments like this that epitomise the Lego experience and while there are loads of Lego games on the PS4, Lego Marvel Super Heroes keeps things simple, and lets players go nuts in this super sandbox.
8. Cuphead
Cuphead is a game of duality. It’s one of those PS4 co-op games that makes you groan in frustration moments before you cheer with elation.
Well, I say ‘moments’ but Cuphead’s army of bosses are some seriously tough cookies (and dragons, and ghost trains and giant potatoes) that can trouble even the most hardcore of gamers.
Of course these fearsome foes are a little less imposing when tackled with a friend in local co-op. Taking on the role of Cuphead’s brother, Mugman, player two can help double the damage on those that stand in your way.
Gameplay in Cuphead is lightning fast and only quick reflexes and a vice-like trigger finger will stand a chance of beating this game that’s full of imaginative boss encounters.
Co-op in Cuphead provides players with a slight advantage by being able to revive your partner by slapping their ghostly form as they make their way to the great crockery cupboard in the sky.
While Cuphead is easily one of the harder games on our list, it is also one of the finest. If you’re a fan of a challenge, excellent music and beautiful 1930s style animation then grab yourself a cuppa and dive on in!
9. Grand Theft Auto Online
Have you heard of this one? Grand Theft Auto V is the one of the most popular games of all time and has sold over 190 million copies since it originally launched in 2013.
While the story of Franklin, Michael and psychopath Trevor is bombastic in every way, it’s Grand Theft Auto Online that secured GTAV’s prolonged success.
For me, and millions of other players, Grand Theft Auto Online provides a platform for fun with friends. This game was my social lifeline during the Covid lockdowns and served as my connection with friends during those dark times.
Grand Theft Auto Online is perfect for players looking for co-op crime capers with a plethora of missions to tackle together. Then there’s GTAO’s heists that offer teams of four players the opportunity to pull-off complex, multi-stage escapades that involve teams working together to survive and thrive.
10. Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime
Last up in our PS4 co-op games list is lLovers In A Dangerous Spacetime, a game that holds a special place in my heart as the first game I finished with my partner entirely in co-op.
Sentimentality aside, Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime sees players piloting a giant neon spaceship through the cosmos. Teams of up to four players must navigate their ship while fending off evil aliens and rescuing stranded space bunnies.
The cutesy look belies how manic the gameplay can be. You and your co-op buddies pilot the giant spaceship by manning each of the control stations dotted around the ship’s interior.
With stations that control steering, maps, shields and multiple guns there’s always a reason for chaotic dashing around to find the right position for each scenario.
There’s plenty of challenges on offer in Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime, and the later levels of the game’s campaign will test your co-ordination skills to the max.
This puzzle/shooter/action game is endlessly charming and a hidden gem among the extensive PS4 library.
Theo first fell in love with gaming when he sped through Green Hill Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog back in 1991. Theo has previously provided reviews, news coverage and articles for The Games Cabin and enjoyed producing comedic Let’s Plays on his own personal YouTube channels.
A huge Kingdom Hearts and Metal Gear fan, Theo enjoys deep gameplay mechanics and complex storylines. A completionist by nature, Theo has earned over 140 platinum trophies including top digital trinkets for Stardew Valley, The Witness, Bloodborne and a plethora of GTA games.
Outside of gaming, Theo can often be found riding his motorbike, headbanging at gigs or out in the countryside exploring nature and marvelling at the ‘realistic graphics’.
