8 Best Cooperative Video Game Board Games of 2025
If you love a good cooperative video game, these board games bring teamwork, laughter, and epic wins to your table every night.
8 Best Board Games for Fans of Cooperative Video Game Action! If you love a good cooperative video game, you’ll want board games that pack the same punch. For this list, we handpicked games that push you to work together, make tense decisions, and laugh (or panic) as a team. We chased after games that deliver excitement and keep everyone involved—no one sits bored while others hog the action. Whether you like to save the world, banish ghosts, or just want to yell at your friends in a fun way, we’ve found the top picks for every group.
On this list:
8 Pandemic: Rapid Response
Pandemic: Rapid Response is great for fans of cooperative video games because it blends urgency and teamwork. The timer ticks, the dice fly, and nobody gets to slack off! We played it one Friday night and by the third round, someone’s cat started panicking from all the shouting. The game gives you the same stressful but fun energy you get from classic video game classics like Overcooked. Each player must do their part, or humanity is doomed (again). It’s quick to teach, frantic to play, and always ends with someone vowing to never fly ‘cargo’ with us again.
7 Ghost Stories
If you’ve ever played a cooperative video game where you barely scrape by, Ghost Stories will feel right at home. We picked up this game because we thought we were smart. Turns out, the ghosts are smarter, and also much ruder. The group works as Taoist monks defending a village from a ghost invasion. We lost, a lot, but we had laughs every time a nasty ghost ruined our careful plans. It’s punishing but rewarding, and we recommend it for groups who love overcoming hard challenges as a team.
6 Spirit Island
Spirit Island could be the board game version of any cooperative video game where you fight endless baddies from all sides. This game puts you in the shoes (or roots, or wings) of nature spirits protecting your island from colonists. We spent half the night arguing over the best way to combo our powers, and the other half apologizing to the neighbor for all the howling (as if the invaders would just leave quietly!). It’s one of the most strategic and satisfying cooperative experiences you can get without a console.
5 Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion
We think of Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion as the board game answer to a sprawling, campaign-based cooperative video game. The ongoing story drew us in (someone even made notes!), and the way you upgrade your character over time makes every session feel like a new adventure. There’s plenty of monsters, loot, and bickering over who should open the next door. The biggest win? You don’t need to spend three hours learning the rules like the original Gloomhaven. It’s easy to set up and hard to put away.
4 Forbidden Desert
Forbidden Desert is a blast for groups who love cooperative video game puzzles. You crash land, water runs out, and your team has to work together to build a flying machine before you turn into human raisins. The sand keeps piling up, and we discovered that balding jokes go over well until the sandstorm moves your pawn. It’s simple, but every game feels tense. We love it for family game nights, as it’s quick enough that nobody gets bored but hard enough to always keep you guessing.
3 The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine
If you ever wanted a cooperative video game where you can’t talk (but everyone still gets mad when you mess up), this is the one. In The Crew, you play astronauts dealing with all sorts of silent communication puzzles. We played a whole night, furiously nodding, grunting, and inventing strange hand signals until we realized our neighbor could see everything through the window. It’s a small game with loads of mission variety, and perfect for people who enjoy teamwork and limited info challenges.
2 Marvel United
Marvel United is for anyone who wishes their favorite cooperative video game turned all their friends into Marvel superheroes. The game is fast, colorful, and surprisingly strategic. We fought Red Skull so many times we all started rooting for him. The best part? You get to argue over who gets to be Hulk and who gets stuck as Ant-Man (again). It’s perfect for mixed-age groups and families, and you’ll come back for the new hero minis alone.
1 Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game
Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game is our top pick because it nails that deep, dramatic story you only find in the best cooperative video games. You play as a group of survivors facing zombies, frostbite, and some truly wild plot twists—we had sessions where someone sabotaged the food supply because their dog got voted out. The crossroads cards create a rich narrative, and your group’s choices shape every game. Sometimes you win, sometimes you barely survive, but you always have a good story to tell. No game gave us more ‘Did that just happen?!’ moments than Dead of Winter. That’s why it’s the best on this list.
