My Top 10 Favorite Cooperative Games with a Struggle Against the AI

In this week’s video I discuss my favorite cooperative games that pit the game against the players (opposed to a puzzle for players to solve together). Games mentioned by ambassadors in this category that I haven’t played include Dead Men Tell No Tales, Horrified, Zombicide, and Legends of Andor.

Games mentioned by ambassadors that I have played include Gloomhaven, Arkham Horror LCG, Eldritch Horror, Battlestar Galactica, Flash Point Fire Rescue, Ghost Stories, Journeys in Middle Earth, Marvel Champions, Pandemic, Robinson Crusoe, Yggdrasil, The Big Book of Madness, and Tainted Grail.

Honorable mentions are Spirit Island, Solar Storm, The Reckoners, 5 Minute Dungeon, Marvel Legendary, Dead of Winter, Trogdor, Set a Watch, Atlantis Rising, Sub Terra, The Captain Is Dead, Sentinels of the Multiverse, Hero Realms, The 7th Continent, and Forgotten Waters. I also forgot to mention Black Orchestra.

Top honorable mentions include Aeon’s End Legacy, Legendary Encounters: Alien, Orleans: Invasion, Mansions of Madness, Mechs vs Minions, and Flip Ships.

Added later: Horrified

My Top 10:

1. TIME Stories
2. Shards of Infinity: Shadow of Salvation
3. Sleeping Gods
4. Burgle Bros
5. Forbidden Desert
6. Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle
7. Shadows Over Camelot
8. Summit
9. Legacy of Dragonholt
10. Pandemic Legacy Season 0

00:00 - Introduction
01:23 - Ambassador Picks
01:42 - Honorable Mentions
02:30 - Top 10
08:23 - Top 5

[igelkott]

my favorite coop game is flashpoint fire rescue. The double tension from the spreading fire and the collapsing building is great. There's a huge variety of structures. And I love the pick up and delivery aspect. It's a great game to introduce to non-gamers.

[benjaminspears]

Of course, we have a few other Marvel games that fit in this category like Thanos Rising and the new Marvel United. As a family, we enjoy both of those.

[dougrawald]

I heartily recommend you try Horrified. The variability in the puzzle presented by the monsters you face makes each game different. The theme comes through strongly and the differing hero characters provides for another twist to increase replayability. One of our favorite cooperative games in my house!

Legends of Andor is worth playing, but can be a lengthy time investment in set-up and gameplay. There is also a strong luck factor as you explore the fog covered tiles, which can be frustrating as you are up against the clock from the game’s progress tracker.

Our top five coops where we struggles against an AI:
5. Forbidden Desert
4. Roll for Adventure
3. Horrified
2. Marvel United
1. Marvel Champions LCG

[thomashaire]

Viscounts Co-op could be considered for this topic. The overlord moves around the board after each player takes a turn, trying to send out all 20 of his workers. Sometimes he just places a worker, sometimes he uses a card you want, and sometimes he boots your workers out of the castle. You have to prevent the 20 workers from coming out and score 60 points per player to win.

[Oaklestat]

Good list. I think Aeons End should be in top 10 and Spirit Island is number 1

[orbesteanutsa]

Great remarks and design discussion at the end about Cooperative Games. I love the way you dig into a game's mechanism when you are researching a lot the topic and think about it for a long period of time.

[jeffcarrier]

Considering how strongly I or community feel about several games fairly "low" on your list, I really need to check out your top 5!

[BillyIndiana]

There are so many games in this category! Right now my wife & I are playing Sleeping Gods & we are also going through Pandemic Season Zero with our son - really loving both! I love Legends of Andor & my wife loves Horrified (very simple one we've taught to family members who aren't that into games). We also really enjoy Forgotten Waters. We recently picked up Shards (I've only played solo so far), Time Stories & Legacy of Dragonholt, but still need to get them to the table. Great video with great lists!

[ryanmorris]

Thanks so much for these videos. Really helpful for not only discovering new games, but for grasping what they're all about as well. Also, as I try to refine my own game design, very informative as far mechanics of games go. Thanks, Jamey!

[TheAlexShowroom]

Great video as always Jamey! One game that wasn't mentioned anywhere and I think you would really like is Black Orchestra - it has an event deck but it can have positive AND negative consequences, plus it is all historically accurate going through the Second World War. It has some fantastic moments due to how the events work, plus other elements such as interrogation cards in prison, and the plot cards which are how you win the game

[JayBee]

“[Summit] has a couple of things that elevate it for me.”

I see what you did there...

[THEMarkWelty]

Nemesis! I think it fits pretty well in this category, at least. So much fun! So brutal and so cinematic.

[PatrickJohner]

Oh what a great game Shadows Over Camelot was! A reprint would be fabulous. So unique!

[axj]

Troyes actually has a bit of this mechanic when you have to fight the black dice at the start of each round. Love it as well since you can be tactical leaving specific dice behind for your opponents to fight.

Obviously not a co-op in any sense but it is an AI of sorts doing bad things to you!

[kalega]

Apologies Jamie, as I haven't watched the full video yet, just your Ambassador Picks and Honorable Mentions, but am eager to ask before I forget - are the non-Honorable Mention games that you have played TOO punishing or TOO ____ (whatever mechanic or reason this genre in general is not your preference) to the point you don't enjoy them, regardless of how good the mechanisms are in your mind? Is it case by case? I'm always interested in player mentality, since me and some of my own co-op buddies weigh difficulty/fairness and design/mechanics (and theme) all differently from each other and we're trying to find that one game that jives perfectly w/ all of us.

[DaltonKevinM]

Give a choice between the 2, I prefer "co-op" vs. "1 vs all" (e.g. most hidden traitor games), but I've also picked up on an a general disdain for "semi co-op" that almost parallels the disdain most modern tabletop gamers have regarding "roll and move, " obviously not for the same reasons. I personally think games that end with "yes, WE beat the game, but I have the most points so I really won, " especially with certain themes such as superheroes just don't make sense. But are there any games out there that let players CHOOSE to be a hidden traitor during gameplay?

[shawns]

Time stories, big book of madness, set a watch off the top of me head

[indigosunszenith]

I only own a few of these games and several are on my shelf of shame, though I have played Forbidding Desert and it's pretty great. I thought Spirit Island would be a bit higher because from your designs you seem to like asymmetric player powers. It does suffer from sometimes being demoralizing though! I've played quite a few solo games where I've spent an hour or two only to lose terribly (at higher difficulties).
I think its game arc is really great though. I'd compare it to rolling a rock up a hill, Sisyphus-style. In the beginning of the game it's very tempting to just do triage but a good player will learn that letting the island get a bit damaged so they can gain power and presence is important. It feels like a truly uphill battle. But if the players have become strong enough, you get the rock to the top of the hill and roll it to the other side, and you start really fighting back. It feels great when you get to that point and notice it! I love the simultaneous power selection, I I think it promotes interesting, strategic table talk.

I can see why some people aren't as into it, but it's certainly one of my favorites.

[arturthekingg]

Between this video and the one from last week, excellent lists, thanks for sharing Jamey! One of the things I like the most about your content is that there are plenty of diverse games! It feels really refreshing to be able to quickly learn about lots of games that are not necessarily among the "top ones on BGG". Also on that note, if I may ask: How do you typically play these games? Do you tend to buy them, play a little bit and cycle them with friends/family, or is the other way around, different people that invite you over with different catalogs and so you get to explore many games? Thank you and have a good week Jamey!

[twothirdsanexplosive]

For me, non-abstract themes and the conversations about strategy and plan are two of the big reasons I enjoy co-op games. So I prefer these types of games rather than the hidden information kind. Thankfully in my friend group I don't have alpha players nor would I continue to play games with someone like that so not an issue I have to consider.