I’m not a huge fan of the trend toward more and more co-op video games. The industry has an obsession with this idea that we’ll always want to play everything with friends. The reality is, many of us don’t want that or can’t make that work with our busy work and family lives.
This is one reason I tend to play games like Destiny solo except for when I’m playing PvP or need to play a Strike. It’s one reason why I rarely play much in the Call of Duty zombies mode, or why even though I really like a game like Vermintide 2, I think I’d like it so much more if I could just play it by myself.
Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Halo 5, The Division and a whole laundry list of other titles were built with co-op in mind. You’re not required to play co-op all the time in all of these. You can, at least, play with AI in Wildlands or Halo 5, but then you’re saddled with AI companions that you may or may not want around. In the case of the former I don’t mind so much. In the case of Halo 5, well, the less we say about that the better.
Sea of Thieves may be the best example in recent months of a game designed entirely around playing with others whether you like it or not. That—along with its many other problems—is enough to turn me off no matter how much I like pirates.
What I want to see more of is co-op as 100% optional. I love the idea of fully drop-in/drop-out optional co-op. It’s great. It means that if you have friends to play a game all the way through with, you can do that. But if you only have certain times to play a game with friends, that’s not a problem either. Far Cry 5 is this game in a nutshell.
You can play the entirety of Far Cry 5 all by your lonesome. Or, at any point, you can invite a friend and they can come and play with you. I’ve played just one session of co-op with a buddy in Far Cry 5 (we usually team up for Call of Duty: WWII these days) and it was great fun. It was easy to do on the PS4 and we played some of the game and had a blast and then he went his merry way and I went mine. No muss, no fuss.
I imagine if Far Cry 5 was mandatory co-op, or even if it saddled you with three AI companions who could be replaced with real people, I would have a lot less fun with the game. (Granted, you do have guns and fangs for hire but it’s not the same thing.) Far Cry 5 let’s me play as a solo player or team up with friends whenever I want. I have total freedom over that, and I love it.
Co-op is a great addition to video games. It’s marvelous fun when it works. But as far as I’m concerned it only really works well with friends. I don’t mind playing PvP with randoms at all, but when it comes to playing a campaign for any longer than a Destiny Strike, I’d really rather not be stuck with randoms. Sometimes they’re great, but too often they’re really not.
A game like Sea of Thieves, where you can get stuck with an entirely random crew incapable of coordination is a great example of why this is a bad design concept. But even having AI companions, like in Halo 5, can be frustrating. How many times do I have to revive my team? Why can’t I just be a lone Space Marine kicking alien butt by myself —or, as was the case in previous Halo titles, in split-screen with a friend as a wholly optional way of playing.
So more like Far Cry 5, and more split-screen options so that those of us who aren’t teenagers and don’t have all the time in the world and whose friends are typically in the same chaotic boat can still enjoy these games. So that we all have a choice in the matter and can play how we like to regardless.
