The PS5 Co-Op Games Coming Soon are starting to form a surprisingly strong lineup. PlayStation is still best known for big single-player games, but the next wave of PS5 releases shows Sony and its partners putting much more attention on games that are simply better with friends.
Horizon Hunters Gathering is turning machine hunting into a three-player experience. 4 is built around four-player teamwork, Mycopunk is bringing chaotic co-op shooting to PS5, and RuneScape: Dragonwilds is now joining the mix through PlayStation Plus. The best part is that these games do not all feel the same.
Horizon Hunters Gathering Could Be the Biggest One
Horizon Hunters Gathering is probably the most important co-op game in PlayStation’s upcoming lineup. Guerrilla is taking the combat from Horizon and rebuilding it around teams of up to three Hunters. Each character has different weapons and abilities, which means players will need to think about how their team works together instead of simply attacking the same machine from three directions.
The game already has several different modes. Machine Incursion throws waves of machines at the team before a major boss fight, while Cauldron Descent is a longer challenge with changing rooms, tougher encounters and hidden rewards. Guerrilla is also building a full story campaign that is part of Horizon canon.
Recent playtests added new Hunters, harder difficulty options and another region to explore, showing that development is moving well beyond the early concept stage. There is still no release date, but this is clearly one of Sony’s bigger multiplayer projects.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds Gives PS Plus Another Co-Op Option
The newest addition arrives much sooner. RuneScape: Dragonwilds launches September 15 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, and PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium members will get it at launch. Dragonwilds takes RuneScape in a very different direction.
Instead of the traditional MMO structure, it is an open-world survival crafting game where players explore Ashenfall, gather resources, build bases, improve skills and prepare to fight dragons. Players can go alone or form a group of up to four.
The game has already passed one million sales during Steam Early Access, and its console launch is also a big moment for RuneScape. Jagex says this will be the first console release in the franchise’s 25-year history. That makes it a useful side addition to this growing PS5 co-op lineup, especially for PS Plus members who may want something they can immediately try with friends.
4 Is Built Around Failing Together
4 is going after a completely different kind of co-op player. The four-player shooter comes from Bad Robot Games and game director Mike Booth, who helped create Left 4 Dead. Its basic setup has four survivors trying to stop an alien invasion that has turned almost all of humanity into glass. But the interesting part is how each run changes.
Teams choose missions through the Probability Map, then deal with different objectives, enemies, rewards and conditions. Players can combine weapons, gadgets and support abilities to create completely different team setups.
Even failure is part of the design. If one player survives a mission, the run can continue. If everyone goes down, the entire loop ends and the team starts again with a better idea of what went wrong. Sony has not given 4 a final release date yet, but the game has already entered beta testing on PS5 and PC.
Mycopunk Looks Like the Weird One of the Group
Then there is Mycopunk. The four-player looter shooter launches on PS5 in October and will also join the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog.
Players control a group of strange robots sent to deal with a fungal disaster spreading across a planet. The game focuses heavily on weapons and upgrades, with players able to change guns in ridiculous ways depending on how they build them.
Mycopunk does not look like it wants to tell a huge serious story. It looks like something designed around short missions, weird builds and the kind of chaos that becomes much funnier when three friends are involved. That gives the PS5 lineup another style of co-op instead of another serious squad shooter.
Even More Co-Op Games Are Building Around PS5
Sony’s future co-op lineup goes beyond those four games. Kemuri, from Unseen and Ikumi Nakamura, is coming to PS5 in 2027 and supports online co-op for up to three players.
The game takes place in a strange city filled with yokai. Players hunt supernatural creatures, use their powers and work together while each player may even see parts of the world differently. It looks nothing like Horizon or 4. That is exactly why this lineup is becoming interesting.
There is survival crafting with Dragonwilds, machine hunting with Horizon, roguelike shooting with 4, strange looter-shooter action with Mycopunk and supernatural co-op in Kemuri.
PS5 Co-Op Is Starting to Feel Less Predictable
PlayStation’s multiplayer strategy has received plenty of criticism over the last few years, especially when Sony talked heavily about live-service games.
This group feels different. Not every one of these games needs to keep players logged in for ten years. Some can simply give people a good reason to get a few friends together and play.
Horizon Hunters Gathering can bring a new style of teamwork to an existing PlayStation world. 4 can focus on replayable runs. Dragonwilds gives survival fans something much larger, while Mycopunk can offer smaller bursts of chaos.
RuneScape coming directly through PS Plus also makes the lineup easier to enter. The next big PS5 multiplayer story may not be one giant game trying to become the next Fortnite. It may simply be that PlayStation finally has a lot more good games to play together.
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