There is no shortage of co-op games available to play with your friends, games now most often referred to as “Friendslop.” While not a title we particularly like, since it implies that the quality of the game is subpar, it is generally agreed that it is a moniker meant to be affectionate more than critical. In any case, “Friendslop” games have seen a surge in popularity following the roaring success of InnerSloth’s Among Us during the pandemic, and it shows no signs of slowing. With that in mind, here are some of the “Friendslop” games we’ve been enjoying lately that you should definitely try out with your crew this weekend!
YapYap
Taking inspiration from other successful co-op games like REPO and Lethal Company, Maison Bap’s chaotic title YapYap released in early February with an exceedingly simple objective: wield magic, cause mayhem. You and your friends play as magic-wielding humanoids with adorable, huge eyes and silly little wizard robes, and your mission is to drop into a large castle and use your spells to destroy as much property as possible while avoiding capture and death by a slew of monsters. What makes it so fun is that the spells are all voice-activated, meaning you need to call out the name of the spell in order to cast it. Once you have caused sufficient property damage, you and your accomplices must escape the castle before a terrifying ghostly apparition hunts you down and wipes you out.
The objective is pretty repetitive, but with the variety of castle maps to explore, it’s a fun game to play with your cohort if you’re looking for something a little less structured and much more absurd.
RV There Yet?
Have you ever been on a relaxing camping trip with your buddies and needed to take the scenic route to get your RV home? Well, this game is not that. But it will try to tell you that it is.
Swedish studio Nuggets Entertainment released RV There Yet? late last year, and it proves to be a delightful and strategic breath of fresh air within the Friendslop genre. You and your friends have just finished a camping trip in the beautiful Mabutts Valley, but your route out of the forest is now blocked, and you are forced to maneuver your RV over a series of increasingly difficult obstacles to get home. Of course, it’s not as simple as navigating over rocky terrain or treacherous bridges. You have bears, wildfires, and other natural elements to contend with. If your RV falls apart, the run ends, so you have to ensure that whatever route you take (or create) doesn’t damage your vehicle beyond repair.
RV There Yet? is a fun departure from the norm within the genre, blending strategy and chaos as you and your friends work cooperatively to get out of Mabutts Valley. Not an ideal end to a camping trip, but better than getting chased indefinitely by a low-resolution bear.
Super Battle Golf
Most Friendslop games tend to be cooperative experiences, allying you and your friends against an enemy, an objective, or both. Brimstone’s competitive game Super Battle Golf flips the genre on its head with a free-for-all bloodbath that tries to pass itself as a round of golf. You and your friends go head-to-head in a game of golf where the goal is to be the first to get your ball into the hole at the end of the course. You will also have the opportunity to pick up different objects like mines, pistols, or even rocket launchers to sabotage your friends, or objects like protection bubbles or coffee to speed boost yourself ahead of the competition.
You don’t need to know the first thing about golf to have an absolute blast playing this one, and really, no sort of skill is required. One round, you could be dominating your friends, and the next, you might be at the bottom of the leaderboard. The chaos makes for a ridiculously fun time, and there will be plenty of laughs to be had. And maybe a few ruined friendships.
Oh Deer
From Cozy Cabin Studios, Oh Deer is one part hide-and-seek misadventure, one part hilarious evasion strategy, and one part horror nightmare fuel. One player takes on the role of a hunter, while up to four additional players take on the role of deer. The deer players must camouflage themselves among the handful of AI deer in the playing area to avoid being killed by the hunter, and must discreetly eat food to maintain stamina and avoid being caught, since only player deer eat food, and failure to do so causes you to stand on two legs, singling you out. The hunter, meanwhile, must kill all the player deer before nightfall, or the deer turn into savage monsters that will hunt down and kill the hunter if they don’t return to the safehouse in time.
The nightmare fuel at the end of each round makes for some pretty harrowing stakes, so it’s probably not the game for you if you stress easily, but it can definitely make for some hilarity with a group looking to descend into hide-and-seek-style madness.
Peak
No Friendslop list could ever be complete without mentioning the Mother of all Friendslop games. Developer Aggro Crab shared that the game was developed as part of a game jam, a game that was developed quickly and with no intention to support after release. We all saw how that turned out.
Peak’s deceptively simple objective, to get you and your friends to the top of the highest peak and escape being stranded on a deserted island, has made for thousands of hours of entertainment. The climbs themselves change every 24 hours to a different procedurally generated climb, and the biomes also shift between multiple different ones, including a tropical, desert, and snowy biome. You and your friends must pool resources to survive, and find a path up each mountain whilst avoiding death by the elements or by your own misstep.
In less than a year, Peak has climbed to the top of virtually every friend group’s top co-op games, and it’s very easy to see why. In addition to the addicting rush of each peak, Aggro Crabs’ community engagement is top tier, with regular updates, great response to player feedback, and very regular roasting of their players and fans. And while active support and updates for the game will be ending soon, the developers have promised one more new biome for players, slated to release sometime later this year. Though it’s not hard to imagine that Peak will continue to be a powerhouse unto itself for many years to come.
So, that’s our list! It’s honestly tough to narrow down the genre considering its depth and the sheer number of fantastic titles that are out there. Even games like Among Us, REPO, and Lethal Company maintain loyal players even after having been out for a couple of years. There’s no question in our minds that a list like this will evolve even in as short as a few months, as more and more Friendslop games continue to hop aboard the hype train. We can’t wait to see what comes next, so stay tuned to GameObserver to find out!
