30 Best PS5 Multiplayer Games To Play In 2026

There are countless great multiplayer games on PS5, featuring a wide variety of genres–you’re sure to find something for you and some friends to enjoy. From classic titles that have dominated the industry for years to hidden gems you might not even know about or remember, the PS5 has something for everyone if you’re looking to game with others.

Below, we run through our picks for the 30 best multiplayer games on PlayStation 5 you can play in 2025. This list is in no particular order and covers a mixture of both PvP and PvE games; you can check out our dedicated list of the best co-op games if you’re looking for a wider range of cooperative experiences, or the best cross-platform games if you and your friends aren’t all on PS5. We also have a list dedicated to what we think are the best PS5 games to play right now, multiplayer or not.

Also, a friendly warning–just how welcoming the community is with a given multiplayer game can vary wildly, particularly those that have been around for longer and have extremely dedicated fanbases. Your experience may be impacted by the other players you interact with.

As Dusk Falls

• Developer: Interior Night
• Release Date: July 19, 2022
• Genre: Adventure/Narrative
• Cross-play: Yes

As Dusk Falls complements its moving, rich story with a voting system that lets each player voice their opinion on how things should play out, making it a great multiplayer PS5 game for nights when a movie just won’t cut it. We gave it a 9 out of 10 in our As Dusk Falls review, and noted how its strong script and pitch-perfect performances make it one of the very best games of its type out there. Throughout the game, you’ll come to know characters intimately through flashbacks and exploration, choosing your own adventure in the style of games such as Telltale’s The Walking Dead or The Wolf Among Us. If you and your friends’ choices don’t align, it might even heighten the stakes.

Colossus Down

• Developer: Mango Protocol
• Release Date: December 16, 2020
• Genre: Side-scrolling brawler
• Cross-play: No

Colossus Down’s stylish side-scrolling co-op action is just half of the appeal, as its chaotic and twisted story is perfect for playing with pals who enjoy shows like Rick and Morty or Smiling Friends. Determined to destroy anything deemed “uncool,” your characters will set out to use a series of improbable devices to smash up everything they can, through a mixture of beat’em up-style gameplay, platforming, and puzzles. All while piloting a giant mecha. It’s a lot of (very silly) fun.

Fortnite

• Developer: Epic Games
• Release Date: September 26, 2017
• Genre: Battle Royale
• Cross-Play: Yes

For the better part of a decade, Fortnite has dominated the multiplayer genre and the gaming industry as a whole. Despite launching initially as a tower defense/survival hybrid, it was the spin-off battle royale mode released in September 2017 that became such a phenomenon. On PlayStation 5, Fortnite offers the same experience as it does on any other system, and cross-play support means you can freely party up with friends regardless of their platform.

At its core, Fortnite is still the battle royale game that took the gaming world by storm way back in 2017. However, in 2025, the game delivers a much more diverse content offering. In battle royale alone, you can play a variety of multiplayer game modes, including 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 playlists, and developer Epic Games is still introducing new content from week to week. The end-of-season events are particularly noteworthy, as they’re still the industry standard for large-scale updates. The game has been a real trend-setter, and there are countless games like Fortnite looking to replicate at least some portion of its success in the battle royale space.

Aside from battle royale modes, Fortnite also offers a near-endless amount of Creative content. Creative mode allows players and developers to construct their own maps and modes, and build off the existing Fortnite structure. If you and your friends are ever getting bored of battle royale, jumping into Creative and finding something exciting to play is a great way to keep Fortnite fresh for everyone involved.

Finally, in addition to Creative modes, you can play some full games housed within Fortnite that have been created by Epic-owned studios. These include the new Ballistic mode, which is a spin on Counter-Strike and Valorant, and Lego Fortnite.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 / Warzone

• Developer: Activision (Treyarch, Raven Software, Infinity Ward)
• Release Date: October 25, 2024
• Genre: FPS
• Cross-Play: Yes

Despite all of Call of Duty’s trials and tribulations over the years, it still remains one of the best multiplayer experiences the gaming industry has to offer. The most recent entry,Black Ops 6, introduced a plethora of new mechanics, such as omnimovement, and brought back a number of fan-favorite features, like the classic Prestige system. The multiplayer side of things hasn’t changed much, though, as you still have access to over a dozen maps, 40-plus weapons, and a variety of game modes. Black Ops 6 also sees the return of round-based Zombies, and you and up to three other friends can partake in several large maps in the mode.

In addition to the mainline Call of Duty titles, the franchise’s standalone battle royale game, Warzone, still remains a large focus from year to year. Warzone evolves every winter depending on what the new mainline entry is, but the core mechanics have stayed the same in battle royale. You create a loadout, drop in, scrounge for cash to earn your loadout, and then go to work on one of a few maps to be the last person standing.

For some players, the Call of Duty experience has been diminished recently with the rise of hacking. However, you have the ability to turn cross-play off in both casual and ranked playlists in Black Ops 6 and Warzone, limiting yourself to just PlayStation or PlayStation and Xbox players. Using either of these options allows you to avoid cheaters on PC, as well as the arguably uneven playing field of competing against keyboard-and-mouse users.

Rocket League

• Developer: Psyonix
• Release Date: July 7, 2015
• Genre: Sports/Car Soccer
• Cross-Play: Yes

Rocket League is one of the simplest multiplayer games to understand but it also features some of the most difficult mechanics to master. It’s essentially car soccer: You take control of a car with boosting and flying capabilities and attempt to hit a ball into the opponent’s goal. Rocket League features a plethora of visually pleasing maps as well as dozens of cars, and more are released every year.

While the game’s premise is simple, when you start playing Rocket League for the first time, you’ll quickly realize why it’s considered one of the higher skill gap games in the multiplayer genre. Your car requires absolutely precise movements if you want to control it effectively, something that becomes even more challenging–and satisfying–when using your boost to fly through the air.

Rocket League can be frustrating due to its simplicity, as even basic moves can be difficult to pull off. However, it’s one of the most rewarding and enjoyable multiplayer experiences in 2025, especially if you play with friends. There are 2v2, 3v3, and even 4v4 playlists available. You can also partake in different modes aside from the traditional car soccer mode. The extra modes include basketball, hockey, and more.

Marvel Rivals

• Developer: NetEase Games
• Release Date: December 6, 2024
• Genre: Hero Shooter
• Cross-Play: Yes

At the end of 2024, Marvel Rivals came out of nowhere and siphoned off players from other multiplayer games. The hero shooter certainly takes plenty of features and mechanics from Overwatch but puts a unique spin on the subgenre to make it a different experience. As indicated by the game’s name, Marvel Rivals employs over 30 heroes from the Marvel universe, including some fan favorites such as Iron Man, Spider-Man, Scarlet Witch, and Wolverine,.

Every hero is separated into three distinct categories: Strategist (support), Duelist (DPS), and Vanguard (tank). Each member of your six-player team will play as a different Your chosen hero will have unique abilities that relate to their classification. If you’re playing with a party, you and some friends can truly synergize your team’s hero selection.

Each map is tied to a specific game mode, which will largely be familiar to Overwatch players. Some require you to move a vehicle from one end of the map to the other while others require you to capture and hold an objective for a set amount of time. In the Competitive playlist, though, which has cross-play disabled, you only play a round-based game mode that forces you to move a vehicle faster than the other team.

Apex Legends

• Developer: Respawn
• Release Date: February 4, 2019
• Genre: Battle Royale/FPS
• Cross-Play: Yes

Since being released in 2019, Apex Legends has been a steady presence in the battle royale genre. New seasons are released every few months that may introduce new legends, cosmetics, maps, weapons, or modes.

At the core of Apex Legends is a distinct lineup of characters that feature different abilities, smooth and fluid movement, and a somewhat unforgiving loot pool that makes every match play out differently at the start. However, if you play your cards right, you and your squad of three can have fully upgraded weapons and armor that give you the best chance at being the last ones standing.

If battle royale isn’t your speed but you like the feel of Apex’s gameplay, you can play the classic Team Deathmatch mode on a few different maps as well as other modes, such as Mixtape. The developers at Respawn also include other limited-time modes throughout every season, so there’s often something new to play aside from battle royale.

GTA Online

• Developer: Rockstar Games
• Release Date: October 1, 2013
• Genre: Action/Third-Person
• Cross-Play: No

GTA 6 is on the horizon, but GTA 5’s online mode is still one of the best multiplayer experiences on PlayStation 5. The base game of GTA Online, not including the famous RP servers, can support dozens of players on every server, so you and several friends can create as much havoc as your hearts desire at any given time. One of the major highlights for multiplayer gameplay in GTA Online are the co-op heists, which allow you and a group to plan and execute jobs together. If you don’t have friends online, though, you can still experience a multitude of standalone activities or even pair up with random strangers on your server for a job.

The world is truly your oyster in GTA Online, and if you grind enough, nothing in the game costs a cent. While you can gain an edge by purchasing in-game currency (Shark Cards), GTA Online features a fleet of content that’s accessed through the cash you earn by playing the game.

One negative with GTA Online that we should mention is players on a given server can be unfriendly towards others. The game’s in-game map shows where every player is in real-time, so griefers can be a problem. This can make the experience unpleasant, but there are options to mitigate that if it ever becomes a problem.

Going for over a decade, GTA Online has evolved into an incredible live-service game. Rockstar Games delivers weekly updates year-round, introducing content in all shapes and sizes. From small updates that introduce a new vehicle to full-blown DLCs with a new questline, characters, and other content, GTA Online rarely grows stale for the millions of players who still call Los Santos home after all these years.

Helldivers 2

• Developer: Arrowhead Game Studios
• Release Date: February 8, 2024
• Genre: Third-Person Shooter/Extraction
• Cross-Play: Yes

Helldivers 2 came out of nowhere at the start of 2024 and became one of the biggest multiplayer hits we’ve seen in some time. “Fighting for democracy” has become many PlayStation players’ monikers, as Helldivers 2 has grown into one of the most popular games on PSN (or Steam, for that matter).

Helldivers multiplayer is exclusive co-op, as you and up to three of your friends can join together to fight enemy AI across a wide variety of locations. It’s a fantastic and truly gripping experience that always makes you come back for more. The overall goal of Helldivers 2 is to stop an alien race from taking over the galaxy that “Super Earth” resides in. Helldivers hop from planet to planet completing objectives while fending off hostile aliens, which includes giant bugs, robots, and more. You only have a certain time limit to complete these objectives, so it can be quite stressful to complete them. The more that a specific planet is cleansed of its alien inhabitants, the closer it gets to being fully under Super Earth’s control. As the Super Earth name might suggest, the story has a Starship Troopers-style satirical twist to it.

As you complete more objectives, you’ll gain access to new gear. You can customize your loadout on your own spaceship before dropping onto a new location. The loadout is made up of different armor slots, weapons, and Stratagems. Stratagems are abilities your Helldiver can call in from your ship and offer extremely powerful benefits. Some Stratagems drop you big weapons to use while others are airstrikes on a certain location. There are dozens to choose from and unlock and they can make every drop feel unique. These are called in by manually entering inputs on the D-pad, which sounds simple but can be stressful in the midst of combat. Adding to the chaos is the friendly fire–your own weapons, drop pods containing your Stratagems, or attacks you call in can all lead to the death of you or your teammates. But that’s all part of the fun.

Whether you’re looking for a relaxed combat experience or a brutal survival game, Helldivers 2 offers multiple difficulty levels that cater to any skill level. However, if your friends end up needing to be revived, it’s you against a horde of aliens and that’s never easy, regardless of what difficulty you’re on.

Fall Guys

• Developer: Mediatonic
• Release Date: August 4, 2020
• Genre: Battle Royale
• Cross-Play: Yes

If you’re looking for a battle royale-style game but you’re sick of using guns and other weapons, look no further than Fall Guys. The free-to-play obstacle course game is still going strong in 2025 and offers one of the most enjoyable, yet infuriating experiences on this list.

Fall Guys can be played in a max party of four, so you and three other “beans” can join up to partake in a series of simplistic obstacle course challenges. Every game starts with a lobby of 60 real players and your goal is to be the last one standing. To do that, you need to survive several waves of obstacle courses that weed out players every round. The obstacle courses in Fall Guys look simple enough, but they can be extremely difficult to get through, especially toward the later stages of a match. Some courses see you work together with a small team while others are every bean for themselves.

While it might take you a while to master every course in Fall Guys, you’re sure to have an enjoyable time doing so, especially when partied up with a few friends on PlayStation 5.

Diablo IV

• Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
• Release Date: June 5, 2023
• Genre: Action-RPG
• Cross-Play: Yes

Diablo IV is another multiplayer game that doesn’t feature PvP, but the ARPG has some of the best PvE content on the market today. Now several seasons and one expansion deep since its initial release, Diablo IV is a highly satisfying and rewarding ARPG that’s made even better when you party up with up to three other friends.

Diablo IV features six distinct classes to pick from, all of which have vastly different playstyles, skills, and abilities that make up your overall build. At the start of the game, you’ll go through a fully fleshed-out storyline that takes you across six acts, each with its own characters, locations, and quests. Along the way, you’ll unlock new skills and abilities depending on what class you chose. Barbarians can go for a Whirlwind build that emphasizes close-range combat while Sorcerers can use a variety of elemental skills to deal damage.

Once the story is complete, you can access an entire wealth of endgame, which consists of more difficult dungeons, additional farming methods for better gear, and bigger and badder bosses. The endgame is where you truly hone in on what kind of build you want.

In addition to everything the main game has to offer, Diablo IV also offers the Vessel of Hatred expansion you can purchase that delivers new quests and content you can complete after getting through the main story. The expansions aside, though, Diablo IV is a terrific experience on PlayStation 5, especially when you’re fighting through dungeons and bosses with a full party.

Final Fantasy XIV

• Developer: Square Enix
• Release Date: September 22, 2010
• Genre: MMORPG
• Cross-Play: Yes

Final Fantasy XIV is the only MMORPG on this list, and it’s largely because PlayStation 5 doesn’t offer many games in the genre. However, whatever the platform, FFXIV is one of the most beloved MMOs you’ll find.

FFXIV doesn’t require you to know anything about the Final Fantasy universe and does a terrific job of easing you into the game’s story and lore. The narrative is perhaps the most universally praised aspect of the game, but the approachable MMO mechanics make the game worth checking out even if the story isn’t for you. From completing story and side quests to training specific jobs for your chosen class to riding on chocobos (horse-like mounts) across sprawling regions filled with monsters, FFXIV always offers something to do. The amount of content and depth in the game is staggering, as you can play for hundreds of hours and still not crack the surface of some areas.

As for how to play FFXIV on PS5, you can download and play the game completely free. The “Free Trial” version of PS5 allows you to reach level 70, access most of the base game and two expansions, and offers unlimited playtime. However, some restrictions are in place with the Free Trial, so to get the most out of FFXIV, you’ll need to at least purchase the $20 Starter Edition in addition to a monthly subscription. The main restrictions of the Free Trial version are that you can’t create parties or join guilds, which represent key multiplayer elements of FFXIV.

In the Starter Edition, you can access the entire base game and participate in both PvE and PvP content. You can also create and join parties of up to eight players, so if you have friends on the game, it can be a highly enjoyable experience, especially if you’re all around the same level.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

• Developer: Ubisoft
• Release Date: December 1, 2015
• Genre: Tactical FPS
• Cross-Play: Yes

Rainbow Six Siege is a terrific tactical first-person shooter, offering quite a different experience from something like Call of Duty. You can join up with up to four other friends and play a casual or ranked game. Every player gets to select from dozens of Operator depending on what side you’re on: Attacking or Defending. Operators determine what weapons and equipment you have access to in the match. Some Operators offer assault rifles and explosive equipment while others feature shotguns and tactical equipment, such as cameras or RC cars. The Operators also have a unique gadget they can access. For example, you can use a Drone to gain intel on the enemy or a rappel to scale the outside of buildings.

Matches in Rainbow Six Siege can have one of three objectives, and the side you’re on affects your goal on the map. All maps in the game offer certain destructible environments and different ways of gaining entry to certain locations. For example, if one side has set up defenses inside a house at the start of the Bomb mode, you need to get past the defenses they’ve set up by destroying walls, scaling the outside of the house, looking through cracks in doors or windows to shoot enemies, etc.

Rainbow Six Siege features precise mechanics that few other FPS games offer. You can lean with weapons around corners or in gunfights, as an example, but aiming is much more difficult than it looks. To make things tougher, there are no respawns, so every round you die, you’re dead until the next round begins. There are certainly growing pains with Rainbow Six, but playing with a full stack of five players will make the game much easier. Of course, that doesn’t diminish from the fact that there’s friendly fire enabled at all times and you can die in the blink of an eye from just about any angle on a map.

Valorant

• Developer: Riot Games
• Release Date: June 2, 2020
• Genre: Tactical FPS
• Cross-Play: No

Valorant can be seen as a mixture of a couple of well-known games. If you take Overwatch’s hero abilities and combine them with CS:GO’s gameplay loop, you get Valorant in a basic nutshell. It’s a tactical, one-life shooter that’s played across a variety of maps in both casual and ranked playlists. Attackers have to plant a bomb within a certain timeframe or eliminate the entire enemy team while Defenders have to defuse the planted bomb or eliminate the enemy team. There are also smaller modes, such as classic Team Deathmatch, that play a backseat to the main Attacker/Defender mode.

Each team consists of five Agents, each featuring different abilities that you can utilize strategically. Valorant has a lineup of over 20 Agents, some of which are meant to be used strictly for offensive purposes while others tend to lean more towards the tactical side. As an example, one agent has a remote-controlled bomb car while another can disperse a cloud of smoke over an area from anywhere on the map.

As in Counter-Strike, but unlike Overwatch or other hero shooters, you have to purchase your Agent’s abilities at the start of every round, while your Ultimate Ability charges with every kill you get. You also have to buy the weapons and equipment you use. Money is earned by getting kills, planting/defusing bombs, and winning rounds.

Overall, Valorant is a fantastic experience on PS5, even with a controller. The game was certainly made with a keyboard and mouse in mind, but controller players have been able to adapt and thrive in the tactical shooter.

The Finals

• Developer: Embark Studios
• Release Date: December 7, 2023
• Genre: FPS
• Cross-Play: Yes

The Finals remains an underrated multiplayer shooter on PlayStation 5, but it’s maintained a steady player base since its surprise drop in late 2023. The free-to-play, fast-paced shooter is one of the more chaotic multiplayer games on the market.

The overall goal across The Finals’ various game modes is to earn more cash than the competing teams by clearing out vaults and eliminating other players. The Finals is played on several distinct maps and every lobby has roughly 12 players, with your team consisting of three players. So you and two friends can party up to clear some vaults together.

While your main goal is to earn cash, eliminating players and destroying the map you’re playing on are fulfilling side goals.Every map is destructible, which makes each match of The Finals feel different from the last depending on how the map’s layout changes.

The Finals is a thrilling experience that’s enhanced by partying up with a full team. Running with your friends to take on enemies and the maps themselves in high-octane matches offers an adrenaline rush that’s difficult to find in other shooters.

NBA 2K26

• Developer: Visual Concepts
• Release Date: August 29, 2025
• Genre: Sports
• Cross-Play: Yes

NBA 2K remains one of the most popular franchises on PlayStation, and 2K26 is the latest game in the series. 2K offers a slew of multiplayer content for you to partake in on PS5, but it also offers cross-play functionality across all consoles (PC does not allow cross-play).

If you’re looking to play some 2K26 multiplayer, you have a flurry of options available to you. You can play against others in basic online head-to-head matches, but also team up with friends in 2v2, 3v3, and 5v5 matches. Those modes are available through The City, which is the multiplayer hub area in 2K26. The City is a massive space where you can engage with much of the game’s content and see and interact with other real players. While 2K26 does offer a solid amount of single-player content, including MyCareer and MyPlayer modes, there’s no shortage of multiplayer content.

Among Us

• Developer: Innersloth
• Release Date: June 15, 2018
• Genre: Social Deduction
• Cross-Play: Yes

Among Us remains one of the most distinct multiplayer games on PlayStation 5 even after its initial boom in 2020. All ages can enjoy the detective game, which features party sizes of 4-15 players through local or online play. So if you have a large enough LAN party, you can theoretically get a massive game of Among Us going.

Officially described as a “social deduction” game, Among Us pits players against each other to determine which one of them is a murderer. All players are assigned a role before matches begin and one player is given the murderer title. That player has to attempt to kill other players without being seen. To effectively blend in, the murderer has to go along and act like they’re a normal player, which entails completing objectives on a space station.

At the end of every round in Among Us, players will meet to vote on who they think the murderer is. If they get the decision right, the murderer is thrown out into space and the game is over. However, if players are wrong, the murderer gets to live another round.

Among Us is still one of the most entertaining multiplayer games you can play, and playing with friends in a voice chat call makes things extremely amusing and confusing.

Baldur’s Gate 3

• Developer: Larian Studios
• Release Date: August 3, 2023
• Genre: CRPG
• Cross-Play: Yes

This is another co-op-only entry, but if you haven’t played Baldur’s Gate 3 or haven’t experienced it with a friend or group yet, it needs to shoot to the top of your “want to play” list. Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the most memorable video game releases in the last decade, taking home GameSpot’s Game of the Year award in 2023.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a turn-based RPG that allows you and up to three other players to join a party together as a unique character, either one of the preset characters or a created one. From there, you have dozens of hours of adventure awaiting you. The world of Baldur’s Gate 3 is so detailed and beautifully crafted that it might ruin other single-player games and RPGs for you. The start of the game pits you against the “Mind-Flayers,” and your goal is to find the leader of the race and bring them down.

You won’t only face Mind-Flayer enemies in combat, however. Technically, any NPC you find in Baldur’s Gate 3 can be fought and killed, but there are consequences for killing with no regard. Combat in the RPG is deep and fulfilling, as your chosen character class determines what type of weapons you can use and the skills you have access to. Baldur’s Gate 3 also features turn-based combat, requiring the utmost strategy to survive more difficult enemy encounters. It’s difficult to grasp at first if you’re new to the style of combat, but you pick it up easily.

Everything in Baldur’s Gate 3 is hand-crafted down to the last detail. From the character building to the quests that span multiple acts to every nook and cranny of a location, you’ll easily get over 100 hours in a single playthrough of BG3. Not to mention, the game technically features hundreds of different endings, so your playthrough will feel unique to you and your party.

Overwatch 2

• Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
• Release Date: August 10, 2023
• Genre: Hero Shooter
• Cross-Play: Yes

The hero shooter that truly put the genre on the map, after Team Fortress 2, the sequel to the original Overwatch features a plethora of content for fans to access. All of the heroes from the first game are included as well as the post-launch content Blizzard Entertainment has continually added since the sequel’s launch. Overwatch 2 features seasonal updates that deliver new heroes, maps, cosmetics, and more. Recently, Blizzard announced a massive update for the shooter, delivering two heroes, the return of loot boxes, and a third-person mode that looks similar to Valorant.

As for the gameplay itself, it’s right in line with what the original Overwatch offered. You pick a hero at the start of the map, who has a set of unique abilities and weapons. Your team of five will compete against another team across a variety of maps and modes, which include Escort, where you try to bring a vehicle from one side of the map to the other, and Control, which forces your team to hold an objective location.

The matches in Overwatch 2 require proper team composition (most of the time). Every hero in the game is classified as a DPS, Tank, or Support, and deciding what heroes to use for the map and mode is extremely important for success. While unranked modes can utilize any hero in the Overwatch 2 lineup, the ranked modes will call for specific heroes and roles to be filled.

Tekken 8

• Developer: Bandai Namco
• Release Date: January 26, 2024
• Genre: Fighting
• Cross-Play: Yes

Tekken 8 is the latest installment in the iconic series and it carries on the “longest-running video game storyline” currently on the market. Of course, most players don’t come to Tekken for the storyline; they come for the characters and the battles.

Tekken 8 introduces destructible stages where you fight against your opponent. These can create new strategies to use in combat and bring variety to fights on the same stage. Combat itself features the same thrilling experience that fans have come to know from Tekken, but it’s less punishing for new players. You get to pick from a roster of 30+ characters and face another character in a one-on-one battle. Learning how to pull off combos and the right time to dodge attacks is the key to improving in Tekken 8.

What makes Tekken 8 different from previous games in the series is the new Heat mechanic. Heat is a separate bar under your health that can be activated after dealing enough damage. When activated, the Heat mechanic allows you to deal extra damage and perform new kinds of Heat attacks and moves.

Tekken 8 might be considered an easier game than others in the series, but it’s still the same classic fighting game that so many players grew up with.

Overcooked: All You Can Eat

• Developer: Ghost Town Games
• Release Date: March 23, 2021
• Genre: Party/Cooking
• Cross-Play: Yes

If you think you’ve played stress-inducing games before, just wait until you dip your toes into Overcooked. This is unlike any other game on the list, as it doesn’t involve any sort of combat or narrative gameplay. Instead, you and up to three other people work together in a kitchen to get out food orders on time to customers.

The premise sounds so simple, but the process of cooking food and delivering orders on time before customers walk out the door can get indescribably chaotic. Overcooked is a couch co-op game but the All You Can Eat version also features online PvP if you see how your cooking skills stack up to the rest of the world. However, the most fun you can have in Overcooked is sitting down with a friend or significant other and testing just how strong your relationship is as orders start to pile up.

Overcooked takes place from a top-down perspective across a variety of different maps. You and your partner(s) need to work together to sprint all over the kitchen and restaurant to fulfill orders correctly and in a timely manner. This can get hectic and problematic depending on your co-op skills, as you and your partner(s) need to be perfectly in sync to get through a dinner rush. Naturally, problems will come up, like fires in the kitchen, that only add to your laundry list of tasks to take care of. The game offers a ton of replayability, as you always want to try and beat your scores or simply get through a dinner rush without having too many customers leave in a huff.

Chivalry 2

• Developer: Torn Banner Studios
• Release Date: June 8, 2021
• Genre: FPS
• Cross-Play: Yes

Chivalry 2 is a first-person medieval multiplayer game that utilizes all forms of combat from the age it’s set in. From classic sword fights to dodging arrows to shooting catapults, battles change from moment to moment.

You start with access to only the bare essentials and as you level up through playing and earning eliminations, you unlock new content to use from match to match. Some of that content is centered around a class system, which evolves the more you play. You can choose between four base classes that all have over 10 subclasses and 30 weapons to access.

Matches are sprawled across huge playable areas that can support up to 64 players, and the maps are destructible in some ways. If you use a giant catapult to attack a stone village, it will come toppling down. In addition to fighting other players, you can also play modes that focus on killing NPCs and storming their castles, but these can still be played in co-op. You can team up with friends on PlayStation 5, but Chivalry 2 also supports full cross-play across all platforms.

The Division 2

• Developer: Ubisoft
• Release Date: March 12, 2019
• Genre: RPG/FPS
• Cross-Play: Yes

It’s been several years since The Division 2 was released, but it continues to carve out a niche for itself in the multiplayer genre. Mixing RPG, open-world, PvPvE, and looter-shooter mechanics together, The Division 2 is a jack-of-all-trades kind of game.

The main goal in The Division 2 is to scavenge a ruined Washington D.C. and try to stop it from collapsing completely against enemy forces. Washington D.C. is mostly explorable from the start and is a fairly decent size. You can play The Division 2 as a solo player or join a party and roam with them as you complete PvE objectives. However, there are also separate PvP areas on the map, which you’ll have to venture into to complete certain missions. Here, you can engage with real players and try to eliminate them to gather their loot or escape with your life in the style of an extraction shooter.

Speaking of loot, The Division 2 features no shortage of weapons, gear, and other items to scavenge for in the many buildings and areas of Washington D.C. The better loot you have, the stronger you can become, and the faster you’ll level up. As you gain levels, you can improve your character by adding skills to your chosen class specialization, which is where the RPG mechanics come into play.

The Division 2 can’t be lumped in with a specific genre, but it’s a fantastic multiplayer experience with friends even if you don’t engage in much PvP.

Elden Ring

• Developer: From Software
• Release Date: February 24, 2022
• Genre: Action-RPG
• Cross-Play: Yes

If you’re not already aware of our 2022 Game of the Year winner, let me preface this entry by saying Elden Ring is not a game for everyone. At its core, it’s an incredibly difficult single-player experience that features some of the toughest enemies and bosses ever seen in a video game. The entire game can take over 100 hours to complete if you go at it completely solo, but fortunately, you are able to bring along some friends for the ride.

Elden Ring doesn’t implement multiplayer in the traditional way, though. Instead of joining a party and going from there, you need to follow a specific process to have a friend on PlayStation 5 join you (cross-play isn’t supported). It’s a bit complicated, but basically, there are in-game items that allow you to “summon” a player and have them travel with you. It’s fairly easy to get a friend in your world, but there are some areas in Elden Ring where multiplayer is not available.

Most of the time, you’ll want a friend present for tough boss fights or challenging areas, such as the dreaded Caelid. If you’re looking for more of a classic multiplayer experience, Elden Ring also offers the ability to duel other players by using an item. The dueling system in Elden Ring is extremely rewarding and you can still force the game to make you duel your friends if that’s what you want.

If you’re looking for a more streamlined multiplayer experience in Elden Ring, however, you’ll want to wait for the upcoming title “Nightreign.” This Elden Ring spinoff features three-person co-op and allows you and your party to battle against waves of enemies in the same locations as the main game.

Street Fighter 6

• Developer: Capcom
• Release Date: June 2, 2023
• Genre: Fighting
• Cross-Play: Yes

Street Fighter 6 allows you to battle random players or a friend in online PvP matches. You can pick from a roster of nearly 20 fighters, some of whom are legends in the Street Fighter franchise. All fighters have been given unique cinematic specials and a redesign to harness the power of the PS5. You can expect the same high-octane action when performing a combo or dodging another fighter’s attacks, but the sixth entry in the franchise introduces new combat styles to match your skill level.

In addition to the classic online fights, Street Fighter 6 also has the Battle Hub, which is a place for players to get together and train their skills. You can take control of your avatar in the hub and meet other players, battle them, take on other challenges, and even play arcade games from Capcom.

TrackMania

• Developer: Ubisoft Nadeo
• Release Date: July 1, 2020
• Genre: Racing
• Cross-Play: Yes

TrackMania distinguishes itself from other racing games by focusing on multiplayer time trials: You’ll race against other players (represented as ghosts on the track to avoid collisions) across a variety of tracks, which often feature jumps, loops, and other obstacles to deal with. The goal is to set the best track time before the allotted time expires, which means resetting your attempts when you make a mistake and hunting for that edge to shave off a bit of extra time. Tracks themselves feature a great deal of variety, thanks to community creations that help the action stay fresh.

One of the best multiplayer experiences in TrackMania is the Royale mode, which pits your team of three against 57 other racers on a track to see who can be the last team standing.

Another multiplayer element in TrackMania are the world records. Across all tracks in the game are world records for the quickest time to complete them. You can attempt to beat the world record or simply learn the track better so you can post a better time than your friend. World records specifically, along with other multiplayer options, are only available through the Clubs feature. Clubs are social groups you can join to meet other players and make it easier to connect with friends to play whatever you want to in TrackMania.

TrackMania is free-to-play, so it’s one that you and any friend on PlayStation 5 can immediately pick up. And it still receives monthly updates from Ubisoft that deliver plenty of new content.

Phasmophobia

• Developer: Kinetic Games
• Release Date: September 4, 2020
• Genre: Horror Game
• Cross-Play: Yes

Described as a “psychological horror” game, Phasmophobia isn’t as scary as some make it out to be, but it can still give your heart a solid jumpstart at any given time.

Phasmophobia is a four-player co-op game that also features a single-player mode. The main objective of the game is for you and your team to identify ghosts manifesting in a home, campsite, or abandoned penitentiary, among other creepy maps. To accomplish that goal, you have a variety of equipment that you can utilize to gather evidence about the ghosts and their locations. Most of your time in Phasmophobia is spent with a flashlight out in pure darkness trying to look for evidence and listen for ghosts. The sounds specifically are where Phasmophobia excels, as they’re extremely realistic and make your skin crawl with anticipation.

The horror game offers over 10 maps to play on and increased difficulty modes to truly test your ghost-hunting skills. Hopping on a voice call with friends on PlayStation 5 and listening to every player’s individual experience as they’re out and about dealing with the supernatural is one of the best experiences on this list. Game chat is the ideal way to communicate in Phasmophobia, though, as the game uses your location and a radio to determine if you can be heard by your teammates or not.

Madden NFL 26

• Developer: EA
• Release Date: August 14, 2025
• Genre: Sports
• Cross-Play: Yes

Madden 26 is a sports game that has increased its multiplayer offerings in recent years. Aside from the classic online head-to-head matches that you can play against your friends, there are plenty of multiplayer options across the other game modes.

Some of the new inclusions in Madden 26 are the multiplayer mini-games in Superstar Mode. One of these mini-games is Jump Ball, where you face off against a single opponent and try to catch long passes while the other player defends. You keep flip-flopping positions until a player is declared the winner. Superstar Mode also offers a 1v1 mode that features drastically different rules.

In addition to Superstar Mode, you can also join a player’s online Franchise League that plays out with the real NFL season or take on real opponents in Ultimate Team, where you use player cards to fill out your team. Madden 26 offers plenty of multiplayer options as long as you’re willing to play the game modes available to you.

Monster Hunter Wilds

• Developer: Square Enix
• Release Date: February 28, 2025
• Genre: RPG
• Cross-Play: Yes

Monster Hunter Wilds is a monster-fighting RPG that doesn’t feature any sort of PvP, but it allows you to engage with a number of multiplayer features. For starters, you can join a party with up to three other players and explore the entire world of Monster Hunter Wilds together. You can fight bosses as a party, participate in endgame content after each player completes the main story, and take on quests together. However, Wilds also allows for lobbies of much larger groups. These lobbies consist of up to 100 players, and you can interact with them throughout the world.

Monster Hunter Wilds features a large open world that’s teeming with enemies to fight. You need to defeat monsters, collect their loot, and gather resources to make upgrades to your weapon and armor in order to fight one of the many bosses scattered throughout the world. Your character has access to over a dozen unique weapons, and each one comes with different abilities and combos you can use in combat. Boss fights can take up to 20 minutes, as the bosses are extremely large, tanky, and move around during an encounter. You’ll need strategy, and perhaps some help from friends, to take each one down on your journey through the game’s story and endgame.

Sea of Thieves

• Developer: Rare
• Release Date: March 20, 2018
• Genre: Action-Adventure
• Cross-Play: Yes

After several long years of being exclusive to Xbox and PC, Sea of Thieves finally arrived on PS5 in 2024. With full cross-play support between all of the game’s available platforms, you can take on the high seas with any of your friends.

Sea of Thieves can be played as a solo player, but it’s much more enjoyable when you have a full crew of friends on your ship. The game allows you to become a full-fledged pirate, plundering other ships as you journey across the sea and bringing back treasure and loot from various islands and towns you find on the map. The pinnacle of Sea of Thieves, however, is finding another ship controlled by real players and partaking in combat with them. The ship fighting mechanics in Sea of Thieves are incredible, allowing you to fight with cannons from a distance or sneak onboard the enemy ship and take out players or steal treasure right from under their noses.

When you play Sea of Thieves, you’ll join a lobby of anywhere from 20-24 players, and there’s always plenty of opportunity for multiplayer encounters.