Co-Op Games That Totally Reinvent Themselves Halfway Through

There is a long history of co-op games, and it can be hard nowadays to stay fresh and continue to shake things up for gamers. However, there are more than a few games that allows players to experience massive shifts and twists in the gameplay as the story continues.

I love playing games on the sofa with a partner. Sometimes, the most challenging thing about single-player gaming is that there are huge moments and twists which you don’t get to share with anyone. Gameplay changes are as much of a way to keep things fresh as massive twists, but both are often more fun when you’re accompanied by a friend.

Spoilers ahead. Beware!

7 It Takes Two

Gameplay Is Constantly Evolving & Changing

Instead of a single reinvention or gameplay mechanic change, there are a few great games in the vein of It Takes Two, which prefer to constantly reinvent themselves. With each new sequence or level, the two player characters gain new abilities and follow vastly differing gameplay.

I remember being shocked that a modern game was so well-suited for co-op, requiring it even! When I first played It Takes Two with a partner. The story and journey of the two divorcing parents is a cohesive one, but players will never know what the next level will bring in this wildly unpredictable, very fun adventure.

6 Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons Remake

Co-Op Pain Like No Other

Originally, Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons was a single-player experience where the player controls two brothers with opposite sides of the same controller. The remake gives more options, including a full co-op version of the game. However, the twist in this game is even more brutal in the case where two players are each controlling one brother.

That’s because of the third act twist where the elder brother dies. In the original game, this meant just using one half of the controller for the final scenes. But in the remake? One player is left without anything to do after the huge twist, making for a heartbreaking finale where the other has to go on with the game. Changing both the gameplay and experience immensely, this is a painful way to deal with your first time playing the game, as it was for me being left dead and useless in the closing stages for my first experience.

5 A Way Out

From Brothers To Enemies

Hazelight Studios might have moved onto more wholesome games that feature sweet friendships or relationships between their leading characters. But their first major split-screen adventure, A Way Out, was vastly different. It featured two men, each played by a player, named Vincent and Leo, as prisoners trying to escape and then on the run from the law. Of course, their camaraderie and friendship vanishes in a sudden flash when it is revealed that Vincent is an undercover cop.

Having been put in prison as part of a deep-cover operation, Vincent makes friends with Leo to get to Harvey, the man who killed his brother. Though a tragic ending, this completely turns the game from co-op alongside the other player to a finale filled with combat. The forced turn on each other and the subsequent endings, which feature one of the characters making it out alive, was a traumatic twist that changed everything.

4 Portal 2

It Doesn’t Seem So Fun With GLaDOS

Sometimes there is a major shift in the type of gameplay over the course of a game. With the co-op campaign in Portal 2, it is more a case of the difficulty spiking viciously as the game goes on. If you believe a puzzle game can only reach a certain level of difficulty and brain-teasing, then you likely haven’t played Portal 2 which continues to relentlessly force you into playing with physics and all manner of traps and puzzling rooms.

I didn’t play the co-op version of Portal 2 for a long time. When I finally did, I discovered that form of the campaign is one of the early examples of a friendship-ender. Trying to puzzle your way through something so challenging alongside someone else is likely to become explosive. Your brain, and friendship, will all be tested in the story of ATLAS and P-body. While there’s no giant shift in the gameplay itself, the difficulty and story changes constantly reframe how you’ll feel about this infamous game.

3 Fable 3

May I Speak To (And Then Become) Management?

I love Fable 3, if only because I’m a massive fan of management games. Beyond that, this also has a huge and excellent voice cast, and a moral quandary that will hurt your soul. When starting out, Fable 3 seems to be like any other action RPG. The player character is tasked with overthrowing the King of Albion. However, this task is accomplished with rapidity at just the halfway stage, and the player is suddenly left in charge.

As the new Monarch, the player discovers they must now decide whether to continue the harsh taxes and cruelty as a tyrant, or to let the kingdom be unprepared for a great evil which is coming to destroy everything. The moral quandary is a huge shift in perspective, but the gameplay itself also changes a great deal with this sudden halfway shift, making for a fascinating swerve. Of course, if you aren’t as big a fan of management games as me, or want your stories to be a bit less complex, this twist probably wasn’t a happy one for you.

2 Halo: Combat Evolved

A Horror Game Out Of Nowhere

The co-operative capabilities of Halo games have always been one of my personal favourite things about them. Although the first game in the franchise has aged in FPS terms now, playing it back together recently with my partner was an excellently fun time. I was surprised at how many of the elements of modern Halo games, like vehicular combat and twisting storylines, were a part of the first-ever game.

Unlike some Call of Duty games, Halo is generally very suitable for co-op play, and it has created enjoyable memories for me as a teen and as an adult. But nothing is more unnerving than the first mission, fighting the Flood, after believing that the Covenant were the only forces to contend with for such a large portion of the game.

1 Split Fiction

The Ultimate Crossover Keeps Giving

As a massive fan of both fantasy and sci-fi as genres, I felt like this game was made for me from the outset. Hazelight Studios are responsible for several of the games on this list. They are the primary name in instant classic co-op adventures today, and have caused the rest of the gaming industry to start scrabbling in their wake. Split Fiction is a crowning achievement that takes place inside an idea-generating (and stealing) machine that gets confused when two writers, each with a favourite genre and many cool ideas, get sucked inside the machine together.

This causes players to take on both genres as the game reinvents itself constantly by moving between different types of worlds and different power sets for the characters. I bought a new game console specifically to give this a try, and it was worth doing just to experience the length and breadth of the imaginative, constantly changing machine that is Hazelight’s creative team.