What’s worth playing in the slew of new indie co-op games?
Even if you don’t have friends to play your favorite games with (there’s no shame in that), it’s almost a guarantee that you have seen at least some of the new indie games exploding onto the scene, dubbed ‘friendslop.’ This title came around in March of 2025 on social media, when people mocked the upsurge in production of indie co-op games, often horror, that forced multiplayer play. While the ‘slop’ (media of lower quality) portion of the term lost some of its weight, ‘friendslop’ became a broad category of popular games that sees plenty of traction with regular new releases.
Lethal Company
Often seen as what popularized the genre, Lethal Company was released in 2023 and found massive success, reaching highs of over 240,000 players within 2 months of its release in 2023. Lethal Company is a first-person co-op horror game, where each new day, you and your friends go out onto unknown planets and explore dangerous terrain to collect items to sell to your cruel employer. Every planet you venture to is its own unique world, and the game offers plenty of horror in the ominous locations and jump scares.
Among Us
Need I even mention Among Us? You and quite possibly every member of your family have probably played some amount of the space murder mystery game that hit a humongous peak of players during the pandemic and still pulls pretty incredible numbers. While Lethal Company may have popularized the genre as a whole, Among Us is often seen as the blueprint for ‘friendslop’ games, and without its monumental popularity, we wouldn’t see such success in the indie co-op releases of today.
Content Warning
Released a year after Lethal Company’s success, in 2024, Content Warning by indie devs at Landfall also garnered quite a bit of attention. The horror game consists of you and your friends descending into an “Old World” to film terrifying scenes full of monsters on your handheld camera, gaining views on your “SpöökTube” account. Your incentive is the ad revenue gained to spend on equipment upgrades and the threat of death if quotas aren’t met. Just like Lethal Company, the draw of Content Warning lies in the prospect of cheap fun times with your friends. But the game is still chock full of vast and intriguing level design, creative and discomforting cryptids, and compelling fear created by the atmosphere.
Peak
Landfall didn’t quit there. The next year, 2025, they released Peak alongside Aggro Crab. (another indie game developing team) While not reaching quite the highs of their last game, Peak continued to put up really respectable numbers and offered a unique departure from the more horror-centered titles in the genre. Peak is a cooperative climbing game where you and your friends work together to manage health and hunger while climbing through progressively tougher environments. With cute thumbnail-worthy characters, expertly crafted levels and mechanics, and a serious amount of skill or practice required, Peak fit the bill as another staple among the ‘friendslop’ greats.
R.E.P.O
The same year, R.E.P.O. was released, hitting similar numbers on Steam and following in the success of the other horror-based titles in the genre. R.E.P.O. stands for retrieve, extract, & profit operation and makes a play on Repo or repossession of property like cars when payments are missed. The gameplay consists of your crew of strange little pill-shaped characters parking at each location and wandering through abandoned schools, manors, museums, and more, all the while taking lost or forgotten items of varying value to sell for upgrades found in the shop between each location. The gameplay loop is methodical and could feel tedious if not for the antics created by the spattering of murderous creatures that wander through each location with the goal of wiping your team or ruining the value of the items you repossess.
All in All
‘Friendslop’ games only seem to multiply at a faster and faster rate as the months pass. Games like YAPYAP and Super Battle Golf have just released to a continued great reception, and there’s no sign of a change in demand. There’s no wonder these games are getting success; video games are all about community, and what’s not to love when the community is just you and the 1-3 friends you ping in Discord. This meta of sorts for the success of independent game developers is just like any other AAA game, copying the Call of Duty blueprint. But in this case, it supports developers who may not have the means but have the passion to create inspiring work.
