There are two kinds of co-op games.
The first kind gently encourages teamwork, communication, and friendship. The second kind turns your group chat into a war zone where someone ends up shouting “THAT IS NOT THE BLUE BUTTON” before everything explodes.
These upcoming indie co-op games mostly lean towards the second category.
And honestly? Good.
Because while polished AAA multiplayer games continue their endless quest to become live-service homework, indie developers are still out here making chaotic little disasters designed specifically to test friendships, create stories, and occasionally make everyone involved question why they agreed to play together in the first place.
From collapsing aircraft and cursed temples to smuggling contraband past overenthusiastic airport security, here are five upcoming indie co-op games that already look like they could become your next obsession.
Which indie co-op games made the list?
Don’t Panic! It is Just Turbulence
- Release date: 11 May 2026
- Developer: Harmonia Games
- Publisher: Aiolos Studios
There is something deeply funny about naming a co-op game Don’t Panic! It is Just Turbulence when absolutely everything shown so far suggests panic is the main mechanic.
This one immediately gives off Keep Talking, and Nobody Explodes energy, except instead of calmly defusing bombs, you are desperately trying to stop an aircraft from becoming tomorrow’s news headline.
One player acts as the Pilot, trapped in a cockpit full of failing systems and flashing warnings, while the other plays Air Traffic Controller, desperately trying to decipher instructions and guide them through increasingly chaotic disasters. Communication is everything here, and judging by the demo, the game knows exactly how to weaponise confusion against you.
The best co-op games understand that chaos is funniest when everyone is technically trying to help, and Don’t Panic! It is Just Turbulence seems built entirely around that idea. Misheard instructions, frantic callouts, alarms screaming in the background while someone presses the exact wrong button anyway. It looks stressful in the best possible way.
The variety in aircraft setups and puzzles also suggests this might have more longevity than some co-op gimmick games manage. Every new plane introduces fresh systems, quirks, and disasters, meaning it hopefully avoids becoming repetitive once the novelty wears off.
At the very least, it already feels like the sort of co-op game that could create some genuinely legendary multiplayer moments.
Or catastrophic ones.
Probably both.
Crashout Crew
- Release date: 28 May 2026
- Developer/Publisher: Aggro Crab
Aggro Crab have built a reputation for making games that feel slightly unhinged in a very deliberate way, and Crashout Crew looks like it fully understands the joy of controlled workplace collapse.
Set inside the deeply suspicious DE NILE SHIPPING warehouse, this is essentially a physics-driven forklift disaster simulator for up to four players. You and your increasingly stressed coworkers are tasked with sorting, stacking, and shipping increasingly ridiculous cargo under impossible deadlines while trying not to completely lose your minds.
Naturally, this means the forklifts drift.
Because of course they do.
Everything about Crashout Crew screams “this will either go brilliantly or become a screaming match in under seven minutes”. And honestly, that is exactly what you want from this sort of co-op game. The best multiplayer chaos games thrive on tiny mistakes snowballing into absolute catastrophe, and the combination of physics-based cargo, frantic teamwork, upgrade systems, and optional safety violations feels engineered specifically to create those moments.
The cargo variety sounds wonderfully stupid too. Explosives, anvils, primates, chickens, and whatever else the warehouse decides to throw at you next. There is a very real possibility this ends up being one of those games where the actual objective quietly stops mattering because everyone is too busy trying to recover from the last disaster.
Also, points for fully committing to the exhausted workplace satire. Any game willing to describe employee suffering as “enrichment” already knows exactly what kind of tone it is aiming for.
Airport Security Sucks!
- Release date: 5 June 2026
- Developer: JakeHub, Metater
- Publisher: Jatater Worldwide
Right. This co-op game is probably going to divide people a bit.
And honestly, it probably knows that already.
Airport Security Sucks! is essentially a social chaos game where players either attempt to smuggle contraband through an airport or play power-tripping TSA agents trying to stop them. Which means yes, there are tasers, flashbangs, smoke bombs, voice-controlled sniffer dogs, lockdown buttons, and what appears to be deeply irresponsible Segway usage.
The thing is, beneath the deliberately stupid setup, there is actually a really strong multiplayer concept here.
The smugglers have to blend into crowds of NPC travellers while coordinating distractions and sneaking items through security. The agents, meanwhile, are trying to identify actual players without terrorising innocent NPCs. Add in proximity chat, randomised escape routes, and giant lobbies, and it feels like the sort of game that could generate absolute nonsense every single round.
There is definitely a risk with games like this that the “haha authority bad” joke wears thin quickly, but the sheer amount of systems interacting here might be enough to carry it. The social deduction side mixed with open-ended chaos has real potential if the balancing lands properly.
And honestly, any game willing to let players command an attack dog named Cupcake already understands the kind of ridiculous energy it needs to survive.
Too Deep To Quit
- Release date: 2026
- Developer/Publisher: Demon Max
Every good adventure co-op game needs at least one friend who accidentally triggers every trap in existence.
Too Deep To Quit appears to have built an entire game around that person.
This one throws one to four players into cursed temples full of traps, monsters, collapsing corridors, and enough treasure to convince everyone involved that risking certain death is somehow a sensible career path. Think classic adventure serial energy mixed with survival chaos and a healthy amount of “whoops, sorry lads” moments when somebody inevitably gets flattened by moving walls.
The tone here feels important, too.
A lot of survival co-op games drift heavily towards grim seriousness, but Too Deep To Quit seems much more interested in letting disaster become funny. The descriptions lean into greed, panic, improvisation, and betrayal in a way that suggests this understands exactly what makes multiplayer treasure hunts entertaining. Everyone starts off working together. The real question is how long that lasts once solid gold idols start appearing.
There is also something very appealing about the game’s focus on scavenging and improvisation. These temples are apparently full of leftovers from previous doomed adventurers, meaning survival often depends on rummaging through the remains of people who very clearly did not survive the experience themselves.
Which feels… reassuring.
Potentially.
Cartel Pilots Wanted
- Release date: TBA
- Developer: OldYacht
- Publisher: Polden Publishing
This might quietly be the most interesting game on the list.
While most co-op games lean hard into panic and chaos, Cartel Pilots Wanted looks like it is aiming for something a little more laid back. Well, as laid back as illegal smuggling flights across cartel-controlled islands can realistically be.
The setup is simple: you and your friends wake up stranded on a tropical island after a rough night and end up flying questionable cargo for a cartel in order to survive. From there, the game becomes a co-op pilot sim where you deliver increasingly sketchy shipments while maintaining aircraft, exploring islands, and trying not to crash into the ocean during tropical storms.
There is a very specific kind of vibe this seems to be chasing. Slightly criminal. Slightly cosy. Slightly “what if Flight Simulator let you make much worse life choices”.
And honestly? It kind of works.
The accessible flight model is probably the key thing here. Full realism would likely scare half the audience away immediately, but leaning more into an approachable co-op adventure gives the whole thing much broader appeal. The combination of flying, exploration, plane maintenance, customisation, and chilled-out island atmosphere could make this one of those games people end up sinking surprising amounts of time into.
Also, any co-op game encouraging players to grab “a crate of cold beer before the next mission” fully understands the multiplayer energy it wants.
Which one of these co-op games actually sticks the landing remains to be seen, obviously. Indie multiplayer games live and die on whether the chaos stays funny after the first few hours, and whether there is enough underneath the gimmick to keep people coming back.
Still, there is something refreshing about how weird and personality-driven all of these feel.
No battle passes. No cinematic universe nonsense. Just aircraft disasters, forklift pileups, cursed temples, airport chaos, and tropical smuggling flights with your mates.
Honestly, that sounds far more appealing anyway.
Liked this piece on upcoming co-op games? Why not check out more of our opinion pieces by clicking here.
