Co-op is something of a curious feature, isn’t it? It’s always welcomed whenever a game supports it, yet it’s not something that’s requested nearly as much as certain other features. As fun as it is, it’s almost always been treated as something that’s merely nice to have rather than something essential. Yet, it may be a lot more important of a feature than most realize. Yes, for some games all co-op does is make them a little better, but it can be downright transformative for others. Indeed, for some games including co-op could be the key that unlocks their full and true experience.
Returnal is perhaps one of the best examples of this.Ever since its release, it’s had a reputation for being a crushingly difficult roguelike-styled shooter. It’s a reputation that’s earned too; Returnal is a tough-as-nails experience…at first. See, like most games, Returnal has a learning curve. Players need time enough to get used to what they can do, cannot do and what they need to be focusing on as they make their way through each of the biomes.
Returnal’s no different from any other game in that respect, but unlike other games, players don’t get to learn while constantly making progress in Returnal. Instead, they’re forced to go back to the beginning with each death, and that’s a problem. It forces both the game and the player in a kind of race against the player’s patience.
If the player cannot make reasonable progress before their patience reaches its end, then that’s it; Returnal goes on the shelf and will likely remain there forever more. What if that timer could be removed though? What if, instead of teeth-grindingly frustrating, those deaths could be fun and funny? This is where co-op comes in and saves Returnal’s proverbial bacon.
In much the same manner as inElden Ringor the other soulsborne games, co-op in Returnal is effectively an easy mode. It allows players the opportunity to learn the game and experiment with its mechanics without having to suffer demoralizing defeat after demoralizing defeat. It allows one to learn the ropes from a friend, try out new weapons and upgrades without fear of a reset, just enjoy being bad at the game together, and most importantly, just get used to everything without worrying about making progress. When playing with a friend, the journey itself is more than fun enough.
From the co-op fun flows confidence in one’s own abilities, confidence enough even to take the game on solo. It’s still more difficult alone than with a friend, but at least the player will have had the chance to learn how to play Returnal and actually be able to enjoy it in spite of failure rather than have their fun ruined by it. This is the power of co-op in an otherwise almost inaccessibly difficult game: it makes it feel reasonable. It can even make that same difficult eventually feel fun.
Co-op is perhaps the best possible solution for making difficult games more playable without having to compromise their design. With it, combat encounters can be allowed to remain challenging, puzzles can remain perplexing and the cost of failure can be steep without feeling unfair towards the player. It allows new players to take on all of this with help in the beginning and then enjoy it all even more fully later on when they come back as a solo challenger.
While it may not always be possible for co-op to be woven into a game’s environment, it can be an exceptionally powerful tool for projects capable of using it. For developers, it can allow them to make their game as tough as they want, without too much fear of turning away the average player. For players, it enables them to have fun learning a difficult game and build their skills without having to deal with the frustration of constant defeat. Seemingly impenetrable difficulty really can be transformed into rewarding challenge if one is able to take it on with a friend first. It does this for Returnal and the likes of Elden Ring, so why not put its magic to work for other difficult games going forward too?
