Cross-platform play is incredibly convenient and a great luxury to have available at all times. This makes it one of the best things about gaming. But that doesn’t mean the games we play on those platforms are beyond being ranked! So here are are our top 20 best cross-platform games, in no particular order.
20. No Man’s Sky
Yes, No Man’s Sky still hasn’t met the expectations of a lot of people. And yes, its recent success can mostly be credited to the somewhat poor reception of Bethesda’s Starfield which somehow failed to live up to what Hello Games already did years prior. But c’mon, you’ve gotta admit the concept is pretty cool. Being able to explore an unfathomable amount of planets — most of which are teaming with life and materials to collect — is pretty cool, right? It may never be perfect, but exploring with your pals on a variety of different consoles definitely makes up for that.
19. Warframe
Free to play? Cross-platform? Shooter? Get out of here. It seems like Warframe has taken a chunk of Destiny 2’s popularity and used it to crank out a stream of steady updates for a decade. But sometimes, we also don’t feel like thinking too much, so coming home and blasting enemy after enemy with our pals in a story-driven action game is exactly what we need.
18. Rocket League
Coming out of completely nowhere and taking the world by storm with its inventive soccer gameplay played with cars — Rocket League is a rare example of a racing game doing something different instead of following the trend of being a crazy simulation with ultra-realistic graphics. With how easy it is to pick up and play, it is a game you should just try for the concept alone.
17. Among Us
Ok, this one’s here just for the concept alone. Forget about when it came out for a moment and think about this: what other video game allows you to lie to your friends on purpose and get away with it!? Among Us is usually a couple of bucks on digital stores and uses psychology more than any other game on this list. It also brings people together for a great and sometimes maddening time, so that’s awesome, too.
16. Fortnite
Opinions on Fortnite have always been somewhat mixed, but you can’t deny that it has left an impenetrable mark on gaming and popular culture as a whole. Its live events create such a buzz that Epic now allows players to use celebrity skins, with everybody from Drake to Ninja being purchasable. No other game has even gotten close to that amount of success, and even though some of Epic’s business practices are somewhat divisive among parents and gamers alike, it’s still a really good game. So, it’s an excellent introduction for new gamers and a fun way to hang out with friends.
15. After The Fall
Sure, there are plenty of first-person shooter games that you can also play in co-op with your best friends or random people across the globe, but there definitely aren’t a lot of those kinds of titles in VR these days. And After The Fall is one of those games. Vertigo Games’ post-apocalyptic title offers a solid and sometimes frightening experience that will have you grabbing your controller a tighter while you’re in the comfort of your VR headset (*wink wink*).
14. Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0
Love ’em or hate ’em, the Call of Duty titles still deliver a solid product with lots of good shooting and occasional carnage. But perhaps the best one on the market right now is the free-to-play Warzone 2.0, with its selection of weapons and large player base. In fact, Warzone 2.0 has a mix of the best weapons from the Call of Duty games, both past and present. So there you go.
13. Crash Team Rumble
While it’s not what fans would want from the Crash Bandicoot series — especially after the success of the recent title Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, Rumble still has a good amount of fun to be had. It’s multiplayer can be chaotic fun sometimes, and Tawna has a grappling hook. Plus, whether the developers intended to or not, they made a successor to Power Stone. It’s good.
12. Dead By Daylight
Asymmetrical multiplayer games haven’t been around for a long time. Still, they’ve grown in popularity these last couple of years, and Dead By Daylight is one of the better examples of that. It’s just a solid horror game that continues to receive updates. Oh, it even has a next-generation patch for the PS5 and Xbox series consoles. Good stuff right there.
11. EA Sports FC 2024
Care for some footy? The EA Sports titles aren’t the deepest things out there, but that’s alright because sometimes we want to chill out with a good sports game from time to time. Collecting cards in Ultimate Team can be an addictive process, online matches can be a good time with your pals, and it’s also fun to dream of the day when your favourite team wins the big one.
10. Humanity
At a glance, it would be easy to dismiss Humanity as a shameless Lemmings clone, but it’s way more than that. Its puzzles are challenging, and its narrative is thought-provoking, a rare gaming combo. But you also get to control a dog, so Tetsuya Mizuguchi deserves more recognition for that reason alone.
9. Just Dance 2024
Get your dance shoes on and move your body freely with Just Dance 2024. Crossplay works with all systems on which the game can be played, and the local multiplayer on the Nintendo Switch is particularly excellent, too.
8. Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis
Those looking for a great MMO to play with your fellow Anime fans could do a lot worse than this one right here. It’s free-to-play and features a large and dedicated fanbase that makes the world feel truly alive while the hours tick by in real life.
7.River City Girls 2
Playing with a friend makes literally anything better in life, especially the beat ’em up genre in video games, which has seen quite a resurgence in recent years. Couch co-op is the best way to experience this game, but crossplay is also great. What makes it even better is that River City Girls 2 is a solid title in its own right.
6. TemTem
If you’re feeling burnt out on Pokemon, you might want to check out a little game called TemTem. Its art style is reminiscent of the Wind Waker, and it’s basically a PokeMMO. That is, without the threat of being taken down by Nintendo or Game Freak, of course.
5. WWE 2K23
While full crossplay would’ve been appreciated with this title, the ability to play with people on older consoles is more than appreciated, and WWE 2k23 is the best wrestling since the 2010s, maybe of all time. It is a huge improvement over the abysmal launch of the previous game, thanks in part to its new gameplay changes.
4.Street Fighter 6
A developer from Japan making a fighting game with mass-marketed appeal that has full crossplay in this economy?? Wow. Street Fighter 6 is one of the franchise’s best entries; with its wacky character creator and addicting multiplayer, it is more than with it.
3. Wild Hearts
If you’re a fan of Monster Hunter and Toukiden, then you will probably like Wild Hearts just as much. Set in a fantasy world inspired by feudal Japan, this action RPG will have you hunting down monster after monster with your buddy on full crossplay support.
2. Valheim
Valheim is one of the more ambitious survival sandbox games out there; while its initial launch lacked many features and failed to meet some promises, it has had quite the turnaround and has sold more than five million copies. The devs also sent out a patch for full crossplay support, adding support for the Xbox One and Xbox series of consoles. So, yeah, good stuff.
1. Streets of Rage 4
Initially released for the Sega Genesis in the 1990s, we went a while without seeing another entry from this series, but it’s ok because Streets of Rage 4 is one of the best beat ’em ups out there. It looks gorgeous, sounds great, and has an awesome co-op mode. So why are there so few classic video game series being reimagined like this? We need more of them.
