Doom Eternal remains one of the best-looking shooters of recent years. Fast, bloody, and with a superb range of weapons (all hail the Super Shotgun), it also boasts a wonderful, chunky aesthetic – demons disintegrate into flesh lumps, environments are detailed and stark, the whole game is dripping with atmosphere. Combine that with Left 4 Dead, Valve’s peerless co-op shooter, that pushes the importance of teamwork to new heights, then add some of the loot-driven, extraction style of Hunt Showdown and Escape from Tarkov. Oh, and get it published by 3D Realms. Welcome to one of the coolest new multiplayer shooters of the year.
Ripout (great title, by the way) throws you and a group of pals into derelict, monster-infested spaceships straight from the Dead Space and H.R. Geiger school of mechanical engineering. A co-op FPS game (although you can play solo), your mission is to scavenge whatever you can from a series of procedurally generated, decaying space cruisers and make it out alive. Customize your class, use teamwork to survive, and complete punchy, action-filled missions as you fight to unearth the mystery behind Sanctuary, a mythical homeworld rumored to be humanity’s last hope for existence.
Ripout has some seriously neat twists. As well as your standard zombies, you’ll also face down hulking, constantly evolving mutants, which can pick up smaller creatures, ingest them, and transform before your eyes into new and deadlier monsters. Similarly, your best friend is the Pet Gun, a living, breathing, Xenomorph-looking thing that can be enhanced and evolved the more you play – you can even stop to stroke its little head, if you’re feeling affectionate.
Channeling some of the best PC shooters of the last 20 years, Ripout is available right now via Steam Early Access, with a decent 10% discount to mark its release. If you miss Left 4 Dead, if you dream of co-op Doom Eternal, or if you just want a rewarding, great-looking blaster, you can get Ripout right now.
Alternatively, you can play some of the other best co-op games available right now. The best survival games will also test your mettle, whether playing alone or with your friends.