Playing with friends does not have to mean matching their gaming rig. A good number of popular co-op and multiplayer games were deliberately built to run on modest hardware, either because they target a broad audience, use stylised graphics, or were designed with cross-platform play against consoles and even mobile devices in mind, which keeps requirements sensible across the board.
Key takeaway: games built for cross-platform play against consoles or mobile devices are usually the safest bet for budget hardware, since their requirements are capped by the weakest platform they support.
Recommended games
| Game | Genre | Why it's manageable on a budget PC |
|---|---|---|
| It Takes Two | Co-op adventure | Well-optimised engine with scalable graphics settings |
| Overcooked! 2 | Co-op party game | Simple stylised art, very low hardware requirements |
| Deep Rock Galactic | Co-op shooter | Stylised visuals with a wide range of graphics presets, playable on integrated graphics at low settings |
| Among Us | Social deduction | Minimal 2D-style graphics, runs on virtually any hardware |
| Rocket League | Vehicular sports | Long-standing optimisation and cross-platform targeting keep requirements low |
Why cross-platform games are a safe bet
A game built to run on the Nintendo Switch, older console generations, or mobile devices alongside PC has to keep its baseline requirements low enough for the weakest of those platforms, which usually translates into a genuinely accessible PC version too, even on integrated graphics. This is a useful shortcut when browsing for new co-op games to play with friends – checking whether a title is also available on Switch is a reasonable proxy for whether it will run acceptably on a budget laptop.
- Check whether the game is also released on Nintendo Switch or older console generations as a quick indicator of lighter requirements.
- Confirm your friends' minimum settings expectations before committing, since online co-op performance issues on your end can affect everyone's experience.
- Test your internet connection stability separately from graphics settings, since multiplayer stutter is sometimes a network issue rather than a hardware one.
- Lower graphics settings using the same priorities as any other game: shadows, ambient occlusion, and view distance first.
- Check for an upscaling option (FSR is common in newer co-op titles) to claw back frame rate without a big visual cost.
Tip: voice chat and screen-sharing overlays from third-party apps running in the background can quietly eat into CPU and GPU resources during multiplayer sessions – close unnecessary overlays if performance feels inconsistent compared to single-player testing.
Before you start: some multiplayer games use anti-cheat software that runs continuously in the background; a small number of these can conflict with certain older drivers or security software, so keep your GPU driver and Windows both reasonably updated before installing a new competitive multiplayer game.
Keeping everyone's experience smooth
In co-op and multiplayer sessions, your own graphics settings only affect what you see, but a struggling laptop can still indirectly affect friends if it causes you to disconnect or drop frames during a critical moment. It is worth doing a short solo test session before inviting friends into a new game, checking that your frame rate stays reasonably stable during the busiest moments the game throws at you, rather than discovering a performance problem mid-session with other people waiting on you.
Frequently asked questions
- Do co-op games generally need less GPU power than solo campaigns from the same series?
- Not necessarily by design, but many co-op-focused games favour stylised art and broader platform support, which tends to keep requirements more modest than single-player-focused blockbusters.
- Will a weak internet connection look like a hardware performance problem?
- Yes, network-related stutter and rubber-banding can feel similar to low FPS but are unrelated to your GPU or CPU, so it is worth ruling out connection issues before adjusting graphics settings.
- Is split-screen co-op harder on hardware than online co-op?
- Generally yes, since the game has to render two views simultaneously, roughly doubling the GPU workload compared to a single online session.