In the time before bullet hells, shoot 'em ups featured sharp level design and more deliberate gameplay. Konami's Gradius is undoubtedly one of the finest shoot 'em up series of the 1980s and 90s. Players will finally be able to enjoy many of those games on modern hardware thanks to GRADIUS ORIGINS. The upcoming compilation collects 7 arcade Gradius titles, most with multiple versions to choose from. What's more, four of them will support 2-player local co-op!

As loyal readers know, Earth Defense Force 6 is one of my very favorite games. My wife and I have collectively put hundreds of ours into it, mostly on the Steam Deck, Valve's portable gaming device. Many of those hours were spent in online co-op, a key selling point of the EDF series. Sadly, however, we can no longer play together fro...

PowerWash Simulator is a sleeper hit (other than the unfortunate VR version), so it makes sense that other developers would draw inspiration from it. That's clearly the case with Spray Paint Simulator from North Star Video Games and Whitethorn Games. As the name implies, this one involves painting environments instead of washing them. It will support 2-player online co-op, and it's due out in May.

The original Bee Simulator has some good buzz among bee enthusiasts, I'm told. Thus, it's no surprise that Untold Tales and VARSAV Game Studios have a follow-up in the works called Bee Simulator: The Hive. This one will combine the content of the original game with an all-new expansion called "The Hive." It will still support 2-player split-screen co-op, so we're ready to bee thrilled by it.

We've been intrigued by 33 Immortals ever since it was announced at the Xbox Games Showcase in 2023. It promises to be the first 33-player online co-op game, a very unique number. Players will become damned souls and then team up with others to participate in large-scale raids against huge hordes of enemies and massive bosses. All that, plus Ro...

One of 2023's best Castlevania-style platformers was Gal Guardians: Demon Purge from PQUBE. As such, there's a good chance that the sequel, Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark, will end up knocking our socks off this year too. We'll find out when the digital version comes along at the end of March. Physical collectors won't be left in the cold, however, because the physical PlayStation and Switch editions now have a firm June 12 release date.