Playing games alongside friends and family members can create some of the most memorable gaming moments, especially when you’re working as a team to overcome the challenges thrown your way. We’ve rounded up the best Xbox co-op games in 2022. Whether you’re looking for a game to play online with friends or something light and fun to enjoy on the couch with your partner, we think you’ll find something that stands out on this list. From live service games like Sea of Thieves and Destiny 2 to lovingly crafted platformers such as It Takes Two and Unravel 2, there’s no shortage of rewarding co-op games on Xbox, regardless of which genres you’re into. We’ve organized the list in alphabetical order and will continue to update it as more excellent co-op games are released for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.

If you’re looking for more games to play on Xbox, check out our lists covering the best Xbox Series X games, best Xbox One games, and best Xbox Game Pass games. We also have a bunch of roundups for other platforms, including the best Nintendo Switch games, best PS5 games, best PS4 games, and best PC games.

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In the five years since the Nintendo Switch released, the console has become absolutely loaded with great games, including plenty of entries in some of Nintendo’s most popular franchises. Family-friendly games have always been part of Nintendo’s DNA, and with the Switch becoming Nintendo’s most successful home console ever, it’s no surprise that there are more stellar games for kids on the Switch than any of the console’s predecessors. We’ve rounded up the best Switch games for kids in 2022. Many of these games feature local multiplayer, so you and your kids can game together. Also, a decent number of these games aren’t just the best Switch games for kids–they are some of the best Nintendo Switch games, period.

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Our list contains the obvious standouts but also some games that might not be on your radar. Games of all different genres are represented, too, and many of these Nintendo Switch games have co-op or multiplayer so you can tag along with your little ones.

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The Nintendo Switch and Switch OLED come with a dock that is needed to display the picture on your TV. While the console itself is easily movable, unplugging your dock and hooking it up in another room in your home can be a hassle. That’s why it might make sense to have a secondary dock if you game in multiple rooms. You also may want a more compact docking option for travel. We’ve rounded up the best Nintendo Switch docks below, and yes, the official option leads the way, but there are quality solutions available for a fraction of the cost as well.

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For more Nintendo Switch recommendations, check out our roundups of the best Nintendo Switch controllers, accessories, grips, and carrying cases. We also have plenty of game recommendations in our best Nintendo Switch games and best Nintendo Switch games for kids lists.

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A Nintendo Switch grip can truly be a game-changer when it comes to playing in handheld mode. Though we adore the Switch, its form factor can be somewhat uncomfortable, especially during longer play sessions. Even the handheld-only Switch Lite, with its small form factor, suffers from the same issue. That’s why a grip is arguably the number one Switch accessory that handheld-focused players should pick up. From the Satisfye Switch grip case (which your Switch just slides into to give you a better grip) to the pricier Hori Split Pad Pro (which actually replaces your Switch Joy-Cons with wider controllers), there’s now a variety of Nintendo Switch grip options out there that make the handheld experience far better than it is naturally, and we’ve tested many of the main options on the market. We’ve rounded up the best Switch grips, most of which are available for budget-friendly prices.

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The best Nintendo Switch grips

Since there are three different Switch models now–standard, Switch Lite, and Switch OLED–you have to make sure you buy a grip that’s compatible with your device. Outside of the Hori Split Pad Pro, most standard Switch grips do not work with the Switch OLED due to the slight size difference. At this time, there aren’t many Switch OLED grips, though Satisfye recently released an updated ZenGrip Pro designed for Switch OLED that we highly recommend.

For more great accessories, be sure to check out our picks for the best Switch controllers, screen protectors, and carrying cases for 2022.

Note: The prices shown below indicate a product’s standard list price and may not reflect any current discounts or other fluctuations.

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Anyone who’s been looking for a bright, uplifting game to take some of that Elden Ring edge off can get just what they’re looking for from Kirby and the Forgotten Land. The game is absolutely adorable, and if you doubt that, you clearly haven’t seen that players can run around its village of Waddle Dees, waving hello to everyone they see.

A clip shared on Twitter by @AndreSegers shows that players can have Kirby be as sociable as they want. Simply approach a Waddle Dee then press up on the D-pad, and Kirby will stand on his tip-toes, wave his arms, and let out his iconic “Hiii!”

forget petting the dog! Waving at Waddle Dees is where it’s at! pic.twitter.com/iiPlLNoV2A

— André (@AndreSegers) March 3, 2022

Of course, there are more players can do in Waddle Dee Town than greet everyone they see. The game’s latest trailer showed off some of the minigames and activities littered around the village, including food shopping and working a part-time job. A colosseum located in the town will also let players play a boss rush mode where they fight the game’s bosses back-to-back.

Sadly, however, nothing comes without a cost. Kirby being able to say hello to every Waddle Dee that he can see is great, but the way he heals co-op teammates is drastically different from other games. The franchise’s usual Face-to-Face technique, which has the puffball smooch his friends to give them their health back, has been replaced with a simple high-5, according to a post on Twitter from @akfamilyhome.

Anyone who wants to give Kirby and the Forgotten Land a try can do so right now. A demo for the game, which includes its first three levels, is currently available on the Nintendo eShop. For more on Kirby and the Forgotten Land be sure to check out our preview of the game.

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If you’re looking for a gaming chair on a budget, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve rounded up the best cheap gaming chairs available in 2022. All 10 of our picks can be purchased on Amazon, and many of them are only around $100. While you won’t get the same premium materials found in some of the best gaming chairs–which can cost upwards of $500 or more–you’re still getting a stylish chair that has ergonomic support aimed at lengthy play sessions.

We’ve only chosen chairs with a plethora of highly-rated user reviews on Amazon. Many of these budget gaming chairs can be purchased for around $100, and some of them are even cheaper. These gaming chairs sacrifice in some departments, of course. Most notably, they are made with cheaper materials, so durability can be an issue. If you plan on using your gaming chair daily for both work and play, you might want to opt for a higher end chair that will retain its shape and comfort throughout years of use.

There are a number of reasons to add a gaming chair to your setup at home. Yes, they tend to look cooler than the average desk chair, but they also have tangible benefits. Gaming chairs are typically designed for comfort throughout lengthy sessions–whether you’re sitting at your desk working or leaning back to relax while playing your favorite games. They have taller backs to support your head and neck, lumbar support, and some even have footrests. Plus, have we mentioned these racing-style chairs look really cool?

The ergonomic design of gaming chairs puts them above some standard office chairs, mainly due to the added lumbar and head/neck support. If you’re finding that your lower back is sore after sitting in a regular desk chair, an ergonomic gaming chair is a great option for you.

If you’re interested in rounding out a new gaming setup, make sure to take a look at our picks for the best gaming desk. And if you’re planning on using your new chair to stream, make sure to also take a look at our roundups for the bst capture cards, budget monitors, webcams for streaming, gaming headsets, and accessories for streaming. Looking for a nice PC to pair your new gaming chair with? Check out our guide on how to build a gaming PC.

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The Lands Between of Elden Ring makes for some sizeable land to explore, and with numerous points of interest available that will take you off the beaten path, it’s easy to get lost in this expansive area. Fortunately, there’s a handy resource available in this interactive map hosted by MapGenie.

It’s full of useful markers, pointing the way towards numerous dungeons, sites of grace, overworld boss encounters, and where to find some of those creepy pot-people lurking on the map. Naturally, the map can be considered a huge interactive spoiler and just gazing at it can ruin a few surprises in case you haven’t sunk too much time into Elden Ring just yet.

If you’re happy to ignore the warnings though, the Lands Between map could turn out to be invaluable. Not only does it have resource-rich areas listed on it, but you can also customize it with as many icons as you want and save your discoveries on it. It’ll undoubtedly come in handy for those players looking to wring every drop of content out of Elden Ring, so it’s a handy link to bookmark.

For more help with the game, you can check our Elden Ring guides hub for numerous walkthroughs. We have guides on bosses such as Margit the Fell and the Tree Sentinel, and we’ve also got walkthroughs on how to two-hand weapons, where to find Golden Seeds, and everything you need to know about flasks.

If you’re playing something else this weekend that features a large overworld to explore, chances are good that MapGenie has an interactive map for you to make use of as well, as the site has pages for Horizon Forbidden West, Dying Light 2, and Pokemon: Legends Arceus in its library.

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Drop rates for weapons in Destiny 2’s new Wellspring activity and rare Ascendant Alloy materials for weapon crafting will soon be adjusted in a new patch that will be released next week.

After analyzing player feedback, Bungie explained in a new blog post that the drop chances for both standard and Deepsight Resonance versions of weapons from the Wellspring will be increased, thus helping players to progress further on Evidence Board quests from the Enclave.

The six-player matchmade activity generally has a chance to reward Guardians with one of four Throne World-themed weapons–such as the Tarnation grenade launcher or the Come to Pass auto rifle–that have a variety of perks attached to them, but those odds have not been in the favor of players.

The other issue being addressed next week is the availability of Ascendant Alloys. One of the rarest materials in the game for weapon crafting, Ascendant Alloys can be earned from high-level and challenging activities or bought from Master Rahool in the Tower for a hefty price every week. Rahool’s stock fluctuates though, as inventory of it appears to be bugged for several players.

Bungie plans to increase the drop rates of the material in Master Wellspring completions based on player completion level, which means higher chances at earning Ascendant Alloys for Gold and Platinum completions, defeating champions, and completing the activity quickly.

This week saw a hotfix released for Destiny 2 that addressed a number of smaller issues and exploits that players had discovered. For more on the game, you can check out our Destiny 2: The Witch Queen review in progress, take a closer look at the Hive God of War Xivu Arath, and ponder if we’re actually the bad guys in The Witch Queen expansion.

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It’s here: the launch of a new raid in Destiny 2. The Witch Queen expansion brings another huge endgame activity for players to battle through, and especially if you’re taking part in the race to finish the raid in the first 24 hours, you’re going to want to be as prepared as possible. Xur is back in the solar system to help with a fresh batch of Exotics and Legendary gear to help–here’s where you can find him and everything he’s selling.

Xur arrives in the solar system with the daily reset on Fridays, so we’ll update this article as soon as he lands.

Xur is present every weekend in Destiny 2, starting with the daily reset at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET each Friday. His exact location is always a mystery when he first arrives, as he is not listed on the map, and for novice players, he can be easy to miss. However, there are a set number of locations where he takes up residence, including the Tower Hangar area, on Nessus in Watcher’s Grave, and in the Winding Cove area of the EDZ.

Alongside changes in his location, Xur’s inventory also rotates weekly. That means it’s worth visiting him each time to check out his new weapons and rolls on Exotic and Legendary armor. You can visit him any time between his arrival Friday and the weekly reset at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET the following Tuesday when Xur departs the solar system.

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Note: This article goes deep into spoilers for the story campaign of Destiny 2‘s The Witch Queen expansion, as well as the Season of the Risen‘s story. If you haven’t finished the campaign, you might want to wrap that up before reading further. Check out our Witch Queen campaign story explainer if you have lingering questions.

Things are getting complicated out there in the throne world. The story of Destiny 2’s latest expansion, The Witch Queen, sent players into the realm of the Hive god Savathun to find out how one of the game’s greatest villains managed to gain a power previously reserved only for players. What we learned there shook up a lot of the established rules of the Destiny world–and it’s shifting the paradigm of the game’s story in some profound ways, raising serious questions about the nature of good and evil and where we, the players, fall on that spectrum.

There are two big twists in The Witch Queen that really cast doubt on things we thought we knew about how the Destiny universe works. First, the campaign starts with Savathun, a god-like alien who’s been around for eons and has participated in murdering and conquering whole civilizations throughout that time, gaining the Light. That power was previously reserved for humanity; it’s what gives players their superpowers within the game, and many characters treat it with a religious reverence, as they do the Traveler, the giant floating robot from which the Light is derived. Guardians, the wielders of Light, believe the power is inherently good, and that its wielders are chosen by the Traveler for some inherent qualities of good. Light-wielders can be bad people, that’s long established, but the supposition is that the Traveler, by way of the Ghosts, gives the Light to specific people and not others for a reason.

So the supposition is that Savathun, a genocidal monster at the head of a race of genocidal monsters whose ideology worships death, must have stolen the Light through some magical chicanery. We discover about halfway through the campaign, however, that Savathun didn’t steal the Light–she received it the same way we all do. Given past beliefs about the Light and the Traveler, the immediate conclusion is that, despite her past, the Traveler chose Savathun to receive the Light.

That’s a seriously messed up thing in the world of Destiny 2, upending a whole lot of suppositions characters have been making about their powers, their roles in the universe, and the giant mechanical god they worship. If we accept that the Traveler is a benevolent, omnipotent entity, then its choice to give Savathun the Light couldn’t be some kind of mistake. But the Hive are perhaps our single greatest enemy and responsible for the deaths of billions. So are we wrong about the Traveler, or are we wrong about the Hive? And are we wrong about ourselves?

If you think about it, isn’t the Hive’s God of Cunning already dead?

It’s that last question that The Witch Queen low-key asks players, with an element of the story that is somewhat understated but which has been developing over the course of the last four seasons. The story of The Witch Queen takes us through a battle with Savathun that sees us finally battling the Lightbearer Hive god to stop her from doing a ritual that will bind the Traveler within her throne world. The belief is that, if Savathun is successful, she’ll capture the Traveler and the power of the Light for herself and no one else, cutting off humanity from the power it needs to defend itself. So we go to battle against Savathun, eventually defeating and killing her. There are caveats to that situation (namely, that she’s not permanently dead yet), but the reality is that the story ends with us killing Savathun.

Except, did we actually just kill Savathun?

The other big twist of The Witch Queen is that, because Savathun gained control of the Light the same way as all other Guardians, she has a similar experience to all other Guardians. Only people who die can be resurrected as Guardians–Ghosts essentially imbue corpses with the Light and bring them back from the dead. But when this happens, the person being resurrected loses all memory of their past life.

This was a huge theme of the last year with the introduction of Crow, a new character in Destiny 2. Crow is the resurrected, Guardian version of Uldren Sov, a character from Destiny 1 and the story campaign of the Destiny 2 expansion Forsaken. Uldren was a villain in Forsaken; he fell victim to some intricate manipulations (that ultimately were the work of Savathun, in fact), and murdered Cayde-6, a character close to players who’d been part of the game for years. Forsaken is about players hunting down Cayde’s killer and exacting revenge on him: We were the ones who served Uldren his death warrant.

Crow is not Uldren, however, and this is a key distinction. Though Crow and Uldren share a body, Crow didn’t remember being Uldren (at least, not until Savathun started messing with him, but that’s extraneous to the point here), and the same is true of other Guardians with their past lives. They’re effectively different people after resurrection than before they died, as Crow demonstrated through the last year of seasonal content. He’s not the Uldren we faced down and murdered, he’s someone new.

A lot of the last few seasons has been spent on establishing Crow as someone new, separate from Uldren.

Bungie spent more than a year establishing Crow as an independent entity from Uldren, and it has been a huge arc for the story. And something the story has suggested but not yet explored is that the same thing is true of Savathun. Resurrected as a Guardian, the Hive god isn’t a Hive god anymore. She was someone new, and in fact, the story campaign of The Witch Queen hinges on the fact that Savathun can’t remember her past life. And while a big part of the story is about how Savathun set up a series of manipulations for us and her resurrected self to execute a plan, we’re still not clear on who, exactly, the person we fought and killed actually was. And, really, if everyone resurrected in the Light deserves a second chance–in fact, it’s standing Vanguard dogma that Guardians should not try to learn about their past identities, and no one is to hold a past life against those who are resurrected–aren’t we guilty of straight-up murder, in some respect?

The Witch Queen quickly introduces a ton of nuance to Destiny 2 that raises a whole lot of red flags about our part in the world and the war we’re currently fighting. We know from background lore and elements of the story that the Ghosts who help the Hive are the same little robots who follow us around, healing our wounds and reviving our dead bodies when we fall off a cliff or get punched in the face by a huge alien robot. We’re currently engaged in destroying those Ghosts, along with their Hive Guardian companions, and treating them as traitors. But for the most part, we’ve invaded their neighborhood in the throne world. The lore also suggests these Ghosts are serving the Hive not because of coercion or persuasion, but because of a moral judgment. They think the Hive deserve their compassion, and that’s why many have joined Savathun’s Lucent Brood. These Ghosts chose their side, sure, if you look at this as purely war. But we never tried talking with any of these Hive folks, did we?

Then there’s Fynch, a Hive Ghost defector who helps us in the throne world, who questions Ghost’s assertion that all Hive Ghosts deserve death. Fynch switched sides to help us, so does he also fall into that category? We’re made to ponder where the line should be drawn in terms of forgiveness and reconciliation.

The Season of the Risen makes it clearer that the Lucent Hive are not (all) potentially blameless. In the seasonal missions, we see Hive Guardians making their way to Earth, where they ambush human Guardians and steal their Light as part of a grander scheme we don’t yet understand. Granted, you could make the argument that this is exactly what we’re doing to them in the throne world, but at least we’re fighting in defense of our territory and people.

Capturing the Hive and pillaging their minds sounds a lot like torture–something the Hive has done to humans and Guardians, sure. But does that make it okay to do it to them?

It seemed more straightforward, at least, until we got the seasonal story rolling. Here, we see the Vanguard essentially going forward with torture. The new PsiOps Battlegrounds activity dispatches players to capture Hive Guardians, who are then shoved into big glass tubes, where their minds can be invaded by our new allies in the Cabal. As is explained in the new Psisorium location in the H.E.L.M., each of the Hive combatants captured is held in a sort of limbo, where they feel no pain, but in which they are neither living nor dead. Crow is already voicing a lot of concerns about this whole practice because it sounds an awful lot like torture. At the very least, we seem to be lobotomizing these Hive.

And yeah, the Hive as a race are a genocidal, conquering death cult who have killed countless people, including humans. But again, we have to consider that the Traveler gave them the Light. If we consider the Light to be a moral judgment about us, an affirmation of our righteousness, then isn’t the same thing true about the Hive? Beyond just the ins and outs of the Destiny 2 universe, is it okay to torture another life form, psychically or otherwise? Are we selling our souls for victory over the Hive?

Destiny 2 has had us thinking about questions like this, and the actions we take part in, since the Forsaken campaign at least. With The Witch Queen, however, things are getting turned way up. This is no longer a story of light versus dark, and even just a couple weeks into the new expansion and its seasonal stories, it seems a big theme of this year might be reconciling with our own capacity to do evil–and to justify it.

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