LAN co-op games

How to play LAN games?

Back in the day, LAN (which stands for Local area network) was so popular that it was a totally normal thing to bring your own computer to someone’s place, rented apartment, or any place to enjoy the wonders of multiplayer gaming. You would need to connect several devices with each other (which would involve A LOT of cables) to a shared source of Internet, and voilà, you were able to play alongside your friends using your personal local area network. Or you could be throwing punches with total strangers, which happened quite a lot, too.

Let’s not forget that LAN party games weren’t the entirety of this side of gaming. There is playing for pure fun, and there is playing to win. Many titles were designed for competitive play, and co-op LAN games took advantage of this fact. You could find yourself in an actual tournament and experience LAN on an entirely different scale.

LAN parties are not as frequent now, although the phenomenon has not died out entirely. Along with older titles, many recent games can be played via LAN. Even though it will require less effort, the magic of those parties is still there! To help you find the best LAN co-op games, we prepared two brief lists. Two different time periods, the same emotions. Shall we begin?

The past of LAN gaming

Best LAN games in the past were titles such as Quake games or similar Unreal/Unreal Tournament entries. These games were, for that time, extremely popular. Let’s just mention that some of the LAN games for PC matches had made it into traditional television. To think that such a thing happened several years ago (Quake 3 Arena, for that matter, was released shortly before the year 2000!) is pretty impressive. These games were also popular because the matches were fast, and there was no time to waste. You had to shoot faster, jump higher and get a grasp of things happening around you, which was a lot to remember.

For those who weren’t interested in fast, brutal play, there was still a lot to do: speaking of LAN party games, PC, Heroes of Might and Magic III was strong back then and seemed to be only getting stronger. Maybe it’s because the idea is so simple: bring your PC, connect it, launch the game and lose yourself for many hours. The game is immersive due to its many possibilities, and, most importantly, it’s not repetitive at all. No single game feels the same, so you don’t really get bored. Some have also combined the joys of LAN parties with a… regular party going on. Nothing beats cracking open some cold ones while being in the middle of a game session.

The present LAN gaming state

The recent history of LAN is rich in titles that are of a co-op nature. Take a Left 4 Dead series, which is about struggling with other people in the zombie-infested world. This was already an excellent shooter, although the aspect of teamwork it packed within is what really stood out. No wonder flesh-eating monsters are so apparent in games. What is a better way to unite players than showing them that proper cooperation is the key to survival?

Not mentioning LoL in the list would be a massive insult. Regarding tournaments, League of Legends is the equivalent of a big national sports event. There are so many intricacies and things that you need to master to become good in this game that a whole new article could be written. As we don’t have that much space, just play League. That’s an experience in itself.