Looking for a few recommendations

I really love SotM.  Really.  Unfortunately my gaming group only likes it, not loves it.  Really.  It's got me hooked on co-op gameplay.  I've been collecting co-op games, almost exclusively, to play with my group.  Since i really love SotM and most people here seem to at least really enjoy it, I thought maybe you fine folks might have some recommendations for other coop games we could try out.  Theme isn't really a big issue.

For a few examples, we enjoy playing Zombicide and Castle Ravenloft.  We also have/play Marvel Legendary, Shadowrift, Defenders of the Realm, Darkest Night, Space Alert, Conquest of Planet Earth and Death Angel.  So far I think the only co-op game I haven't cared for was Space Cadets.  Planning to get Legends of Andor and the Pathfinder card game soon.

 

Thanks.  Really.

Shadows Over Camelot is very good.  Also, Forbidden Island is good, though it's lighter-weight than the others.

We do enjoy Shadows over Camelot.  Though without the expansion.  Those travel cards are horrible.  I think the only time we've managed to win, we were playing incorrectly.  We didn't realize the quests on the main board were repeatable.

Arkham Horror is one of the most enjoyable games I've played.   It's only major downside is a large time investment.    I also love Battlestar Galactica, which is also amazing, particularly with the Exodus expansion.

 

Ghost Stories is much shorter than those two, very well suited for 4 players, and if I had to pick a favorite co-op game, it's probably that one.

 

Shadows Over Camelot I enjoy, but I feel the others I've mentioned here are better.    Atlantis Rises is quite fun,  but I feel it is a little easy, and I have to house-rule it to make it harder (even on the hardest difficulty setting).     If you want more detail on any of these games I'd be happy to provide it.

I like Flash Point Fire Rescue (has gone down very well with my RPG club), one of our guys has Pandemic and that's fun but can be prone to "alpha player" syndrome. I recently made myself a rethemed version of Hanabi and that's great too - very thinky and frustrating but definitely fun.

I'll throw out Police Precinct as my choice for a co-op game, much fun if you love tracking down perps and catching murderers, the fact that one of you could be on the take is a good add to the game

Pandemic is a lot of fun.  Probably one of my favorite games.  I've wanted to play Arkham Horror for a while now.  The thing is, if I buy the base set, I'll have to buy all of it.  And with the time investment, it's one that will probably only get played maybe twice then put away.  I've looked at Ghost Stories some.  Looks interesting, but I'm not sure about it or Flash Point.

You could also try one-versus-all type semi-co-operative games like Descent or similar, if someone doesn't mind being the GM/Overlord/whatever-you-call-the-guy-who's-trying-to-beat-the-other-players.

I hear good things about Mice and Mystics too.

 

Flash Point is a bit like Pandemic, but -- in my opinion -- not as varied, difficult, or interesting.

I definitely prefer Flash Point to Pandemic - the theme is much better IMO and it definitely provokes much more intensity amongst the players. It just feels so much more panicky trying to deal with an unpredictable fire in a small building than it does min-maxing your moves from city to city.

I also like that you have choices of maps, and that bit of extra unpredictable-ness from dice rather than cards is better for me. You're occasionally in situations with Pandemic where you can say, "Oh don't worry about Tokyo right now, it's just come up so it's almost certainly safe this round," and that's a bit anti-thematic to me. In Flash Point the bathroom can flare up three turns in a row because the building's hot so ignition can happen there at any time.

Sure, the basic family easy game is, well, a bit basic and easy. But adding in a few more initial fires and hotspots/hazmats takes it from "Are we going to be able to do this?" to "OH MY GOD WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE".

We also very much enjoy Escape: The Curse of the Temple for a quick waiting-for-latecomers-to-show-up or end-of-the-night filler, since it's easy to teach and the game itself only lasts 10 minutes since that's how long the soundtrack is. It's really quite panicky and prone to raised voices and racing heartbeats and cursing of players who cause problems. Good fun.

You can look into A Touch of Evil as a light alternative to Arkham's Horror.

Mansions of Madness is pretty fun, and is (ususally) all against one, if that's ok.

Strongly recommend Flash Point. I sold Pandemic because of it.

I'll toss in another recommendation for Arkham Horror.  Fantastic design and tons of replay value.  

"Robinson Crusoe : adventures on the cursed island" is very good -  full of "theme", very strategic and quite difficult.

I've never played it, but it's important to mention that this game is at the top of my list for new co-op games.  The creator of AH worked on Infernal Relics with the >G guys, after all, and Arkham Horror is in the Sentinels continuity.

Looks like you have a pretty good list already.  I've been loving Space Alert.  I was really astounded that we survived a game yesterday; I had no clue what was happening with most of the threats, but somehow everyone managed to do their part and defeat all but one of the enemies.  Beautiful chaos.

(Can I suggest this thread be moved to the Off Topic forum?)

Good call - done!

I have Space Alert, just haven't had a chance to play it yet.  I read after the fact that it takes a while to play through the tutorial and learn the game.  Just waiting on the opportunity.  Adding Ghost Stories to my list.  I like that it is supposed to be pretty difficult.  I really do want to play Arkham Horror.  I just can't convince myself to buy a game that takes so long to play that no one ever wants to (looking at you World of Warcraft the Boardgame.) 

How long does an average game of Ghost Stories take?  Are the two expansions worth getting immediately?  What about Arkham Horror with no expansions?

If you don't overdo the tutorials, they're fun by themselves, and you don't necessarily need to get to the full game in one session.  Just don't think you need to play all the tutorial tracks.