Competitive shooters still constitute the majority of the most popular multiplayer games, yet in 2025, co-op games as diverse as and also amassed large audiences. 2026 already has its fair share of upcoming co-op games, and the year kicks off with an that has me hooked. In DuneCrawl , you team up with up to three other players to jointly command a mobile battle station, which happens to be constructed on the back of a massive, armored crab.
More precisely, you assume the role of members of the Polloi, a society spanning the desert that reveres a crustacean deity and traverses the sands on colossal crabs called Dune Crawlers adorned with cannons. When the game begins, you liberate one of these Dune Crawlers from a group of technologically advanced invaders from the north and set out to repel the attack.
You’ll divide your time in DuneCrawl between piloting your Dune Crawler and dismounting to explore cities, outposts, and caves on foot. There’s a vast array of both melee and ranged weapons to outfit your character, and combat turns chaotic in no time once bombs and bullets start flying. The desert is also brimming with beetles the size of Polloi to ride, which can act as combat mounts that move with a satisfying heft and make it easy to outflank your foes.
DuneCrawl can be played solo, but the true enjoyment stems from its co-op mode. Bringing a friend along makes combat simpler and exploration more enjoyable, and teamwork is even more vital in the most thrilling part of the adventure — the Dune Crawler. Each player undertakes a distinct task on your mobile base; one has to steer the vessel, and another can fire the cannons when assaulting an enemy stronghold. You can also have someone heal the Crawler, reload the guns, or boost your ship’s speed.
It’s the manner in which DuneCrawl requires teamwork that makes it such an excellent multiplayer experience. Because each player can only perform one task at a time on the Crawler, good communication is indispensable, and executing it well is extremely gratifying. You might find yourself evading enemy attacks and stomping foes on the ground while maneuvering to allow your gunners to get the perfect shot, then retreating to create space for crewmates to make repairs. Or you could climb into a cannon and launch yourself onto an enemy ship to disable its weapons and safeguard the rest of your team. You can also summon a spectral NPC to assist in both solo and co-op, but the more actual players you have, the more rewarding it is.
The unique form of teamwork in DuneCrawl is what makes it great, but it’s also brimming with other surprises. The ability to load yourself into a cannon is something my co-pilot discovered naturally as we played, and we happily tested it by hurling ourselves at the first enemies we encountered. We also found bombs that launch bees to clear hostile bases, friendly spiders that help repel boarders, and perhaps our favorite part of the game, a horn you can play to make wildlife follow you like the Pied Piper.
While your ultimate objective is to vanquish the forces invading your desert, there are numerous side quests to undertake and outposts to raid, all scattered across the map for you to uncover. DuneCrawl is fairly straightforward if you’re solely after the main quest, but like all great multiplayer games, it’s far better when you take your time and focus on exploring with your friends. Just a week into 2026, DuneCrawl ’s novel approach to co-op is the year’s first major surprise.