Playing tomb raider 1 coop via openlara showed me a world where games can be fun with others without the need for coop to even be coherent or make sense. Idk why coop has to be some crappy separate mode or made to be logical just give me two main characters please, thanks.
Multiplayer was good before everything decided it had to be some kind of esports competitive shite. There was a time I could just join a server and have a romp and then leave.
Battlefield 1943 is the distilled representation of multiplayer before it was ruined. Small fun game where nobody talks to anyone else you just play.
This is why I will just continue to play TF2 24/7 Harvest community servers until I die. With the chat turned off and the killfeed names hidden, of course
Dark Souls is the perfect basis for multiplayer. I like having strangers impact my game, I just don't want to talk to them. Glad to see elements of it in the new Mario!
You may be interested in Death Loop then. It's on Gamepass. It's an Arkane game and, while not super obvious, takes place in the world of Dishonored in the future. The whole thing focuses on replaying the same handful of levels and the main baddie can get controlled by people online. It's super fun playing the bad guy as well, trying to mess up the main character's run. Wonderful game that's just awesome in single player as well.