The best local 4 player games on PS4 — split screen, couch coop and versus
Did you know there are a TON of PS4 games out there you can play with four players on the same tv? These are the best local 4 player games on PS4, played either in split screen, couch coop and versus.
Unfortunately, local 4 player multiplayer is a bit of a hidden genre on big gaming review sites. Because nobody other seems to want to make these lists, I'm giving it a try.
I've divided this article into five lists:
- Best 4 player local games for long gaming sessions
- Recommended 4 player local games for long gaming sessions
- Best 4 player party games for intense, fun gaming sessions
- Recommended 4 player party games
- Skippable local 4 player games (saving you the trouble ;-))
By the way: I do NOT include sports games — you already know which ones you like. :-)
Of course I could oversee or have forgotten some 4 player local PS4 games. Please don't hesitate to drop them in the comments, I'll at least give them a look!
Also read: The best gaming headsets for $25 or less — tested and compared
Last updated February 7, 2020: Added Crash Team Racing; an amazing Mario Kart substitute for PS4.
Let's go!
BEST LOCAL 4 PLAYER GAMES FOR PS4 — FOR LONG GAMING SESSIONS:
These best local 4 player games are accessible for everyone, fun for everyone and easy to lose yourself an entire evening in. These come recommended for all!
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection
This collection of two first person shooters offers an insane amount of content. Shoot, drive and fight cooperatively in a Mad Max-like world, where every player has quite a bit of freedom to choose his own path. The balanced difficulty makes Borderlands enjoyable for beginners and experienced shooter fans playing together. [Amazon]
Call of Duty Black Ops III
Black Ops III offers two 4 player split screen games in one. On the one hand you have the traditional deathmatch and team deathmatch modes, but to be honest: the maps aren't all that good this time around and the futuristic setting is just… off. On the other hand there's the zombie mode set in a total different time, in which four players team up to survive and strengthen their ever evolving base against hordes of zombies. When there's a lot going on, the game slows down a bit. Shooting and surviving against zombies is fun nonetheless. [Amazon]
Castle Crashers
One of the best local multiplayer games on the Xbox 360, has surprisingly been released on the PlayStation 4 without any attention. Seven years later it's still the best, most fun beat 'em up for four players on a single screen. Compared to many newer games, Castle Crashers still offers enough visibility on screen to not get you frustrated, and definitely enough challenge and depth to keep you entertained for long.
Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled
The ultimate substitution for Mario Kart on the PlayStation 4. This reincarnation of the original Crash Team Racing is fun to play with friends that just started racing, and even better with friends that already had a few races and know how to slide, jump and flow around the corners. CTR has over twenty tracks which can be raced in normal or mirror-mode and lets you race single races, cups or battles and just keeps fun, multiple hours per evening.
Puyo Puyo Tetris
Tetris at it’s best for four players, with the options to play individually against each other or in teams, with or without powerups and line garbage… and even with the option to combine or alternate Tetris with Puyo Puyo, a totally different puzzle game where you swap and combine color combinations. Sounds strange? No worries — you're in control for all the options and game modes yourself. Suitable as a party game or a puzzle game you just keep playing and playing, while getting better and better at it. Only available on disc: [Amazon]
Rayman Legends
While not as creative as it's PlayStation 3 predecessor Rayman Origins, Rayman Legends is a brilliantly fun 2D platformer to play with four players. Levels in which you have to be precise and speedy, alternate with levels more focussed on collecting looms, and due to the score system it's likely you want to upgrade your own score on a level. You'll have a lot of laughs over this one. [Amazon]
Rocket League
THE PlayStation 4 evergreen when it comes to four player split screen. Playing football with cars in two teams up against each other is easy to get into, and hard to master. Even after hours and hours and hours of playing, Rocket League surprises you with amazing goals, blood boiling near misses, crazy accidents and spectacular matches. [Amazon]
OTHER RECOMMENDED 4 PLAYER GAMES FOR LONG GAMING SESSIONS:
Alienation: Like Halo, but as an action game seen from above. Plays like a charm, gets very busy on screen with four players though.
Diablo III: The action RPG Diablo III is quite possible the best game in this entire list. However: as every weapon change and upgrade from any player takes over the entire screen, killing all the action, things get tedious with four players fast. Better with two.
Guacamalee 2
Gathering four players, Guacamalee 2 is comparable to Rayman Legends… with a way less collecting and way more fighting thrown in. Players switch between their fighter and chicken form to fly, run and fight through an artistic world. Best in short sessions, only due to a lack of variety.
Gauntlet: A very basic variant of Diablo , but without the menus taking over your screen and maybe even more action-focused, with fast pacing and enough room for four players. Not very memorable, but very decent.
Helldivers: An action game seen from above, in which players not only shoot aliens but intensively defend themselves, resist dangers from the environment, accomplish missions and struggle with the amount of ammo. Challenging, even for experienced gamers.
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris: Enjoyable action-from-above game with awesome controls, fighting, and puzzles.
Little Big Planet 3: A platformer with so many different things to do, it may be a bit hard to get four players really into it.
Mackiga 2: Like Helldivers with four mages, rich with content and good too — but with an incredibly steep learning curve.
Spelunky: Survival platformer with generated dungeons you dig and climb trough. Many surprises, traps and… a bit of a lack of progress, unfortunately.
Terraria: 2D Minecraft for people with loads of patience, the drive to build something together and a huge tv — the visuals are tiny on smaller screens.
Unruly Heroes: Imagine Rayman Legends with more hack & slash. You'll have Unruly Heroes, and once you're used to the close-up camera, it gives you a nice, challenging coop adventure.
BEST 4 PLAYER PARTY GAMES ON PS4 — FOR FUN AND SHORTER SESSIONS:
Rather have a party night instead of a gaming night? With lots of laughs, even more beer and your friends friends as well? There PS4 games are good for intense, often short busted fun:
Badland — Game of the Year Edition
Imagine Tiny Wings with four players, explosions, sticky birds, birds multipliers, gigantic birds, small birds and the tiniest escaping options possible. Now switch the idea of a bird with a black furry ball. Here’s Badland. Brutal fun in a good way. Coop or versus.
BlazeRush
Don't mind the scoring, it takes some time getting used to. BlazeRush however is a fun and fatal party race game seen from above, in which players knock and shoot each other of edges to score, become king of the hill or to escape a gigantic car-crushing rolling pin. A good desert after an evening of gaming.
Broforce
Indiana Brones! B.A. Broracus! Brobocop! And… many other tongue in cheek Hollywood references take on every soldier, helicopter and other enemies that cross your path in this 2D platformer. The levels are generic, but the rapid action and explosions EVERYWHERE make up for that. It’s a pixelated mess — and it's great fun.
Horizon Chase Turbo
The resurrection of old fashioned arcade race games like Outrun — but maybe even better. Horizon Chase Turbo is blazingly fast, accessible yet exciting to play and has an amazing retro touch for everyone into games for a long time. You can play the entire campaign, the tournament mode AND the endurance mode all in split-screen up to four players. The tracks, the visuals, and the tense competition between players will have you hooked in no time.
Overcooked (and Overcooked 2)
Up to four players are the chef in very hectic restaurant kitchens, delivering soups, hamburgers and other orders for demanding customers. Don't forget to clean the dishes — and extinguish the kitchen fires is everything goes wrong. It will. All the time. [Amazon]
Speedrunners
Parcours insanity with four players jumping, running and dodging rockets everywhere. The danger is everywhere for every player, whether you're last and the screen is too fast for you, or you're slingshotting ahead of everyone… into an explosive. Surprises are always right around the corner.
The Grand Tour Game
You wouldn't expect it from this game, but the developers behind The Grand Tour know how to make split-screen races great fun. There's a decent amount of tracks and cars, and races here are always tight and tense until the last bit. It doesn't matter if you play with (lovely wacky) power-ups, or without. With prepared competitions consisting of multiple races and the options to create your own tournament, The Grand Tour is a surprising blast. Which keeps updated as well, as the show progresses!
Towerfall Ascension
The screen is your entire level in this 2D survival platformer. Take on other players or the computer with just your jumping skills and your bow and arrow. Shot your arrows? You'd better pick em up before someone else will shoot you — or step on your head. Really hard, really satisfying.
Trackmania Turbo
Insane stunting circuits, insane jumps, insane speeds: Trackmania Turbo has it all. This racing game rewards you for driving the same track over and over: who sets the best time? It's fun in split-screen mode, although it's annoying for less skilled players their races end quickly after others finish. Happily, though, there's also a great pass-one-controller — around-and-perfect-your-own-time mode.
Trials Fusion
As four players balance and race their motorbikes on insane tracks with steep hills, jumps, and loopings, it's great fun to see which player is able to clear a section first. Because the learning curve may be quite steep, it's best to have a laugh over all the failures the players will see.
Tricky Towers
This is Tetris with gravity, in which the players have to build up a tower the fastest. Mind you though: the wind, power-ups, and misplaced blocks stir things up pretty well and are able to change the outcome of the game until the very last second. Genius, this.
Videoball
Two versus two pong with many, many twists you can actually become very skilled in. Has the same tension as sports games — scoring that one point will have you jumping from the couch.
OTHER RECOMMENDED LOCAL 4 PLAYER PARTY GAMES FOR PS4
Cel Damage HD: Mario Kart's battle mode with cartoony visuals and a lot of close combat weapons. Pretty great actually, unfortunately too 'empty' to play for longer times.
Gang Beasts: Control (or die trying) a very wobble figure, taking out the other players and avoiding traps everywhere.
Goat Simulator: You might fall for this idiotic and totally pointless goat walking and jumping game. If you're really drunk, that is.
Guns, Gore & Cannolli: Cartoony mafia shoot em up, surprisingly playable with four players. Gets too repetitive to play for long amounts of time.
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime: Charming! Four players manage and control a spaceship and keeping it from danger.
Meow Motors: A dirt-cheap funracer in the line of Mario Kart, with of course less character, but a few fun mechanics. Unfortunately, there's no option to play split-screen tournaments. Single races only…
Micro Machines: A fun topdown racer with different modes and great miniature visuals. A lot more unforgiving than BlazeRush.
Move or Die: Grab items, sprint as fast as you can, or try to survive in the dark: some of the brutal challenges here. Maybe a bit too random…
Ollie Ollie 2: Who sets the highest score on some rails and benches in this skateboarding platformer?
Pac-Man 256: When Pac-Man becomes a cooperative race, who picks up the best pace? Quite good!
Stikbold: A fun take on dodgeball, where players chase each other around and avoid dangers like buses, oil, and slippery ice.
Tiny Brains: Mario's Party's minigame where you push other ones of cliffs made into an entire game. A bit clumsy, but still good for a laugh.
Worms: Battlegrounds: Kamikazeeeee! Defeat each other's armies of cute little worms in this turn-based game.
TESTED AND REJECTED: 4 PLAYER LOCAL PS4 GAMES NOT WORTH YOUR TIME
- Geometry Wars Dimensions Evolved: Too hectic and hard with four players.
- Mantis Burn Racing: Extremely dull.
- Paddle vs Paddle: Four-player pong doing EVERYTHING wrong.
- Riptide GP2/ Riptide GP Turbo: Lack of tension, unrefined controls.
- Tetris Ultimate: Something hugely wrong with the controls.
- Trailblazers: I really want to like this great looking racegame, but the controls and scoring are totally off :-(.
- Zombie Vikings Ragnarok Edition: Booooring.
So, do you still miss local 4 player split-screen/ couch op/ couch coop/ party games for the PlayStation 4? Leave the name of the games in the comments! I'll maybe try it, add it and so we can work together on a more complete list.
Please also check my other extensive tests:
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Planning to buy one of the games listed? Please consider doing it via my buying links. These are affiliate links from Amazon, from which I’ll gain a little percentage of the price. I only put links on products I truly recommend. Buying a product via such a link won’t cost you extra, yet it will support me a little. ❤
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Thanks for reading! ❤
