The Nightmare Cooperative

About

The Nightmare Cooperative is a turn-based roguelike where you manage a squad of flawed characters struggling to scrape together a payout. You guide all members at once using shared controls, every move affects everyone. Each character has distinct abilities like digging tunnels or raising undead, but you can only activate powers for all at once. The goal is to loot enough treasure to rescue your village, though surviving the dungeon is a challenge in itself. Randomly generated levels and harsh permadeath keep runs feeling tense and unpredictable. The game stands out for its punishing control scheme and character designs. Managing a group that includes a guilt-ridden warrior and a trauma-haunted miner adds narrative flavor to the mechanics. While the 2014 release date shows its age, the 4X4 grid combat and resource management remain fresh. With support for PC and Mac, it’s a niche pick for players who enjoy high-risk tactical puzzles. Community reviews note the steep learning curve but praise the payoff of mastering its systems.

Storyline

Each member of the Cooperative will bring a different power to your group; the Warrior fights hard (despite her moral objections), the Miner overcomes deep psychological issues to dig you out of sticky situations, the Necromancer is pretty creepy. A tricky thing, though: you have to control them all together. Move left, and the whole group moves left. Activate the special power, and every member will jump into action. And please, do your best to bring home some gold, the Village could really use it.