What is the best free co-op RTS?

StarCraft II's Co-op Missions, as of November 2026. Blizzard made them free in 2017: two players team up on missions against the AI, and three commanders (Raynor, Kerrigan and Artanis) are free all the way to the top level of 15. Every other commander can be played free up to level 5. You need a Battle.net account and a PC.

Are there RTS games where each player has a different role?

A few. Hearthfall is built around it: four duties (Steward, Marshal, Master Mason and Warden), each able to do only its own work, so friends have to lean on each other. DwarfHeim split players into classes like warrior, builder and miner, but its servers shut down in November 2023. Most RTS co-op gives each player a whole base instead.

Can you play Age of Empires II co-op against the AI?

Yes. In Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition you can set up a lobby with your friends on one team and AI opponents on the other, at whatever difficulty you like, so nobody has to face a human. Its Microsoft Store listing shows online co-op for 2 to 7 players. It's a paid game on PC and Xbox.

Is there a co-op RTS I can play in a browser?

Hearthfall plays in the browser at hearthfall.pixaplay.io, with nothing to download, for 1 to 4 players. It's in early access for Pixaplay Pass members rather than free, and your first Pass starts with a free week. Most of the other co-op RTS games on this list need a PC install.

How many players can play Hearthfall co-op?

Up to four, all on the same side against the monsters. There's no versus mode and no ranked ladder. With fewer than four, the duties nobody picked are shared, and solo you run all four. The night grows with your group: four players face about 2.4 times as many monsters as one, so nobody gets to slack.

Co-op RTS Games With Friends (No PvP Needed)

The best co-op RTS games with friends put your whole group on one side against the AI: StarCraft II's free Co-op Missions, Age of Empires II and Northgard against AI teams, Age of Darkness and Conan Unconquered for two, and Hearthfall, where up to four friends each run one part of a village.

Strategy games are brilliant with friends when nobody's being flattened in ranked. You plan together, you panic together, and when the last wave breaks on your walls you cheer together. Every pick below can be played start to finish on the same team. Facts about other games are as of November 2026, from their publishers and stores. We make Hearthfall (the Hearthfall guide has the full picture), so we've kept its entry the same size as the rest and said where others win.

The list at a glance

Game	Co-op players	Platforms	Cost	How you play together
StarCraft II: Co-op Missions	2	PC	Free with paid extras	Each player a commander with their own army
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition	2 to 7 online	PC, Xbox	Paid	Teams against AI opponents
Northgard	Multiplayer with AI	PC, consoles	Paid	Clans side by side against AI clans
Age of Darkness: Final Stand	2	PC	Paid	Survive the hordes together
Conan Unconquered	2	PC	Paid	One shared base against waves
The Riftbreaker	4 (online, PC)	PC	Paid	Base building plus mech action
Hearthfall	1 to 4	Browser	Early access (Pixaplay Pass)	One village, each player a job

StarCraft II: Co-op Missions

The co-op RTS most people try first, and still one of the best. Blizzard made Co-op Missions free: two players pick commanders, each with an army and powers of their own, and clear missions against the AI. Raynor, Kerrigan and Artanis are free to the top level, and the rest are free up to level 5.

Why play it: polished, free to start, with commanders that feel wildly different. Why not: two players only, and the missions are short and fixed.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition

The classic. Put your friends on one team and AI players on the other, pick how mean the AI should be, and nobody has to face a human. Its Microsoft Store listing shows online co-op for 2 to 7 players, so it handles the biggest groups on this list.

Why play it: big groups, and decades of civilisations and maps to try. Why not: it's a competitive RTS at heart, and newcomers have a lot to learn.

Northgard

A Viking clan game that's slower and friendlier than most RTS games, with harsh winters to survive and land to claim one patch at a time. Its multiplayer lets you play with friends against AI clans of different difficulties and personalities, and its Conquest mode can be played solo or together.

Why play it: calm pacing, gorgeous seasons, lots of clans to try. Why not: it's more about spreading out than holding the walls at night.

Age of Darkness and Conan Unconquered: survival for two

Want a fortress against a horde? These two are the survival RTS picks. Age of Darkness: Final Stand added two-player co-op at its 1.0 release, with shared blessings and resources against enormous Death Night waves. In Conan Unconquered, from Petroglyph, both players build and defend one base together (Steam).

Why play them: proper siege tension. Why not: two players only. Our They Are Billions alternatives with co-op goes deeper on both.

The Riftbreaker

Not a classic RTS, but it scratches the same itch: base building, defences and resource chains, while each player stomps around in a mech. Its 2.0 update added online co-op for four on PC in August 2025.

Why play it: four players and plenty of explosions. Why not: you pilot a mech, not an army.

Do any co-op RTS games give each player a role?

Hardly any. In most co-op RTS games each player runs a whole base of their own and you coordinate by shouting. DwarfHeim was the big exception, with classes such as warrior, builder and miner, but its servers shut down in November 2023, taking even its single-player mode with them.

Hearthfall is built around roles. Up to four players share one village, one stockpile and one Keep, and each holds a duty that can only do its own work:

Steward: farms, mills, mines and the market. Keeps everyone fed.
Marshal: the army and its training halls. Keeps everyone alive.
Master Mason: walls, towers, and every upgrade and repair. Keeps everything standing.
Warden: scouting, Outposts, traps and new land. Keeps everyone informed.

The Hearthfall War Council seen from the Marshal seat, with three duties claimed and the Warden free — In the war council each player claims a duty, and one nobody holds is shared. Everyone but the host presses Ready.

Since nobody can do everything, you'll be asking each other for help all evening, and the game makes that easy: pings, chat, and a Tasks board where one duty asks another to upgrade, repair, build or send soldiers, answered with a single button. Unanswered asks fade after a few minutes. The Hearthfall duties guide goes through each role.

Why might Hearthfall be your group's pick?

Hearthfall is co-op only: no versus mode, no ranked ladder, just your group against the monsters. You build a cosy village by day, the bell rings at dusk, and then you hold the Keep through the night. The night grows with your group (two players face about 1.5 times a lone player's wave, three about twice, four about 2.4 times), so every friend has to pull their weight.

There's nothing to install, and Find a Game lists open rooms with each one lighting up the duties already taken, so you can see at a glance that a group needs a Warden and jump in.

The Hearthfall Find a Realm list showing three open rooms with their duty icons — Find a Game lists open rooms. Each row lights the duties already taken, so you can see which role a group is missing.

Why play it: a real split of jobs, quick to get friends in, and it runs in a browser tab. Why not: it's an early-access beta for Pixaplay Pass members, still being built, and it's smaller than the big studio games above. Play Hearthfall.

How do you choose a co-op RTS for your group?

Start with how many of you there are, and how much patience you have:

Two players, free: StarCraft II Co-op Missions.
Five or more: Age of Empires II against AI teams.
A calm evening: Northgard.
Two players who want to hold the walls: Age of Darkness or Conan Unconquered.
Three or four, each with a job, in a browser: Hearthfall.

Like the day and night rhythm more than the RTS part? Our co-op games like Thronefall list is lighter. For co-op games of every genre that run in a browser, see Pixaplay's co-op browser games, and for a co-op roguelite with towers, co-op roguelite games with friends.

Gather your lords: start a Hearthfall run.