Free co-op survival games like Valheim

For a short survival session: Muck

Muck is the most straightforward starting point if the group wants to gather, craft and build before enemies arrive. Its developer describes it as a survival roguelike and lists online co-op. Agree to treat the evening as a survival run. That expectation is more useful than promising a long-term settlement to someone who came to decorate a house.

For the RPG explorers: Veloren

Veloren makes sense for a party that enjoys travelling through a fantasy world, trying weapons and looking for dungeons. Its official overview includes multiplayer servers and hosting over LAN. Base construction is not its everyday progression loop; the documented build mode serves server administration. Put it first when adventuring matters more than keeping a shared farm.

For a lasting building project: Wurm Online

The attractions are terrain shaping, crafting, roads, houses and ships in a persistent medieval world. The cost boundary is also clear: the official overview caps free skills at 20. Your group should consider that limit before choosing an ambitious advanced crafting project. Choose the intended PvE or PvP environment together, because a server decision changes the project everyone is joining.

For a detailed village: Haven & Hearth

Haven & Hearth connects wilderness survival with land, buildings, crops and a shared settlement. The store offers full gameplay free, alongside paid inventory and character-development benefits. The developer also warns about potential world resets during development. It belongs on the list for patient groups interested in settlement life, with those caveats understood.

For modern monsters and a home: Once Human

Once Human is free to play and lists online co-op and territory building. Its modern, post-apocalyptic setting is a major difference from Valheim. The PC listing also discloses in-app purchases and a 100 GB storage requirement. Confirm the current server options before installing, so the group does not discover a join restriction after a long download.

Agree on these things before downloading

Start with four decisions: the length of the session, whether PvP is acceptable, whether the world needs to persist, and whether any paid progression benefit is acceptable. Then check the weakest computer in the group against the official requirements. Finally, choose one official download route and one server plan. A recommendation is only useful when the whole group can actually follow it.