"As loyal readers know, Earth Defense Force 6 is one of my very favorite games. My wife and I have collectively put hundreds of ours into it, mostly on the Steam Deck, Valve's portable gaming device. Many of those hours were spent in online co-op, a key selling point of the EDF series. Sadly, however, we can no longer play together from our Decks because the Epic Online Services functionality, used for the game's online mode, no longer works on some Steam Decks," says Co-Optimus
Total sales for Earth Defense Force 6 have surpassed 600,000 units worldwide, D3 Publisher and developer Sandlot announced.
"It has been a while since we named our Co-op Games of the Year, but it’s time to bring it back, baby. This year, your fearless Surviving Editor (I’m not quite dead yet!) and other members of the Co-op Crew each selected a personal co-op game of the year. On top of that, we all picked a "Beyond Co-op" game of the year as well. That’s twice the GOTY picks for the same low price (free)!" says Co-Optimus.
Travis Bruno of Capsule Computers writes:
"For every massive movie that focuses on top of the line special effects or huge names to try and draw in an audience, there are often countless other movies that people watch simply because of how absurd the premise or special effects end up being. These movies are often called B movies and are often full of schlocky fun that, despite the overall quality, makes for a good time. For over two decades the Earth Defense Force franchise has settled itself quite nicely in this niche of action game by pitting players against hordes of oversized insects, aliens that are called random names, kaiju, and all kinds of robots with a fairly simple and absurd premise holding things together. Throughout these years some of these games have seen some highs and lows as well as some spin-offs in-between but now Sandlot has returned with the next main entry. After being Japanese exclusive for two years, Earth Defense Force 6 has finally made its way to the West and is it everything fans could expect?"
The online connectivity problem seems to have disrupted the experience for a portion of players, including your co-op sessions. While it’s encouraging that the issue https://www-tollroads.com is being discussed in forums, the lack of communication from the developers is disappointing.