My partner expressed an interest in finding a game for both of us to play. She doesn’t play many games, and I generally prefer single player games so I find myself at a loss for what’s out there that we might like. Hoping the community here can help!

We have played some retro platformers together. Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, that kind of thing. And I know she plays puzzle match games on her phone. Which isn’t a lot to go on.

It needs to be a multiplayer PC game that runs on Linux/Proton (if unsure, please suggest your game anyway. It probably does). One machine is a mid-range PC from about 5 years ago. So probably no recent AAA games with high system requirements.

I’m thinking:

  • Easy to pick up and play and can offer a satisfying play experience with short play times.
  • Cooperative play would be a plus.
  • Being able to play with just two people (not forced to play with random people online).

My particularities:

  • I won’t play a game that requires creating/signing in to an account to play it at all. I can tolerate that requirement for multiplayer play, but I’d rather it just use a Steam account.
  • I’d prefer if it didn’t install a launcher.
  • I’d like it to either have a built in server and/or be selfhostable.
  • Paradachshund@lemmy.todayEnglish
    4·
    30 minutes ago

    Do you like puzzle games? I played Blue Prince with my wife and that was pretty fun. She’s not much of a gamer, so I just drove and she took notes. We talked about decisions/speculated on puzzles together.

    • JovialSodium@lemmy.sdf.orgOPEnglish
      2·
      11 minutes ago

      Kind of? I occasionally play them but never finish.

      I did take a look at a trailer of the game and it might be something she’d like.

  • yaroto98@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    1 hour ago

    It takes two

    split fiction

    These two were the top two favs of my wife and I last year. Played it takes two on our steam decks, and split fiction on our PCs. One of them is older and handled it great. Both pcs run linux.

  • justdaveisfine@piefed.socialEnglish
    11·
    2 hours ago

    Semi-casual games that run well on older PCs and linux? Plus no launchers? Let’s see.
    I got a few but there may be splitscreen ones in this list too. (If that’s ok)

    • Battleblock Theater
    • Biped (maybe?)
    • Cassette Beasts
    • Castle Crashers
    • Children of Morta
    • Don’t Starve Together
    • Dinkum (If Australian Animal Crossing sounds interesting)
    • Factorio
    • A hat in time
    • Guacamelee
    • Human Fall Flat
    • Hyper Light Drifter
    • ibb & obb
    • KeyWe
    • Kingdom Two Crowns
    • Knights and Bikes
    • Like, all of the lego games (They’re all similar mechanically, so pick one of the newer ones that look good)
    • Lovers in a dangerous spacetime
    • Magicka (I like the first one but the second one isn’t bad)
    • Monaco
    • Moon Hunters
    • Necesse
    • Peak
    • Resident Evil 5/6 (Yes, really, its a great time in co-op)
    • Satisfactory
    • Secrets of Grindea
    • Split Fiction (This one may be graphically harder to run?)
    • Stardew Valley
    • Spiritfarer
    • Terraria
    • Trine games
    • Valheim (At least until mistlands)

    I’m kind of going off of semi-casual meaning not high intensity shooters or things that require crazy skills. Most of these are pretty easy to pick up and are generally forgiving. They shouldn’t have launchers but if they added one in a later update, then dang.

  • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
    16·
    2 hours ago

    Lovers in a dangerous spacetime was a ton of fun! Very adorable, simple mechanics, plays on one screen, and not too hard. Also came out over 5 years ago so win win

  • slazer2au@lemmy.worldEnglish
    14·
    2 hours ago

    Stardew valley? Farming co op game has a LAN mode so you can play together. You can do a casual playthrough to learn or try to min max like my wife does.

  • missingno@fedia.io
    1·
    30 minutes ago

    I heard puzzle games and am legally obligated to shill Petal Crash (and it’s upcoming sequel). It’s a great accessible entry point into versus puzzles, and tbh it’s practically the only good thing to happen to the genre in a decade or so.

    Can also check out Panel Attack as a FOSS clone of Panel de Pon, and FightCade for emulating all kinds of classics with netplay.

  • Maerman@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    1 hour ago

    It Takes Two, or Split Fiction, by the same developers. Both are fantastic games, designed around couch co-op.

  • Essence_of_Meh@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    2 hours ago

    Since you mentioned platformers, Rayman Origins might be worth a look. It’s a 2D platformer from 2011 so it doesn’t require a lot of power, levels take a few minutes to complete which makes it perfect for short sessions and it has local co-op (up to 4 players).

    I tried it recently on my desktop (Pop!_OS, ubuntu based) and Steam Deck, played without issues on both of them.

  • CaptDust@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    7·
    2 hours ago

    Split fiction was great fun for my partner and I, the story is mid but gameplay is probably the best action adventure coop I’ve played. It has so much variety to offer.

  • Zarlin@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    5·
    2 hours ago

    Since she likes puzzles, the Trine game series could be nice! I think they added coop multiplayer starting with Trine 2.

    If you both like hack 'n slash then Torchlight 2 is also great fun!