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.
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I’ve posted about this somewhere else too, maybe a different account idk.
But for games to play with people that aren’t really “gamers” I actually prefer single player games with light amounts of fast paced action or none at all. The “coop” comes from taking turns with the controller.
This works well with puzzle or logic games with generous reaction time requirements (again, or none at all), as well as story based games with light action. A lot of these games also come with natural pauses in the story that provide opportunities to either swap who is driving or put the game down for the day.
I’ve had a lot of success playing through many of these titles with partners. I’m sorting these roughly by category and then how strongly I recommend them. Some of these games I haven’t actually played yet, but I know them to fit the overall vibe.
Puzzle/Logic - no reaction time required
- Chants of Sennaar (HIGHLY recommend, requires decent notes and map making, so the person not using the controller still has a job)
- Strange Horticulture (HIGHLY recommend, also requires some light note taking to make life easier)
- Strange Antiquities (sequel to above, have not played yet, high expectations)
- Return of the Obra Din (have not played yet, high expectations)
- The Case of the Golden Idol + DLCs (STRONGLY recommend, got a bit burnt out by the end, but very fun, also light note taking)
- The Rise of the Golden Idol (sequel to above, have not played yet, moderate to high expectations)
- Baba is You (HIGHLY recommend, nice learning curve but becomes brutally difficult towards the end of the game)
- Myst (HUGE game, very good, but daunting and little to no hand holding, detailed notes required)
Kind of a category within a category, haven’t played these, but they’ve been referred to as 1.5 player games.
- Spiritfarer
- Chicory
- Child of Light
Puzzle/Logic - aim and reaction time needed
- Portal 1
- Portal 2 (and its coop if you have 2 devices)
- Portal Reloaded (community mod adding a portal through time with some seriously mind bending puzzles)
- Portal Revolutions (another mod, haven’t played yet but looks fun)
- Viewfinder (HIGHLY recommend, spiritual successor to Portal IMO and a very, very good game)
- Superliminal (HIGHLY recommend, a “Portal-like” that uses perspective as the core mechanic)
Story Based - some action sequences requiring aim and reaction time and some puzzling
- Stray (just a cute good time with some spooky, heart rate spiking moments where you really don’t want your kitty to get hurt)
- Alien Isolation (if you’re horror movie people at all this is like an interactive movie)
- Shadows of a Doubt (might be a miss for a lot of people, immersive detective sim)
- Firewatch (played this a long time ago, might not hold up)
- Dredge (spooky but cute fishing sim with good story)
- Summertime Madness (not much reaction time needed, but still some aim or speed based puzzles)
Bokura, 2d puzzle platformer played with 2 players
Minor gameplay spoilers
Both players are seeing a completely different world. Different art, different puzzle elements. It is about communicating exactly what is happening, and puzzle solving.
It requires Steam, both players need to own the game, and two separate devices to play on (one for each player). Iirc networking goes through Steam, no way to selfhost.
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.
Agree with It Takes Two.
The platforming can be frustrating in parts, but as she’s played Mario and donkey kong, then it should be fine.
I mean the other obvious option are the various Lego games.
Lego Harry Potter etc.
Or as others have said: Overcooked
I’d like to add their first game A Way Out. My partner and I had a blast playing it.
oooOoooo I haven’t heard of that one, I’m gonna take a look, thanks!
Hmm. Interesting options! I’m not sure if she’d enjoy these types of games. But I can show her the trailer at least. Thanks for the recommendation!
I wish they weren’t EA games. Split Fiction at least doesn’t require an EA account so I’ll show her that one.
It Takes Two felt a bit easier/beginner friendly (and I liked the story better), but I would also recommended both of them.
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.
That is quite the list! I know a handful of these but most are new to me. I haven’t gone through it them yet but I wanted to be sure to say thanks for the effort you put in to your reply.
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.
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.
Seriously? How has no one suggested Untitled Goose Game or did I miss it? It is frigging hilarious and if you both like humor and fooling around as a mischievous goose, it is perfect! I played it with my 7 year old and we had tons of fun, plus the ending was the cherry on top!
Edit: also, similarly hilarious but a bit more stressful to play, Pizza Possum, my kid was and is nornally absolutely not into fast-paced gaming, but this one was an expection and is also hilarious to play together and it was a blast collecting all the gadgets. We still come back to both games regularly.
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
This looks great! I hadn’t considered a local co-op but I think I’ve got a second controller kicking around somewhere and could make that work.
Everyone who likes couch co-op should play this one. It’s fantastic.
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.
Haven’t played that in years but a game I enjoy! I wasn’t aware it had co-op, but I think that’s going to be too slow and involved for her tastes though. But the suggestion is still appreciated.
It Takes Two, or Split Fiction, by the same developers. Both are fantastic games, designed around couch co-op.
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.
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.
Thanks! While I’ve heard of the franchise, I’ve never actually played a Rayman game before. But a local co-op platformer sounds good.
Older games are purely singleplayer, multi is something they leaned on later on. For PC Rayman Legends also supports local co-op, I believe. This one however is only available on Steam and requires Uplay account or linking your Steam to it. Origins is available on both Steam and GOG - I can confirm the latter version does not require any additional accounts or services.
Finally, there’s Rayman Raving Rabbids but that’s more of a mini-game compilation/party game rather than a platformer. It also has multiplayer.
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!
I think she’d enjoy that. And good to know there are several in the series so we can pick up the next ones if we end up enjoying it. Thanks!
Kingdom: Two Crowns is great fun in co-op.
I’m not sure I could convince her to play a tower defense style game. But it looks like MY kind of game, so thanks for the recommendation!
Farm Together 2 is AWESOME
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2418520/Farm_Together_2/
The graphics are nice but don’t make the game stand out which is a minor shame since this is by far my favorite “build a farm” type game.
Splitscreen co-op and multiplayer is a blast and the game flow is very chill but rewarding.
Maybe. I like a farming sims but I think it might be a hard sell. Though the cute graphics might help. How in the going in to town portion of the game? Does it have RPG elements? While I like that kind of thing, I don’t think she will.
Not really though I get how the game seems like it might be like that, in fact what I like about Farm Together 1 and 2 is that they are very focused on the actual moment to moment process of a running an arcadey farm. It is almost like a realtime boardgame or simple economy simulator, which makes the core gameplay loop immediately salient to anybody. You can pick up a controller, jump in and start helping out on the farm, it is a very simple, relaxed and rewarding gameplay loop and it makes the perfect co-op game because of it. There aren’t long cutscenes and lots of stuff and context you have to explain, it is a pick up and play experience.
It isn’t a shallow game either, while the game by no means “hard” in the sense that there aren’t really fail states, figuring out how to create an economy with your farm is a really interesting challenge and the wide variety of unlocks encourage and reward strategizing. The graphics are deceptive, there is a genuine engine building game at the heart of Farm Together 2.
“It Takes Two” is the game you are looking for.
