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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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.
I will toss in, don’t starve together is very much NOT beginner friendly. Playing with someone less experienced with video games can turn into effectively playing with one hand behind your back as you try to cover the needs for both of you, the world is threatening, and the penalty for death is high. Might not be well suited to what you’re looking for
Semi-casual
Factorio
Are you trying to kill him?
Playing Factorio co-op was one of the games that got my wife into gaming. She couldn’t do quick reaction time shooters, but Factorio at its most basic is essentially a ‘puzzle’ game.
… But yeah we lost a few weekends or weeks or months to it. The factory must grow.
“A Hat in Time” is an excellent 3d-platformer with local (split-screen) co-op.
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.
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.
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, 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.
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!
Trine 1 has co op. I played it 3 player
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!
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.
I don’t have specific games to recommend because there are many of many genres. I’d instead suggest to make trying out cooperative games as an experience for you both. The fun will be in exploring them on your own. Or the frustration. He he.
Abiotic Factor has been a blast with a friend. I don’t play a lot of survival games (I prefer more narrative than most offer, and Grounded was a great one for that) and this one doesn’t take itself very seriously (you craft weapons and armor from general office supplies a lot of the time… I’ve never been so excited to find a cache of staplers).
May want to turn the difficulty down if she gets overwhelmed easily, as while they majority of the game is pretty manageable, there are the occasional hard fight.
I tried to get my friend group into this and most of them bounced off. I tried to convince the “hardcore gamers” of the group that by the looks of it things get quite hard in the late game. Bummed I never really got to experience it to that point.
She won’t like a survival crafter, but I do!
I’ll take half credit! Lol. It’s ridiculous in the best ways. I still have no idea how much longer we have on our playthrough but it is a pretty long game… Or we suck, which is very plausible.
journey to savage planet sounds like it fits your criteria
Civ 6, the whole Picross lineup on the switch (emulated ofc), Cassette Beasts, Minecraft Java (which can be a pain to setup but once its good its good), Halo MCC apparently has a new split screen mod. You get a lot with a switch emulator due to all the fantastic first party games by Nintendo. Also look into Nucleus Coop.
Tl;Dr: try Cassette Beasts
Plus 1 for cassette beasts, it’s insanely good. Much to the continued anger of my friends with hundreds of hours in Pokemon, I routinely summarize it as Pokemon but good having hundreds of hours in both lol
“It Takes Two” is the game you are looking for.
It Takes Two, or Split Fiction, by the same developers. Both are fantastic games, designed around couch co-op.
