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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Honestly the coop play on Lego PC games is pretty good if you can get over them being cartooney. You have lots to pick from too, so maybe your partner has movies they’re a fan of that are represented in Lego games.
Yup, seconding this. The gameplay is simple enough for a first time gamer and they’re funny. Lego Skywalker Saga and Lego Harry Potter were a blast, and we picked up Lego Voyagers but haven’t played it yet.
I do not know how well it fits your characteristics but Sea of Stars is a cool retro rpg you can play in coop.
Portal 2 has great puzzles for two players, but the timing can be frustrating
Portal 2 was my first thought as well. It can also work as a good litmus test for how they will respond to FPS controls. You can try kb/m or controller and see what feels natural. My partner (we found playing left4dead after portal) is an inverted controller person. Which was wild to me considering they worked in a heavy clerical field and really took to building keyboard with me. Yet, no kb/m for gaming. After that switch , they were able to enjoy co-op 1st person stuff a lot easier.
After portal we played borderlands 2 together. It’s low pressure most of the time and can be a background activity while you talk and hang out. The story is kinda cheesy but it’s fun to share the inside jokes with someone and bonded us in an unexpected way.
Hopefully those work for you!
Sonic Racing Crossworlds. The bots are plenty tough on the hardest difficulty. But you can make them easy too.
I really enjoyed We Were Here with a good friend. It’s a coop escape room like puzzle game where you’ll play in different rooms but your puzzles interact with the other room and you’ll have to communicate and work the two rooms together to solve it
The Past within has a similar concept and is also great!
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.
I’d like to add their first game A Way Out. My partner and I had a blast playing it.
A Way Out is still my favorite, probably just prefer more grounded games.
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.
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.
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.
Don’t Starve is anything but casual lol
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.
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
My gf and I enjoyed:
Stardew Valley Starbound Cook Serve Delicious 2 and 3 Out of Space Overcooked 2 Pizza Possum PEAK Biped Cat Quest 2 Cats Love Boxes Core Keeper Temtem
These are the good ones that should run on anything; looking back at them I can‘t believe we‘ve played that many lol
We‘re currently playing Schedule I but it‘s so buggy in co-op that I can‘t recommend it…
I’m in a similar situation with my wife not being particularly interested in games - I’ve had some success in playing LA Noire with her guiding the investigations and interrogations. The jazz soundtrack in particular helped convince her, funnily enough!
Not quite perhaps what you’re looking for, but may work for others with hesitant non-gamer partners.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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!
It’s actually a mediaeval economy simulator
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.
- 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
