• Assault Android Cactus
  • Slick arcade-style twin-stick shooter with a pumpin’ soundtrack. Lots of characters with unique playstyles. Local co-op.
• Crypt of the NecroDancer
  • Bring rhythm to the classic roguelike. There’s local and online co-op and lots of mods.
• Just Shapes and Beats
  • Rhythm bullet hell with a large EDM soundtrack. Local and online co-op.
• Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
  • This is a stretch of the “couch” part of couch co-op. One player must defuse a bomb. The other players have a bomb defusal manual and must help the first player without being able to see the screen.
• Moving Out 2
  • Work together to drag and throw furniture into a truck. Chaotic co-op with physics, local and online.
• Gauntlet: Slayer Edition
  • 2014 revival of an 80s arcade classic. Co-op dungeon crawling action. Warrior needs food. Badly! Local and online co-op.
• Pizza Possum
  • Very soft stealth game about stealing and eating lots of food. Local co-op.

My sibling plays Ultimate Chicken Horse way too much for their health. I’m a fan of Duck Game, Castle Crashers, and Enter the Gungeon. I’ve also licked up Heave Ho and Pico Park, however those are more for party games for like 4 people or more.

Yes, my wife and I play Diablo 4 together. During covid we played Mario Party on the switch with a couple of friends who we knew were also taking isolation seriously.

Overcooked, any version.

I am currently playing “It takes two” together with my wife. It looks cute, has a story that is funny and really sad at the same time and the mechanics of the game change frequently. The occasional (optional) Minigames are really fun too!

Fred & Bread looks amazing though I have not played it. Two penguins who are tied together with a rope have to climb a mountain together using nothing but each other and momentum

A bit of an acquired taste, but the entire Earth Defence Force series can be played split screen (2P only). The best entry point into the series is EDF 5 (story reboot, QoL tweaks) which is often deeply discounted. Plus its direct sequel EDF 6 just released in the west last month

XCOM 1 and 2 are significantly more fun when you have two players controlling the team

Torchlight

Torchlight 2

Plateup

Orcs must die

How to survive

A FANTASTIC underground couch co-op game is “Super Space _____” (read: Super Space Blank).

Imagine Asteroids, but everyone is controlling a cannon on the same ship, and the only means of propelling the ship is Newton’s third law. When your cannon hits an asteroid, it turns your color and when the asteroid leaves the game space the points for that asteroid go to the person whose color the asteroid is. If the ship leaves the game area, the game is over. It’s the best example of co-ompetitive I’ve ever seen.

It’s only available on Digipen’s website (link) since it was a student project but it’s magnificent for up to 4 players

Baldurs Gate 3 couch co op works incredibly well.

Some splitscreen multiplayer games I’ve played and enjoyed:

• It Takes Two - 2 player couch. Amazing game
• Octodad - 4p. Every player controls one or two limbs of an octopus, who needs to pretend to be a normal father
• Nom Nom Galaxy - 2 player couch, 4 player online. Land on an alien planet and build a soup factory. Collect ingredients and fight against another corporation.
• Crawl - 4p. One player is a hero running through a dungeon, the other players control monsters trying to kill them. Whoever kills the hero then becomes the hero. Whoever kills the boss first, wins. Great soundtrack and art.
• Stick Fight - 4p. Competitive yet silly ragdoll combat game
• Magicka 1 and 2 - 4p. Wizard game, create spells by mixing elements and blow up a bunch of goblins.
• Stikbold! - 4p. Dodgeball game, a decent bit of skill involved. Can fight each other or against AI.
• Tooth and Tail - 4p. An RTS game that works well on controllers, you control an army of woodland creatures and have to kill / eat the others. Great soundtrack and art. Can play PvP or against AI.
• Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime - 4p. Work together to pilot a spaceship and kill monsters and save people.
• Guns, Gore & Cannoli - 4p. Arcadey shoot lots of zombies side scroller.
• Treadnauts - 4p. Fight each other by driving tanks on walls
• Ultimate Chicken Horse - 4p. Design a shared platforming level with traps, so that you’re able to get to the end but the other players can’t.
• All the Lego games - 2p.
• Stardew Valley - 4p. Grow a farm and befriend villagers
• Speedrunners - 4p. Just run and do parkour faster than the other players
• the Trine games - 3p. Cooperative adventure / puzzle game.
• Wizard of Legend - 2p. Wizard roguelike
• Boomerang Fu - 4p. Fight each other by throwing boomerangs
• Kingdom Two Crowns - 2p. Side scroller town builder, protect your town against the evils outside
• Spelunky - 4p. Roguelike, delve into a cave searching for gold and riches

I don’t know if “coop” is the right term, but Duck Game is awesome on the couch with two (or more!) people.

Super Smash Bro’s Ultimate is still the premier Couch Co-Op game for my circle of friends. We also play the JackBox party games and occasionally Mario Party.

I genuinely don’t know what options are even available outside of Nintendo’s fence anymore.

Edit: My reading comprehension is in the garbage today. Baldurs Gate 3 and It Takes Two.

Overcooked is an amazing couch coop