My partner and I occasionally play games together, but they pretty much only play word puzzle games on their own. I’m not very good at word games though, and they don’t have very good spatial skills, so we frequently find ourselves mismatched. We have a switch and a single decent gaming pc, and a pretty old laptop.
The biggest hit for us has been Baba is You because it is slow paced, and combines words and logic and spatial reasoning. Our biggest problem was that its not actually coop, so we would just alternate who played, which can disengage the other person. My partner also thought its aesthetic is cute.
Our next positive example is probably Snipperclips is also a pretty slow paced puzzler, is mostly spatial skills, but we could play at the same time. They also liked how interactive the avatars are, and particularly snipping my avatar up.
The first miss is overcooked, it was a bit too chaotic, and my partner felt a little lost and uncoordinated. They don’t remember it super well, so we might retry this one at some point if they feel more at home playing video games.
The other miss is Mario Kart, which they liked when we played with 4 player, but not just the 2 of us. I’m significantly better at Mario Kart, and they are pretty competitive. If they get more into games they might be willing to put in some time improving, but not so much right now.
Our worst miss was probably Tricky Towers, I’m decently good at regular Tetris, so I can do okay out of the box at physics based Tetris, but there was too much happening to fast for my partner. Combine that with it the competitive aspect and they didn’t enjoy this one at all.
The games they most fondly remember from childhood are Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero, though we have downstairs neighbors under part of our apartment and no dance pad or guitars, SSX Tricky, and the Lord of the Rings movie tie in games.
They think they’d enjoy a game that does movement as input like ddr or guitar hero but is maybe less bouncy, and are open to action games, or games with a story, but they should be easier to control and not be too chaotic. Cute aesthetics and cats are a plus.
Thanks!
Edit:
Everybody gave great recommendations! We picked up It takes two and pizza possum. Just finished the first chapter of it takes two and we had a blast, and I might even be able to get another game night in this weekend if we can be on top of chores. I’ll keep checking in this thread for more ideas for future games to try! Thanks again!
Fantastic game, my family has been playing it for years on Switch, starting from when my kids were uselessly young, to now that they are pretty good gamers and it has always been fun. One of the few games my wife plays with everyone.
I think this is one we’ll check out. I bounced off it a few years ago, but I think that was because I played it in a party where I was more interested in just hanging out and catching up with the other players.
The Trine series is pretty fun. It’s a 2.5d puzzle platformer game. There are some combat bits, but most of the game is puzzles. I’d recommend the second one.
Overcooked is only fun if everyone is terrible or everyone is great. It’s a great concept but definitely not going to work out for most groups.
For Mario kart, did you put on some bots? Without the NPCs, 2 player is lame, even if you are both quite good.
Have you played It Takes Two? This sounds like it hits your requirements.
For couch coop, I’d actually suggest Mario Deluxe over the very recent Mario Wonder if you wanted to try a side scroller. Wonder is great, but it’s couch coop is poorly implemented unless you are both good or both terrible as with overcooked. Deluxe doesn’t have that issue, in my opinion, due to the way the scrolling works in game. It might feel odd spending $60 on a 10 year old game from the WII U, but Nintendo originals always hold up well.
I think they struggled to even parse what was going on in overcooked, and need more experience playing games generally to be able to enjoy that kind of chaos because they just felt lost.
Alas, beating bots on Mario Kart means nothing to them.
That’s 2 fast recs for it takes two, so I think thats probably gonna be on the shortlist.
I think I have NSMBU on wii u in storage at my parent’s house. We’re visiting in for the holidays, so maybe we’ll hook up the wii u there and try that. I remember liking that game a lot.
I actually think that’s what they called Mario deluxe for the WII U. Definitely look into it before buying a 2nd copy of the same game like I did. I mean, I’ve 100%ed it a few times now but still I wish I knew it was the same.
In fact, it’s better on the Wii u. Player 2 can either play as a Luigi or play as god on the Wii pad. Putting down tiles and making the game dead easy.
I’m in an extremely similar relationship to OP it sounds like. Any time I’ve tried to play a VN style game hasn’t been very successful. They always end up bored unless it’s crazy engaging. ‘What Remains of Edith Finch’ comes to mind as one of the successful narrative focused games I found though.
As one of the consoles most famous titles, there’s a number of ways to play it.
It’ll help develop some of her hand-eye, but in a slower, calmer way she will probably be more than equal to. There’s also a lot of character development and plot, it is a jrpg-influenced game after all.
2 player co-op kicks in about an hour-ish into the game, if memory serves, once the second character enters the story.
I really like Secret of Mana. I think because I’ve already played through it would make it less of a good coop game for them, but if I can get them a little interested in playing on their own I think it would have potential as an early game for them.
Out of Space: it’s very similar to Overcooked, but a lot less chaotic, me and my wife love it and play it all of the time because Overcooked, while great, can be too much action. It is available for PC (and should work even on the crappy one possibly), and switch. Let me know how that goes, I love this game and it is not widely known so I love showing it up to people.
Animal Crossing sorta has 2p mode. The second player can’t walk too far from the main player and has more limited gameplay options, but it can be fun to run around and fish together.
I didn’t know animal crossing had local coop, they mentioned being open to animal crossing specifically today, so maybe I’ll pick it up. I haven’t played an animal crossing game since the one on the DS, I could be down to be their player 2 on it.
Every player on the same switch plays on the same island. Only one player can actually play at a time, but another can join on a separate controller and act as a sort of sidekick that can fish and pick vegetables and such. My husband and I like to split of the gardening across the island then take turns helping each other with our respective sections.
I have been recommending Farm Together as a co-op game a lot lately because it is so damn simple but so good. The controls are immediately accessible, the game doesn’t give a flying fuck about stressing you out but at the same time there are a lot of systems to discover (making money isn’t trivial in this game) and the crops take realtime to grow so it naturally sets up a simple ritual with your co-op partner to play. There is not really any story to get into, but at the same time this makes it a bit more accessible to someone who isn’t already invested in video games since the gameplay loop is so immediate and unframed by any cutscenes, story setup, long tutorials or forced activities. You pick it up and start playing immediately, you decide completely how to interface with the game whether it be crunching out the numbers to figure out which crop, fish etc… to go for to maximize money, just zoning out watering, planting and harvesting or spending all your time placing cosmetic buildings and props to make your farm look cool. Want to take a break and just watch your partner play? Sure! Walk away for a half an hour if you want, you will probably have a bunch of crops waiting for you to harvest once you come back. The game really doesn’t have an opinion on how you should play it and it is great.
(It looks like a game like farmville, but there is zero manipulative microtransaction crap, just buy the game and play)
If you want more story and thematic framing, you absolutely have to try Stardew Valley, it is a co-op classic for a reason.
Also if you liked the idea of Overcooked but found it too focused on stressful energy that isn’t necessarily fun for everyone than check out PlateUp! YOU design the kitchen in plateup and add various components to it as you progress. It puts a lot more agency in the players hands instead of throwing players through a chaotic theme park ride that overcooked feels like in the harder levels. It also brings strategizing about kitchen design with your co-op partner into the gameplay loop which is great fun. You can also automate some stuff, so players can dig into that if they want to avoid feeling like the game is so focused on stressful action.
Sounds a bit like my partner, who doesn’t like most action games. For a game you could play together, I think you could try a “creature collector” type game, like pokemon. There are actually a lot of creature collectors, pokemon is just the most popular, but there are cheap digital games on the switch store that are made by Pokemon fans and from what I can tell are better in a lot of ways.
You can also emulate all of the old console games for free, that’s what my partner did for a bunch of Pokemon titles.
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“It Takes Two”, check it out.
My wife and I loved that.
I also recommend this game as one of the best co-op / split screen games I’ve played.
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime - coop, a bit actiony but less chaotic than Overcooked. Beautiful and cute artstyle.
This was my first thought too. Highly recommend.
Fantastic game, my family has been playing it for years on Switch, starting from when my kids were uselessly young, to now that they are pretty good gamers and it has always been fun. One of the few games my wife plays with everyone.
I think this is one we’ll check out. I bounced off it a few years ago, but I think that was because I played it in a party where I was more interested in just hanging out and catching up with the other players.
The Trine series is pretty fun. It’s a 2.5d puzzle platformer game. There are some combat bits, but most of the game is puzzles. I’d recommend the second one.
I have Trine 2 in the depths of my unplayed steam library, so this is a great option!
Thanks!
Heroes of might and magic 3, hot seat
This seems like a game I would enjoy on my own, but might be a bit to crunchy for my partner at this point.
Overcooked is only fun if everyone is terrible or everyone is great. It’s a great concept but definitely not going to work out for most groups.
For Mario kart, did you put on some bots? Without the NPCs, 2 player is lame, even if you are both quite good.
Have you played It Takes Two? This sounds like it hits your requirements.
For couch coop, I’d actually suggest Mario Deluxe over the very recent Mario Wonder if you wanted to try a side scroller. Wonder is great, but it’s couch coop is poorly implemented unless you are both good or both terrible as with overcooked. Deluxe doesn’t have that issue, in my opinion, due to the way the scrolling works in game. It might feel odd spending $60 on a 10 year old game from the WII U, but Nintendo originals always hold up well.
I think they struggled to even parse what was going on in overcooked, and need more experience playing games generally to be able to enjoy that kind of chaos because they just felt lost.
Alas, beating bots on Mario Kart means nothing to them.
That’s 2 fast recs for it takes two, so I think thats probably gonna be on the shortlist.
I think I have NSMBU on wii u in storage at my parent’s house. We’re visiting in for the holidays, so maybe we’ll hook up the wii u there and try that. I remember liking that game a lot.
Thanks!
I actually think that’s what they called Mario deluxe for the WII U. Definitely look into it before buying a 2nd copy of the same game like I did. I mean, I’ve 100%ed it a few times now but still I wish I knew it was the same.
In fact, it’s better on the Wii u. Player 2 can either play as a Luigi or play as god on the Wii pad. Putting down tiles and making the game dead easy.
Visual novel types of games, maybe? Anything from Quantic Dream, Telltale
I’m in an extremely similar relationship to OP it sounds like. Any time I’ve tried to play a VN style game hasn’t been very successful. They always end up bored unless it’s crazy engaging. ‘What Remains of Edith Finch’ comes to mind as one of the successful narrative focused games I found though.
Secret of Mana (SNES)
As one of the consoles most famous titles, there’s a number of ways to play it.
It’ll help develop some of her hand-eye, but in a slower, calmer way she will probably be more than equal to. There’s also a lot of character development and plot, it is a jrpg-influenced game after all.
2 player co-op kicks in about an hour-ish into the game, if memory serves, once the second character enters the story.
I really like Secret of Mana. I think because I’ve already played through it would make it less of a good coop game for them, but if I can get them a little interested in playing on their own I think it would have potential as an early game for them.
Alternatively you can apply the Little Brother technique and just let them win more than they lose in whatever “competitive” game y’all are playing.
Just try to do it in a non-obvious way.
I don’t think they’d appreciate that, and if they found out I think it’d damage the possibility of gaming being a thing we do together at all.
Out of Space: it’s very similar to Overcooked, but a lot less chaotic, me and my wife love it and play it all of the time because Overcooked, while great, can be too much action. It is available for PC (and should work even on the crappy one possibly), and switch. Let me know how that goes, I love this game and it is not widely known so I love showing it up to people.
My partner is no gamer, but when it comes to playing together, she enjoyed:
Pokemon: Lets Go Pikachu
Diablo 3
Kingdom Two Crowns
Animal Crossing sorta has 2p mode. The second player can’t walk too far from the main player and has more limited gameplay options, but it can be fun to run around and fish together.
I didn’t know animal crossing had local coop, they mentioned being open to animal crossing specifically today, so maybe I’ll pick it up. I haven’t played an animal crossing game since the one on the DS, I could be down to be their player 2 on it.
Every player on the same switch plays on the same island. Only one player can actually play at a time, but another can join on a separate controller and act as a sort of sidekick that can fish and pick vegetables and such. My husband and I like to split of the gardening across the island then take turns helping each other with our respective sections.
I have been recommending Farm Together as a co-op game a lot lately because it is so damn simple but so good. The controls are immediately accessible, the game doesn’t give a flying fuck about stressing you out but at the same time there are a lot of systems to discover (making money isn’t trivial in this game) and the crops take realtime to grow so it naturally sets up a simple ritual with your co-op partner to play. There is not really any story to get into, but at the same time this makes it a bit more accessible to someone who isn’t already invested in video games since the gameplay loop is so immediate and unframed by any cutscenes, story setup, long tutorials or forced activities. You pick it up and start playing immediately, you decide completely how to interface with the game whether it be crunching out the numbers to figure out which crop, fish etc… to go for to maximize money, just zoning out watering, planting and harvesting or spending all your time placing cosmetic buildings and props to make your farm look cool. Want to take a break and just watch your partner play? Sure! Walk away for a half an hour if you want, you will probably have a bunch of crops waiting for you to harvest once you come back. The game really doesn’t have an opinion on how you should play it and it is great.
(It looks like a game like farmville, but there is zero manipulative microtransaction crap, just buy the game and play)
If you want more story and thematic framing, you absolutely have to try Stardew Valley, it is a co-op classic for a reason.
Also if you liked the idea of Overcooked but found it too focused on stressful energy that isn’t necessarily fun for everyone than check out PlateUp! YOU design the kitchen in plateup and add various components to it as you progress. It puts a lot more agency in the players hands instead of throwing players through a chaotic theme park ride that overcooked feels like in the harder levels. It also brings strategizing about kitchen design with your co-op partner into the gameplay loop which is great fun. You can also automate some stuff, so players can dig into that if they want to avoid feeling like the game is so focused on stressful action.
Stray maybe?
I think stray is a great first pick for if I can get them interested in playing a game mostly on their own.
Thanks!
You’re welcome.
Try out It takes two
Sounds a bit like my partner, who doesn’t like most action games. For a game you could play together, I think you could try a “creature collector” type game, like pokemon. There are actually a lot of creature collectors, pokemon is just the most popular, but there are cheap digital games on the switch store that are made by Pokemon fans and from what I can tell are better in a lot of ways.
You can also emulate all of the old console games for free, that’s what my partner did for a bunch of Pokemon titles.
what about Yoshi’s Crafted World? easy gameplay, cute aesthetics and good co-op