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!
“It Takes Two”, check it out.
I also recommend this game as one of the best co-op / split screen games I’ve played.
My wife and I loved that.
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime - coop, a bit actiony but less chaotic than Overcooked. Beautiful and cute artstyle.
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.
This was my first thought too. Highly recommend.
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.
Stardew valley
My partner didn’t “do” video games growing up. Till Stardew.
This is the way.
I think they have to get to the point where they mightbplay a video game on their own before stardew valley would land for them. They weren’t particularly inspired by the trailers.
It’s $15. Buy it, start a co-op game on the switch and hand them a controller.
Trust me.
This didn’t really work for us to be honest. It went a little better than most games, but it was too easy to get separated and do your own thing and it just didn’t really feel like we were playing together. Could be a strength, but I don’t think it’s ideal if your partner doesn’t really like video games haha.
My partner and I like to play the Lego games together. Lego Star Wars (2005ish) was a favorite, but the newer ones are fun too.
I could probably sell them on lego lotr, adding this one to the list!
Thanks!
Cool. Actually, if you remember, could let me know how that goes? (provided that you in fact try it.) I haven’t tried that one.
Lego Harry Potter on Switch is what my wife and I did and she liked it. She is not a gamer.
Weirdly enough she also liked Mario Golf on switch.
I second the Lego games. Although the older ones (Complete Saga) & Lego Indiana Jones were annoying to play COOP because there’s no split screen.
But Lego Star Wars Clonewars has split screen so you don’t get in the way of each other. I haven’t actually played other newer Lego games but I assume they will have split screen as well.
In our world, the lack of split screen was a feature. It was less co-op as in play together, and more like play as a team. We enjoy fighting about meaningless stuff like whether to collect studs or whether to hurry along. I’d imagine if I tried playing with a sibling, there would be blood.
For me I just found it annoying that whenever we wanted to go in different directions one player would end up getting dragged back by the camera border. So many failed jumps…
But that’s fair, if someone thinks that being able to get in the way of each other and being forced to cooperate better due to it adds to their enjoyment of the game then playing the games without split screen could be preferable.
I just never considered that possibility.
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!
A lot of people have mentioned It takes Two, which really is great and you get to try many different mechanics.
You can also check out Fling or Keywe on steam. Only 2 players max (as compared to 4 players on Overcooked or Plate Up), but less complicated controls. Bread & Fred is another I’ve been meaning to check out too.
Unrailed has simple controls but more objectives to accomplish, and Out Of Space is similar to Overcooked but not in a cooking setting.
Edit: Didn’t realise I used a shortened name. Fling refers to ‘Fling to the Finish’
I’ve played it takes two with my partner and kinda got a little complicated around and after the first boss, definitely gonna give KeyWe a shot! Work our way up to it takes two again
Late to the thread, and you already have loads of suggestions, but Portal and Portal2 may help your partner with their spatial issues. I’ve heard that those are the games to use to introduce someone who doesn’t play videogames in general, but specifically FPS, to the media and basic controls that most of us gamers take for granted.
NOPE. This might work for some people but my partner couldn’t handle it :/. When walking around in 3D and paying attention is hard portals are just too hard when thrown into the mix. I would kill to be able to play Portal 2 coop, but alas :C. Maybe Portal 2 would be better to start on, they do a better job of introducing some concepts and the story is harder to completely ignore lol.
Yes! A very fun game to play as a couple! I liked how it was more graphically interesting than a lot of other puzzle games, and dialog is fantastic.
Divinity: Original Sin 1 and 2. It’s not on the switch, but I’m guessing it should run fine on your old laptop since D:OS1 came out in 2014. My wife and I love these games since she isn’t very good with fast action, and these are turn based fighting so she can take her time figuring out what to do to whom.
It’s also got great couch co-op.
Yep, my partner also did not enjoy the “misses” on his list, but we had a blast playing divinity original sins 1 & 2. Now we are 100 hours into Baldurs gate 3. I highly recommend these games for couples.
Surprisingly, though, while more fast paced, she did also really enjoy It Takes Two. It is a game that does try to be a bit accessible for the new player.
I love dos2 and bg3, if we can work up to those I would count that as a huge success
Dos2 is on switch
Try out It takes two
Portal 2 has a coop mode which I hear is great. I adore portal 1 and 2, but never got a chance to try coop.
Can confirm, the portal 2 coop is fantastic.
I liked the portal games a lot, but they might be abit too spatial heavy for my partner, so I’m a little worried they’d disengage.
Thanks!
My wife is not very spatial, but enjoyed playing coop Portal 2, for a little bit. Once we got to the stage where I was just telling her where to go or stand the entire time we stopped playing together.
That’s about what I would expect would happen with us too. Its already in my steam library tho, so we may try it.
My partner had a hard time dealing with FPS movement. Throwing in portals just made it a complete mess. It really wasn’t a good jumping off point, I think it’s good to be weary.
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.
We Were Here and its sequels seem like the perfect slowish paced coop puzzle games for you guys.
Operation Tango and Escape Simulator are similar and also great.
A Way Out is similar to It Takes Two, with a more serious story.
Monster Prom/Monster Camp and The Yahwg are co-op visual novels.
Clandestine is a Co-op stealth game where one player plays as a spy, fps style, while the other plays as a hacker providing overwatch by controlling cameras and doors, giving directions, etc.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is another asymmetrical co-op game where one person is trying to defuse a bomb by solving puzzles and the other is trying to help by reading the manual. The defuser has to tell the other person what’s going on so they can give the right instructions, much sillier than it sounds.
I love we were here an there are several sequels
It takes two is the obvious suggestion, and I’d personally also recommend vampire survivors
I found this really difficult to read/understand this in places with the neutral pronouns. Anyway a cool little coop puzzle game is Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. It’s an asymmetrical puzzle game where one of you is trying to defuse a bomb (played on a computer) while the other is trying to give directions without seeing the bomb. It might fit your asymmetrical needs you described.
Every “they” refers to the partner (the first two words of the post). Shouldn’t take too long to get used to in future.
As a non-native speaker I still struggle with it. Just sounds like plural all the time. I’d expect something like “they does” for an individual and “they do” for a group of people but “they do” for just an individual frequently fucks up my comprehension.
The post we’re looking at includes “my partner” then almost immediately after “they”, with consistent conjugations of the verb (which doesn’t change). It can look a little odd and take some getting used to, but it isn’t far removed from other seemingly irregular uses, such as yous/youse/y’all for addressing a group of people (direct form of ‘they’), instead of using the singular ‘you’.
Serious answer:
If it doesn’t have to be digital, there’s an entire world of board games available. Dominoes, Magic: The Gathering
Funny answer:
If it has to be digital, Table Top Simulator is fairly cheap and can play an entire world of available board games. /sWife an I split time on RDR2. Her doing most of the fishing/hunting, me doing the rootin/tootin parts.
We do play some board games. I think magic has the same problem as with mario kart, but with less pick up and play-ability. We liked playing gloomhaven ok, but I have to do the setup.
That kind of spliting gameplay could maybe work for us eventually, but I kind of doubt it at this point.
Thanks!
To quote Bob Belcher, “Laugh On Loudly”. Gloomhaven is so good that I kickstarted Frosthaven to support the maker. It’s sealed in the box, in a closet.
I do play Frosthaven (we’ve completed Gloomhaven and Forgotten Circles) with 2 of my siblings and a step brother on Tuesdays. Fridays I play Crimson Scales (fan made Gloomhaven expansion) on Table Top Simulator.
Luckily, the sister and her husband host and do all the setup (we play their copy). TTS, I host but the “setup” is basically loading the mod and clicking a couple buttons. For the physical game, we use Gloomhaven Secretariat to manage the monster abilities, attack modifiers, health, effects, etc which really cuts down the setup/teardown time.
I did have a seat open up on the Friday table, we get together about 5:30pm and run until 8pm Eastern…
We have Jaws of the Lion.
Looking into secretariat for gloomhaven quickly, it looks really useful, I’ve been thinking about the gloomhaven video game as an option too. There are things I like about physical more, but I also think it’d be very convenient.
I super appreciate the implied offer, and hope that someone fills your spot. I am however on west coast time, and am kinda half evening shift schedule besides, so I wouldn’t be able to make that at all regularly…
Thank you though!
In the board game theme, have you tried any 2-player abstract strategy games? Some of my favourites include:
Quarto (complex 4-in-a-row game with a twist: your opponent chooses the piece you must play)
Quixo (from the same publisher, Gigamic - tic tac toe on steroids with an ever-changing board)
Hive (each piece moves a certain way, very portable defend-the-queen game)
Tak (simple rules, deep strategy - connect opposite edges of the board while preventing your opponent from doing it)
Not strategy, but abstract speed game: Nine Tiles by Japanese company Oink Games (not Nine Tiles Panic, tho that one isn’t bad). Oink has very clever, easily packable party games and a few can be played with two people.
