Do you still play couch coop nowadays? Which games do you recommend?
I have very fond memories of the first Halo on the OG Xbox. It was very cool to be able to do the campaign together with a friend.
I will happily take this opportunity to complain
/startrant that the abandonment of couch co-op is the worst thing to ever happen to gaming. There are some great couch co-op games out there, BUT NOT NEARLY ENOUGH. Seriously, the number of goddamn games that expect you to HAVE TWO COMPUTER AND TWO SCREENS SO YOU CAN PLAY CO-OP WITH SOMEONE ELSE IS TOO DAMN HIGH. /endrant
I highly recommend Broforce, any of the Larian studio games (Divinity Original Sin, Baldur's Gate 3 etc..), Battleblock Theater, Castle Crashers, Cuphead, For The King, Hypercharge Unboxed, It Takes Two, Portal 2, Overcooked, SpiritFarer, Stardew Valley, Untitled Goose Game, Wobbly Life. Wish there were more.
It is the damndest shame that the Halo Master Chief Collection doesn't have local co-op, still upsets me to this day.
There are some great couch co-op games out there, BUT NOT NEARLY ENOUGH. Seriously, the number of goddamn games that expect you to HAVE TWO COMPUTER AND TWO SCREENS SO YOU CAN PLAY CO-OP WITH SOMEONE ELSE IS TOO DAMN HIGH.
The issue is that not enough people play couch co-op to justify the effort that goes into making it work. It's a subset of a subset of gamers that play couch co-op even once, let alone on a regular basis.
I played couch co-op with my kiddo on the master chief collection on my Xbox. The only issue I had was depending on the profile signed in first it sometimes gets the progress save wrong.
Some splitscreen multiplayer games I've played and enjoyed:
Me and a friend 100%ed crawl together and it was a really good time. Took us a while to beat all the monsters challenges.
Lol my friends refuse to play Crawl with me
I actually have a Steam collection for this. It's mostly games I play when I have a handful of friends over. My favorites in the collection are:
Broforce is too much fun with friends.
Hammerwatch is a pretty fun top-down pixel dungeon crawler. There are other Hammerwatch games and it's also on consoles.
The "Lara Croft and the ________" games are a bit older but are fun puzzler dungeon co-op's. I really liked Temple of Osiris. I think these are also on consoles, but may be older consoles.
Stick Fight is a silly brawler. Also on consoles.
Party Golf is a fun and varied party game. Also on consoles.
It's older and I may be misremembering, but I think Hoard is co-op. It's on Steam still and you play as Dragons in a top-down gold hoarding thing. May be on consoles, but older ones. Pretty sure PS Plus Premium streaming has this under PS3 classics.
Hunted The Demons Forge is NOT local co-op on Steam but it is on PS3 and you can do it via PS Plus Premium streaming without a PS3.
Thanks!
Overcooked is an amazing couch coop
Plateup should be nice too
Yes came to recommend the same. Loving it with the missus and sometimes kid.
Great games
On the rare moments that my friends come to my house we play some couch coop, most of the time is brawlhalla, but sometimes we play other games like hot shot racing, horizon chase, trick towers, etc.
Yes definitely, here's my Steam 'Local Multiplayer' collection:
Nintendo also has some great couch co-op games,for example:
I also very much agree with the other commenter here, it's such a shame that couch co-op is dying. The only ones still believing in it seem to be Nintendo.
Another game that's fun to play is Unravel 2, but for me the Steam version had all sorts of problems so I ultimately ended up refunding it again.
I find a lot of AAA games don't really do couch coop these days which is disappointing.
One game I always come back to (and it's ancient and Free to Play) is Awesomenauts. It's a cartoon sidescrolling hero shooter type thing, but it's a lot of fun.
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!
Totally agree. Just finished it. My SO and I had a blast playing it - highly recommended!
I do play couch co-op, though some games are multiplayer some are single player and we hand it off or just experience it together.
Some of the games are: Mario party, Mario kart double dash (truly random items mod), Project Melee, Paper Mario thousand year door (amazing game), Kirby and the amazing mirror, and then a lot of one-offs mostly just trying out the random games.
Duck Game, Trine, Little Big Planet are all fun.
Edit: Also, Hidden in Plain Sight is a Xbox 360 classic, it has a PC port now.
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
EDF!! This is one of my favorite series and one I'm very hyped for again due to the new sequel. Definitely recommend it as a fun coop experience with friends, blowing up hordes of giant alien insects, robots, flying saucers and legally-distinct Kaijus.
I don't know if "coop" is the right term, but Duck Game is awesome on the couch with two (or more!) people.
I didn't see Plateup! mentioned, similar to Overcooked but rogue lite with more emphasis on RNG and customization of the restaurant (through where you place the tables/utilities)
Some I didn't see mentioned:
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.
Diablo III was fun for my family, as was Minecraft Dungeons even though it's stagnant and abandoned now.
Nuclear throne
The last couch coop i did was with the dark picture anthology stuff from the until dawn devs where me and 3 other people would choose characters we would play as and pass the controller around and make decisions together. It was pretty fun.
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
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris was cute.
Resident Evil 5 & 6 also have co-op, and I believe revelations 2 as well
Untiled Goose Game (on the short side)
Cup Head
Extreme Exorcism
Escape Academy is GREAT and ONLY GOOD with a partner. My partner and I played through most of it in a day and it’s been EXCELLENT so far. I’m not good at puzzles—they are. I still am having a blast.
Overcooked (1 and 2) and Moving Out (also has 2 games). I have like all the "game show" games, too. Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, etc.
I also really like "Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes" but it's VR specific. Or at least, is way better with VR where the dude defusing the bomb can't see anything but the bomb and the room the bomb is in. I wish I had a physical manual for the other player, though...
I wish I had a physical manual for the other player, though...
Nobody mentioned Guacamelee?
20xx, played it with a friend recently
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.
A lot of what I wanted to post already got put here, but Bunhouse isn't here yet.
Not a couch game, but I enjoyed Farenheit, Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls with my gf (we took turns).
As for couch games Kill Zone 3, Borderlands 1, 2 and TPS have been excellent!
I also made her play the Narnia game for PS2... Never again, I hope she agrees to play the Titan Titan game :(
EDIT: well, I somehow forgot about Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros Ultimate... I was thinking of a more cooperative play style I think.
Torchlight
Torchlight 2
Plateup
Orcs must die
How to survive
The new Pocky and Rocky game on switch is the last couch co-op game I played. Co-op is buried away slightly though - you either need to finish the game on single player or enter a cheat code to unlock it. I love all that old school stuff though!
The game itself is arcade perfection with beautiful pixel art.
Baldurs Gate 3 couch co op works incredibly well.
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
They have a demo. Played it with my youngling. It was too much for him.
The game is great - if you like suffering.
The Steam reviews are hilarious.
Overcooked, any version.
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.
XCOM 1 and 2 are significantly more fun when you have two players controlling the team