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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Stardew Valley. My wife and I just started playing it together. It is a good time. Genuinely fantastic game.
I picked up gaming in 2022 (played all the Halo Games, Star Wars Fallen order and Survivor, Dark Souls) and she hasn’t played anything since childhood in the 90’s… We are both loving Stardew.
From the top of my head I can think two:
- Battle block theater is a platformer puzzle game and really fun to play in local coop, and it runs on almost anything.
- Sonic All stars racing is a really fun Mario kart like racing game with local multiplayer.
Not sure about Linux support though, so check it out first, but both are relatively old titles so I think they have a good chance to run.
Deep Rock Galactic can be played up to 4 players, but 2 is fine. There’s difficulty scaling to what you want to do and you have to want to play high difficulty content to access it. You go around various biomes, mining for resources, fending off enemies. There’s a multitude of mission types to play that can be fun to funny.
It was officially released in 2020 but was in early access for longer than that. It’ll run well on mid range PC builds and supports Linux though with the typical warning it might be a little janky until you get the right modifications going. The DLC in the game is cosmetics and you have plenty you can earn through regular gameplay.
A racing style game that you two can play around in I believe is called Wreck Fest. It’s a demolition styled racing game so crashing, smashing, and bashing are all encouraged. It has from straight racing to demolition derbies with AI.
It released in 2018 and should work fine on a mid-range PC, though might need to turn down some of the physics effects since there’s a lot. Its DLC is different cars which isn’t really pay to win as they have strengths and weaknesses to them. I’ve played it on single player and it’s still fun, with a friend would be wonderful.
If you’d like a rogue lite kind of game, there’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Splintered Fate. It’s a coop rogue lite where you build up power sets and see how they do. Can be up to 4 players but solo is very much viable as well.
Here is list of some games that I enjoyed playing with my wife:
One of my favorite recent games were: Ale and Tale Tavern and RV there yet.
Here is list of other game I have played (+ or - if I recommend it). These were all I found in my Steam Library.
Single player games that can be played “together”
- Witness (++)
- Last day of June (+)
- AER Memories of Old (±)
Farming sims:
- Stardew Valley (+++)
- Ale and Tale Tavern (++)
- Roots of Pacha (+)
- Sun Haven (+)
- Travellers Rest (±)
Exploration/Story:
- It Takes Two (+++)
- Squirreled Away (++)
- Swords 'n Magic and Stuff (++)
- Split Fiction (+)
- Peak (+)
- Don’t Starve Together (+)
Action:
- Moon Hunters (+)
- Full Metal Furies (+)
- Nine Parchments (+)
- Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (-)
- Pathless Woods (-)
- Castle Crashers (-)
Puzzle:
- Portal 2 co-op (++)
- Trine 2-4 (+)
Party:
- Overcooked (+)
Overcooked is ground for divorce
I know that you said multiplayer, but if I can be one more voice on single player games that you guys may enjoy playing in turns I strongly recommend GRIS. It is so beautiful and I think it suits itself well for shorter play sessions.
If you want some retro, try Dungeon Siege. Works on Linux. I played this game when it came out and recently got back into it because I never finished it there first time. Really chill dungeon rpgish game. Easy mechanics, but I haven’t tested how the multiplayer works.
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Split fiction was great fun for my partner and I, the story is mid but gameplay is probably the best action adventure coop I’ve played. It has so much variety to offer.
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
I don’t really think I’d call it a tower defense game tbh.
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
Everyone who likes couch co-op should play this one. It’s fantastic.
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.
Farm Together 2 is AWESOME
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2418520/Farm_Together_2/
The graphics are nice but don’t make the game stand out which is a minor shame since this is by far my favorite “build a farm” type game.
Splitscreen co-op and multiplayer is a blast and the game flow is very chill but rewarding.
Maybe. I like a farming sims but I think it might be a hard sell. Though the cute graphics might help. How in the going in to town portion of the game? Does it have RPG elements? While I like that kind of thing, I don’t think she will.
Not really though I get how the game seems like it might be like that, in fact what I like about Farm Together 1 and 2 is that they are very focused on the actual moment to moment process of a running an arcadey farm. It is almost like a realtime boardgame or simple economy simulator, which makes the core gameplay loop immediately salient to anybody. You can pick up a controller, jump in and start helping out on the farm, it is a very simple, relaxed and rewarding gameplay loop and it makes the perfect co-op game because of it. There aren’t long cutscenes and lots of stuff and context you have to explain, it is a pick up and play experience.
It isn’t a shallow game either, while the game by no means “hard” in the sense that there aren’t really fail states, figuring out how to create an economy with your farm is a really interesting challenge and the wide variety of unlocks encourage and reward strategizing. The graphics are deceptive, there is a genuine engine building game at the heart of Farm Together 2.
Abiotic Factor has been a blast with a friend. I don’t play a lot of survival games (I prefer more narrative than most offer, and Grounded was a great one for that) and this one doesn’t take itself very seriously (you craft weapons and armor from general office supplies a lot of the time… I’ve never been so excited to find a cache of staplers).
May want to turn the difficulty down if she gets overwhelmed easily, as while they majority of the game is pretty manageable, there are the occasional hard fight.
She won’t like a survival crafter, but I do!
I’ll take half credit! Lol. It’s ridiculous in the best ways. I still have no idea how much longer we have on our playthrough but it is a pretty long game… Or we suck, which is very plausible.
I tried to get my friend group into this and most of them bounced off. I tried to convince the “hardcore gamers” of the group that by the looks of it things get quite hard in the late game. Bummed I never really got to experience it to that point.
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
Bokura, 2d puzzle platformer played with 2 players
Minor gameplay spoilers
Both players are seeing a completely different world. Different art, different puzzle elements. It is about communicating exactly what is happening, and puzzle solving.
It requires Steam, both players need to own the game, and two separate devices to play on (one for each player). Iirc networking goes through Steam, no way to selfhost.
minecraft?
Oh Minecraft. She’d get bored with an open world sandbox. Maybe there are mods or something that are more story driven, but that’d ruin my nostalgia for the game. Bit of a pickle!
You mentioned puzzles so maybe a middleground is finding some co-op puzzle maps?
ah, usually the creative aspect draws people in but i know not everyone is that way.
I’ve recently gotten into putting together sort of silly “party” mod packs for my friend group. Things that are meant to be played as a “one shot” with everyone online. Things like full loot randomizers, or shared health and inventory. Just silly and chaotic mods to shift the focus from exploration and sandbox-y things, to “let’s try to beat the ender dragon under very adverse conditions”. So far I’ve only gotten one friend to bite, but we’ve been doing one run a night for the last week or so. Takes between 20 to 60 minutes, maybe more if we really get into it.
Could also look into mods/modpacks that add quest books. That helps take the edge off the “open world, figure it out” paralysis and give some concrete things to work towards.
