My SO and I have been having a lot of fun playing co-op games on the Steam Deck connected to the TV. We recently finished Split Fiction and I’m looking for the next cool experience to try out. We enjoy casual co-op games, nothing too hard or violent. EDIT: pixel art is apparently a big turnoff for her so that’s out as well.

Games We Enjoyed:

  • Split Fiction
  • It takes two
  • Untitled Goose Game

Games that flopped:

  • Stardew Valley - She is open to “farming” games but doesn’t enjoy the energy management aspect of the game. It also gave her motion sickness, somehow
  • Overcooked / Moving out - We enjoy these games but as they start to get more chaotic and hard, the enjoyment goes way down
  • Ibb & Obb - A bit dull and samey
  • Portal - Gives me serious motion sickness, completely unplayable
  • Lego Lord of the Rings - I’m a lord of the rings fan but I hated the gameplay for this game, I found it to be so boring. We quit after an hour or so.
  • eaterofclowns@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    11 days ago

    My wife and I were having fun doing co-op on the Trine games. Coordinating your character switches to cross obstacles can be pretty fun. The Lego Star Wars games were also fun for us both to just mess around and cause chaos.

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      3·
      11 days ago

      Trine sounds like a great idea, I already have the first two. Gonna give it a go.

      We tried the lego lord of the rings game but it fell flat for us.

  • Kaigyo@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    11 days ago

    If you’re open to doing emulation, there’s a multitude of Nintendo games that are amazing couch co-op.

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      10 days ago

      I have RetroDeck set up but I’m honestly not into emulation. I do own a Nintendo Switch and we’ve played a couple of those. They’re fun but I’m not looking into supporting Nintendo for the time being.

      • Kaigyo@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        10 days ago

        That’s fair. But since you do have a Switch, I’d still recommend finding a used copy of Yoshi’s Crafted World if you haven’t played it.

  • dumblederp@aussie.zoneEnglish
    3·
    10 days ago

    Death Squared. Puzzle solving, each player controls two blocks on the map used to solve the puzzle.

  • Coelacanth@feddit.nuEnglish
    3·
    10 days ago

    I’m not even a huge platformer guy, but Rayman Legends is absolute peak and a fantastic, chill co-op game. The music levels in particular - where the already great soundtrack is synced in time to your jumps and hits - are incredibly satisfying and so well made.

    I’d also be remiss if I didn’t suggest Blue Prince. It’s not co-op per se as it’d only be one person at a time “driving”, but the game is about puzzle solving so who holds the controller doesn’t really matter. It’s a fantastic game if you enjoy puzzles and escape rooms. My sister isn’t even a gamer at all but I recommended it to her fiancé and they’ve been playing together and even she’s been enjoying it a lot. From my own experience playing it on my own I also think it would be much more fun if playing alongside someone else. I’ve often missed having someone to bounce ideas off when stuck.

    • jsomae@lemmy.mlEnglish
      2·
      10 days ago

      On the notion of “one person at a time driving,” I played Outer Wilds with my partner. 10/10. Just make sure that when there is text, both people can read it before you move on.

  • RandomStickman@fedia.io
    3·
    11 days ago

    My SO isn’t that big of a gamer but these are the games we’ve played together:

    Lovers in a dangerous spacetime Battleblock Theatre Octodad

    I don’t know how the tolerance for difficulty is for you guys but I think it’s worth a look

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      11 days ago

      I think the combat portion of the game would be a big turnoff for her. I do own the game so it doesn’t cost anything to try it.

  • unknown1234_5@kbin.earth
    5·
    11 days ago

    crawl, rounds, ship of fools, pico park (better with a large group), risk of rain returns (2 would also be good except that it doesn’t actually support local multiplayer, only online).

  • Dr. Moose@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    11 days ago

    Ship of Fools is -60% on steam right now and I can’t recommend this game enough. It’s a rogue lite where you both need to protect a ship from monsters maning the cannons and it’s an absolute blast! It has good progression and it’s intense but not in annoying sort of way.

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      11 days ago

      It looks sick, definitely something I’d enjoy playing. Unfortunately I feel like it would fall under the same umbrella as Overcooked or Moving Out. Too chaotic, I think.

      • Dr. Moose@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        11 days ago

        Its much more approachable and not nearly as frustrating or difficult as those. We finished the game while being stoned if that tells you anything lol

  • Nibodhika@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    10 days ago

    One of my favorite games to play with my SO is Out of Space the vibe is very similar to Overcooked but it’s procedurally generated and a lot more chilled out, i.e. less chaos.

  • ampersandrew@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    11 days ago

    If you like puzzle games, you might try a game that’s not technically multiplayer but that the two of you can work on solving together, which is what my wife and I do. Good candidates for that are Case/Rise of the Golden Idol, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, and we’re currently playing Blue Prince.

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      11 days ago

      Blue Prince is definitely something I’ve been considering but I’m unsure if she’d enjoy games that are just puzzles. Pretty sure Lorelei is just too thinky for her to enjoy.

      Definitely looking into more chill games to blow off some steam.

      • ampersandrew@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        11 days ago

        I’d say check out Case of the Golden Idol on a deep sale to test the waters. Lorelei is definitely hard mode if you’re not sure if this is something you’d want, but we found that having two people to approach solving the puzzles helped a lot.

      • pathief@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        2·
        11 days ago

        I have Baba Is You! It’s a brilliant game, love it to pieces, but it’s not a good fit for my SO. She’d lose interest very fast, looking for something more chill and casual.

  • sm1dger@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    10 days ago

    A few options me and my partner have enjoyed:

    Bunhouse - a non-management-heavy farming simulator but you are bunnies growing plants. Cute as hell. There is a sequel where you run a bakery too but we haven’t got round to that just yet.

    Unrailed - might fall into the overcooked catagory, but when it gets hard and goes wrong it tends to be a looming inevitablity, not a frantic panic

    Nidhogg - a 1v1 fighter, but is quick fire frantic sword fights you can button bash through which is wildly entertaining in 5 min bursts.

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      10 days ago

      The Cinnabunny sequel looks so adorable. Lots of animal crossing vibes. Definitely wishlisting that!

  • Peachfacedshredder@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    11 days ago

    If you don’t want something too serious, you can try

    1. Fling to the Finish
    2. Keywe.

    Both are cute and kind of funny, doesn’t get too difficult as long as you don’t chase highscores.

    Unrailed is less chaotic than overcooked, but can still get a little stressful as tasks pile up.