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.
  • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
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    17 seconds 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.

  • OutDoeHoe@lemmy.world
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    1 hour ago

    Unravel 2 :) It’s a beautiful little co-op game with lots of puzzle-y problems to solve and some dynamic ones as well

  • Denjin@lemmings.world
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    2 hours ago

    Lovers in a Dangerous Space Time

    Manage your malfunctioning space ship together while fending off waves of enemies.

    Very fun.

  • shan23@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    My gf is pretty new to video games but these are a few she enjoyed

    Trine 2/3

    Snippets

    Castle crashers

    Unravelled

    Diablo 3

    Children of morta - my gf also doesn’t really like pixel art but this turned out to be one of her favourite games

  • hamsda@lemm.ee
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    3 hours ago

    Degrees of Seperation - 2D puzzler with wonderful scenes and visuals

    Heavenly Bodies - 2D puzzler about astronauts and 0 gravity environments

    Unrailed - isometric 3D. A train starts driving and you need to gather resources and build tracks etc.

    Wobbly Life - 3D fun game, no real objective, just many quests and activities throughout the world

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOP
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      4 hours ago

      I already played and loved SpiritFarer, it was an amazing journey. I don’t want to say too much but I just can’t repeat it any time soon.

  • pulido@lemmings.world
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    10 hours ago

    Broaden your horizons, start using emulators.

    Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles

    Kirby and the Forgotten Land

    Super Mario Wonder

    Any of the Warriors games (just don’t buy it, don’t reward them for releasing the same damn game 20+ times)

    Legend of Mana (highly recommended, please don’t sleep on this)

    Destroy All Humans 2

    Ratchet: Deadlocked

    Divinity: Original Sin

    Resident Evil 6

    Halo: Master Chief Collection

    Lego Star Wars

    The Tales games are long and go up to 4 players. I’d recommend them if you have more people to join.

    Be prepared for a few roadbumps while you acclimate yourself to using emulators. It won’t be smooth at first, but it gets easier the more familiar you become with it.

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOP
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      4 hours ago

      Broaden your horizons, start using emulators.

      I get what you’re saying. I do have RetroDeck fully set up but I only use for old games that I do physically own. Most of them haven’t aged very well and aren’t of any interest to my SO.

      I have enough disposable money that I’d rather support “new” games/developers rather than emulating titles for other consoles.

  • Coelacanth@feddit.nu
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    9 hours 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.ml
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      1 hour 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.

  • sm1dger@lemmy.world
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    8 hours 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.worldOP
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      4 hours ago

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

  • dumblederp@aussie.zone
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    10 hours ago

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

  • Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
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    20 hours ago

    Keep talking and nobody explodes could be a fun one, only needs 1 device and the other player needs the manual which can be on a phone or printed out. You could even play it over a phone call.

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOP
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      4 hours ago

      You know I have like 4 manuals printed and only played it once? Gotta give it a try some time!!

    • MarauderIIC@dormi.zone
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      4 hours ago

      As I recall, the ‘campaign’ gets impossible to do with two players because of the inability to look up enough stuff in parallel. There are mods and custom bombs though.

      • Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
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        2 hours ago

        Might do but you can always go until you find it too hard and then go back to one that you like, or use custom to set a difficulty that you like.

        Also tried playing it with extra people before, so far just 3, 1 with the bomb and 2 with manuals. But playing with a few more could also be fun, maybe even set them up with a phone each and stick each team in a different room.

  • Kaigyo@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

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

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOP
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      4 hours 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.world
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        3 hours 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.