Charly and I are looking for games with local co-op in, preferably on PS4 for now though we're gonna get a second XBone controller at some point too. We've been playing alot of Minecraft and Lego Avengers this week and we already have Diablo 3 on PS4 plus Halo MCC and Overcooked waiting for us on XBox. I'd like something in the mould of a survival horror with a proper story we can play through.
Anyone got any suggestions (doesn't have to fit the survival horror brief)
My top tips for local co-op would be Towerfall Ascension and Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime. Neither are remotely survival horror-ish but they are fantastic co-op games and both are even better if you can rope in an extra player or two.
Can’t remember if you have a Switch but Hyrule Warriors is amazing and has full split screen co op.
Lots of games have online co-op these days but local multiplayer is a dying breed sadly.
Nope, no Switch, just PS4 and XBox.
Shown her both of those, Towerfall may get a chance but Lovers didn't gain any interest from her.
Pode is lovely, doesn't outstay its welcome and is great co-op.
Lovers In… is very good, but can get a bit stressful. Play it on the lowest difficulty.
Enter The Gungeon is good for a laugh in co-op, but only if roguelike shooters are your bag really.
No idea on the survival horror front, sadly. Didn't the Man of Median have a co-op aspect?
Towerfall is amazing.
Also, Portal 2, Borderlands, Left 4 Dead (doesn't it have split screen?), Castle Crashers, Helldivers, Resident Evil (6 and Revelations have split-screen I think), Knack 2 (I'm serious, it's brainless fun), any of the Call of Duties with a zombie mode, Fortnite (maybe the more creative modes rather than playing energydrink addled 9 year olds online), Lara Croft Temple of Osiris (and the other one) - though bear in mind the performance in 2 player is what I would charitably describe as shite, Marvel Ultimate Alliance (still OK), Terraria, Never Alone, Brothers (though I'd play this one player for THE FEELS).
If you want a proper tens-of-hours story and some of the most inventive/impressive couch co-op ever done in a game, look at the Divinity series. If that clicks then you've comfortably got this, and possibly next year sorted for co-op gaming.
Children of Morta is a decent little Diablo-alike with roguelike elements but I see you’ve already got Diablo 3 so honestly you’re better off just playing that instead.
Divinity is an excellent suggestion.
EDF 2017. If you’ve got a One X it even plays at an acceptable frame rate.
And Portal 2, which Cav already mentioned. They’re the two best co-op games I’ve ever played, I think.
You know when MPH and Gar agree with me that we truly are in the end times.
Hug your loved ones.
EDF 2017. If you’ve got a One X it even plays at an acceptable frame rate.
Heresy
Thanks all, Portal 2 is an excellent suggestion, it's Backwards Compatible and is possibly the sort of game that would be beneficial to her recovery (her cancer battle has really taken its toll on things like her memory and attention span).
We've tried Borderlands (and 2) in the past but bounced off those. I wouldn't mind giving co-op Resident Evil a go though it's a series I've never gotten on with.
I'll take a look at Divinity too. Though her focus is on building our Minecraft castle at the moment :lol:
As a more left-field suggestion, and thinking about the horror angle, there is a homebrew co-op version of Until Dawn that some people play. You pick characters at the start of the game and pass the controller as control switches between the various characters.
What you really need though is the Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective board game, which is possibly the best co-op experience available for couples. Well, apart from the obvious one.
Well, apart from the obvious one.
EDF.
As a more left-field suggestion, and thinking about the horror angle, there is a homebrew co-op version of Until Dawn that some people play. You pick characters at the start of the game and pass the controller as control switches between the various characters.
What you really need though is the Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective board game, which is possibly the best co-op experience available for couples. Well, apart from the obvious one.
We're not at the stage of playing board/card games yet, there's a little too much mental gymnastics involved, which is a shame as we have a few that we've bought and not played yet.
I'm assuming the homebrew version of Until Dawn is on PC?
Darksiders Genesis has just come out, and is actually less a Diablo clone and more of a "proper" Darksiders game that just happens to look like a Diablo clone, so there are actual puzzles, and a hack-and-slash fighting system that involves actual (basic) combos, etc.
On the survival horror front, there's only really the older Resi games that I can think of (though it's worth noting that the remasters are all on sale until (I think) tomorrow, and are therefore about £6-7 each).
Overcooked was on PS+ at some point, wasn't it? I'm not one of the people on here who actually played it though, so if no-one else has already mentioned it that might be a bad sign…
Otherwise, have you ever played Don't Starve? It's a sort of roguelite survival game, and there's actually a co-op specific version called Don't Starve Together that might do you, depending on what element of the survival horror experience you were going for.
I'll also mention Risk of Rain, because no-one else will, and I really like it, because I'm a sucker for a roguelite. It's a 2D platformer, and is pretty simple to play but (depending on how you get on with it) also has a potentially long life in solo or co-op.
Overcooked was on PS+ at some point, wasn't it? I'm not one of the people on here who actually played it though, so if no-one else has already mentioned it that might be a bad sign…
Overcooked is great but it gets pretty stressful for a co-op game - it gets difficult, and failure is usually specifically someone's fault, so frustrations can boil over. In particular you'll need 2/3/4 players who are all more or less equally good at the game. That may work out or may not, but it's not the hilarious party game it might appear from the first couple of levels.
I'm assuming the homebrew version of Until Dawn is on PC?
I think this just playing the game but divvying up who plays which character.
We've done some similar co-op in non co-op games; playing things like Journey, Her Story, Inside and What Remains of Edith Finch together – usually games that will wrap up in an evening. My partner isn't really into big titles and she's not all that interested repetitive multiplayer games but if there's something we can play through together for the story/experience she's usually into it.
I bought Overcooked and Lovers in a Dangerous Space Time thinking these would be good to play more regularly but we've spent an evening on both and she isn't interested in going back to either.
I'll also mention Risk of Rain, because no-one else will, and I really like it, because I'm a sucker for a roguelite. It's a 2D platformer, and is pretty simple to play but (depending on how you get on with it) also has a potentially long life in solo or co-op.
So… I've been quite interested in Risk of Rain & Risk of Rain 2. Is it worth playing the first game?
I'll also mention Risk of Rain, because no-one else will, and I really like it, because I'm a sucker for a roguelite. It's a 2D platformer, and is pretty simple to play but (depending on how you get on with it) also has a potentially long life in solo or co-op.
So… I've been quite interested in Risk of Rain & Risk of Rain 2. Is it worth playing the first game?
They’re almost entirely different versions of the same concept, and there’s not exactly an overarching narrative, so it’s entirely up to you.
Basically, they’re roguelites where you land in an escape pod and then collect weapons and power ups in order to survive against progressively harder enemies, and make it to the end. RoR is a pixel art 2D platformer, RoR2 is exactly the same, but a third person shooter. I really like both, but am probably fonder of RoR..
I personally loved RoR and can't for the life of me work out how RoR2 works. It's all about controlling your environment, being able to see what's around you and act accordingly while powering yourself up more and more. I don't get how you can do the former in 3D when you can't see what's behind you.
Don't say 'Oh, but there's a radar' because that's stupid. If you're looking at a radar, you're not looking at what's about to rip your face off.
I played some couch co-op at the weekend. Risk of Rain was one of them but we didn't really get into it because we were mucking about too much. Sort of bounced off it but could imagine having fun with it by myself if I took it more seriously.
More successful was Ibb and Obb on Switch. It's a really pleasant side scrolling platformer for two players. You move left to right, figure out how to get around obstacles and collect gems. Sounds super simplistic but there's also an element of gravity to navigate where the world has a right side up/upside down mechanic… Just watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/2iif636QAcc
There an Apple Arcade game - Cats Quest 2, that’s a fun, light action RPG game where one of you is a cat, the other a dog. I’ve played a couple of hours of it with my goddaughter- it also works solo.
And speaking of Apple Arcade there’s a four player PAC-man ‘battle royale’ game but each player needs a separate Apple ID to play.
On the survival horror front, there's only really the older Resi games that I can think of (though it's worth noting that the remasters are all on sale until (I think) tomorrow, and are therefore about £6-7 each).
The triple pack of Resident Evil 4-6 is now £12…
Do they actually have split screen though? I’m pretty sure 4 was always single-player only and 5 at least was online co-op.
There an Apple Arcade game - Cats Quest 2, that’s a fun, light action RPG game where one of you is a cat, the other a dog. I’ve played a couple of hours of it with my goddaughter- it also works solo.
And speaking of Apple Arcade there’s a four player PAC-man ‘battle royale’ game but each player needs a separate Apple ID to play.
Cat Quest 2 is available on PS4 and has been met with an "oooh that looks cute" so it may be one that we actually get around to buying!
[Resident Evil] 5 at least was online co-op
It had a split-screen as well, but it was atrocious - you didn't get half the screen each, it kinda shrank and overlapped the players' perspectives to maintain a 16:9 aspect ratio.
I played the whole game like that with Sarah. It's a weird choice, but I don't recall it being experience-ruiningly bad.
I think they did the same with CoD