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.
  • Kaigyo@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    2 months 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·
      2 months 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·
        2 months 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.

  • Justdaveisfine@midwest.socialEnglish
    8·
    2 months ago
    • A Hat in Time
    • Trine
    • Spiritfarer
    • The lego games
    • Knights and bikes
    • Human fall flat
    • Cassette beasts
    • Chariot
    • Octodad
    • Monaco

    I don’t remember these being particularly violent but maybe are worth a look:

    • Pit people
    • BattleBlock Theater

    I also liked Moon Hunters and Children of Morta but those are harder.

    Divinity Original Sin 1 is also good but definitely falls into the violent category. Its kind of goofy too so it could be worth considering. The second game + BG3 are significantly more violent and serious so are harder to recommend with that criteria.

    Edit: hmm it seems the formatting is funky in Voyager, should be fixed now

    • Ænima@lemm.eeEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      Dude, Octodad in the random arm-leg mode is so fucking funny. My wife and I had so much fun with that game. Too bad the game is so short!

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      Trine

      I do own the first 2, I totally forget about this game. Definitely gonna give it a try.

      Spiritfarer

      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.

      The lego games

      I forgot to mention in the original post that we did play the lord of the rings lego game and I really hated it. I found the gameplay so boring…

      Knights And Bikes

      This one looks intriguing, I’ll check it out!

      Monaco

      I do own Monaco, maybe i’ll give it a try!

      Thanks!

    • atomic peach@pawb.socialEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      I’ll add a +1 to Battleblock Theater! Such a well done game that can be true co-op or “co-op with shenanigans” if that’s more your vibe. The story is entertaining and lighthearted and the levels introduce new mechanics throughout.

  • whotookkarl@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    2 months ago

    A bunch of retro games have good couch co-op support & the steam deck can emulate pretty much all of them

    Zombies ate my neighbors, smash TV, 2-d brawlers like TMNT turtles in time, double dragon, and streets of rage, Goldeneye, toejam and Earl, bubble bobble

  • Korhaka@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    6·
    2 months 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.

    • MarauderIIC@dormi.zoneEnglish
      1·
      2 months 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.xyzEnglish
        1·
        2 months 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.

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

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

  • Peachfacedshredder@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    2 months 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.

  • OutDoeHoe@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    2 months 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

  • pulido@lemmings.worldEnglish
    5·
    2 months 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.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      2 months 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.

  • Denjin@lemmings.worldEnglish
    4·
    2 months ago

    Lovers in a Dangerous Space Time

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

    Very fun.

  • Bogusmcfakester@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    4·
    2 months ago

    A way out. Two criminals escaping prison, made by the Same studio as it takes two and split fiction. Full of mini games along the way like the other two and my god the story made me laugh with it’s ridiculousness. it’s definitely not as good as it takes two or split fiction but well worth a go imo

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      The steam deck status is unfortunately unsupported. Otherwise it would be a great fit.

      • narc0tic_bird@lemm.eeEnglish
        4·
        2 months ago

        A Way Out is marked as “Playable” by Valve, mainly because of Origin (or EA App nowadays?) and some quirks with the controls. Should play just fine though and once in-game controllers should be well supported.

      • pulido@lemmings.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        Hm. I was able to play it without issue on my Linux computer.

        I don’t see a reason why the Steam Deck would be unable to play it or have any issues that I didn’t.

        If buying it is a concern (which it should be), you can always torrent it.

  • BossDj@lemm.eeEnglish
    4·
    2 months ago

    Split Fiction is peak, gonna be hard to beat. Too bad you can’t do ‘a way out’ it’s very well done. Might want to look into tweaks for those “unsupported” games, as many of them work fine. Unraveled 2 is a good example.

    Otherwise, If this is something that is really becoming your thing, it might be time to hook your PC to the TV or invest in a console. If you go console, you additionally open up the world of games that require individual screens (crossplay games-you on steam deck screen and them on TV screen, but still sitting together OR you on pc and them on TV if same room).

    Our couch coop at some points was me with my laptop on a stack of books on the coffee table while she was on a ps4. Played Aragami this way, for one.

    They may seem silly, but there are a slew of Lego games that people get really into and are very impressive. Human Fall Flat also has some silliness, but good puzzles at times

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      3·
      2 months 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.

  • shan23@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    2 months 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