I have very fond memories of the first Halo on the OG Xbox. It was very cool to be able to do the campaign together with a friend.
I will happily take this opportunity to complain
/startrant that the abandonment of couch co-op is the worst thing to ever happen to gaming. There are some great couch co-op games out there, BUT NOT NEARLY ENOUGH. Seriously, the number of goddamn games that expect you to HAVE TWO COMPUTER AND TWO SCREENS SO YOU CAN PLAY CO-OP WITH SOMEONE ELSE IS TOO DAMN HIGH. /endrant
I highly recommend Broforce, any of the Larian studio games (Divinity Original Sin, Baldur’s Gate 3 etc…), Battleblock Theater, Castle Crashers, Cuphead, For The King, Hypercharge Unboxed, It Takes Two, Portal 2, Overcooked, SpiritFarer, Stardew Valley, Untitled Goose Game, Wobbly Life. Wish there were more.
It is the damndest shame that the Halo Master Chief Collection doesn’t have local co-op, still upsets me to this day.
There are some great couch co-op games out there, BUT NOT NEARLY ENOUGH. Seriously, the number of goddamn games that expect you to HAVE TWO COMPUTER AND TWO SCREENS SO YOU CAN PLAY CO-OP WITH SOMEONE ELSE IS TOO DAMN HIGH.
The issue is that not enough people play couch co-op to justify the effort that goes into making it work. It’s a subset of a subset of gamers that play couch co-op even once, let alone on a regular basis.
I played couch co-op with my kiddo on the master chief collection on my Xbox. The only issue I had was depending on the profile signed in first it sometimes gets the progress save wrong.
Some splitscreen multiplayer games I’ve played and enjoyed:
- It Takes Two - 2 player couch. Amazing game
- Octodad - 4p. Every player controls one or two limbs of an octopus, who needs to pretend to be a normal father
- Nom Nom Galaxy - 2 player couch, 4 player online. Land on an alien planet and build a soup factory. Collect ingredients and fight against another corporation.
- Crawl - 4p. One player is a hero running through a dungeon, the other players control monsters trying to kill them. Whoever kills the hero then becomes the hero. Whoever kills the boss first, wins. Great soundtrack and art.
- Stick Fight - 4p. Competitive yet silly ragdoll combat game
- Magicka 1 and 2 - 4p. Wizard game, create spells by mixing elements and blow up a bunch of goblins.
- Stikbold! - 4p. Dodgeball game, a decent bit of skill involved. Can fight each other or against AI.
- Tooth and Tail - 4p. An RTS game that works well on controllers, you control an army of woodland creatures and have to kill / eat the others. Great soundtrack and art. Can play PvP or against AI.
- Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime - 4p. Work together to pilot a spaceship and kill monsters and save people.
- Guns, Gore & Cannoli - 4p. Arcadey shoot lots of zombies side scroller.
- Treadnauts - 4p. Fight each other by driving tanks on walls
- Ultimate Chicken Horse - 4p. Design a shared platforming level with traps, so that you’re able to get to the end but the other players can’t.
- All the Lego games - 2p.
- Stardew Valley - 4p. Grow a farm and befriend villagers
- Speedrunners - 4p. Just run and do parkour faster than the other players
- the Trine games - 3p. Cooperative adventure / puzzle game.
- Wizard of Legend - 2p. Wizard roguelike
- Boomerang Fu - 4p. Fight each other by throwing boomerangs
- Kingdom Two Crowns - 2p. Side scroller town builder, protect your town against the evils outside
- Spelunky - 4p. Roguelike, delve into a cave searching for gold and riches
Me and a friend 100%ed crawl together and it was a really good time. Took us a while to beat all the monsters challenges.
Lol my friends refuse to play Crawl with me
I actually have a Steam collection for this. It’s mostly games I play when I have a handful of friends over. My favorites in the collection are:
- Boomerang Fu
- Duck Game
- Heave Ho
- Human Fall Flat
- Jackbox Mega Picker
- Keep Talking and and Nobody explodes
- Party Animals
- Pummel Party
- Overcooked 2
- Screen Cheat
Broforce is too much fun with friends.
Hammerwatch is a pretty fun top-down pixel dungeon crawler. There are other Hammerwatch games and it’s also on consoles.
The “Lara Croft and the ________” games are a bit older but are fun puzzler dungeon co-op’s. I really liked Temple of Osiris. I think these are also on consoles, but may be older consoles.
Stick Fight is a silly brawler. Also on consoles.
Party Golf is a fun and varied party game. Also on consoles.
It’s older and I may be misremembering, but I think Hoard is co-op. It’s on Steam still and you play as Dragons in a top-down gold hoarding thing. May be on consoles, but older ones. Pretty sure PS Plus Premium streaming has this under PS3 classics.
Hunted The Demons Forge is NOT local co-op on Steam but it is on PS3 and you can do it via PS Plus Premium streaming without a PS3.
Thanks!
On the rare moments that my friends come to my house we play some couch coop, most of the time is brawlhalla, but sometimes we play other games like hot shot racing, horizon chase, trick towers, etc.
Overcooked is an amazing couch coop
Yes came to recommend the same. Loving it with the missus and sometimes kid.
Great games
Plateup should be nice too
- Assault Android Cactus
- Slick arcade-style twin-stick shooter with a pumpin’ soundtrack. Lots of characters with unique playstyles. Local co-op.
- Crypt of the NecroDancer
- Bring rhythm to the classic roguelike. There’s local and online co-op and lots of mods.
- Just Shapes and Beats
- Rhythm bullet hell with a large EDM soundtrack. Local and online co-op.
- Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
- This is a stretch of the “couch” part of couch co-op. One player must defuse a bomb. The other players have a bomb defusal manual and must help the first player without being able to see the screen.
- Moving Out 2
- Work together to drag and throw furniture into a truck. Chaotic co-op with physics, local and online.
- Gauntlet: Slayer Edition
- 2014 revival of an 80s arcade classic. Co-op dungeon crawling action. Warrior needs food. Badly! Local and online co-op.
- Pizza Possum
- Very soft stealth game about stealing and eating lots of food. Local co-op.
- Assault Android Cactus
Yes definitely, here’s my Steam ‘Local Multiplayer’ collection:
- Biped
- Move or Die
- Overcooked! 2
- Party Animals
- (Portal 2)
- Rayman Legends
- Screencheat
- Stick Fight: The Game
- Tetris Effect: Connected
- Ultimate Chicken Horse
- Unrailed!
Nintendo also has some great couch co-op games,for example:
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Nintendo Switch Sports
- Super Mario Party
I also very much agree with the other commenter here, it’s such a shame that couch co-op is dying. The only ones still believing in it seem to be Nintendo.
Another game that’s fun to play is Unravel 2, but for me the Steam version had all sorts of problems so I ultimately ended up refunding it again.
I am currently playing “It takes two” together with my wife. It looks cute, has a story that is funny and really sad at the same time and the mechanics of the game change frequently. The occasional (optional) Minigames are really fun too!
I do play couch co-op, though some games are multiplayer some are single player and we hand it off or just experience it together.
Some of the games are: Mario party, Mario kart double dash (truly random items mod), Project Melee, Paper Mario thousand year door (amazing game), Kirby and the amazing mirror, and then a lot of one-offs mostly just trying out the random games.
A bit of an acquired taste, but the entire Earth Defence Force series can be played split screen (2P only). The best entry point into the series is EDF 5 (story reboot, QoL tweaks) which is often deeply discounted. Plus its direct sequel EDF 6 just released in the west last month
EDF!! This is one of my favorite series and one I’m very hyped for again due to the new sequel. Definitely recommend it as a fun coop experience with friends, blowing up hordes of giant alien insects, robots, flying saucers and legally-distinct Kaijus.
I didn’t see Plateup! mentioned, similar to Overcooked but rogue lite with more emphasis on RNG and customization of the restaurant (through where you place the tables/utilities)
Nuclear throne
I don’t know if “coop” is the right term, but Duck Game is awesome on the couch with two (or more!) people.
Duck Game, Trine, Little Big Planet are all fun.
Edit: Also, Hidden in Plain Sight is a Xbox 360 classic, it has a PC port now.
