Couch co-op: You can play these fun games together on the couch: If you are sitting at home on the couch with your partner or your child, you can only find games that you can multiplayer online. “You go on the console in the bedroom and we’ll play online.” That’s a bit crazy. Unfortunately there are few great local ones recently co-op games appeared, but don’t worry: there are plenty of games you probably don’t know yet to play together on the same screen. This is the best in the world of couch co-op.
Play fun games together: Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
Consoles: Nintendo Switch
Although this variant has appeared on Nintendo Switch, Super Mario 3D World was already there on Wii U. However, for the Switch version an extra game has been added to play together, namely Bowser’s Fury. Yet it is especially that base game that scores high. Here you play the platform game Mario in 3D, such as Mario 64, where you can change into a cat as a power-up. The advantage of that cat is that it can climb walls with its nails. Another cool power-up in this game is the ability to throw boomerangs, or, if all else fails, the power-up that makes you semi-immortal. Very useful if, for example, you play with a slightly less seasoned player. Or several, because you can play Super Mario 3D World with four people at the same time.
It Takes Two
Consoles: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC
It’s been over a year since one of the best couch co-op games ever appeared: It Takes Two. You can play this game with two people at the same time, one being the male and the other being the female. That also makes a real difference and that is the strength of It Takes Two. The man can do different things than the woman and you really need each other to get ahead. It really doesn’t work without the other. The wonderful thing about It Takes Two is that the game keeps coming up with new gameplay mechanics and different themes in the world. The characters you encounter are clearly made with love and also contribute to what is ultimately the core message of this game: fantastic.
fun games together: Spiritfarer
Consoles: Xbox One, PC, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch
While most of the games in this article are big established titles, Spiritfarer is actually an indie game made by a small studio. The game offers you the chance to play god for a while, but with a black edge. It is up to you to help souls travel to the afterlife. In split screen, the other player controls the main character’s cat, who basically has the same job: preparing meals for the travelers and helping them in all sorts of other ways.
cuphead
Consoles: PC and Xbox One
Your friendship, relationship or home peace must be in order if you want to subject someone to Cuphead. This game often wins because of its super cool 1930s cartoon style, but the funny characters you encounter are certainly no laughing matter. Cuphead is a difficult game where you have to study your enemy’s behavior very carefully and where you die again and again to try again with the same enthusiasm every time. Playing co-op also has a small advantage, because you have at least a few extra chances not to die. This action platformer harks back to the past of cartoons and games in a great way, as everyone keeps complaining that games were so much harder in the 90s. Especially for those people there is the slightly sadistic Cuphead.
A Way Out
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
If you want to take it a bit more seriously, A Way Out is a better choice. It’s less about gameplay and more about story. In this story you both control a different character, but both are men who are in prison and want to escape. It’s up to you to make sure she succeeds, although the ultimate game isn’t about escaping from prison. You eventually end up on a kind of road trip together where you can’t imagine in advance what is about to happen.
overcooked! All You Can Eat
Consoles: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series
Writing an article about couch co-op and not mentioning this game can be called blasphemy. Overcooked is a series that now consists of two games and the ‘All You Can Eat’ version is both games together in one bundle. This game is hilarious to play, because of the animations, because of its simplicity and the fact that sometimes it seems like it wasn’t made for two people. In this game you have to run the kitchen of a restaurant. You have to make burgers by taking buns from a container, throwing meat into a pan, cutting lettuce and throwing it all on a plate and handing it to the waiter. In each level, the kitchen or dish you have to make changes and eventually it becomes more and more dishes. At the same time, things can burn, the entire kitchen can go up in flames, and some aisles are so narrow that it’s impossible for two people to get through at the same time. With Overcooked, the rule should be that you can yell at each other and be curt, because without that rule you can never win this together.
Moving Out
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One
A game that resembles Overcooked is Moving Out, although you are not a cook here but you help with the move. It all starts very simple, but soon you find yourself moving the most impossible furniture in the most impossible locations, such as a rather enthusiastically moving airplane. The game looks funny, is very colorful and the animations are also hilarious, although it is most fun to discuss with your friends while playing what the best method is to tackle that moving job. Moving has never been so much fun: and it doesn’t leave you sore. At most in your stomach laughing at the sometimes idiotic actions of the others.
fun games together: Borderlands: The Handsome Collection
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One
Borderlands is a big space adventure in which you have to solve all kinds of problems and get rid of bosses together in split screen. In a cell-shaded comic style you get to know various characters well, including the funny robot Claptrap, who helps you every now and then. The nice thing about this game is that it is a shooter that can be played co-op, unlike most shooters that in 2022 can only be played online multiplayer. The Handsome Collection provides extra hours of fun as it is a bundle of Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, which you can even play in four-player split screen. This game offers you a wide choice of weapons and even though you both have the same goal, you can still fight in a completely different way and that’s what makes it so cool. Moreover, in a shooter there are often parts in which you have to walk and you therefore get the opportunity to say something to each other that may not be about the game. You don’t get a chance to do that with Overcooked, for example.
