Portal 2 was my first thought as well. It can also work as a good litmus test for how they will respond to FPS controls. You can try kb/m or controller and see what feels natural. My partner (we found playing left4dead after portal) is an inverted controller person. Which was wild to me considering they worked in a heavy clerical field and really took to building keyboard with me. Yet, no kb/m for gaming. After that switch , they were able to enjoy co-op 1st person stuff a lot easier.
After portal we played borderlands 2 together. It’s low pressure most of the time and can be a background activity while you talk and hang out. The story is kinda cheesy but it’s fun to share the inside jokes with someone and bonded us in an unexpected way.
Hopefully those work for you!
Edit: it takes two and split fiction are really fantastic coop experiences as well. But, it take two should probably have a small warning for emotional content. Split fiction is a ton of fun but does get kinda difficult for less seasoned players. I found it endearing helping through those sections, but it could be harder for others. There are some moments that we both audibly wowed at though! That made the difficulty worth it.
“and Hello Games never actually apologized for lying.” Good. I don’t want a corporate apology. Apologies from companies literally mean nothing. What matters is your actions. They have updated the game, for free, and still have no microtransactions. No third party launcher or account needed. Can be played offline. You buy the game, you get the game. That is RARE these days.
Should they have released the game in the first place? No. If you don’t support that, then don’t buy it. I don’t really like that, so I bought it on sale for like $30 instead of its full price of $60, which in my opinion was worth it.
There are plenty of problems in the gaming industry right now, I think NMS’s “redemption” arc is the least of your worries.
“They have updated the game, for free, and still have no microtransactions”
These are the good practices in a sea of bad actors, but that’s how the fans use Hello Games to attack the AAA industry by constantly misplacing and comparing it with AAA games, not to mention mythologising them, even though they have never asked for it. Once you recalibrate your perspective, you will see that long-term developments and updates are normal in indies; maybe that’s where Hello Games belongs?
What makes you so upset over people “attacking” the AAA industry? Most of the big AAA players release literal garbage, games filled with anti-consumer practices. Not only do they tend to release “unfinished” like No Mans Sky did, but they also have DRM, microtransactions, third party launchers + accounts that take your data. Who cares if they get attacked? I honestly wish people would do more.
I don’t really understand what it is you have a problem with.
I get that you are upset with AAA games. Honestly, I’ve managed to avoid them for a long time. But I think Hello games is not an ideal studio either; Murray did lie about the feature at release, the updates have only met minimum of professional standards, and 10 years later it is still a bland tofu of a space game, wrapped in years of technical debt, while NMS being a test bench for LNF as a fanbase look to the other way…they are doing ok…
I just find it funny that in a sea of garbage (not as a puddle), people will grab anything shiny and call it a diamond, while ignoring the gem cave by the shore and then ask, “What is wrong? Why are you laughing?”
The good devs never needed a redemption arc; never needed a cultural reframe to be good.
Seriously? How has no one suggested Untitled Goose Game or did I miss it? It is frigging hilarious and if you both like humor and fooling around as a mischievous goose, it is perfect! I played it with my 7 year old and we had tons of fun, plus the ending was the cherry on top!
Edit: also, similarly hilarious but a bit more stressful to play, Pizza Possum, my kid was and is nornally absolutely not into fast-paced gaming, but this one was an expection and is also hilarious to play together and it was a blast collecting all the gadgets. We still come back to both games regularly.
I also feel weird about it. “omg they updated a lot blah blah.” I believed them and loaded the game and it’s boring AF. I just assumed it’s a genre I didn’t like but it feels like it’s unworthy of praise for me too. You’re not alone dawg.
Indeed. And even delayed fulfillment of the original promises is impressive given how vast the scope of the original pitch was. I’m just happy to have it, even if it took a couple years longer than expected to get.
Take a look at Star Citizen if you want to know the alternative, OP
Anthem in some ways is a better example because Start Citizen is never going to release, they can cruise on their promises until the company goes bankrupt. Anthem however was released in an unfinished state hardly reaching the hype it generated and then EA just cut their losses and left it like that.
You can support HG, but that doesn’t mean that others have no right to think that it is not a smart thing to do. Spare me your ad hominem tactic, please.
I’m not calling you a jerk because I’m insulting you ad hominem and think HG is good. I’m calling you a jerk because you were a jerk. And I agree with you that HG is not good.
I mean, calling me a dick is already an Ad hominem. You are a jerk because you are a jerk is just circular reasoning, so there is just nothing but insults and ad hominem. xD
Remember that at that point the game was allready 8 years old had had several large updates. Not counting few spikes from the updates first four years the game had under 2000 player/month in steam. Financially looking the pragmatic choice would have been to stop the development, but they did not.
There has been several games from big publishers that were abandoned shortly after release, even if it still was possible to fix the game. Battleborn, Anthem, Concord. And even more games that are still in theory playable, but are just full if bugs or not fun to play.
But so far i can think only three games that had bad start, but devs kept working on it and eventually managed to make fun games. No mans sky, Fallout 76 and Cyperpunk 2077
Yes, I have already said this is commendable…in the gaming industry, but not in other industries in terms of project delivery, hence the building analogy in my post.
Why would you force other industry term on the gaming industry? Thats just silly. It like saying apple is a bad fruit because it makes for a lousy boat.
Gaming is pretty unique platform in a way where the product is measured by unquantifiable metric called fun, but you want to compare it in standards of other products.
In the end they kept working on a bad product where others would have stopped and ended making it good.
Ain’t that the absurdity? It is a silly analogy, and they are asymmetrical; if the same action applies, would it have a different reaction in the other place? Would Hello Games have the reputation as they have now?
“Why would you force other industry terms on the gaming industry?” Judging from the reply here…well, you tell me…
If i must abide by your original metafora i would say:
They promised grandiose skycraper and delivered shotty apartment complex and the tenant who had bought the apartments were understandably angry. Very few of the tenants stayed anyway, but by all means the building was a failure to the point it would be completelly understandable to have the whole building just bulldozed.
But where most companies would just disbanded and or disapeared with the money, they kept working on the building. Added new floors, made the yard nicer, lowered the prices of the apartments and the whole time tried their best to keep the remaining few people living there happy. And after few years (decates really if you think how much faster gaming industry develops than housing) the place started to be closer what the original brochure said.
Eventually new people start to get intrested about the apartments and the people who originally bought the apartments started to move back in without paying any additional fees. And while the windows were little smaller and the shower tiling were little different than originally promised, people seem to like living there. In a way the constant repairs and the new additions to the place, make it even better to some people.
The point that makes that building special is that nine times out of ten, in these situations the tenants are left with unhabitable home or even closed down building. And even more often the tenants need to pay additional fees to acces the fixed parts of the building.
Is this purely genorosity from the builder? Of course not. They also have bills to pay and in the end its their livelyhood and they surely have investers waiting a return for their money. But is it monumental showing of backbone from the builder to not walk away from the project, but keep working on it. Absolutelly.
Ah, yes, I knew about the divergence of this analogy. Let me add the drama.
Yet, it’s not even following the original blueprint, where the property owner simply speculates what the next move of the builder will be. Some think this property is hot looking from the outside, some think there is a redemption arc going on, some think there are too many leaks in the wall, some thinks the water pressure and the heater are not working well enough, some think it’s just ugly from the inside, some think there is the builders is not communicating at all, some homes vanished, some moved out and gone.
I feel like i got it now. You want to add drama. You are the neighbor yelling over the fence, the one who seems to have something against the houses, even if it literaly does not effect on their life at all.
This is why i did not want to respond to your analogy from the beginning. It does not lead to anywhere as everything is makebeliview.
Facts.
The game is overwhelmingly positive status on steam. Recently almost 90% of the people are satisfied to the product.
Its player base keeps getting bigger.
The game is soon 10 years old, but it keeps getting updates.
Hello Games have been working on the game in the situation where industry standard would have been to stop.
Now you understand the reality, sometimes you just have to get the words out somehow. XD
And that’s ok, sneer all you want, i dont expect a change to anything, this is an extremely unpopular opinion: I still think the redemption arc is bullshit, HG has achieved the minimum professionally, and now HG being crowned as the beacon of the industry is a kneejerk reaction to the action of the industry: expensive DLC, abandoning games, scam early access…
While ignoring the true indies/open source games that work for nothing but pure passion.
The sneering was only half intentional. And personaly i quite enjoy discussing things like this.
But i still strongly disagree with your view. Hello Games was small studio at the start, but they havent been ringing the indie bell for their game and in my opinion they havent stolen the limelight from indie devs. Games like Terraria and Stardew valley are still celebrated games and people are praising those games and the work devs have being doing with the updates.
Following your logic one could argue, that companies behind those games are not anywhere near the small indie teams people imagine them. And we should be angry for them too, because they take the spotlight from games like Dwarf Fortress and Project Zomboid, that have been passion projects for years before those earlier two even were concepts.
The main thing that makes No Man Sky different is that those succesfull indie games were good from the beginning, while NMS was horrible and borderline unsalvageable game, but the devs kept working on it and making it slowly better. A effort most companies wont do.
So in my opinion people should be happy and support Hello Games, because that shows to the other companies, that even if the first release of the game is bad, it is possible (and profitable) to keep making the game better.
Of course, if we lived in perfect world we could consider what HG is doing a bare minimum, but we live in a world where what they do is exceptional.
Also i strongly disagree about they doing minimun professionally. They have kept the now almost ten years old game playable, added vr, new console supports. If you want to see what minimal is take a look of Assasins Creed Unitys state in 2025.
Oh no, Hello Games didn’t steal any limelight from anyone, they have been keeping their head down. That’s on the fanbase, the myth and the hype by inflating their achievements. I can respect the perseverance without mythologising it. Hello Games did right by continuing to improve their game — but that doesn’t erase how the industry and fan culture turn necessary professionalism into legend, nor should they turn a blind eye to the state of the game. Secondly, one strike and you’re out is a bad approach. Who on earth is going to fix the mess?
But this is why we diverge – we should support them if LNF is a good game, all roads lead to Rome, I don’t think they need another redemption arc from us, right? :)
It is a simple remedy; do right by where they failed, namely, launching LNF without shenanigans, and let the work speak for itself; that’s the real redemption.
Of all the fucking things to be upset about across the entire world and this is your fight your gonna spend your limited resources on earth on? Starting shit online about a stupid topic to feel like you actually mean something today? You got some weird shit going on man and not the good kind IMO.
But first. Its not an arch like in a movie, its not a narrative. Its a complete story. The narrative to that story is subject to change but is still based around the actual events. Which played out redemptively at some point and is a part of the established history now.
Secondly. You are constantly asking for a logic to the emotion of it all over here and asking to have someone explain that to you like it’s so easy. You are going to need to read some psychology if you want to validate your noticing/noting the parallels between nurturing and being a baby and vulnerability and all that and that making us susceptible to emotional attachment to free things given freely over a period of time if you want but stop asking here its not the time.
He felt bad about situation. You ever run a studio? Building? Never? Professional obligation mixed up with your personal human judgement? No? Fantastic then assume that its not all fun and promises get made for 1000 reasons. Nervousness. Overconfidence. Obligating yourself to do it later because you said you would. These are everyday practices in that area. He got his big boy pants on and went to the interviews and lied (read: manager promised). (Why he “promised” is subject to opinion and thus the “narrative” you suggested divides right there) ‘Promising’ like that, however, doesn’t work well in that fan type of environment. And he felt bad about it. It actually really bothered him. We arent always who were trying to be. He fucked up. He let real people down by being impulsive. He stopped interviewing I think completely. And its likely mostly his fault that this all happened (unless the studio was talking to each other about those features and making unofficial promises internally which would help explain some of the false promises made)
That would have been the whole story if he/they had just walked. But it appears theyre just not that kind of people. Sean is, however, CLEARLY total shit at promising stuff 😂 (and thus the twitter emojis to announce updates) But they could have wanted to do those features but probably also said don’t tell the media that shit which happens all the time in studio productions. They’re were likely things they didn’t yet know they could do (independent studio and all) but wanted to do very badly and were literally working on. (Fuckin’ Creatives you know? Amirightoramiright /being sarcastic here don’t be too offended)
So. The updates ARE the fucking apology bro 🤦 and a love letter to the whole embarrassing ordeal.
Or at least they were for few years or however long it took them to add everything even VAGUELY promised that wasn’t clearly “what are our intentions are for the game how is it supposed to feel” type talk. (That people hold him accountable for even now, like star wars nerds and George Lucas. Honestly that energy had to go somewhere 🤓) Now its an entire, see how far we can push this game, sales are stable so why stop, corporate is just us anyways, Terraria-esqe love-of-the-game, the community has been good to us and they love us and that’s how we love them back thing.
But your social engagement consists mostly of this so I’m worried you don’t really get emotions outside your own views and probably can’t be trusted to change that big ol’ galaxy brain style opinion of yours this but I’m sure trying here anyways, good practice if nothing else 🤔
A person put in the time, to create an entire post, about how this guy is romanticized and doesn’t deserve it, for attention on the internet and I’M the one who is taking it personally huh?
I’ve seen shit like this posted and reposted for like 8 years now. Did my thing here inconvenience you for what, like 30 seconds? Sorry for giving a frankly good goddamn answer to his direct question addressed to me personally on this public forum thing 😤
Youre not taking it personally enough, cause it is in fact meant personally
Civ 6, the whole Picross lineup on the switch (emulated ofc), Cassette Beasts, Minecraft Java (which can be a pain to setup but once its good its good), Halo MCC apparently has a new split screen mod. You get a lot with a switch emulator due to all the fantastic first party games by Nintendo. Also look into Nucleus Coop.
Plus 1 for cassette beasts, it’s insanely good. Much to the continued anger of my friends with hundreds of hours in Pokemon, I routinely summarize it as Pokemon but good having hundreds of hours in both lol
Oh Minecraft. She’d get bored with an open world sandbox. Maybe there are mods or something that are more story driven, but that’d ruin my nostalgia for the game. Bit of a pickle!
I’ve recently gotten into putting together sort of silly “party” mod packs for my friend group. Things that are meant to be played as a “one shot” with everyone online. Things like full loot randomizers, or shared health and inventory. Just silly and chaotic mods to shift the focus from exploration and sandbox-y things, to “let’s try to beat the ender dragon under very adverse conditions”. So far I’ve only gotten one friend to bite, but we’ve been doing one run a night for the last week or so. Takes between 20 to 60 minutes, maybe more if we really get into it.
Could also look into mods/modpacks that add quest books. That helps take the edge off the “open world, figure it out” paralysis and give some concrete things to work towards.
Abiotic Factor has been a blast with a friend. I don’t play a lot of survival games (I prefer more narrative than most offer, and Grounded was a great one for that) and this one doesn’t take itself very seriously (you craft weapons and armor from general office supplies a lot of the time… I’ve never been so excited to find a cache of staplers).
May want to turn the difficulty down if she gets overwhelmed easily, as while they majority of the game is pretty manageable, there are the occasional hard fight.
I’ll take half credit! Lol. It’s ridiculous in the best ways. I still have no idea how much longer we have on our playthrough but it is a pretty long game… Or we suck, which is very plausible.
I tried to get my friend group into this and most of them bounced off. I tried to convince the “hardcore gamers” of the group that by the looks of it things get quite hard in the late game. Bummed I never really got to experience it to that point.
Sorta requires another account… technically… .Minecraft. IDK, maybe hytale would fill that niche. There’s also some FOSS options like luanti that would be nearly indistinguishable.
Left4Dead2
Portal 2
No Man’s Sky
Some lesser known stuff:
Core Keeper
Dungeon Defenders
RoboQuest
Valheim
Category suggestion: Kart racing. There are no shortage of brands of that… sonic just came out with a new one and there’s a couple really good sonic kart racers already out there that are on steam and console. Played a lot of sonic and all stars racing transformed with my wife and we had fun… it goes super cheap on sales and has remote play together so you’d only need one copy for both of you… isthereanydeal.com/game/…/history/#price-chart:ov… , mario kart, etc.
es-de is a really nice front end you can have in steam for couch coop emulation, I hear.
Grabbing it for a fiver is like a no brainer if you get into the style of game. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a sale when the patch comes out to promote it.
It’s really hard to suggest games without knowing what you guys normally would play. You mention puzzle games. There are a ton of two player puzzle games that you play head to head which might be fun, but it isn’t coop exactly. I highly recommend super puzzle fighter ii turbo. It’s available thru emulation and I think maybe on steam via that capcom arcade thing. There are lots of games that fit into that category if it ends up appealing.
If you have access to any of the games mentioned… maybe just have her try some of them and see what clicks. I know with my wife she wasn’t really a “gamer” at first… and I just let her loose on my steam games and a few that she would have never considered before became favorites like half-life, portal, l4d2. Most of the valve stuff holds up really well and makes for good primers into FPS style gaming. We also got really into coop minecraft and dungeon defenders so hundreds of coop hours have been dumped into those. I’d pick a bunch of genre styles (fps, puzzle, survival, etc) and just show her some gameplay videos if she’s reticent to play them sight unseen… see if anything sparks her interest. Then pick out some of the more well regarded titles from them to dive into. There are definitely classics that are considered classics for a reason.
As for roboquest… I’ve enjoyed that one. The dev kept putting out content patches so it’s gotten a bunch of content dumped into it. Fun solo and coop. I personally love the pop art comic style. The progression is rogueLITE… so you’re slowly building up new stuff in your hub as you play, which makes for a nicer experience, IMHO. They even have a free demo on steam if you wanna try it out while you wait for a sale.
Tbh, that’s just the difference between someone who has nostalgia for a game and someone who doesn’t.
I played Pokemon Red as a kid. I replayed it dozens of times since and it’s always really fun. Just feels good.
I didn’t play Pokemon Gold as a kid. I tried to play it quite a few times and never got throught it. Objectively, Gold is a much better game than Red in every regard. But I don’t have nostalgia for it, so it’s just an old game with bad UX, outdated gameplay and weak graphics to me. Can’t get through it without getting bored and quitting.
HL2 was revolutionary, 22 years ago. Nowadays it’s just woefully outdated in every respect including gameplay.
As OOP says e.g. about physics: That stuff was amazing in 2004, but it really isn’t in 2026. Almost every shooter includes physics and in many cases better physics than HL2 did. In part because game designers have learned from HL2 and other games and improved upon it.
I would agree with you in theory, however I am the same age as Half-Life 2. I never got around to playing it until it was already an old game (11-12? MAYBE 13). I played other shooters before, like various CoD games, Bioshock Infinite, etc., but they never clicked with Me. They obviously took great influence from it, every shooter did, but I could tell even as a kid that they didn’t do it as well
bin.pol.social
Aktywne