Take a look at “Lovers in a dangerous spacetime”. It’s a cute, fun coop game with fairly simple controls. And I’m pretty sure it was developed with non-gamer partners in mind.
It Takes Two would be my introduction for a partner who doesn’t game very much. Co-op, easy to play, fun in a really low stakes way with a great story. I had tons of fun with the game playing with an ex.
Raft is another I played with an ex that was a lot of fun. It’s a very chill co-op survival game where you build up your boat.
I tried It Takes Two with my SO, and they hated it because of the need to control the camera - so we went to 2d platformers after that.
I finished It Takes Two with my sister, small warning: the game is mostly feel good at the beginning, but in the end you’re gonna have to do some horrible things.
I didn’t mind - I’ve done a lot worse in other games where I didn’t have to - but she did not enjoy these parts of the game.
My partner used to be a teacher. There was a period of like a year when she would get home from work looking insanely stressed. Then she’d boot up Stardew Valley on her laptop from the couch and I could see her mood change immediately. She’d play for hours too.
At one point it was like Stardew Valley was her real life while the actual outside world was some horrible nightmare she had to wake up from.
The PS2 spawned a lot of games that later generations emulated. Lots of stuff after that basically consisted of sequels, spin offs and games trying to recreate the feel of that era.
My partner wasn’t into video games, but I got her into them. One she was really into is stardew valley. It’s really chill and low stakes. Might be a good one to try.
Its f2p and you can explore all together, since every starting map gets unlocked no matter what race you pick at the start.
It is also very easy to learn and you can even outlevel each other if anyone wanna keep playing in private, since you get levelcapped depending what map you are in.
Brilliant game design all around and still one of the best multiplayer games out there IMHO.
Thank you for the suggestion. I think we want something with fast action and team competition. But I will keep this in my back pocket should the discussion steer towards these types of games.
Turned based on pausable stuff can reduce stress by allowing for thoughtfulness, and even single player games can be done together through strategizing, while also not requiring the 2nd person if they aren’t available. To that end, I’m going to recommend Slay the Spire, Dicey Dungeons or Broken Age. Then probably some kind of tactical game, Darkest Dungeon, Loop Hero or Shadowrun. After that, maybe some kind of management game, Cities: Skylines, SimCity, Stardew Valley, Humankind or Against the Storm. If you want to go deeper, Crusader Kings, Dyson Sphere Program or Wartales.
Real-time games that require using multiple sticks/buttons/aiming+moving at once are inherently more difficult to start without the muscle memory, so I’d look to build that up with games that have simpler controls starting with Vampire Survivors or Brotato. Then I’d probably do some kind of non-shooter first or third person game, thinking of Escape Academy, Firewatch or Superliminal, Amnesia (maybe). Then a combat first/third person game Assassin’s Creed, Battlefield (Campaign), Mass Effect. Then maybe something that’s got combat plus extra stuff, Atomic Heart, Deep Rock Galactic, Dead Space (maybe), Doom, Prey, Wo Long, Remnant. After that is really PvP stuff.
If you just want more readably accessible stuff, A Short Hike, Disneyland Adventures, Peggle, Plants vs Zombies, Bejeweled, The Walking Dead from Telltale (maybe).
I also pulled every game on this list off of Xbox Game Pass, so that might be a good way to try a bunch of different games for cheaper.
I’m really surprised I haven’t seen them mentioned here (and apologies if someone did suggest it and I missed it!).
The Monkey Island games. Super simple controls, as most of it is point and click. Not expensive to get into, so no big loss if it ends up not being her thing. They are silly and clever, and reward the player for being silly and clever. They are puzzle games that require some attention to detail and curiosity to solve, but there isn’t any “fail” condition. You just don’t progress if you can’t solve the puzzle. It doesn’t assume any prior game knowledge or habits; a lot of games will expect the player to be familiar with certain controls or tropes commonly used in games, but Monkey Island is more similar to a “choose your own adventure” style story.
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