Looking for a local co-op game to play with my SO (Steam Deck)

Submitted ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨pathief@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨games@lemmy.world⁩

My SO and I have been having a lot of fun playing co-op games on the Steam Deck. 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.

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

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Comments

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oyzmo@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Would be great if you updated this post with new games you enjoyed 😊

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- pathief@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  We got a puppy so gaming has been pretty much non-existent… We did try a few games, but none of them were good enough for me:
  
  Phogs: felt very repetitive
  
  Unraveled 2: Can’t really say what turns me off but it really doesn’t spark joy for me. The puzzles just feel uninteresting and with no purpose.
  
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Nibodhika@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
One of my favorite games to play with my SO is Out of Space the vibe is very similar to Overcooked but it’s procedurally generated and a lot more chilled out, i.e. less chaos.

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AlfredoJohn@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
If you enjoy escape rooms try out Escape Academy, haven’t seen anyone mention it but it’s really a blast!

store.steampowered.com/app/…/Escape_Academy/

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OutDoeHoe@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨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

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- pathief@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  It went on sale yesterday so I ended up buying it!
  
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DeathsEmbrace@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
The cult of the lamb

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Denjin@lemmings.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Lovers in a Dangerous Space Time

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

Very fun.

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hamsda@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Degrees of Seperation - 2D puzzler with wonderful scenes and visuals

Heavenly Bodies - 2D puzzler about astronauts and 0 gravity environments

Unrailed - isometric 3D. A train starts driving and you need to gather resources and build tracks etc.

Wobbly Life - 3D fun game, no real objective, just many quests and activities throughout the world

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shan23@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨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

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randombullet@programming.dev ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
We just started the spiritfarer. Absolutely worth it

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- pathief@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I already played and loved SpiritFarer, it was an amazing journey. I don’t wanna say too much but I just can’t repeat it any time soon.
  
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Walk_blesseD@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Spelunky 1 & 2

Monster Prom, Monster Camp, Monster Roadtrip

Also seconding Kingdom: Two Crowns

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- unit327@lemmy.zip ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  OP asks for “nothing too hard” and you recommend spelunky, you absolute monster.
  
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  - pathief@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Fortunately I already made that mistake once, a friend recommended me Spelunky 2 as a casual mining game…
    
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  - Walk_blesseD@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    😈
    
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sm1dger@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
A few options me and my partner have enjoyed:

Bunhouse - a non-management-heavy farming simulator but you are bunnies growing plants. Cute as hell. There is a sequel where you run a bakery too but we haven’t got round to that just yet.

Unrailed - might fall into the overcooked catagory, but when it gets hard and goes wrong it tends to be a looming inevitablity, not a frantic panic

Nidhogg - a 1v1 fighter, but is quick fire frantic sword fights you can button bash through which is wildly entertaining in 5 min bursts.

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- pathief@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  The Cinnabunny sequel looks so adorable. Lots of animal crossing vibes. Definitely wishlisting that!
  
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Coelacanth@feddit.nu ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I’m not even a huge platformer guy, but Rayman Legends is absolute peak and a fantastic, chill co-op game. The music levels in particular - where the already great soundtrack is synced in time to your jumps and hits - are incredibly satisfying and so well made.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t suggest Blue Prince. It’s not co-op per se as it’d only be one person at a time “driving”, but the game is about puzzle solving so who holds the controller doesn’t really matter. It’s a fantastic game if you enjoy puzzles and escape rooms. My sister isn’t even a gamer at all but I recommended it to her fiancé and they’ve been playing together and even she’s been enjoying it a lot. From my own experience playing it on my own I also think it would be much more fun if playing alongside someone else. I’ve often missed having someone to bounce ideas off when stuck.

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- jsomae@lemmy.ml ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  On the notion of “one person at a time driving,” I played Outer Wilds with my partner. 10/10. Just make sure that when there is text, both people can read it before you move on.
  
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pulido@lemmings.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨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

Destroy All Humans 2

Ratchet: Deadlocked

Divinity: Original Sin

Resident Evil 6

Halo: Master Chief Collection

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.

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- pathief@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨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.
  
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dumblederp@aussie.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Death Squared. Puzzle solving, each player controls two blocks on the map used to solve the puzzle.

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Korhaka@sopuli.xyz ⁨11⁩ ⁨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.

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- pathief@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  You know I have like 4 manuals printed and only played it once? Gotta give it a try some time!!
  
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- MarauderIIC@dormi.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨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.
  
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  - Korhaka@sopuli.xyz ⁨11⁩ ⁨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.
    
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yournamehere@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Blur…from archive.org

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HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
We enjoyed A Way Out

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Arkhive@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I’m a fan of taking turns “driving” for slower paced logic or puzzle games. Titles that come to mind:

Myst

Curse of the Golden Idol

Summertime Madness

Chants of Sennar

Superliminal

Viewfinder

Baba is You

I can highly recommend all of these as they almost universally benefit from more minds working on them together. I would say Baba is the only one that gets REALLY challenging, but there are good mind and logic bending puzzles throughout them all!
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- unit327@lemmy.zip ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Obra dinn too
  
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  - Arkhive@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Oooohhhh yes!!! I haven’t gotten to play it yet which is why I forgot it! It’s on my list!!
    
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- Detren@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  My girlfriend and I do the same but with more simplistic story heavy games. We just finished Slay The Princess and it was an amazing experience like this.
  
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- prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  No game makes me feel more like a complete idiot than Baba is You. Great game though.
  
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  - Arkhive@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Yeah, it’s a game I chip away at. I’m at a point in it that the levels often take hours and/or multiple sittings to work out.
    
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whotookkarl@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
A bunch of retro games have good couch co-op support & the steam deck can emulate pretty much all of them

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

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uninvitedguest@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
… Genital Jousting.

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Kaigyo@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
If you’re open to doing emulation, there’s a multitude of Nintendo games that are amazing couch co-op.

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- pathief@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨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.
  
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  - Kaigyo@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨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.
    
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- swampdownloader@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Any suggestions?
  
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  - pulido@lemmings.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Kirby and the Forgotten Land
    
    Super Mario Wonder
    
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PeteWheeler@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Ballers gate 3? Pretty sure that runs on. Steam deck.

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- Walk_blesseD@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  It’s only just playable on the Steam Deck. I really wouldn’t expect it to perform to a satisfactory standard rendering two scenes at once in split-screen.
  
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- WhatSay@slrpnk.net ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  It’s verified
  
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sexual_tomato@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Death road to Canada is pretty solid.

Spelunkey 2 is fantastic, albeit incredibly challenging.

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peachfaced@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
If you don’t want something too serious, you can try

Fling to the Finish

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.
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- Gibibit@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Oh yeah KeyWe is great fun! Some levels took me and my partner two tries but it’s nothing too punishing. Highly recommended
  
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- joshchandra@midwest.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Also PlateUp!
  
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Krudler@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
www.co-optimus.com/system/4/pc.html

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Glide@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
My partner and I make a point to occasionally play through a couch co-op game as well here are some of the things we enjoyed.

Phogs - Currently playing this. It’s a cute, dog-themed puzzle game thing, where you play as two heads of a single long dog-thing. We’re enjoying it, but we’re not particularly deep in, and I do wonder if it’ll get Ibb and Obb samey, but it’s worth checking out imo. Cassette Beasts - Couch co-op, Pokemon inspired, adventure RPG with great storytelling, fantastic music and a retro aesthetic. The world is very Zelda-like in exploration and puzzle solving, while combat is Pokemon double battles. Highly recommended, just be aware that one player gets to be the player-made protagonist, while the other is one of an interchangeable series of partner characters. Sea of Stars - The co-op update did a lot of good for this game. A Chrono Trigger inspired, faux-SNES era, indie RPG. There’s a lot of unvoiced dialogue, which I could see as being a barrier to enjoyment as a multiplayer game, but the game is paced quite well, so I don’t think it’s a huge problem. Also, players do take turns inputting commands, but everyone is responsible for the timed hits/blocks, and you each control a character of equal agency in the overworld, so it avoids the largest co-op turn based RPG folly of having one player and one half-watching “follower.” There are a ton of accessibility options/features (difficulty is VERY malleable), and as an added bonus, there’s a free story DLC coming on the 20th. Children of Morta - This is perhaps the most “hardcore” of my list, but the girlfriend, despite explicitly not enjoying “hard” games, really really enjoyed this one. An action-RPG with some very light roguelike elements, Children of Morta has you play as a family of hunter-gatherer-warrior types in a fantasy world, working together to stop a malevolent power from corrupting the physical world. Each family member has a different playstyle, their own skill tree, and a lot of personality. The game is very story driven, with a few moments being taken between each run for the fantastic narration to drip feed the narrative, slowly teaching you more about the world, the characters, and their family dynamic.

These are the ones that came to the top of my mind, either because they were particularly good or, in the case of Phogs, is ongoing. If I see anything else worth mentioning when I look at my Steam list next, I’ll add.

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- pathief@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  Phogs
  
  This one caught my eye as well. Split Fiction had a small section that played very similarly to this game, don’t want to spoil too much. It was fun, but I’m unsure if I want a full game about it.
  
  Cassette Beasts
  
  This one looks good for me heh :P
  
  Sea of Stars
  
  This one has been on my wishlist forever now, the mixed reviews have been turning me off. I’m not sure if these classic RPG games are her thing but we should try and figure it out.
  
  Children of Morta
  
  This one fell flat for me. I don’t know why, I didn’t connect with the game.
  
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- joshchandra@midwest.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  There’s a lot of unvoiced dialogue, which I could see as being a barrier to enjoyment
  
  No, it’s more like the protagonists’ personalities being totally interchangeable. That made me stop playing after I realized it doesn’t improve.
  
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  - Glide@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    That’s an interesting take. I found them to be very different people. Two different flavours of cliche’d anime protagonist, sure, but very different people none the less.
    
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k1ck455kc@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Brothers: tale of two sons

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BossDj@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨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.

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- pathief@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I don’t know why I didn’t remember this. I do have a decent PC and the streaming functionality works quite well. I played Path of Exile 2 this way and it was great. Thanks for reminding me!
  
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Justdaveisfine@midwest.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨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.

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- pathief@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨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!
  
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- mjhelto@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Dude, Octodad in the random arm-leg mode is so fucking funny. My wife and I had so much fun with that too back the game is so short!
  
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- Arkhive@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  +1 for the LEGO games. Sort of my go to sleeper pick for surprisingly good games. The humor is good, gameplay is decent though I have to go on big breaks between playing through one because gameplay game to game can be a bit samey.
  
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- atomicpeach@pawb.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨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.
  
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LordGennai@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I really like the Life Is Strange series for “playing together” with my wife.

It’s not multiplayer, but it’s like watching a movie and making choices for the characters along the way.

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