Suggestions for co-op puzzle games
September 6, 2017 5:31 PM   Subscribe

My son is a young teen and a gamer, I, alas, am not. We have, however, had a great time playing portal 2 (on xbox 360) together. We like the cooperative aspect of the puzzle solving. What are some similarly awesome games we should play?
posted by OHenryPacey to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (17 answers total) 23 users marked this as a favorite
 
Maybe try some of the older point and click adventure games like monkey island and grim Fandango. You can coach and kibitz while he drives. The humor and stories are age appropriate and the feeling of solving a puzzle together is great. The are loads of old adventure games too. Myst, Siberia, full throttle, Indiana jones...thimble weed park, Kentucky route zero, oxen free are all titles I liked, and I loved portal.
posted by cosmicbandito at 6:01 PM on September 6, 2017


I hope you get some good answers to this, because I played portal2 cooperatively with my boyfriend, and we had a great time, despite me being pretty hopeless with the controls.

other games we played together were Limbo and Inside. He generally had the controller (because of the aforesaid hopelessness) and we would talk and solve the puzzles together. Both of those are wonderfully creepy and tell a weird story.

we also played all the little big planet games, though occasionally I would have to bow out and let him finish levels when they got too hard for me.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 6:17 PM on September 6, 2017 [2 favorites]


Casual couch co-op: Overcooked

Casual multiple-phone co-op: SpaceTeam

Casual asymmetric co-op: Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
posted by Phssthpok at 6:36 PM on September 6, 2017 [2 favorites]


Overcooked has a Co-Op mode, and it's a lot of fun when you're playing well, and even more fun when everything's a disaster. Figuring out how to get the orders out takes some real strategy.
posted by Caravantea at 6:38 PM on September 6, 2017


Trine 2 was pretty fun.
posted by radicalawyer at 6:49 PM on September 6, 2017 [1 favorite]


Plants Vs Zombies is fun and puzzle-esque and can be played in co-op mode
posted by jillithd at 6:56 PM on September 6, 2017


Not a video game, but Pandemic is a cooperative board game and it's very cool. Each player draws a specialist card during setup, so each time you play through the game you have to learn how to maximize the cooperative efforts of the team you have.
posted by fedward at 6:58 PM on September 6, 2017 [3 favorites]


Portal 2 co-op is indeed awesome - unfortunately I don't think there's much else quite like it.

Another great puzzler in the same vane is The Swapper, but it's single player. It would work well for passing the control back and forth, with the person not controlling offering ideas for solutions.
posted by pilibeen at 7:38 PM on September 6, 2017


Minecraft is good for children. The cooperative aspect is up to the kids. It could turn into lord of the flies, or a sharing utopia. The thing is, it demonstrates which of those options are preferable.
posted by adept256 at 7:54 PM on September 6, 2017


Best answer: The Witness? Someone has to drive, but it's possible to help solve the puzzle sitting alongside.
posted by tinydancer at 11:38 PM on September 6, 2017 [2 favorites]


Hitman was extremely fun as a backseat gamer, if you don't mind your child being an elite assassin. It's not a puzzle game but the missions end up taking on that aspect, with costumes and weapons and routes to choose.
posted by carbide at 3:18 AM on September 7, 2017


Best answer: Me and my roommates used to play the co-op on Ms Splosion Man all the time. A great combo of puzzle solving, coordination and button mashing.
posted by mustardayonnaise at 5:55 AM on September 7, 2017


Best answer: seconding the Witness, I helped over my husband's shoulder while he drove. He probably could have gotten through it without me, I would have gotten nowhere without him, but I still helped enough to enjoy it a lot. But it's hard!
posted by katieanne at 7:07 AM on September 7, 2017


Thirding The Witness - it's the only puzzle game that has come close to the feel of Portal 2 for me. It's not co-op per se, but you can figure out the puzzles together. Braid (from the same guy) is also a great puzzle game for collaborative (but not co-op) play. Ibb & Obb is a co-op puzzle game that was ok, but I wouldn't pay more than like $10 for it. Limbo and Fez are good single-player puzzle games, though the puzzles aren't as challenging as Braid/The Witness, imo.
posted by melissasaurus at 8:23 AM on September 7, 2017


Battleblock Theater is a co-op puzzle platformer. Super fun couch co-op silliness with unlockables and quickly digestible chunks of play. Some of the levels get tricky, and need some creative co-op to get to certain places or open up secret areas.

And, you can also make your own levels, if that's your jam.
posted by wells at 8:30 AM on September 7, 2017


A lot of the lego games have a puzzle-y aspect, and they allow for couch co-op.

I agree, though, that Portal 2 is pretty unique. My son and I LOVED playing it together and I would kill to find more like it, but it is a bit of a unicorn in terms of couch co-op. :(
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 10:10 AM on September 7, 2017 [1 favorite]


ooh, yea the witness is great, and with that one you could pass the controller back and forth while conferring about the puzzles
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 10:21 PM on September 7, 2017


« Older I'm having bad dreams on most mornings, shortly...   |   Cam for puppycam? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.