11
votes
Good, fun, easy and cheap co-op games for a gamecircle
We're trying to start a Gamecircle (kind of like a Bookcircle) with friends and accuintances and I'm looking for some good Games to start. It is a daunting task to be honest, as there will be some first time gamers taking part. And for me as a singleplayer for year (mostly factorio and some round and grand strategy games) I dont even know where to start looking.
I'm looking for something like mario kart, which is easy to understand and fun for everybody to play, for the first months. Not cost more than 10$, be aviable through steam or gog or itch.io, preferably cross-platform (steam play works fine too).
On another note, has someboy tried something like this? how did/does it work out? What would be your Advice?
My friends and I have never done a "gamecircle" specifically, but we do play a considerable amount of games together. All of us are pretty seasoned PC gamers though, so we tend to mostly play grand strategy/rts/fps games (and lots of rocket league), but we do still play casual games together on occasion. And while there are tons of really solid coop/vs games that are new player friendly that I could recommend you, TBH, it's the under $10 requirement that will probably limit you the most. E.g. Overcooked 2 is an amazing coop game, but it's $30. Heck, even Minecraft is $20. :(
But here are a few more "noob friendly" games I can think of off the top of my head that are at least <$20 (in no particular order).
Overcooked
Nidhogg (1v1 via Steam remote play)
Lethal League
Heave Ho (Steam remote play)
Caveblazers + Caveblazers Together (free online play mod)
Don't Starve Together (online coop version of Don't Starve)
Magicka
Magicka 2
Nine Parchments (similar to Magicka)
Monaco
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (Steam remote play)
Golf With Your Friends
Speedrunners
Towerfall: Ascension (Steam remote play)
Terraria (just got a huge update too!)
Starbound (similar to Terraria, not as good IMO)
Gauntlet
p.s. I would highly recommend checking out Co-Optimus when looking for games to play with your friends. It typically has all the relevant info you need to know (e.g. couch vs online, max # of players, etc) and often has reviews/comments mentioning how good the coop elements in each game actually are.
I love that game, but it was intensely frustrating to try and play with my group of friends. Steam remote play can be pretty confusing, especially for the less tech-savy. Lovers is also a game that should NOT be played with KB/M, much better with a gamepad.
Also I'll throw in Pummel Party if you want some madcap hijinks.
Yeah, Lovers, Overcooked and Magicka can all be insanely frustrating at times... but to be fair, that is kinda the point of them. LOL! Pummel Party looks neat too, so I will prob bring that up with my friends next time we are looking for a more casual vs game to play.
BTW, @Don_Camillo, another one I just thought of is Gang Beasts, which is $20, but also super fun as well.
Oh I meant specifically trying to play then using Steam Remote Play. The game itself is great!
Hey thank you for your big list of really interesting games! and Cooptimus is something very helpful, I think I will visit that website a lot the coming time.
yes I know 10$ is very low. But getting people (who dont really play a lot) to pay more for a game is kind of hard, even while they pay multiples of that everytime they go to a bar. But let's see how it works out.
I have fond memories of playing Speedrunners with my friends. It's perfect for a couch setting.
Even though you say your group is mostly new and inexperienced with online multi-player gaming, I would say that you shouldn't shy away from FPSes. They can be very fun when your bunch of friends is all able to use mics. You talk tactics ("enemy behind that upcoming corner, watch out"), coordinate movement ("let's all head for the warehouse, and breach on my signal"), and laugh and cry out together. It often doesn't matter if you are getting trashed by the experienced players in the game; just playing and learning together can be fun in itself.
A quick list of FPSes to try:
yes I know. we played the first halo, cs and call of duty 2 a lot, but thats a long time ago :-) to be honest, I'm having a lot of troubles getting into newer shooters, might be that I just cannot stand the matchmaking mechanics everthing seems to depend on. what happend to lobbies and random servers to explore?
But I might find something older and nice.
There was a discussion about open source game clones recently https://tildes.net/~games/oog/list_of_open_source_game_clones . I think all the games are free and some have multiplayer.
Off the top of my head:
If your are fine with emulation there are things like fightcade that lets you play neogeo / cps2 games online. There are lots of 2D fighters and brawlers for those arcade boards.