Are there any fun games for 2 children (around 13y) to play on one computer?
Preferably free or at least not to expensive (<20 EUR)
Edit: Thank you so much for all your great suggestions! I now have to buy 2 controllers I think? Steam does not say what input hardware is needed for local multiplayer.
Here's a quick list of inexpensive games I think your kids could enjoy. All of these are shared screen games and I've played (almost) all of these with my kid who is around the same age. All of these run great on my Steam Deck.
All costs are in USD, so they should all fall below the 20 EUR mark.
Of these games, I would absolutely grab EDF 5 while it's on sale. It's just plain, stupid, fun and at $15 it's a steal. Saw EDF World Brothers is on sale as well, though I haven't played that one, it looks like it's the same dumb fun as the others.
I will put in a strong vote for Castle Crashers, one of the most fun, charismatic beat em ups of all time, imo. Would be perfect for kids that age.
You can play Portal split screen, or do you mean that they collaborate on the solutions?
Also, my husband and I love playing Overcooked. That's an excellent suggestion.
Portal 2 can be played split screen, yes.
I was joking below with someone else that suggested it that Overcooked is more likely to cause a fight. That game is so stressful lol
I hate Overcooked and other games like that. If I wanted that kind of stress, I'd just fucking work and at least I'd be getting paid for it
Rabbit and steel is SUCH A FUCKING GOOD GAME
it needs WAY more love
This answer is way too good for such a rough broad question with too many options. 👍
I’m always on the lookout for solid games I can play with my kid. For a long while the games had to be shared screen / split screen, at least until I got a Steam Deck. Now I’ve got a lot more options open to me like Risk of Rain 2, but that didn’t really fit their constraints so I left those type of games out.
There’s a bunch of games I left off due to low play time, so I didn’t think they were really worth it to suggest as first picks for someone on a tight budget. It’s definitely by no means a complete list.
As I said, good job! My only answer would've been: could you narrow that down a bit? 😁
If I had to narrow it to 10, it’d be this, keeping audience in mind.
Apologies, a little misunderstanding, I meant as a response to him!
Because the way this was asked there's too many options!
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a great game.
Glad it's being recognized
I would also keep an eye out for the steam sales on the TT Lego games, I still enjoy them even as an adult.
Sure. Get two controllers and Retroarch and they're set on games for life.
Overcooked is one of the most popular co-op games of the last few years, simple concept but fun, frantic gameplay. It's pretty cheap at base price but goes on sale pretty regularly too.
Would have to get it through Steam I believe.
They said fun, not anger inducing
It'll teach them teamwork XD
And swears.
https://hurrycurry.metamuffin.org/
Is also cool. Not sure if it has splitscrern multiplayer though.
Fuck that game
All of these are full price, so if you wait for a sale (like I do), you can usually find each of these for $10 or less.
Basically all the Lego games (although 13y olds might already find them too child-like, depends...).
They all have split screen, so are suitable for couch (or desk) coop.
Also the slightly older ones are quite inexpensive when buying them during sales (a few €).
Special recommendation: Lego City Undercover.
Another fun couch-coop-capable game would be SuperTux, a Super-Mario-Cart like game.
This one is OSS and therefore completely free!
LEGO Island nostalgia.......
Any of the Worms games
In that vein, Hedgewars is basically open-source Worms Armageddon.
Very likely available from your distro, so
sudo pkcon install hedgewarsshould set you up in no time.Playing Worms at a friend's house around that age is one of the fondest memories I have of any game.
Ordered by amount of "potential" replayability, vaguely
I've played all these through and am confident it'd be ok for 13 yos
If they like silly chaos and cooking games, $20 PlateUp!
If they like absolute madness and precise button inputs to make pretty food, $20 Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!
Rock of ages series I think all have local multiplayer, but I think $30 > on sale for $3 till sept 1 rn Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break is the only one you can do the actual story mode together (which is very fun) instead of just versus. describing this one is hard uh. Both a tower defense as well as a reverse tower defense where you play as a boulder smashing things. historical art humour themed. very silly. highly recommend this series.
$15 Tricky towers is competitive tetris with balancing physics
$14 Neurovoider is a straightforward / small scope game, robot piece-swapping twin stick shooter, very arcadey
$20 Ember knights is in the same vein as neurovoider but with flamey dudes and more fantasy / magic theme
On looking in to it some more I am fairly certain you can also play $15 Rock of Ages 2's campaign as splitscreen co-op. Did not remember offhand but looked around at steam discussions. 2 is also very good!
I love worms Armageddon when I was a kid.
Liero/OpenLiero is a two-player real-time action variant of Worms. Very recommendable.
haha yea
If you are ok with emulation dolphin is pretty great. You can still find wiimotes for cheap and don't need the sensor bar ( use two candle instead ). With that the entire wii games library is yours.
If you want natives games I would recomend indie couch games ( overcook, moving out, etc... ).
Rayman Origins
Off the top of my head.
Peak
Sunderfolk, needs a tablet or phone as a controller, though.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Suns
Sunderered
It Takes Two
Split Fiction
I second It Takes Two. Amazing game!
Split Fiction from the same team is good, too.
I heard great things, but I haven't played it yet, so that's why I couldn't second it from experience.
Definitely recommend It Takes 2 when it's on sale.
SuperTuxKart is fun
Stardew valley
Boomerang-Fu ?
such a fun game
so cute as well 😊
Depends on their tastes I guess. Stardew Valley is cheap, you can put hundreds of hours in and it does "couch co-op" off a single PC. It also doesn't require very good hardware either.
I mean, I can basically advise the same list as I do for anybody.
If you're open to buying and/or piracy, I can also suggest the following:
If you're okay with more violent games, any Doom sourceport (like GZDoom) with FreeDoom phases 1 & 2. There's also OpenQuake, but I don't do 3D much.
I've now been thinking about the multiplayer aspect of this. The first thing that comes to mind is something like DOSBox and Epic Pinball or other pinball games. Sure they'll have to take turns, but pinball is a fun time so the one who's playing learns the table and the one who's watching gets the spectacle. Going into the more piratey side of things, MAME or Retroarch. MAME especially has stuff like Marvel vs. Capcom, the Street Fighter series, Fantasy Zone... so basically, you can give them an arcade cab at home. And I'll mention FreeCiv again.
Back on the less-pirate side:
So there's my thoughts on local multiplayer games.
they only have 1 computer, most of these are online only unfortunately (though not bad suggestions for 2 cpus)
Ah, if you're looking for the kids to play together, I have no idea. I don't do multiplayer
lego games and on sale?
Heroes of Might and Magic 3. Great strategy game, on steam or gog, can't remember which one has the expansion packs, but they're not necessary anyway for the first year. I played it for hundreds of hours with my sister as a kid. Has a lot of replayability. Works really well with two players with hot seat mode. More players and you will want to use the network capability.
Atomic Tanks. Old school 2D hot seat fun. Nuke your friends and family.
Goat simulator still exists?
My nephews loved it
I played an ungodly amount of Tapan Kaikki 3 with my brother.
Best game ever.
SuperTuxKart? Also, emulation of retro consoles as others have suggested.
Civ5 and earlier installments in the Civ franchise are also pretty good if they like virtual board games, although recent decisions at TakeTwo corporate might be a turnoff.
Lego Batman 2. Probably all the other Lego games as well. But I know that this one can be played on one keyboard.
I think Children of Morta can be played in coop on a single PC.
Ultimate chicken horse
Kerbal Space Program.
(The original!!)
Boomerang Fu maybe, haven't played it myself but looks cute and funny from what I've seen. 14.79 rn
Nidhogg 2
It's hilarious, and easy to learn.
Little Fighters II Remastered
It takes two
Horizon Chase
Overcooked (part one is better than two, get the second only if you finish the first and want more)
Unrailed
Brotato
ShellShock Live
https://store.steampowered.com/search/?maxprice=20&supportedlang=english&category2=39&ndl=1
No. There never have and never will any games be made for 13yr old children. Completely ridiculous to even suggest something like this may exist.
i know this is tongue-in-cheek and this is not at all a roast of you, it just made me think about how this niche needs filling
it sounds like a basic suggestion to just look up games for multiplayer, but it is actually way more time-consuming to find multiplayer games for specific use cases than you'd think it might be
::: spoiler kind of long reasoning if one cares lol i spend HOURS finding games for my established player group because they don't tend to distinguish in tags if they're couch co-op, how many players you need (if there's a minimum or maximum), and what kind of game they are all at once.
or even weird stuff like if multiplayer is "even" or not (like some "multiplayer games" are someone playing as the useless mascot essentially) or if multiplayer is versus-only and no campaign, or if multiplayer is broken in some way, or if the game is too buggy...
in terms of having kids it can be time consuming to find things that are age-suitable and don't have anything hidden in them
:::
honestly from my perspective if i didn't have the time and wanted to find some decent indies i would just ask people
Completely agree, I didn't mean to insinuate this question is a problem. I just found the way of asking incredibly funny.