Hey everyone! Despite my efforts, my fiancé really doesn’t get into video games much. Mechanical skill limitations frustrate her, and sometimes her attention span for games isn’t high when she could read a book or watch a show, I want to try a new tactic to see if it works: games where she can be a “backseat driver.”
I’m mainly thinking of story focused games that aren’t reliant on mechanical skill and where having a second person watching can meaningfully contribute.
Some games I’ve thought of are the Phoenix Wright games, and Return of the Obra Dinn. Does anyone else have suggestions for games I could try to play with her?
Steamdeck verified games preferred, so I can play while docked to our TV.
I think the Divinity Original Sin series and the upcoming Baldur’s Gate 3 might be good options! They’re good story driven games with good dialog, turn-based so not too mechanically demanding, and often times require paying close attention to subtle story beats in order to get the best outcome.
Last of Us and Uncharted 4 could also be good options because watching someone play the game is like watching a good movie.
you may try “blanc”. A good coop game with simple gameplay mechanics
Oh, I think I have the perfect series of games to you because they also work as movies, sort of.
Check out the dark pictures anthology, until dawn and the quarry, all developed by supermassive games.
Here’s a trailer: https://youtu.be/3NcF7EOnjow
If you want something that’s less horror based, check out oxenfree.
Yes so much. I played these with my partner. This is exactly what OP is looking for.
Hmm definitely going to give this a shot!
Detroit: Become Human was my favorite of this sort of game. Not in the horror genera though. My wife loved watching me play it and giving suggestions.
I played this with my partner - it’s perfect as one person can do as much or as little work as they want. And you can take the game at your own pace. Great co-op game.
Saving this post. Some good stuff here
Into the Breach is perfect for this. It’s played on a coordinate grid, so giving suggestions on what to do per turn would be very easy without needing a bunch of description to explain exactly what is being talked about.
Currently paying Outer Wilds in my steam deck while docked to a tv. It’s been very engaging and fun for my wife and I to sit down and try and solve an interstellar mystery while winding down for the night.
Interesting game with good art style and interesting mechanics.
I keep seeing this in steam but haven’t actually checked it out yet
My two cents; I’m in a very similar boat with my GF, and Outer Wilds was unfortunately a bit too slow paced and open ended for her, so I ended up completing it by myself (and absolutely loving it). Same with The Witness unfortunately. Both are very much in my personal top three though.
But to make it not all negative, some recommendations!
We enjoyed The Room series by Fireproof Games a lot. It’s an escape room puzzle box type of a deal with a really cool, slightly creepy atmosphere, and there’s multiple games out already. The games are quite linear and focused, so my GF didn’t bounce off. We’re escape room junkies and haven’t found a better digital fix. Escape Room Simulator is decent, but not quite up there in production quality.
Another fun one is the games by Rusty Lake. They’re mechanically similar, if a bit less flashy than The Room, but the puzzles are mostly fun and the story/atmosphere/music is really neat.
And yeah, Obra Dinn is absolutely our number one favorite game, but that one was already mentioned.
If you decide to go for it, don’t read too much, just go in blind.
As they have not been mentioned before: We played „The Witness” and “Return of the Obra Dinn” together and are currently solving “The Case of the Golden Idol”
Obra Dinn is phenomenal, you should try it right now.
Stray seems perfect, it’s mechanically easy, has puzzles, cute characters, an interesting (short) story, and a nice environment to explore.
Maybe Her Story? Some would not even call it a game, but I enjoyed unraveling the mystery. It involves inputting text, but it’s just keywords for a search so it shouldn’t be too cumbersomer even with on screen keyboard.
Beat me by one minute! I recommended this and everything by Sam Barlow.
Her Story, Telling Lies, and Immortality (all games by Sam Barlow) are uniquely meta/postmodern FMV games with no input besides consideration, selection, search, and other very democratizable actions. I bet those would go over really well!
My girlfriend and I really enjoyed playing Life is Strange together like this. I think we both enjoyed the setting and characters quite a bit (high school in the Pacific Northwest). We tried Life is strange 2, but never really got into it.
And episode 1 is currently free on Steam!
Also tried to like Life is Strange 2 and 3, but really couldn’t. Have you tried Before The Storm? It’s really great as well!
I’ll have to give before the storm a try! That’s disappointing to hear that the third one was also a let down.
It probably wasn’t bad on its own, but it doesn’t have the feel of 1 or BtS, which is what I was after.
Return of the Obra Dinn!
The Witcher 3. It’s a very story heavy game with lots and lots of dialogue and long cutscenes. My wife wouldn’t play it herself for exactly those reasons, but she watched most of the time while I played it.
Another recommendation would be The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The Koroks to be precise. Four eyes see more than two.
My wife and I really enjoyed Witcher 3. She could jump in, get an update on the story from me, listen to music, argue what decisions should we make and then leave if she felt so. Some quests can take days if you game like 1h daily or so, so it’s definitely a position to try if you like cRPGs.
I suggest Telltale games, like the walking dead and the wolf among us. You can make choices together to shape your own story. It’s more like watching a TV show together.
