My other half isn't much of a gamer but she has my old low end laptop and wants a co-op game that we can play together. We've previously played Minecraft together but nothing else, she just wants something we can play together.
Any good recommendations that are cheap and not graphic intensive?
Test the relationship, play magicka together
She could be into that, too.
Just, don't beat her up too bad.
Water-water-lightning.
Just remembering that game sends me into a bewildering rage because of how frustrating I found the whole game.
I honestly don't know if that was just me though... I assume it wasn't based on the implied inference you made. Ugh. The controls, remarkably annoying enemies, and having to memorize spell combos was not my cup of tea.
I actually rather enjoyed it as a game.
But yes, it was shockingly easy to TK your coop partners constantly, to the degree it was probably easier solo than coop even without enemy scaling.
I laughed more than I should have.
Portal 2. I don't know how old your old low end laptop is, but if it will play Minecraft I would think it would be fine. It's also on sale for $1 right now.
That's good, already in my library too. Thanks.
She doesn't know. I'm expected to know what type of game she would like. You see my dilemma.
So pick out something you want to play and tell her she'll like it. Just make the decision for her and go from there.
This is what I went with.
We played left 4 dead last night and she enjoyed it.
Ah yes, a relationship-classic scenario.
Stardew valley even has a proper Co-Op mode now, doesn't it?
Terraria or Stardew Valley
Unsurprisingly, Terraria has already been mentioned, but I'll throw my endorsement behind it too. Especially since you've already played Minecraft, so it's a great jumping off point.
Not coop, but maybe some racing games, such as Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed?
Don't Starve, or other 2D survivalist games.
If you like turn-based, Civilization or something in that genre. I like Endless Legend.
I'm not sure how low-spec it needs to be, but perhaps a coop shooter like Left4Dead, Vermintide, or Deep Rock Galactic.
Fall Guys.
Coop RPGs or ARPGs.
In addition to the mentioned ones, I would throw Divinity: Original Sin (definitely 1, and if the laptop supports it 2) onto the list.
Super Indie Karts: https://store.steampowered.com/app/323670/Super_Indie_Karts/
Starbound: https://store.steampowered.com/app/211820/Starbound/
Starbound's multiplayer is connecting via IP address. Should be simple enough.
If she's into games like Stardew Valley and The Sims, she should like Starbound. It has farming, building a city (or cities), getting people to populate your town, terraforming planets, vehicles, space travel, and emergent quests, with some Mario-style platforming, and Terraria-style exploration/crafting.
Maybe Dungeon Defenders? It's an older 3D tower defense game. Although coop is generally played with 4 players. Not sure if you can play with only 2.
Since you've played Minecraft, how about Terraria?
How about a real time strategy game where you start off on the same team against AI?
Or an F2P MMORPG if you don't mind other players? Depends on how old the laptop is.
I'm sure others had the same question, so you could search for "casual/couch/local coop games" and see what comes up.
Okay, here is a good variety ones you can look into (since you say you have played Minecraft together, I'm assuming that these recommendations don't necessarily need to be couch co-op, and by 'not graphic intensive' you mostly mean a game that can run on a computer that can run Minecraft on low settings)
BattleBlock Theater (platformer)
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (bomb defusing)
Hammerwatch (series of hack'n'slash games)
Don't Starve Together (survival)
Risk of Rain 2 (rogue-lite)
I have also seen Overcooked, Terraria, Portal 2, and Stardew Valley have already been recommended. Those are solid ones as well
Monster Hunter may be too much for your computers, but if you would be interested in a similar game that is lighter weight, you could look into God Eater (1 & 2 are bundled together)
Also, if you end up having any interest in branching out into vs games, you could look into Crawl, SpeedRunners, Screencheat, Ulimate Chicken Horse, and Lethal League
Battleblock Theater reminded me of Castle Crashers from the same dev so I'll add that to this list. Fun platformy beat em up game that I played through with friends some 10 years ago.
Plate Up is a fun couch co-op restaurant roguelike. Kinda like overcooked but you get to design and run the whole restaurant.
Terraria is classic co-op game. Like a 2D Minecraft but with more combat and progression.
I'll second PlateUp. Brought it up when I was visiting my brother and his wife, and we ended up spending like 15 hours on 4-player coop that week.
20XX for a Megaman X experience that has co-op capability.
Can it handle Divinity: Original Sin?
Hammerwatch maybe? New one's supposed to come out in the next month or so too.
In addition, you have all of the old-school Bioware games that support coop. Baldur's Gate 1-2, Icewind Dale 1-2, and a few others. No idea if some of the remastered editions are any good or if they were injected with wokeness though.
There's also always some old-school emulation options from the SNES and Genesis era of games. There were at least a few concurrent multiplayer games there.
Also, Neverwinter Nights 1, and possibly 2 are somewhat viable options.
Get half life and try out the mods. There are some awesome co ops for free, or pvp she might enjoy.
I believe Starcraft 2 has someone who modded in a fairly robust 2-player co-op version of the campaigns. Put it on an easier difficulty, and carry carefully to not overshadow?
Tropico 6 https://store.steampowered.com/app/492720/Tropico_6/