Hallelujah, Couch Multiplayer Survives!
- Robert Chaplin Dewey
- Nov 4, 2018
- 5 min read
It's death is oft-lamented, and certainly big publishers have long spurned it, but couch multiplayer still lives even on the more traditional consoles. It is still possible to invite your mates round to your house and all have a good time playing the same game at the same time on the same screen. Here, in no particular order, are 9 of the best couch multiplayers on the PS4 and Xbox One!
1. Overcooked 1 & 2
Type: Cooperative
Players: 1-4
Controllers needed: 1 controller for every 2 players
Warning: only play this with really really good friends because Overcooked will put those relationships through the absolute wringer. If you manage to come out the over side however you will love each other that little bit more and have had an absolute blast of a time. The Overcooked games put you and up to 3 friends in kitchens of increasingly nonsensical design and given 3 to 4 minutes to get through as many orders as possible. The orders come thick and fast and the only way to cope and work your way around whatever hateful problems the kitchen is throwing at you is to delegate and communicate with supreme effectiveness. But most likely you and your friends will shout, scream and laugh your way through the 30 or so levels and immediately want to do it all over again in the equally delicious sequel.
2. Stikbold
Type: Competitive
Players: 1-4
Controllers needed: 1 controller for each player
Stikbold pits you and your friends against each other (or the CPU) in dastardly games of something that resembles the sport of dodgeball reimagined by a looney tunes villain. Not only are you having to contend with dodgeball itself, but the various arenas the game has to offer contain hazards which include swans trying to break your arm, sharks looking to chomp you down in one and rogue floor waxers that'll insta-crush you. The controls are easy to learn and pretty impossible to master which might sound like a negative but if you've ever played Smash bros with Adam you'll know avoiding that awkward moment where one of your party is far too good at a game and is taking the fun out it can be a good thing.
3. Screencheat
Type: Competitive
Players: 1-4
Controllers needed: 1 controller for each player
Flipping the first person shooter completely on its head is no mean feat so massive props to the guys behind screencheat for acknowledging the problem that many couch multiplayer shooters have and twisting it in to a core gameplay element. To "screencheat" in a couch multiplayer FPS is to, intentionally or not, allow your gaze to dart quickly to the portion of the screen that is for your opponent and use the knowledge of their whereabouts gained with this disreputable tactic to seize the advantage and home in on them. Screencheat, the game that is, plays in to this particular facet of couch multiplayer by making all the players avatars invisible on screen meaning you can only know where your adversaries are by looking at their screens and attempting to gauge their position based on the angle of their camera and what it's looking at. All this while they're moving and looking at your portion of the screen trying to work out where you are. It's brilliantly clever and makes for really compelling gameplay. It has enough game modes and silly weapons to keep things interesting and you coming back for more.
4. Rocket League
Type: Competitive
Players: 1-4
Controllers needed: 1 controller for each player
Easily the biggest name on this list. Rocket league blew up a couple of years ago now but remains a great choice for a fun couch multiplayer session with some mates. Rocket powered cars playing football, basketball or ice hockey pretty much sells itself and it is just as much silly fun as it sounds. The five minute matches are just the right length to keep you saying "oh just one more" even after hours of playing and the customising of vehicles and great abundance of modifiers to play around with keep things fresh. The only downside to this game is that it is actually a sequel to "Super-Sonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars" and for some reason they chickened out of keeping that obviously superior name. For shame.
5. Jack Box
Type: Competitive and Cooperative
Players: 3-8
Controllers needed: 1 smartphone or laptop for each player
There are now a total of 5 Jackbox Part packs and I must confess to have only played numbers 2 and 3. The ones I have played have been fantastic times and are great for a larger crowd, particularly when alcohol gets thrown in to the mix too. Each party pack contains five or so different games which generally revolve around all the players drawing or writing a response to a prompt which has either appeared on screen to all or secretly to just whatever device you are using. It is worth looking through which games are on each and which sound the most fun for your group but Quiplash, which is on 2 & 3, is a Cards Against Humanity-esque classic whilst faking it on party pack 3 is a personal favourite for groups of friends wanting to get to know each other that bit more.
6. Gang Beasts
Type: Competitive
Players: 1-4
Controllers needed: 1 controller each
Gang Beasts is a game which I've played at least several times now and I'm still not really sure what the controls are exactly. To say that you and your friends take control of the gelatinous avatars would be overselling how much your characters actually seem to respond to the button inputs your giving and ignoring just how much they seem to flail about manically. Nevertheless you and your friends will be desperately attempting to grab, punch, head-but or just run away from each other in this hilarious brawler game that just doesn't make any sense. Simple, unexplainable fun.
7. Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
Type: Cooperative
Players: 2-4
Controllers needed: 1 controller each
In this delight of a game, players all work together to steer and fight a singular spaceship through maze-like maps in search of space rabbits to rescue. There is the steering wheel, a shield which can only cover about a quarter of your ship at once, four different turrets and a super cannon that needs charging for you and your crew-mates to all share responsibility. Things get frantic pretty quickly, particularly for those manning the turrets, and stay that way. The gameplay is good fun and new power-ups, enemies and the occasional boss fight throughout the storyline keep things different. I would say with this one particularly it probably isn't really worth doing with just 2 of you.
8. Moon Hunters
Type: Cooperative
Players: 2-4
Controllers needed: 1 controller each
This last one is quite unique on this list in that all the previous entries could be described as "party games". They're high energy games designed to get you laughing and shouting and such. Moon Hunters is definitely not trying to do that. This is a slow paced, chilled out RPG. Players begin by choosing out of several quite archetypal fantasy characters and then set about attempting to save the land in seven in-game days. This is literally impossible first time round and, really, even within the first ten tries extremely unlikely. Players go through this seven day cycle creating new stories and tales and slowly work out how they're supposed to go about actually achieving the ultimate goal of defeating the villain. This is one to be played over many laid back evenings with some good friends. A quite unique and wholesome experience.
9. Speed Runners
Type: Competitive
Players: 1-4
Controllers needed: 1 controller each
A game that is close to our hearts here at NoDLC for reasons I shan't go into here but honestly makes it hard to talk about this objectively. A true masterpiece in which you and up to three friends and run around in circular courses with double jumps, grappling guns (reminiscent of Batman in the Arkham series) and power ups to try and keep up with the leader. If you fall to far behind you're out and so on until one is left. Probably the best game ever made.
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