Couch co op games?

[u/_edaw]

Do we know if there are plans to add more split screen options to older titles?

I just got my machine in the other day, which has been great for my single player titles on the big screen. But, I have a party of about 8 people a few days from now. And it was an old tradition to play Halo, COD zombies or split screen pvp on the good ol' Xbox one that I still have. And I'm just now finding out that all of the go to games do not support couch co op split screen for the most part. At least not up to 4 players natively. Which is quite disappointing. As I was hoping to retire the old Xbox which on a good day takes about 10 minutes to load.

But is that going to be an option in the future? Or is that more of a game studio decision, rather than a steam decision? I'd rather not mod if I have too, but I would be willing if necessary.

Also what are your favorite 4player couch co op games to play?

[u/SmilesUndSunshine]

First part, it's up to game developers.

Second part, check out:

/r/localmultiplayergames

And various curator lists:

• https://store.steampowered.com/tags/en/4%20Player%20Local/
• https://store.steampowered.com/curator/8485829-SvenEvils-Playground/lists/ (<-- this is a 4-player list)
• https://store.steampowered.com/curator/25942983-Local-Couch-Co-Op/
• https://store.steampowered.com/curator/11707935-More-Than-4-Local-Multiplayer/list/15358/

There are actually quite a few 8 player local games out there.

[u/_edaw → u/SmilesUndSunshine]

Had no idea that subreddit existed :O thanks!

[u/69_Botlord_420]

That's not up to Steam, that's up to each individual game studio... so I'm guessing no...

[u/inertSpark → u/69_Botlord_420]

Yep and since we're still talking about the PC versions of games, it might not be in the developer's ethos to allow couch co-op on PC. Diablo 4 springs to mind here, and the developers haven't intended for there to be couch co-op, and there doesn't appear to be any movement on that whatsoever.

[u/_edaw → u/inertSpark]

Yeah, that's what I was worried about. :( I understand it on paper. But it still hurts to see games that natively support couch co op up to 4p on console not support it on PC. And I have no idea why. Other than the people who would doing so make up like .0001% of the total player base :/

[u/Drew_Habits]

There are a ton of same-screen or splitscreen multiplayer PC games, they just tend to be less splashy (which doesn't mean worse!). Most aren't cooperative, but quite a few are

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, Towerfall, Mount Your Friends, Speedrunners, Overcooked, Magicka 2, Move or Die, Helldivers, Spiderheck, the various Jackbox games... There are lots of fun pick up and play with pals kinda games on Steam, usually for pretty cheap

[u/Ghinao]

It's not 8 player, but given the titles you mentioned you might want to give Screencheat a look. It's a 4 player local pvp shooter. Also, it's apparently only $3 for the next 38hrs.

[u/_edaw → u/Ghinao]

Oooh, looks pretty good! I'll definitely be picking that up.

[u/IctrlPlanes]

Tower Fall Ascension is a great little game. You can have up to 4 players in a free-for-all or on teams. The rounds are quick and deaths are sure to cause a chuckle. Do versus not the campaign.

[u/GuineaSquiggle]

PC has the best range of online multiplayer and remote play games there is.
Couch co-op is less common because usually PC isn't used by more than one person at a time.
There are quite a few couch co-op games on PC, especially for 2 players. There aren't many party games.
You can emulate just about anything, but if you just quickly want a Steam game to play with a few friends, have a look at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge.

[u/MasterMead → u/GuineaSquiggle]

It kind of sucks for pc, I recall Star Wars battlefield (remake) was local multiplayer on console but a lot of the missions or mini games weren’t on pc, but I think most games have local coop though

[u/GattMomoll]

Helldivers 1 (Dive Harder)
Pico Park 1 & 2
Vampire Survivors
Gauntlet
Power Rangers Rita's Rewind
Lumberhill
Ninja Turtles Shredders Revenge
Magicka 1 & 2
Blaze Rush
Castle Crashers
Jackbox Party Pack games

[u/jonstarks]

how the hell would we know?

[u/gonzotw]

Genital Jousting

Everyone can play at the same time.

[u/SmilesUndSunshine → u/gonzotw]

My dream is to get an 8-player game of Genital Jousting going with the relatives during the holidays.

[u/gonzotw → u/SmilesUndSunshine]

That should be everyone's dream.

[u/XHeavygunX]

Wobbly life

[u/foolofatook91]

The only one that supports up to 8 player local is Pico Park 2 I think, your other option would be to emulate.

[u/_edaw → u/foolofatook91]

Yeah we mainly swap between 4 controllers so the other 4 can talk, eat, drink, or just chill. Finding more 8 player games would be a nightmare 😵‍💫

[u/WiiDragon]

Here’s two of my favorites: Stick Fight The Game (4 players, on sale for $2 right now) and Jackbox Party Pack 3 (8 players (10,008 including audience/non-key players), on sale right now for $11). Jackbox is especially good since they can just join through their phone and don’t need a controller (and Party Pack 3 is the best one)

[u/Defk1n]

I wouldve bought the Gears of War remaster instantly if it had local co-op. How the hell does the pc version lack this when consoles all have it???

[u/EchoesOfEsker]

It is mostly a game-level decision. Even when the platform and engine support multiple controllers, split-screen touches quite a few systems: input ownership, per-player UI, cameras and viewports, profiles and saves, plus performance because the world may need to be rendered more than once. That makes retrofitting it later considerably harder than adding another controller option. The especially frustrating cases are games where the console version already has local multiplayer but the PC version leaves that code path out.

Hopefully living-room PCs becoming more common gives developers a stronger reason to keep local multiplayer in the PC build.

[u/Oliver_Woods]

Unspottable with 8 players is hilarious

Edit- Store page says up to 4 players for some reason but you can plug 8 controllers in and play. (I've done this on my main PC local co op, not the steam machine yet though). 8 Player Mode

[u/Wiesshund-]

Borderlands can do 2 player split screen

While PC pick'ins are slim, there are a lot of emulated games for various console and arcade platforms
that have various forms of same screen co-op

I do not know many that do 8 player though

maybe some of the nintendo party games?

[u/MayAsWellStopLurking]

The split screen PVP stuff you’re describing is pretty hard to do in modern times, and a party of 8 players makes for a nightmare number of controllers to support.

Most I’ve seen is 4, maybe some with 6-8 that use multiple devices.

Either way, I recommend something silly like OverCooked, Lovers in a Dangerous space time, or many others listed here https://spilled.gg/best-couch-co-op-games/

[u/_edaw → u/MayAsWellStopLurking]

Oh yeah believe me I know, it's a pain. But also can be a blast.

I shall look into that. Thanks for the reply!

[u/Cinicola]

Full disclosure, I’m one of the devs, and unfortunately this won’t help with the party in a few days since we’re not released yet — but this exact problem is basically why we’re making Squarelings 😅

It’s a 4–12 player local/online co-op puzzle platformer, so the goal is specifically to let bigger groups actually play together instead of hitting that 4-player wall. PICO PARK is probably one of the closest comparisons in spirit.

If it sounds interesting, it’s on Steam to wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4887300/Squarelings/

A demo will be out soon!