Image: EA
If you’re spending Valentine’s Day indoors, we’ve got a few games that you and your partner should absolutely check out.
Ah, Valentine’s Day. The season of love and loneliness. Most couples have probably made plans to celebrate the day outdoors, but here’s a gentle reminder that there’s always fun to be had indoors too. Whether you’re cooking your partner a special meal or gifting them a chocolate bouquet, there’s an endless list of things you can do at home to spend time with each other. Our personal favourite? Surprise, surprise: it’s videogames.
Here are five fantastic multiplayer games you can play with your partner:
It Takes Two
Cody and May are unhappily married, and they’re getting a divorce. You wouldn’t think that premise makes for great Valentine’s Day material, but it totally does! When the married couple deliver news of their imminent divorce to their daughter Rose, Rose uses handmade dolls of her parents to simulate the two of them getting back together. Due to some unfortunate magical shenanigans, Cody and May then find themselves trapped inside these dolls with only one way of returning to the real world: playing along with the fiendish machinations of a talking book named Dr. Hakim, as the self-proclaimed love expert tries to fix their ailing relationship.
It Takes Two comes from Hazelight Studios, a developer that has all but cemented itself as the master of modern co-op games. The entire game is playable in splitscreen local co-op, and it constantly throws new environments, enemies and mechanics at players at a breathless pace. It’s wickedly fun to play, and the perfect choice for a Valentine’s Day spent gaming.
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Any Lego game would work in this list, really. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is simply the best Lego game we’ve played in a long time, melding franchise nostalgia with overhauled gameplay mechanics to make a really solid third-person action game. Everything you love about Lego games is still here: hundreds of unlockable characters, splitscreen multiplayer, fun puzzle-solving and parodies galore. On top of that, you get a Lego game that’s trying to inject life into an old formula with a new camera perspective, surprisingly beautiful visuals and rock-solid combat.
Overcooked! 1 and 2
The Overcooked! duology are some of the absolute best co-op games around, and they work especially well if you have a friend or partner who isn’t as skilled at gaming. Up to four players can work together via local co-op to navigate chaotic kitchens and deliver food to increasingly demanding customers. Don’t mistake this for a lackadaisical restaurant sim, however. Overcooked! is a frenzied chaos machine that uses varying objectives, level design and kitchen tasks to constantly keep players off balance.
Overcooked! 2 builds upon the original with improved visuals and quality-of-life changes (like throwing ingredients at each other), but it’s really just another helping of a dish you just can’t get enough of. Play the first, then the second, and then wait with bated breath for a third to come out like the rest of us.
Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley is one of the cosiest games in existence. It’s Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon and a surprisingly robust dating sim all in one - the ultimate package. You play as a city kid who moves out to the countryside after inheriting a massive plot of farmland from your grandfather. As you plant crops and build up a profit, you’ll also meet and grow close to the colourful residents of Stardew Valley, a sprawling place that includes mines filled with monsters, beaches populated by hunks and a wizard hiding in the wilds.
With two players, the game becomes less progression-focused and more about completing day-to-day tasks together. Whether you’re battling monsters in the mines, expanding your field of crops or plotting to marry one another in-game, this is the perfect game to snuggle up to for a night.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
One of these is not like the others. Some couples are more into competitive games than cooperative ones, and that’s more than fair - so why not try out a few rounds of a fighting game? Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has built up an unbelievable roster of fighters throughout the years, but most of them can be picked up by players of any skill level. While Mortal Kombat 11 could give an edge to players who know combos by heart, a newbie can make use of items and easy-to-learn controls to gain the upper hand much more easily here.
