One of the plans that I liked the most when I was in high school was “the geek afternoon.” Basically, three friends and a server would meet on Friday at someone’s house (normally my parents’ house), we would buy all kinds of candy, chips and soft drinks and we would spend the afternoon and much of the night playing split-screen ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II‘ (the good one, the PlayStation 3 one). Nothing else mattered. There were no skins, battle passes or micropayments beyond the DLCs that added maps and that, just buying one, was more than enough.

I also loved hitting on my brother in ‘Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3‘ (Gogeta vs Gogeta, no fail), pass levels in ‘Little Big Planet‘, not to mention the mythical ones ‘Buzz‘, one of the great inventions for PlayStation 2 and 3. The games were social, but real. Not social in the sense of playing with another person over an Internet connection, but sitting down to play with your friends or family and spending some time together.

But that’s over. The industry, however, began to move in another direction. PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 already showed us a future with online multiplayer video games (something that was already the norm on PC) and that trend was definitively established with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Multiplayer games turned towards online mode, to play with your friends without physical barriers. It made sense, of course: online became paid.

Another trend that the industry embraced without problems was games as a service, that is, titles free to play (or not) that are constantly fed by seasons, micropayments, cosmetics and loot boxes (now gone, but replaced by gachapones and battle passes). All of these games, competitive and online by default, practically eliminated the possibility of playing with friends on a console, on the same TV. Games were no longer games, they were services, online experiences, communities. They became more social than ever and, at the same time, more individual.

Nintendo. Although there are exceptions, the Japanese Nintendo seems to be the only one that continues to understand games as toys, as things to enjoy in company. The Nintendo Switch has not only sold millions and millions of units because of its price and quality, but because its entire proposal revolves around sharing. All multiplayer games, or practically all, can be played online, but also locally. Simply take out a Joy-Con and give it to someone else.

That explains the success of games like ‘Mario Kart 8 Deluxe‘, all multiplayer ‘Mario’, ‘Smash Bros.’ and company. They are social games in the literal sense of the word. Nintendo has not needed ray tracingDLSS, FSR and other words that we associate with graphic quality to be the undisputed winner in sales, far above PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. A console that I can take anywhere and with which I can play with my partner or friends so easily? Give me one, please.

Little joys that life gives. In a world as… connected as the current one, it is nice that, from time to time, proposals appear that take games back to what they once were. Nobody will deny that a game of ‘Call of Duty’, a ‘Fortnite‘ with colleagues or a game in ‘EA Sport FC 25’ is always popular, but there is still a fairly large audience that still wants to pick up a controller, give another to their partner, lie down on the couch and cooperate on the same screen, on a same console, to do something together.

We have the clearest proof in ‘It Takes Two’, one of the most beautiful surprises that video games have given us recently. GOTY of the year 2021, ‘It Takes Two’ proposed a split-screen cooperative multiplayer game, but for real. We had to cooperate, it was the only way to move forward. The game was developed by Hazelight Studios, which had just released ‘Way Out‘, another local cooperative experience, and it worked like a charm: 20 million copies sold, countless prizes and the feeling upon finishing it that there won’t be another game like it in a long time.

In the line of ‘It Takes Two’ are the always recommended ‘Overcooked‘, a cooperative split-screen cooking game that will test your partner’s stability, your nerves and mettle. Very fun. It is also recommended ‘Bread & Fred‘, a friendly and challenging cooperative penguin game; and ‘Unravel Two‘, more emotional, narrative and simple than the previous ones, but equally recommended.

The exceptions. The problem with these single payment games, without micropayments, without a battle pass, without skins and that do not depend on an Internet connection is that they are a unicorn. They are the exceptions, small oases in a sector that has pivoted towards the competitive and towards making us pay for our character to have a new dress, a funny dance or for our weapon to have an effect that we do not pay attention to while we play.

But not all players want that. I’m the first one who loves to spend two or three hours shooting ‘Delta Force’ and I plan to put countless hours into ‘Path of Exile II‘, but I also want to be able to lie on the couch with my partner, for each of us to take our controller and let’s play not to compete, not to unlock a dance, not to be better than a random person, but to have fun. Because that is the ultimate goal of games: to amuse, to entertain.

The return to the origins. There are studies that have realized that there is still room for games with local multiplayer. That’s why it’s exciting that the parents of ‘It Takes Two’ have announced ‘Split Fiction‘, their new cooperative proposal that will arrive in 2025. The trailer shown looks phenomenal, but it doesn’t even need to be better than ‘It Takes Two’. Even though it’s just as fun, it has more than enough to make you rock it again.

On the other hand, the creators of ‘Overcooked’, Ghost Town Games, are working on a local cooperative game called ‘Stage Fright‘. The game will be published by Hello Games, the studio behind ‘No Man’s Sky’, and again, the idea is to offer a local cooperative experience that pivots more towards action and horror (softer, nothing scary by any means). This one, unfortunately, has no release date for now.

Another brand that stands out for its cooperative games is ‘LEGO‘. While it is true that their titles tend to have a more childish character and, with very few exceptions, hardly pose a challenge to experienced players, they are fun. Normally they are franchise games (‘Star Wars’, ‘Harry Potter’…) and nothing more than the level design, the familiarity of the plot and the settings and the possibility of playing on a split screen, they are already worth it .

We need more games like this, more social games, more games that bring us together like board games bring us together. And please, let the ‘Buzz’ return.

Cover image | Electronic Arts

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