Hey everyone! Despite my efforts, my fiancé really doesn’t get into video games much. Mechanical skill limitations frustrate her, and sometimes her attention span for games isn’t high when she could read a book or watch a show, I want to try a new tactic to see if it works: games where she can be a “backseat driver.”
I’m mainly thinking of story focused games that aren’t reliant on mechanical skill and where having a second person watching can meaningfully contribute.
Some games I’ve thought of are the Phoenix Wright games, and Return of the Obra Dinn. Does anyone else have suggestions for games I could try to play with her?
Steamdeck verified games preferred, so I can play while docked to our TV.
My wife and I call this “Single controller co-op”.
There are classic point and click adventure games that work well like the Monkey Island series, or more recently Thimbleweed park. Any game with a significant puzzle element works well too - we’ve really enjoyed Tunic.
Thimbleweed park took me by surprise and really loved that game,
I suggest Telltale games, like the walking dead and the wolf among us. You can make choices together to shape your own story. It’s more like watching a TV show together.
Currently paying Outer Wilds in my steam deck while docked to a tv. It’s been very engaging and fun for my wife and I to sit down and try and solve an interstellar mystery while winding down for the night.
Interesting game with good art style and interesting mechanics.
I keep seeing this in steam but haven’t actually checked it out yet
If you decide to go for it, don’t read too much, just go in blind.
My two cents; I’m in a very similar boat with my GF, and Outer Wilds was unfortunately a bit too slow paced and open ended for her, so I ended up completing it by myself (and absolutely loving it). Same with The Witness unfortunately. Both are very much in my personal top three though.
But to make it not all negative, some recommendations!
We enjoyed The Room series by Fireproof Games a lot. It’s an escape room puzzle box type of a deal with a really cool, slightly creepy atmosphere, and there’s multiple games out already. The games are quite linear and focused, so my GF didn’t bounce off. We’re escape room junkies and haven’t found a better digital fix. Escape Room Simulator is decent, but not quite up there in production quality.
Another fun one is the games by Rusty Lake. They’re mechanically similar, if a bit less flashy than The Room, but the puzzles are mostly fun and the story/atmosphere/music is really neat.
And yeah, Obra Dinn is absolutely our number one favorite game, but that one was already mentioned.
My girlfriend and I really enjoyed playing Life is Strange together like this. I think we both enjoyed the setting and characters quite a bit (high school in the Pacific Northwest). We tried Life is strange 2, but never really got into it.
Also tried to like Life is Strange 2 and 3, but really couldn’t. Have you tried Before The Storm? It’s really great as well!
These are all story based games where the player must make decisions, which is a great way of involving someone who is not actively playing:
- Tell Me Why
- Detroit: Become Human
- Heavy Rain
- Beyond: Two Souls
- Life is Strange
- Telltale Games
- Until Dawn
Telltale games are perfect. It’s usually solving a puzzle and picking dialogue. And quick time events are usually slowed down
You should really check out this YouTube channel https://youtube.com/@GirlfriendReviews
Their content schedule had slowed down a lot recently because they got married. But their whole schtick is about games that are fun for backseat gamers.
Wouldn’t it be called WifeReview instead?
They’re not changing the name.
Detroit: Becoming Human, you can make the endless decisions together Live is Strange, as others already said
I think Girlfriend Reviews will agree with me here, but the Resident Evil series is probably the best backseat gamer experience. I’d recommend the new one, Village.
Control. It has god mode built in the settings. My wife liked it when the enemies can’t hurt her and auto aim makes running through enemies much faster for non experienced aimers.
Oh, I think I have the perfect series of games to you because they also work as movies, sort of.
Check out the dark pictures anthology, until dawn and the quarry, all developed by supermassive games.
Here’s a trailer: https://youtu.be/3NcF7EOnjow
If you want something that’s less horror based, check out oxenfree.
Detroit: Become Human was my favorite of this sort of game. Not in the horror genera though. My wife loved watching me play it and giving suggestions.
Other than the puzzle games already mentioned, I’d recommend Hidden Folks if you enjoy the “Where’s Wally” gameplay. You will need the TV though, as the Deck’s screen is probably too small for two people to play comfortably.
Return of the Obra Dinn!
I think generally any puzzle game will work, you can try solving the puzzles together and you’ll be the one moving the character.
puzzle games in general would be engaging. In my experience having someone backseat a puzzle game can increase the enjoyment for both people. It’s fun to have 2 peoples takes on a problem and have them eventually combine into a solution. Maybe try portal 2
As someone who enjoys backseat driving games, I liked Bug Fables (cute Paper Mario inspired rpg) and Omori (psychological horror rpg).
On Switch, I enjoyed Paper Mario: The Origami King. There’s a lot of hidden things to notice so I actually felt like I was helping, and the story was fun.
There are some battles that might take a while, and if I got bored I would check my phone. But overall I feel like I played the games without having touched the controller.
