We may be starting to sound like a broken record with our reiterations of the importance of collaboration to the people at TESSR. But active recall is the best way to get something stuck in your head, isn’t it? However, this time we won’t be discussing the significance of collaboration in a corporate context.
Alternatively, today we’ll offer you a list of 5 video games intended for collaboration! If you’re looking for cooperatives, read on!
1. We Were Here
Initial release date: February 3rd, 2017
Genre: Puzzle, Adventure, Indie, Free-to-play
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Xbox Series X and Series S, Mac operating systems
Developer: Total Mayhem Games, TMG Studios B.V.
We Were Here is the first instalment in the franchise of the same name. First released in 2017, this first-person puzzle game had two players undertake different roles. In the game, the players are Antarctic explorers, split up and lost in a castle, who have nothing but walkie-talkies to communicate. The first explorer is confined in a small, isolated area of the castle—while the second is left to wander its halls to find the other player.
The game tests how well you’re able to relay and receive messages. The wandering explorer needs to describe what puzzle they're facing, and the secluded explorer has to use the resources in their surroundings, like books, maps or charts, to solve them. The catch is that the secluded explorer cannot physically intervene in the puzzles. Rather, they have to deduce and describe what they think the wandering explorer has to do, in order to solve tasks.
2. It Takes Two
Initial release date: March 25th, 2021
Genre: Puzzle, Action-adventure
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Developer: Hazelight Studios
This critically acclaimed video game is a split-screen puzzle platformer, which follows a dwarfed husband and wife. They’re both real people trapped in the bodies of their daughter’s dolls, as a consequence of her tears falling onto their miniatures at the news of their divorce. The pair has to make their way from their shed to their house, by fulfilling their respective roles and collective goals.
It’s a bizarre setting, with level environments like the crystalised insides of a kaleidoscope or nightclubs hidden inside ventilation systems. But where collaboration comes in is in each puzzle. More often than not, players would have to complete things in tandem, or take turns to unlock things for each other. Ultimately, the puzzles in this game cannot be completed singlehandedly. For example—and spoiler alert—when facing a cut wire, one player has to stand in its place to act as a conductor, while the other must press a button to activate the contraption.
3. Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Initial release date: July 16th, 2015
Genre: Puzzle, Indie
Platforms: Android, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, Linux, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One
Developer: Steel Crate Games
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is, again, a puzzle game. Players are assigned to procedurally generated bombs, in which they must defuse. Two individuals assume the role of either the Defuser who faces the bomb, or the Expert, who carries the defusal manual. Uniquely, only one player has to be looking at a screen. The Expert can simply print out a physical copy of the manual!
Similar to We Were Here, the Defuser must describe what they are seeing, and the Expert must deduce and relay the solution verbally. Experts cannot see the bomb, and Defusers cannot see the manual. Each bomb consists of differing panels and modules, and do not have to be solved in any particular order. There are two ways to lose a level; run out of time or make the maximum number of mistakes. Either paths end in an explosion.
4. Overcooked!
Initial release date: August 2nd, 2016
Genre: Action game, Simulation Video Game, Indie game, Casual game
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Windows , Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Google Stadia
Developer: Ghost Town Games
Unlike the previous titles, Overcooked! does not require individuals to solve puzzles. Still, the game depends on human interaction. While this game allows people to play solo, it’s designed for multiplayer. It’s a cooking simulation game, where players have to navigate through kitchens littered with obstacles, while trying to fulfil orders from impatient customers. Rice and other cooked items quickly burn and pose as constant fire hazards, and dirty plates fill up sinks—overcooked is a fast-paced game, built to share panic among a group of friends.
It proves difficult to solo the game. Time runs fast in Overcooked!, and there are numerous stations you’d need to run back and forth from. It’s already challenging enough with a few other helping hands, and the chaotic gameplay is best enjoyed with a few others. Orders vary and demand for different things, which often calls for teamwork. The goal of each round is to collect as many coins as possible within the given time limit, which is achieved by completing orders correctly.
5. Don't Starve Together
Initial release date: April 21st, 2016
Genre: Survival, Action-adventure, RPG
Platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Developer: Klei Entertainment
This game is a slight change of pace. It’s the multiplayer counterpart to the first “Don’t Starve” game, an open-world survival rpg. It contains six different playstyles, “survival” being the default mode. This one in particular is best suited for co-op playthroughs, in which dead players turn into ghosts. They can choose to stay as ghosts, to “haunt” objects or other player—however, if all players in a world is dead, the game gives a 120 second warning to respawn before their run resets.
It’s much like the first game, where Don’t Starve Together includes familiar characters, monsters, and fauna—but is scaled to be significantly more difficult. The health of aggressive mobs have been increased, while some playable characters have their stats decreased. This rebalancing was done with the purpose of making the game more challenging, to encourage players to work together—to ensure they don’t starve.
*Bonus: Portal 2 (multiplayer mode)
Initial release date: April 18, 2011
Genre: Puzzle, Adventure
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux, GeForce Now, Classic Mac OS
Developer: Valve Corporation
The portal games are giants in the industry. They’re well-loved and have influenced numerous titles that come after it. However, the portal games are built for the singleplayer experience—its story calls for it. The unique puzzle game follows Chell, the silent protagonist, who has been forced to act as a lab rat for the AI GLaDOS to test the Portal Gun. With it, Chell has to solve puzzles by creating inter-spatial portals and utilising the basic principles of physics.
So, where does collaboration come into play? In Portal 2, there’s a cooperative campaign mode. Two players assume the role of Atlas and P-body, the robots. This second game introduces novel mechanics, like light bridges and excursion funnels—but include new features specific to its multiplayer mode. Players can now temporarily split screens, ping others and start countdowns, among other functions. Chambers in the cooperative campaign require teamwork and cannot be solved by just one player. During its development, if a co-op level was tested and found to be achievable by a single person, it’d get sent back to the drawing board.
Overview
Collaboration is versatile concept—evidently so—and in recent years, game developers have realised this. Not to say that it’s a newfound concept, as cooperatives have always existed in the industry. But games made to be played with one friend or more have been gaining popularity. Lethal Company and Content Warning have taken the internet by storm—albeit that these two games don’t necessarily demand large groups. In a nutshell, collaboration still has a lot of potential in video games, and I’m excited to see where the industry takes it. Author Bio
From Malaysia, Leia Emeera is a writer at TESSR, and a published author. She has been putting pen to paper ever since she learned how to, and has an anthology to her name, titled 'Ten'. Leia loves music, games and her beloved Labrador Retriever, George. She aims to further her studies in English Literature and Creative Writing the moment her gap year ends. 'Till then, you will find her sitting behind a desk, writing with TESSR.
Connect with her on LinkedIn: Leia Emeera
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