Have you played asymmetrical co-op games?

[Lauren Morton]

Hey PC gamers, welcome back to the chat log! This week Mollie and I called on the PC Gaming Show editorial director Jake Tucker to talk about asymmetrical co-op games. It's such a bland name for a subgenre but I don't know of any better one. I'm open to suggestions though. Anyhow, we're talking about things like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, the We Were Here series, It Takes Two, etc. Games where you and your co-op partner(s) are either split up performing different parts of the story or have totally different mechanics in the game.

Have you played any asymmetrical co-op games?​

There are so few of these that we know of that it feels like a time to just ask: have you played one? We talked about some other examples you may have heard of:

• Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
• We Were Here
• The Dark Pictures Anthology (and other Supermassive games)
• It Takes Two
• Fear 3
• Operation Tango
• Clandestine

Can you name others we haven't thought of?

 

[Alm]

I played A Way Out. I can't think of too many others though off the top of my head.

 

[Brian Boru]

I fear this may prove to be a lonely thread

My answer: No.

 

[steeleman21]

I remember playing Keep Talking a lot with friends when that came out, that was a great little party game. I also recall asking my wife to print off the manual for the game from uni, as she got free printing as a lecturing assistant (I think I still have that manual sitting around somewhere... 😅)
EDIT: I forgot to mention, I had an early Oculus Rift DK2 at the time, so it was a total blast playing it with the headset - I recall a housewarming turning into chaos when a group of about 10 of us were screaming and shouting at each other trying to defuse some bomb 😂

Also had so much fun going through It Takes Two, that game is just constantly mutating by introducing new mechanics and systems, but it stays fun and fresh throughout its entire runtime in my opinion.

I wish I could say the same for The Dark Pictures games; I've played Man of Medan and Little Hope, as a big fan of horror films and games, hoping this could be an interesting attempt at something new. But playing it both asymm (separate PC/laptops playing simultaneously) and party-mode (taking turns sharing one controller), neither game really satisfied me and I found them a total slog to get through. The amount of slow-paced walking in dark environments probably counts for 80% of gameplay, I was really disappointed. I will say that playing asymm was definitely a more exciting experience, but not good enough for me to really recommend to anyone.

I've not played any of the We Were Here games yet, but I have some keys from Humble Bundles I believe, so I'll be giving them a go at some point!

 

[Lauren Morton]

I fear this may prove to be a lonely thread

My answer: No.

Do a podcast week about an underappreciated subgenre, Lauren said. It'll be a great idea, she said!

I've not played any of the We Were Here games yet, but I have some keys from Humble Bundles I believe, so I'll be giving them a go at some point!

I'm personally a big advocate for these and highly recommend them! It's definitely worth starting with the first game (the free one) in my opinion. The second and third games have some tricky sections like I mentioned and probably better if you're familiar with the way the whole thing works before getting dunked in the deep end.

 

[Camalamabamajam]

Would any of the Lego games count? Mostly thinking back to my childhood playing the Lego Star Wars games and the various puzzles from them.

 

[Alm]

I find asymmetric PVP games interesting. My sister used to play a lot of The Hidden, a Half Life 2 mod where one player was a test subject on the loose. They were invisible, super quick, and only had a knife. And the other players were armed with m4 type rifles, aimed at killing the invisible player.

 

[Frindis]

I have tried a couple: Dead by Daylight and Evil Dead: The Game. Evil Dead was more interesting since I love the lore, but overall I don't find those types of games interesting in the long run.

 

[Zloth]

Do a podcast week about an underappreciated subgenre, Lauren said. It'll be a great idea, she said!

Historians are going to love it! Look for a big wave of likes in about 40 years.