I’ve recently been getting beaten up by nasty bosses in really tough games because they are the perfect games for co-op evenings with my girlfriend.
It’s a cool winter evening. The workday is over, the lights in the neighboring houses are slowly going out, and the gaming PC is purring on the edge of the desk. The perfect time to beat up some nasty characters in co-op with my girlfriend.
We have chosen roguelites as the ideal co-op games for us. These are games that derive from the 1980s dungeon crawler “Rogue.” In the now 45-year-old game, you have to explore a dungeon and find treasures. All roguelites have one thing in common: When you die, your run ends – death is a fixed and intentional part of these games.
While a roguelike must meet specific criteria like permadeath and turn-based gameplay, roguelites only need to include some components of the original. Many roguelites, like Hades, Cult of the Lamb, or Dead Cells, therefore offer the possibility of achieving permanent progress in the form of levels, new weapons, or abilities.
From mutated onions to King Arthur
Last year, we actually played every new co-op roguelite that came out on Steam. The highlights were primarily Rotwood – where we fight mutated forest inhabitants with cute little creatures, including rampaging onions – and Temtem Swarm – which is similar to Vampire Survivors, just with the little monsters from the creature-collector Temtem. We also really enjoyed Windblown, where we fight evil machines with warriors in animal form.
Currently, we’re playing Sworn. The game is fundamentally constructed like the successful title Hades: you grab a weapon and start a run. This ends when you finally die or complete the whole game without failing. For this, you have to traverse numerous rooms with enemies.
When you complete a room, you get a reward. This can be permanent currency or an ability that enhances your light attacks with poison or your heavy attacks with ice. After a few rooms with easy enemies comes a miniboss, and a few rooms later, a powerful knight from the Round Table. This continues until we have defeated a total of 3 bosses and 3 minibosses. In the end, King Arthur himself awaits us.
Healing is only rarely available for our brave fighters.
Never has losing been so much fun
In roguelites, there is often no proper victory – after all, the entire game must be completed from start to finish in one run. This usually takes several runs, as our character only gets stronger piece by piece, and we first have to learn the attack patterns of the various bosses. Instead, we take joy in the fact that we’ve made it a bit further in the latest attempt than last time.
Often a run fails because I’ve once again taken way too much damage and in the final boss fight simply don’t have enough life to last long. I’m particularly good at dodging either a tad too early or too late – or I jump right into the attack of the opponent and blame my controller or some mysterious input lag.
I swear I dodged in another direction.
But no matter how much damage I take and how stupidly I die in a boss fight, we steadily progress in the games. Every time I lie beaten on the ground, my girlfriend manages to hold her own against our adversary for several minutes and is usually the driving force that ultimately defeats him and revives me.
I’m not a noob, but I play with a god-gamer
One of my biggest problems in games like Sworn, Windblown, and Rotwood is that I regularly take smaller hits. This steadily drains my health bar and makes it difficult for me to progress in later rooms. Additionally, I struggle when too many colorful effects are displayed on the screen at the same time. Then I lose track and overlook an attack that then hits me.
Overall, I’m not the best at roguelites, but I’m not completely bad either. My girlfriend, on the other hand, is really good. She has genuinely enjoyed playing these games for years and has effortlessly completed many roguelites like Hades or Cult of the Lamb. It’s really fun to watch her zoom through the boss arenas and take on even the mightiest opponents.
I’m sure she can defeat any opponent in a roguelite relatively quickly.
Roguelites are great co-op games – even if you don’t have a carry
Roguelites are really the perfect games for playing together. They are action-packed and challenging. We can play them together without other players, and the general gameplay loop is enjoyable for both of us. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy beating up grim-looking onions with fast attack combos and escaping the devastating attacks of a boss with quick dodges?
If you ask me, co-op roguelites are not only suitable for couples where at least one player is a master of the genre. What’s important is that you enjoy the game mechanics and always stay positive. Even if you keep failing, that’s not bad because you don’t fail alone. Shared misery is half the misery and all that. Eventually, you’ll succeed, and then you can celebrate your shared victory.
For example, we also played Cuphead together, which is generally considered quite difficult in some sections. There were moments when the game really frustrated me. But when we finally defeated that bastard of a boss who had been flattening us the whole time, the shared joy was even greater. Those are the really lovely moments!
Perfect if you’re competitive but don’t want PvP
Roguelites, soulslikes, and other games considered relatively difficult have a special appeal for me. I prefer playing shooters and am generally a very competitive gamer. You’ll usually find me in PvP games, especially in tactical shooters like Rainbow: Six Siege and Valorant. However, I would never force my girlfriend to play shooters with me if she doesn’t enjoy it.
Roguelites tap into the part of my gamer personality that pulls me into PvP games: they bring out my ambition. I want to get better, I want to kick the boss’s ass in the next run, I want to conquer the challenge that the game and its completion offers me. So it’s quite simple:
We both enjoy roguelites together – it’s nice to laugh together about how I’ve jumped into an attack like an idiot once again, and it’s nice to achieve successes together.
