14 couch co-op games to play with your partner this Valentine's

Looking to spend some quality time with your significant other? Why not celebrate your love through the wonderful medium of video games? Whether it’s solving puzzles or causing chaos, video games with co-op offer a Valentine’s date night experience that can be just as intimate as a romantic stroll or a fancy dinner.

So, if you want to level up your Valentine’s Day plans — or simply find something new that both parties can engage in — we’ve rounded up some great games that you can play on the couch together as a couple.

1) Snipperclips Plus: Cut It Out, Together!

Playing as little pieces of construction paper in Snipperclips, you can cut shapes out of one another in order to accomplish tasks. The wide variety of challenges includes popping balloons, rotating gears, and even getting balls into hoops. Teamwork and communication are crucial for cutting through the puzzles together. Plus, the colourful worlds and cheeky little faces of your paper pals are things that everyone can enjoy.

Platform(s): Nintendo Switch

2) Portal 2

Portal 2 remains an incredibly immaculate game, and its cooperative campaign is just as magnificent, as the mode forces couples to think creatively and solve complex trick rooms together and make your Valentine’s Day an exciting journey.

With four portals to work with (twice the number from the single-player mode), players will have plenty of mind-bending fun experimenting with the game’s physics. In turn, completing each puzzle room will feel like a team effort, and couples will come out stronger from it.

Platform(s): PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch

3) Untitled Goose Game

Honk honk! For the couples who like to laugh together, Untitled Goose Game is just good, goofy fun. From waddling around honking to stealing objects, you and your partner can team up to terrorise townsfolk together in the game’s local co-op mode.

As it turns out, causing mayhem with a partner-in-crime is a blast.

Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

4) Good Job!

Ever feel like work is taking up too much of your partner’s time? Perhaps you both might want to cause some chaos in the office.

Good Job! shares some similarities with Untitled Goose Game, in that you’re completing tasks while wreaking havoc. With two players, the zaniness increases twofold as projectors get slingshotted past conference rooms and co-workers end up flying across the corporate floor.

Platform(s): Nintendo Switch

5) It Takes Two

Okay, sure, It Takes Two is set against the grim backdrop of a couple going through divorce, but hear us out. The game pushes the boundaries of co-op design by hammering home the idea of communication not just in the gameplay, but in relationships in the real world.

As such, playing games like It Takes Two with your partner may result in the two of you learning to work better together as team and becoming stronger communicators too this Valentine’s.

Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch

6) Don’t Starve Together

Relationships are all about working together and protecting each other. And no other game embodies that more than Don’t Starve Together.

In the game, you’re tasked with surviving in the vast wilderness with your partner. That means gathering resources, crafting tools and items, and building structures to stay safe as you fend off menacing creatures and strange dangers.

Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

7) Team Sonic Racing

If you and your significant other enjoy Mario Kart, but would rather support each other than race competitively, look no further than Team Sonic Racing. Players can trade items with each other in the middle of a race, and even increase their own speed with the help of teammates.

It’s an arcade racer that encourages teamwork, so that you’re outracing your opponents instead of each other. After all, when you’re in a relationship, you’re on the same team.

Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

8) The Quarry

Plenty of couples like to unwind over a movie for date night. If you want to take it a step further, why not put on The Quarry, an interactive adventure game that evokes the thrills of teen slasher films that seems tailor-made for Valentine’s?

You and your partner can take turns passing the controller around, role-playing as different characters in the game. More importantly, your choices can determine who lives and who dies. This adds an extra layer of interactivity to a simple movie experience.

Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

9) Cuphead

Have you shared laughs with your significant other watching The Cuphead Show on Netflix? Why not check out the game?

Cuphead recalls classic run-and-guns like Contra and Metal Slug, alongside vintage 1930s cartoons. It’s a challenging game, so it helps to have a partner by your side keeping up pressure on your enemies. Conquering each boss battle feels cathartic, as if the both of you have just overcome an obstacle together.

Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

10) LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is highly accessible, full of great laughs, and puts a creative spin on one of the greatest franchises of our time. The game covers a whopping nine movies in the Skywalker Saga series of films. So, if you and your special someone are fans of the series, this co-op game has plenty to sink your teeth into even beyond Valentine’s.

There are loads to explore, unlock and collect. There’s also a myriad of things you can do in the game, especially with a co-op partner via split-screen mode.

Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch

11) Haven

Haven is a romantic RPG about love and freedom. In a single-player experience, both of the game’s main characters. But with two lovers at the forefront, playing co-op is a no-brainer.

The game sees players exploring an abandoned alien planet, gathering fruits, pacifying roaming beasts, and cleaning up environmental damage. After a day out, retire home to cook your discoveries, lounge, read books, play board games, get drunk, and even get intimate.

Haven perfectly captures all the joys of being in a relationship. It might just help you and your significant other rediscover what you love about each other.

Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch

12) Stardew Valley

Looking for a simple, chill time with your significant other? A retreat to farming life might be just what you need.

The multiplayer mode in Stardew Valley allows players to share the agriculture action, help each other with quests, and more. You can also dance with each other in the Flower Dance Festival, and even get married to each other in the game and have children. If you want a snapshot of domestic life with your partner, this is it.

Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

13) Overcooked! All You Can Eat

Everyone loves a good game of Overcooked! and All You Can Eat collects both games in the series in one definitive edition, perfect for co-op enjoyment this Valentine’s.

Constant communication and smooth coordination are key in this fast-paced cooking game. Be warned though, partners who can’t handle the heat have been known to get mad at each other playing Overcooked! But if the both of you can withstand the flames of the kitchen, you’ll realise that you’ll emerge a stronger couple as a result.

Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch

14) Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

How well do you know your partner?

As you race against the clock to defuse a bomb, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes tests how you and your partner respond to pressure. All the while, one of you is tasked with describing symbols and (sometimes intentionally confusing) instructions to the other on how to defuse the bomb.

The game demands that you and your partner communicate clearly, stay calm, and trust each other, even as the puzzles become more complex. It’s truly the ultimate test of love.

Platform(s): PC, PS4, PlayStation VR, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Oculus

This article was first published in Geek Culture.