It's hilarious, and easy to learn.
Here's a quick list of inexpensive games I think your kids could enjoy. All of these are shared screen games and I've played (almost) all of these with my kid who is around the same age. All of these run great on my Steam Deck.
All costs are in USD, so they should all fall below the 20 EUR mark.
Of these games, I would absolutely grab EDF 5 while it's on sale. It's just plain, stupid, fun and at $15 it's a steal. Saw EDF World Brothers is on sale as well, though I haven't played that one, it looks like it's the same dumb fun as the others.
I will put in a strong vote for Castle Crashers, one of the most fun, charismatic beat em ups of all time, imo. Would be perfect for kids that age.
You can play Portal split screen, or do you mean that they collaborate on the solutions?
Also, my husband and I love playing Overcooked. That's an excellent suggestion.
Portal 2 can be played split screen, yes.
I was joking below with someone else that suggested it that Overcooked is more likely to cause a fight. That game is so stressful lol
I hate Overcooked and other games like that. If I wanted that kind of stress, I'd just fucking work and at least I'd be getting paid for it
Rabbit and steel is SUCH A FUCKING GOOD GAME
it needs WAY more love
This answer is way too good for such a rough broad question with too many options. 👍
I’m always on the lookout for solid games I can play with my kid. For a long while the games had to be shared screen / split screen, at least until I got a Steam Deck. Now I’ve got a lot more options open to me like Risk of Rain 2, but that didn’t really fit their constraints so I left those type of games out.
There’s a bunch of games I left off due to low play time, so I didn’t think they were really worth it to suggest as first picks for someone on a tight budget. It’s definitely by no means a complete list.
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a great game.
Glad it's being recognized
Sure. Get two controllers and Retroarch and they're set on games for life.
Overcooked is one of the most popular co-op games of the last few years, simple concept but fun, frantic gameplay. It's pretty cheap at base price but goes on sale pretty regularly too.
Would have to get it through Steam I believe.
They said fun, not anger inducing
It'll teach them teamwork XD
https://hurrycurry.metamuffin.org/
Is also cool. Not sure if it has splitscrern multiplayer though.
All of these are full price, so if you wait for a sale (like I do), you can usually find each of these for $10 or less.
Any of the Worms games
In that vein, Hedgewars is basically open-source Worms Armageddon.
Very likely available from your distro, so sudo pkcon install hedgewars should set you up in no time.
Basically all the Lego games (although 13y olds might already find them too child-like, depends...).
They all have split screen, so are suitable for couch (or desk) coop.
Also the slightly older ones are quite inexpensive when buying them during sales (a few €).
Special recommendation: Lego City Undercover.
Another fun couch-coop-capable game would be SuperTux, a Super-Mario-Cart like game.
This one is OSS and therefore completely free!
LEGO Island nostalgia.......
Ordered by amount of "potential" replayability, vaguely
I've played all these through and am confident it'd be ok for 13 yos
If they like silly chaos and cooking games, $20 PlateUp!
If they like absolute madness and precise button inputs to make pretty food, $20 Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!
Rock of ages series I think all have local multiplayer, but I think $30 > on sale for $3 till sept 1 rn Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break is the only one you can do the actual story mode together (which is very fun) instead of just versus. describing this one is hard uh. Both a tower defense as well as a reverse tower defense where you play as a boulder smashing things. historical art humour themed. very silly. highly recommend this series.
$15 Tricky towers is competitive tetris with balancing physics
$14 Neurovoider is a straightforward / small scope game, robot piece-swapping twin stick shooter, very arcadey
$20 Ember knights is in the same vein as neurovoider but with flamey dudes and more fantasy / magic theme
On looking in to it some more I am fairly certain you can also play $15 Rock of Ages 2's campaign as splitscreen co-op. Did not remember offhand but looked around at steam discussions. 2 is also very good!
I love worms Armageddon when I was a kid.
If you are ok with emulation dolphin is pretty great. You can still find wiimotes for cheap and don't need the sensor bar ( use two candle instead ). With that the entire wii games library is yours.
If you want natives games I would recomend indie couch games ( overcook, moving out, etc... ).
Off the top of my head.
Peak
Sunderfolk, needs a tablet or phone as a controller, though.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Suns
Sunderered
It Takes Two
Split Fiction
Definitely recommend It Takes 2 when it's on sale.
SuperTuxKart is fun
Rayman Origins
Stardew valley
lego games and on sale?
Depends on their tastes I guess. Stardew Valley is cheap, you can put hundreds of hours in and it does "couch co-op" off a single PC. It also doesn't require very good hardware either.
Boomerang-Fu ?
such a fun game
so cute as well 😊
Goat simulator still exists?
My nephews loved it
Heroes of Might and Magic 3. Great strategy game, on steam or gog, can't remember which one has the expansion packs, but they're not necessary anyway for the first year. I played it for hundreds of hours with my sister as a kid. Has a lot of replayability. Works really well with two players with hot seat mode. More players and you will want to use the network capability.
Atomic Tanks. Old school 2D hot seat fun. Nuke your friends and family.
Boomerang Fu maybe, haven't played it myself but looks cute and funny from what I've seen. 14.79 rn
Untitled Goose Game
I think Children of Morta can be played in coop on a single PC.
Lego Batman 2. Probably all the other Lego games as well. But I know that this one can be played on one keyboard.
SuperTuxKart? Also, emulation of retro consoles as others have suggested.
Civ5 and earlier installments in the Civ franchise are also pretty good if they like virtual board games, although recent decisions at TakeTwo corporate might be a turnoff.
Ultimate chicken horse
Kerbal Space Program.
(The original!!)
Little Fighters II Remastered
I played an ungodly amount of Tapan Kaikki 3 with my brother.
Best game ever.
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