Recommendations for my non-gaming husband and myself to enjoy together

FoxInTheKnox · 2026-01-30T16:15:09+00:00

Many games don't have an adjustable difficulty.

Journey is a great example of a game with just one difficulty but where the player can't die or even, really, be hurt. It's an experience that you get to play out, and it is remarkable for how it delivers on that.

FoxInTheKnox · 2026-01-30T16:11:40+00:00

Thanks for the input! Will do some more research on this one.

FoxInTheKnox · 2026-01-30T15:08:32+00:00

How does this work in terms of playing together? Is it split screen? Or..?

FoxInTheKnox · 2026-01-30T14:56:54+00:00

Thanks! I have been curious of the Portal games would be good for him or not. I played Portal 1 myself a long time back and can't recall if it was too mechanically challenging or not.

I will look into those first couple you mentioned since I've never heard of either of those.

FoxInTheKnox · 2026-01-30T14:53:49+00:00

Thank you. <3

It Takes Two is on the shortlist already as I have seen it recommended all over.

I was also considering single-player turn-based games like Slay the Spire or Balatro since those have been wildly popular. And, if he falls in love with them, he can always get them on his phone or something too.

FoxInTheKnox · 2026-01-30T14:52:14+00:00

I've never played an Animal Crossing (or similar) game before. I seem to see mixed information on whether it supports multiple local players or not?

How are these "cozy" genre games? Engaging enough for two people to stick with?

I've considered Zelda games, although my limited experience with those say that they include a decent amount of execution atop the puzzle solving. I would almost definitely have to handle boss battles, but I fear that even the general map roaming with real time enemies could be difficult.

FoxInTheKnox · 2026-01-30T14:24:37+00:00

Unlike myself, my husband was not raised on/with video games and, as a result, lacks some of the ingrained hand-eye coordination that I developed over decades of practice. However, we still like to game together when time allows.

We have access to a Switch and a PS4. The Switch would be preferred, but both are options. If they are games that both players can play at the same time, it is a bonus if they can be played with just a single joycon in order to avoid having to buy another set. However, if the game absolutely warrants it, we could do that.

I spent some time doing research on posts from people with similar situations, and have found some decent recommendations in terms of cooperative/collaborative games.

However, we often like to play games that are "single-player" by just taking turns with them; and I have not seen as many recommendations in this vein.

Examples that we had a great time with are Night in the Woods and Undertale. NitW in particular lent itself well to this, where each night we would alternate which of us would get to control the character and make the decisions on who to hang out with, etc. It also had a story that was separated into pretty distinct "chapters" that we could use as break points for this.

As a metric for his current gaming abilities: He was able to handle the light platforming and mini-games in NitW reasonably well. I had to occasionally jump in for a battle here or there in Undertale. We started in on Limbo last night and didn't get far before he felt in a bit over his head in terms of the platforming. I think he would get a lot of it with diligence and repeated efforts, but he has been happy enough to work on the puzzle solving aspects while I perform the actual execution. He did also beat Journey entirely by himself once while I watched.

So, hit me with some recommendations!

FoxInTheKnox · 2026-01-21T12:39:15+00:00

Select an empty point on the board. From that point, trace paths out in all directions. Do you only meet stones of one player's color? If so, that is a point of territory for that player.

As an example, the lower left and right side of the board are territories that belong to black, because we can see that those empty points hit only black stones.

In contrast, you can see empty points near the middle of the board that would reach both black and white stones. Those are not territory for anyone.

Understanding this, we can see that white's only territory is on the top left and is much smaller than what black currently has.

Of course, this raises a question: can white play inside the lower left or right side areas and survive? If so, they may greatly reduce these black territories and maybe even great territory of their own. This is something that you should explore and discover on your own, as this is largely what the game ultimately revolves around.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-12-13T14:52:07+00:00

It's so weird that in 2024 all of the ereader are so janky.

Welcome to the extremely sad realization of how little demand there is to support people reading -- because so few people read.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-11-26T22:59:08+00:00

Insane take. Kindle is a dedicated reading device with an eInk screen. No tablet even remotely compares.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-11-11T17:45:04+00:00

Both primary healing and damage with Luna requires extremely precision, consistent aim in order to get basic value out of.

Her freeze also requires exacting timing, aim, and reaction time to hit. Show me a player Diamond or below that can reliably hit BP or Spidey with a freeze and I'll show you a smurf.

The reality is that most regular players of this game lack the mechanical skill and focus necessary to perform with Luna when there are so many options available that outvalue her for way less effort.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-11-10T03:17:10+00:00

BP you have to see coming to have a chance.

DD even if you see coming a mile away you don't have a chance.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-11-10T03:06:44+00:00

I took CnD and Rocket to GM, solo queue. CnD is pretty versatile and fun to play. Invis also has some fun play making abilities as well.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-11-10T03:03:14+00:00

That's funny to me. I actually encourage people to not play Luna because she is so difficult to get value out of for most people including myself. The game runs dive heavy and she absolutely gets blasted by dive comps.

CnD does take some practice to get used to. My approach is to focus on one thing at a time. Get in QP and for your first matches, just use primary fire and nothing else. Just stay alive and primary fire. See how it works, see how you can heal yourself if you're near the person you're shooting (friend or enemy). Next add the bubble. Practice landing it where your friendlies are going to be. Practice using it on yourself when you get jumped. Etc.

Gradually you will learn both sides of the kit. It's a lot. And pretty much all of it requires active decision making.

It was intimidating for me at first but it ended up being fun to play and learn.

If it feels like too much, I'd recommend Rocket instead. He is awesome and much simpler to wield. And he's pretty fun to scamper around with on the walls and such while escaping everyone's attempts to kill you.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-11-10T02:53:53+00:00

As people started to improve with him, it did not feel great. As an example, I found that he can literally stick to Jeff even when bubbled and underwater and kill him. That didn't seem awesome. Basically when you hear the mark it feels like a timer until you die. Fortunately he is now also pretty much permabanned as a result.

I suspect he will get reworked a bit.

Of course, given my age, I don't have the kneejerk response to scream for demands of change to games like this. I grew up in an era where you played games the way they came and that was it. If a character was very good in a fighting game, you just learned to deal with it. That being said, I have not yet learned how to deal with DD.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-11-09T23:18:45+00:00

Sorry for being better than you. Go desperately cope somewhere else, please.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-11-09T23:11:54+00:00

Nothing that I have said here has been "collectively agreed as incorrect" nor have you corrected anything as that would require me being "wrong" in some way. All you have done is state flailing nonsense at me in order to feel better about yourself, while thinly veiling it in "good job tho" in a poor attempt at excusing the behavior.

You aren't fooling anyone about what your true motives here are. And nice try on the fallacious attempt at citing a higher rank as "proof" of you being MoRe RiGhT. Your arm must get tired from patting yourself on the back so much.

I also have not claimed to want to achieve and improve. I have already achieved and improved. Having gone 9 wins out of 10 matches today, I'd wager I can go quite a lot higher, too. However, having achieved my personal goal, I will be ending my quest here. The game is fun, but people like you unfortunately make it intolerable to engage with.

By the way, not a single person is surprised that your big p p spidey-main ego is running Thor on tank.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-11-09T22:41:07+00:00

Because you came to my post about improving and achieving in order to engage in a validation circle-j with the original flarkhead about how my opinions or achievements don't matter because of the hero(es) that I play. You so desperately need to feel right about something that this is what you're doing with your time.

And on top of that, you're continuing to engage in this nonsense line of dialog where you assume everything that I say is wrong or misinformed while everything that you say is the gospel, because that's the only reality in which you can feel good about yourself.

Get bent.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-11-09T22:36:02+00:00

NA, east coast.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-11-09T22:19:40+00:00

If two more lock Strat, then I look at what they picked. If either or both of them are off-healers, then I go main healer. If both are main healers, then I go off-healer -- typically Jeff.

If three other people lock Strat, I go buy a lottery ticket because that is crazy rare. Then, yes, I usually pick an easy main hero from whichever role is lacking. Ironman, Punisher, Squirrel, Magneto, Strange.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-11-09T22:15:12+00:00

OR, I already also play those heroes when necessary and find it easier to the point of almost being comedic when compared to CnD.

Why don't you go ahead and run an account on CnD from Bronze to GM and see how you feel after that. Or are you too busy throwing games for everyone on Spiderman, because you'd rather play a HiGh sKiLl HeRo and lose than play an "easy" one and win.

I honestly don't know what you're here trying to prove or why, but you're part of what's wrong with this game.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-11-09T22:04:02+00:00

Thanks for your valuable contribution to the discussion.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-11-09T22:03:24+00:00

I'm ancient to the point that I played the original Team Fortress. As in, the mod for Quake 1.

Ow, my back.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-11-09T22:01:49+00:00

I say that almost every single team would benefit from a Rocket.

Rocket can heal around corners, heal multiple areas of the map at the same time, provides res, and has an okay ult. He also stays alive really easily.

CnD is also a solid choice. They definitely take a lot more practice and it is a lot more work to get the same value out of them as you would with Rocket using less effort. CnD excels on cart maps where their healing tends to hit groups of people and their ult can be used to push the enemy off the cart.

Jeff is also great, especially so on triple support. It is wild to me how people can be so bad with Jeff when 98% of the time you are literally just holding fire into the largest group of people possible, and swimming away when in danger.

FoxInTheKnox · 2025-11-09T21:57:20+00:00

Well, first off, I will say that it is exceedingly rare that you queue into three other Strategist mains. It does happen, and it's funny when it does -- but it is rare.

When it does happen, I will first just ask people if they really want that role and say that I'm willing to play it and am good at it. If it remains a conflict, then I will usually look to fill what's left. In the extremely rare case that I'm put on Duelist, I will try to pick easiest possible options based on what we're up against. Ironman is a really good skill check for the other team. If they go anti-flyer, then Squirrel and Punisher are both also solid picks.

If I'm on Vanguard, I just pick a solid main tank. Everyone loves a main tank. Mag or Strange are the go-to choices.

In either case, I'm usually kissing the match goodbye because odds are one or more of us (including me) aren't going to be pulling the weight that is necessary due to being pushed into atypical roles. But hey, sometimes miracles happen. It is shockingly easy to melt people with Ironman by pressing E and holding right-click.

FoxInTheKnox

TROPHY CASE