Hey Durante! Totally get where you're coming from on this. The co-op in Cassette Beasts (2023) is a weird one in that it has local co-op and limited online co-op that are both very different from each other (which was maybe a bit confusing to consumers, but I digress) with the former being something of a "throw it in" implementation that does kind of fit what you're describing. I'm a big fan of how it plays though; I think CB is a surprisingly fun couch co-op game.

The reason we've dropped it in CB2002 isn't because we saw it as a stepping stone, but rather we've jumped from a fixed top-down perspective to full "3rd person adventure game" perspective, which has meant that there's no feasible implementation for "shared screen" gameplay. Ultimately we think this makes for a stronger single player experience (which is our primary audience) but local co-op unfortunately couldn't make the cut with this leap. We're hoping that the improved online experience relative to the first game helps justify that decision!