{"id":1129193,"date":"2026-02-03T01:03:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T01:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=526910"},"modified":"2026-02-03T01:03:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T01:03:49","slug":"in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/","title":{"rendered":"In this house, any game can be a co-op game"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My husband and I have been playing a lot of Portal 2<\/a><\/em> \u2014 arguably the best couch co-op game of the modern era, despite the success of Hazelight\u2019s It Takes Two<\/em><\/a>, which also changed the genre forever<\/a>. I could name a few more, and that\u2019s about it. I\u2019m not talking just about games you can play with multiple people locally. I mean games where you must work with a partner to get to the end, or at least to make the process more enjoyable. For those, in our house, we\u2019ve made all kinds of games into co-op games.<\/p>\n

We got the idea after playing through The Quarry<\/a><\/em>, the playable film with lots of celebrities and a lot of characters to control. The game has a local co-op setting, where you pass the controller to the next player to make choices and try to dodge the occasional fallen tree. But we forewent this setting because were playing as a team, talking out each decision, sometimes pausing the game to think through a clue or recall earlier dialogue. We probably played The Quarry<\/em> three or four times through like this, one of us with the controller, the other preparing our dinner in the kitchen. We took the same tack with Overboard!<\/a><\/em>, the inverted mystery game where you\u2019re the killer trying to evade being discovered \u2014 perhaps an even better candidate for this style of play given that it\u2019s designed for replaying, with new goals and paths in each playthrough.<\/p>\n

These non-co-op co-op games, which are usually narrative and have an element of decision-making, have become a go-to for our weeknights \u2014 and starting a new game is a great date night option in the winter. It also gives us a fun way to show each other games we\u2019ve been enjoying. And, like all great art, experiencing the games together lets us connect over the stories, like when we cried on the couch at the end of Firewatch<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So yes, I\u2019m very<\/em> excited for Split Fiction<\/a><\/em>, the next title from Hazelight. But I might be equally as excited for Expelled!<\/a><\/em> \u2014 an upcoming game in the world of Overboard!<\/em>, and surely one I\u2019ll play with my spouse for many, many hours.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My husband and I have been playing a lot of Portal 2 \u2014 arguably the best couch co-op game of the modern era, despite the success of Hazelight\u2019s It Takes Two, which also changed the genre forever. I could name a few more, and that\u2019s about it. I\u2019m not talking just about games you can play with multiple people locally. I mean games where you must work with a partner to get to the end, or at least to make the process more enjoyable. For those, in our house, we\u2019ve made all kinds of games into co-op games. We got the idea after playing through The Quarry, the playable film with lots of celebrities and a lot of characters to control. The game has a…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1129194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1129193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"\nIn this house, any game can be a co-op game | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My husband and I have been playing a lot of Portal 2 \u2014 arguably the best couch co-op game of the modern era, despite the success of Hazelight\u2019s It Takes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In this house, any game can be a co-op game | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My husband and I have been playing a lot of Portal 2 \u2014 arguably the best couch co-op game of the modern era, despite the success of Hazelight\u2019s It Takes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-03T01:03:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-03T01:03:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"In this house, any game can be a co-op game\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-03T01:03:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-03T01:03:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":383,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Polygon\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\\\/\",\"name\":\"In this house, any game can be a co-op game | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-03T01:03:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-03T01:03:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"My husband and I have been playing a lot of Portal 2 \u2014 arguably the best couch co-op game of the modern era, despite the success of Hazelight\u2019s It Takes\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game.jpg\",\"width\":480,\"height\":270,\"caption\":\"In this house, any game can be a co-op game\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"In this house, any game can be a co-op game\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"description\":\"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arcade News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cricketgames.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/arcade-news\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In this house, any game can be a co-op game | Arcader News","description":"My husband and I have been playing a lot of Portal 2 \u2014 arguably the best couch co-op game of the modern era, despite the success of Hazelight\u2019s It Takes","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In this house, any game can be a co-op game | Arcader News","og_description":"My husband and I have been playing a lot of Portal 2 \u2014 arguably the best couch co-op game of the modern era, despite the success of Hazelight\u2019s It Takes","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2026-02-03T01:03:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-03T01:03:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":270,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/"},"author":{"name":"Arcade News","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"headline":"In this house, any game can be a co-op game","datePublished":"2026-02-03T01:03:48+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-03T01:03:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/"},"wordCount":383,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game.jpg","articleSection":["Polygon"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/","name":"In this house, any game can be a co-op game | Arcader News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-03T01:03:48+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-03T01:03:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"description":"My husband and I have been playing a lot of Portal 2 \u2014 arguably the best couch co-op game of the modern era, despite the success of Hazelight\u2019s It Takes","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game.jpg","width":480,"height":270,"caption":"In this house, any game can be a co-op game"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/in-this-house-any-game-can-be-a-co-op-game\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In this house, any game can be a co-op game"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/","name":"Arcade News","description":"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839","name":"Arcade News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arcade News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cricketgames.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/author\/arcade-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1129193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1484206,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129193\/revisions\/1484206"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1129194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1129193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1129193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1129193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}