Online multiplayer is a gaming staple, but not every big title lets people play together at home. Games like 'Baldur's Gate 3' and 'Diablo 4' are reinvigorating the genre.
But the PlayStation 5 version, released last week, introduces a third option: local, or so-called couch co-op, which allows people to play the old-fashioned way on a split screen, sitting side-by-side.
I’m pretty sure this feature also exists on the PC version.
But yes, split-screen is an endangered species at this point. Halo Infinite dropped the feature and Forza is about to launch without it. Helldivers used to have shared-screen co-op, and now it’s online-only. The Quake 2 remaster supports 8 player split-screen, which makes so much sense in the age of large HD TVs that I can’t believe no one bothers with it, but FPS games in general are also almost extinct, so maybe that comes with that territory. Hardly any game is going to have as demanding of a use case as Baldur’s Gate 3, so I’d really like to see more games sacrifice some graphical fidelity in order to support the feature, if possible. Just about any multiplayer game these days is designed to be a live service that you log into every day rather than a game that you can play through for a handful of hours with friends and have a satisfying experience. It’s money left on the table when there’s only so many of the former that the market can possibly sustain.
It’s easy to miss it if you try the simplest most obvious combination. Player 1 using kb+m and player 2 using controller isn’t an option, both players have to use controller.
I mean the kinds that aren’t extraction shooters or battle royales or some other kind of “live service” that pretends it’s a service so it doesn’t have to admit that it’s a bad product. Something more substantial than the crop of “boomer shooters”, with co-op and/or friendly deathmatch; something with objective design and a story that’s interesting to follow. Basically what we used to get between the late 90s up through the middle of the last decade; what Halo used to be before they decided it had to be both open world and a live service.
I’m pretty sure this feature also exists on the PC version.
But yes, split-screen is an endangered species at this point. Halo Infinite dropped the feature and Forza is about to launch without it. Helldivers used to have shared-screen co-op, and now it’s online-only. The Quake 2 remaster supports 8 player split-screen, which makes so much sense in the age of large HD TVs that I can’t believe no one bothers with it, but FPS games in general are also almost extinct, so maybe that comes with that territory. Hardly any game is going to have as demanding of a use case as Baldur’s Gate 3, so I’d really like to see more games sacrifice some graphical fidelity in order to support the feature, if possible. Just about any multiplayer game these days is designed to be a live service that you log into every day rather than a game that you can play through for a handful of hours with friends and have a satisfying experience. It’s money left on the table when there’s only so many of the former that the market can possibly sustain.
Split screen couch co-op was a feature from day one. I’ve been playing on PC with the SO for 40 hours now. Haven’t touched it solo at all.
It’s easy to miss it if you try the simplest most obvious combination. Player 1 using kb+m and player 2 using controller isn’t an option, both players have to use controller.
Uh, huh? You living under a rock? FPS games are very much alive, unless you meant to specify.
I mean the kinds that aren’t extraction shooters or battle royales or some other kind of “live service” that pretends it’s a service so it doesn’t have to admit that it’s a bad product. Something more substantial than the crop of “boomer shooters”, with co-op and/or friendly deathmatch; something with objective design and a story that’s interesting to follow. Basically what we used to get between the late 90s up through the middle of the last decade; what Halo used to be before they decided it had to be both open world and a live service.
Sony loves pretending games are only on their platform or have special features when they’re not.