My friends and I have been exhausting our current library of games and are looking for suggestions. It tends to be pretty hard for us to all meet at the same time. Usually we prefer to do stuff that we can finish in one session on the weekends because one person might have to leave as another person joins. Don’t mind if its new or old, but id prefer it not to be $60 if its going to be a 2hr stint

Games on our current rotation:

  • Civ VI
  • Deep rock galactic
  • CS:GO
  • War thunder

Don’t really play anymore

  • Apex
  • L4D2
  • Payday 2
  • Gmod
  • Day of infamy
  • Insurgency
  • Project Zomboid
  • Foxhole
  • Risk of rain 2
  • Don’t starve together
  • Verdun
  • Killing floor
  • Minecraft
  • Terraria
  • CosmxTi@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    2 years ago

    Valheim is good even if you can’t be on at the same time. Just slowly build out a world as you would in Minecraft and save the biome raids for when you can get the party together. It’s flexible.

    • jason@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      2 years ago

      I opened this thread to see if anyone recommended Valheim, because what you said is exactly what my group does. We’re all dads with jobs and we play when we can, but we schedule 2-3 hour video call sessions to fight the bosses.

      When it comes to Valheim, you need the help, too. Those bosses can be brutal.

    • MollweideianMassacre@lemmy.one
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 years ago

      Seconding Valheim. There’s nothing quite like starting with a simple objective, getting it derailed by a deathsquito or something and now you and your besties are trying to Oceans 11 the stuff you lost out of a hostile biome that you sailed to from across the map.

    • illegalsmile@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 years ago

      Have to host/rent a server though, unless the host is always on. Love Valheim, but we had a few server issues that forced us to move on

      • CosmxTi@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 years ago

        Yes, I know. The structure of Valheim is similar to Minecraft, in a way that would not be hard to pick up and play if you were already familiar with it. Plus, it’s a great game. So I gave my recommendation :p

  • Steinsprut@szmer.info
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    2 years ago

    Try Helldivers, it’s isometric twin stick shooter, with second game coming this year switching to third person kinda like Risk of Rain 2

  • Nymphioxetine@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    2 years ago

    Try Factorio!! It’s got a demo you can try to get a taste as well. I spent ~20 hours in the demo itself before I bought the game. Looooved it.

  • Fox@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    2 years ago

    I can always recommend Guild Wars 2. It is f2p but the base game still has alot of content with some restrictions to not get overrun by bots.

    Big detailed world to explore together and do stories which you get every 10 levels. If you pick different races and decicions at character creation, it all converges after lvl 60.

    You also unlock all waypoints for every starter zone from the get go, so you can play together immediatly.

    It can feel very easy there so you might want to tackle zones above your level, but the game gets harder in the 80 zones, group content and the expansions. Especially in Heart of Thorns, where the whole jungle tries to kill you.

    It has no subscription which makes it perfect to play and then take breaks and even if you outlevel your friends you get downscaled and still get loot, so you can help or the other way around.

  • GhostMagician@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    Golf with Friends is casual and at times frustrating fun. Don’t have to wait for each person to hit the ball before you hit yours either, so the games courses don’t drag on.

    • CMLVI@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 years ago

      This has become a mainstay in game night rotation. Fall Guys and Kart Riders (Mario Kart clone, which is surprisingly good) as well.

      Wreckfest is a good demo-derby racing game that is fun as well, but is paid.

  • azura@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    2 years ago

    I don’t know how much of a good fit it might be but maybe Divinity original sin 2?

    • forpeterssake@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 years ago

      I don’t know if that’s something that can be done in one session, but I have a group of friends that have been playing Divinity: Original Sin 2 every week for a couple months now, and they really enjoy it.

  • PenguinTD@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    2 years ago

    Starship Troopers: Extermination is PvE wave/extraction shooter, from the company that developed Squad. Looks pretty fun but if you are not into that universe nor have enough friends you’d need to rely on other players as well.( basically max 12 players in 3 teams atm.) Warning: early access so if you are not tolerant to EA type of development/update cycle just avoid.

    There is a couple other PvE wave/extraction shooter as well, so give them a try.( Just google that term, usually around $30 and could go on sale.)

    Rocket League, this one I played since launch and really good game to start before your group all come online and then move on to other games.(since it supports up to 4v4, but usually people only queue 2v2 or 3v3 matches.)

    • TommySalami@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 years ago

      I think Starship Troopers is 16 max currently, based on a few extractions that showed that number.

      Just hit early access so it’s only got the one map with day/night variation, but man I’ve been having fun with it. Good lobbies almost feel like MAG games where squads are working independently on different objectives while still coordinating as a larger group. Always fun to be locked down at ore extraction and hearing the base squad losing their shit because some Tigers show up. Also sending out a squad to exterminate a plasma bug that’s shelling your base from a distance. The game has a lot of potential, just hoping the developers can show up.

      Only thing it desperately needs right now (that I haven’t seen mentioned as a planned feature) staged reloads. Gunner class gets slaughtered during long ass reloads that have to start completely over when interrupted.

      Either way, solid start to game. Hope it turns out as well as it seems it can.

  • narc0tic_bird@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    2 years ago

    We had a lot of fun with V Rising. It’s a bit like Diablo I’d say, but with base building and crafting and the level is based entirely on gear, so if someone misses a few sessions you can just craft one extra set of the latest armor you unlocked and they are on your level instantly.

    • irongamer@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 years ago

      V Rising was such an amazing co-op play through. My friend and I expect to do it again soon since the new content dropped.

    • Tahssi@yiffit.net
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 years ago

      I’ll second vrising. It’s a lot of fun. Also if you play on a public server you or your friends can hop on whenever and don’t need someone hosting it. They have PvE and PvP server options.

  • saigot@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    Me and my wife have been really enjoying Bread and Fred. Your two penguins tied together who have to use your momentum to climb a mountain. It’s in the genre of “getting over it” where you can fall at any time and lose all progress. Two player only, it’s more a couple game.

    I don’t see overwatch 2 on the list. I think the game gets an unfair amount of hate, it’s one of my favourite games. One of the few games that is competitive but not Grey army colours. Community is toxic, and it takes a long time to learn though. It can be an exceeding satisfying game, but unfortunately I think it only really gets fun at Plat and higher elos (similar to csgo in that regard)

    Stardew valley is a great vibe game that I don’t see listed. One if the best games for casual chat and play imo.

  • MRPP@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    I don’t think Barotrauma has been mentioned yet? Survival in a submarine, as far as I know. Haven’t played it, but it reviews well.

    Ark and other survival/crafting games like 7days to die and Raft are great fun. Persistent worlds for collective fun.

    There’s a new Starship Troopers co-op shopter out with 16 simulataneus players kilming bugs.

    And Legion Td2 for a co-op campaign/bots experience.

    • Kizaing@lemmy.kizaing.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 years ago

      Barotrauma is so fun. Everytime you think its going fine until it suddenly isn’t. 10/10 would drown with my friends again

      • Duffman@vlemmy.net
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        2 years ago

        Really? I love the setting of darktide but couldn’t commit to it like Vermintide. Has there been a fair amount of improvements since launch (I haven’t looked)?

        • Korthrun@lemmy.sdf.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 years ago

          Far too casual of a player to bother tracking a change log for this sort of game. The best I can do is direct you to my other comment in this thread.

          • Duffman@vlemmy.net
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            2 years ago

            Haha all good, was just curious if anything major stood out since launch. Partially looking for a reason to give it another go if I’m being honest.

        • Korthrun@lemmy.sdf.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          2 years ago

          I am far too casual to care to keep a running list of issues and their status. What I can say is:

          • The population has stabilized in what I consider a good place
          • I haven’t had a crash in a couple of months
          • Performance is fine even on high settings
          • They’ve changed up how the shops and crafting are organized and it makes way more sense than it initially did
          • Crafting feels way more useful and accessible than it initially did
          • Cell_06@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            2 years ago

            That’s awesome! I’m gonna have to revisit that then. I’ve always liked the 40k setting more than fantasy, so this will be perfect. Thanks for the info.

  • tiwenty@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    2 years ago

    I once did a weekend on the campaign of Borderlands 2 with friends, it was awesome. Also, PlateUp is a nice coop game to play over a WE