Hi: I am new to gaming with others except for my husband years ago. He has decided he wants to play with me some evenings. We just finished Balder's Gate Dark Alliance and had a blast with it on XBox One. But we can't find any other games there that didn't require him to join and buy the game a second time. And we dislike split screen. Back in the day our games were Baldur's Gate and Lord of the Rings on PS4.

Is it the same here? Am I able to invite him to play on my copy? We both use controllers and have a TV monitor that I play all my computer games through and have invested in a good game computer. I also have bought two computer controllers and am able to run both through my computer as needed.
How do I get him hooked up with a game?

I made him an account on here (and XBox) but can't seem to find any information on how to actually play. Third night trying. and so far it has just been a very frustrating experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi,

Generally when people say "local coop" they mean playing on the same computer, which always means 1 copy of the game, but by the sounds of it you each have a computer and want to play together in the same house, right?

It depends on the game whether you each need a copy to play together. In general you do, I'm afraid.

I recently picked up Frozen Synapse & the Red DLC, which gives you an extra key when you buy it, so you only need to buy it once, and that has fun coop, if you're happy playing with mouse rather than controller, and like a tactical thing.

Technically, as the games here don't have DRM, you should be able to download them and install them on each of your computers, but the online part may not work right then, and it's probably against their terms of service most of the time.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 is *really good* (and polished) coop, which is frankly not that common on PC. I haven't played Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance, but I bet if you liked that you'd love Divinity: Original Sin 2. You would only have to buy it twice if you each want to play on your own PC (which you can do), but you can also play together on the same pc with your own controllers, in which case you only need to buy one copy. It lasts a long time, too, so it's pretty good value for money if you enjoy it, as you could easily get 90+ hours of fun from it.

I love coop multiplayer games, particularly through the pandemic they have been a great way for me to have fun with people without being near them, but sadly in my experience it's something that consoles tend to do better than PC.

In case you haven't found it, there is a category for "co-op" on GOG, look here: https://www.gog.com/games?feature=coop&sort=popularity&page=1

I just thought, another thing that you might like is the Trine games. They're puzzle platformers, designed for local (e.g. one computer) play, but don't do split screen, as you both are in the same area working together to do things. You can play them on one computer, so you only need to buy them once. There are 4 games in the series, which you can get separately or all together - https://www.gog.com/game/trine_ultimate_collection

And, now I think of it, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a really fun coop game that isn't split screen: https://www.gog.com/game/lovers_in_a_dangerous_spacetime

Yeah, it's a bit tricky, as you need to distinguish between "online co-op/LAN" (two computers/consoles) and "local/couch co-op" (one computer/console), and then in the latter case, which I assume you're looking for, there is "split screen" or "shared screen", as you say you prefer. For local/couch co-op you only ever need one copy, but for online or LAN co-op, in most cases you'd be legally required to buy two (unless one purchase gives you two copies). Of course, not all games feature every option, and often stores also put false labels on them (e.g. "co-op" when it's actually "player vs. player" etc.). I particularly wouldn't rely on GOG's categorization, it tends to be off.

co-optimus is a helpful site for finding out which modes a game actually supports.

***

The aforementioned Divinity: Original Sin series comprises of two fantastic co-op RPGs that offer both online co-op mode and local co-op mode, but if I'm not mistaken, the local co-op mode works via split screen only.

EDIT:
Here's how the developers described it (for D:OS 2, but I assume it's the same for the first game):

"By default, outside of combat the screen will only split when the characters move away from each other. There is an option to always use split screen outside of combat, even when the characters are together, but no way to prevent the screen from splitting or force characters to stay close enough that it doesn't split.
In combat, if both characters are involved there will just be one screen (you can manually force split screen if the non-active player opens the in-game menu)."

(Combat in the Divinity: Original Sin series is turn-based, btw, not real-time like Dark Alliance.)

Sadly, you will be a bit limited concerning co-op games on PC if you stick to GOG only, as there are several games you might enjoy that aren't here (Castle Crashers, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light / the Temple of Osiris, Magicka 1+2, Blood Knights, Warhammer: Chaosbane, Dungeon Siege 3 etc.).

GOG has Gauntlet (2014) though, which might be up your alley (unless you're in it for the stories). And (Heroes of) Hammerwatch. And Nine Parchments (not very highly rated).

Oh, and GOG has Victor Vran - that might work!

And Haven if that's your thing.

If you're talking about LAN play... try Grim Dawn.

If you're talking about couch play (same device)... try Tesla vs Lovecraft.

Or for either: Stardew Valley.

Sadly not on GOG, Laroux mentioned Lara Croft and the Guardian of light and its sequel -- those are honestly the best couch coop games I've ever played.