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The Best Video Games To Play With Your Girlfriend

Which of these games have you played together?

It’s a question every gamer guy with a non-gamer girlfriend has wondered about. Are there any video games you can enjoy together? If you’d like to mix up your evenings and do something a bit different, gaming can be a great way enjoy some cooperative or competitive fun. So, what are the best video games to play with your girlfriend?

You first need to ask yourself what type of video games you think your partner will enjoy. Remember – this isn’t just about games you would like to play. What’s the fun in your girlfriend sitting and watching you play a game she isn’t interested in?

Maybe she wants to play alongside you in a co-op game. Perhaps she wants to compete with you. Does she want chilled out puzzle-solving, something creative, an immersive story, or a guns-blazing action experience?

You should also consider that your non-gamer partner might not be as good at video games as you are. Find out where she thinks her skill level is and think about what sorts of games will be the simplest to pick up and play for the first time.

A man and woman playing video games together.

Video games can be a fantastic way of sharpening your mind, improving decision making, and developing collaborative skills. And these are all important in a relationship. Plus, it’s always great to have something else you can enjoy together when you’re just sat in the house.

Without further ado, these are the best video games to play with your girlfriend. Hopefully this list helps you find something you can play together and have fun with!

The Best Video Games To Play With Your Girlfriend

While this list may not contain something you and your partner are interested in, there are games out there for everyone. So please do let us know in the comment section if you have any suggestions for the best video games to play with your girlfriend. Let’s get into it!

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Genre – Racing

Platform – Nintendo Switch

Co-op or Competitive? Competitive

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe artwork.
Credit: Nintendo

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a fantastic choice of video game to play together. It’s a kart racing game featuring lots of familiar characters even non-gamers will recognise, including Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, and many more.

It’s a great way to have some competitive fun and is easy to get to grips with. Simply race against each other across an array of exciting and vibrant tracks and collect items scattered throughout the levels to help you get ahead.

Overcooked 2

Genre – Cooking Simulation

Platform – PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Windows, macOS, Linux, Stadia

Co-op or Competitive? Co-op

Official artwork for Overcooked 2.
Credit: Team17

Overcooked 2 is described by its developer/publisher Team17 as a “chaotic co-op cooking game for 1-4 players in which you must serve a variety of recipes including sushi, pasta, cakes, burgers and burritos to hungry customers in a series of unconventional kitchens.”

Sounds like fun! There’s nothing quite like overcoming some tough and frantic culinary challenges together. However, Overcooked 2 can be an occasionally stressful experience.

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands – (Best Video Games To Play With Your Girlfriend)

Genre – Action role-playing first-person shooter

Platform – PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Windows

Co-op or Competitive? – Co-op

Artwork for Tiny Tina's Wonderlands showing the titular character riding a dragon.
Credit: 2K Games

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is the latest addition to the popular Borderlands series of co-op action video games. The game is set in a fantasy-themed world, featuring familiar Borderlands humour and whacky characters.

As with all Borderlands games, the focus is on completing quests, collecting guns, upgrading your character, and engaging in huge firefights. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands offers split-screen co-op play, so you can enjoy the game and everything it has to offer together.

This is a great choice if your partner wants to play something more action-focused and use teamwork to fight hordes of crazy enemies. Check out our review to learn our full thoughts on this one!

The Last of Us Part I and Part II

Genre – Action-adventure

Platform –

  • The Last of Us: PS3 (original), PS4 (remastered), PS5 (Part I – remake)
  • The Last of Us Part II: PS4

Co-op or Competitive? – N/A (single-player)

A bloodied Ellie in The Last of Us Part 2.
Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment

You may be surprised to see The Last of Us series on this list. They are single-player games after all. However, single-player games can be just as fun to play with your girlfriend as two-player games.

The Last of Us is an action-adventure game with horror elements which tells the story of a United States ravaged by a fungal infection which has turned humans into deranged and deformed zombies.

The series is widely regarded as one of the greatest in video game history. Its story is tragic, emotional, and brutal, and features many memorable and complex characters. If your partner loves movies, The Last of Us is as close as gaming gets to a true cinematic experience.

Considering both instalments in the series are single-player, the best way to play is to take it in turns. And even though neither of you will play the entire game(s) yourself, you’ll still be along for the ride and get to watch as the incredible plot unfolds.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Genre – Platform

Platform – PS4, PS5

Co-op or Competitive? – Co-op

Official artwork for Sackboy: A Big Adventure.
Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a spin-off of the popular LittleBigPlanet series. It switches things up from the previous games in the series and features 3D platforming instead of 2.5D.

The game includes co-op for up to four players and is a brilliant choice if you’re looking to team up to solve puzzles, explore gorgeously exciting levels, and gather collectibles. It has a fantastic soundtrack for you to enjoy, too!

The Best Video Games To Play With Your Girlfriend – Continued

Minecraft

Genre – Sandbox

Platform – All of them (seriously.)

Co-op or Competitive? – Both

Various characters and animals in Minecraft - which has just reached 1 trillion YouTube views - stood on top of a grassy block hill.
Credit: Mojang Studios

Even your non-gamer girlfriend probably knows what Minecraft is. Who doesn’t? This open-world sandbox game took the video game industry by storm when it launched in 2009. And it has only grown bigger and more popular since then.

It features a procedurally-generated and near-infinite 3D block world. The point of the game is either creativity or survival, depending on which mode you play. Either create to your heart’s content or collect and craft to survive.

Whichever mode you choose, the game’s console versions offer split-screen so you can play it together on the couch.

Grand Theft Auto V

Genre – Action-adventure

Platform – PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Windows

Co-op or Competitive? – N/A (single-player)

Official GTA 5 artwork featuring main characters.
Credit: Rockstar

GTA V is one of the most successful video games of all time. Set in the open-world of Los Santos (based on real-life Los Angeles), GTA V allows players to fully explore the city and its surrounding areas while completing a variety of action-packed missions and wreaking havoc.

The game’s multiplayer portion is online-only. So unless you’ve got two consoles to play on, this will be a single-player experience. However, the fun of simply exploring Los Santos whether by foot or vehicle and blowing everything up along the way cannot be disputed. And it’s a game well-suited to taking it in turns.

If your girlfriend wants to blow off some steam and do whatever she wants with zero consequences, GTA V is a game the pair of you should check out together.

It Takes Two

Genre – Action-adventure platform

Platform – PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Windows

Co-op or Competitive? – Co-op

Official artwork for It Takes Two.
Credit: Electronic Arts

It Takes Two is a game built specifically for two-player split screen co-op. It cannot be played alone.

The game won many awards and wide-spread acclaim and is considered a fantastic multiplayer experience. In order to progress, players must team up to solve puzzles and complete mini-games.

It features a vast amount of game mechanics from different genres, which all come into play and must be used collaboratively to complete levels.

Detroit: Become Human

Genre – Adventure

Platform – PS4, Windows

Co-op or Competitive? N/A (single-player)

Official artwork for Detroit: Become Human.
Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Detroit: Become Human is one of the best games to play with your girlfriend if she wants a more cinematic experience. It tells the story of three androids in a futuristic Detroit, Michigan who become ‘deviant’ and fully conscious.

It features constant dialogue options and quick-time events, and characters can die at any time. But the game won’t end when a character dies – it’ll continue without them and the story adapts to your choices.

Detroit: Become Human features multiple endings, each of which depend on the decisions you make as the story progresses. While it is a one-player game, the nature of its gameplay means you can easily take it in turns and still enjoy the full experience.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War – Zombies

Genre – First-person shooter

Platform PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Windows

Co-op or Competitive? – Co-op

Zombies in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and a player holding the Ray Gun.
Credit: Activision

This is one you probably want to think carefully about. Will your non-gamer girlfriend be able to keep up with the frantic action of Call of Duty zombies? It can take some getting used to.

If she can and is happy to play it – great! Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War offers the most recent zombies mode with split-screen co-op.

You know what you’re getting with CoD zombies – action-packed, round-based zombie slaying featuring powerful weapons and awesome power-ups. Simply keep fighting hordes of the undead until the round is over, then re-group and get ready for the next one!

What Video Games To Play With Your Girlfriend?

If you’re wondering what videos games to play with your girlfriend, here’s our complete list…

What video games to play with your girlfriend?

  • Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
  • Overcooked 2
  • Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
  • The Last of Us Part I and Part II
  • Sackboy: A Big Adventure
  • Minecraft
  • Grand Theft Auto V
  • It Takes Two
  • Detroit: Become Human
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War – Zombies

Do you agree with our list of the best video games to play with your girlfriend? Let us know in the comment section below and don’t forget to check out our other gaming articles…

Joe Harby

About Author

Joe is one of the editors and founders of Downtime Bros and an accredited critic. He has more than a decade of experience in journalism and communications. He is passionate about everything in the worlds of gaming, movies, and TV, as demonstrated by the countless words he has written about them. He is overly proud of his Bloodborne platinum trophy and plays too much Call of Duty. Follow him on Twitter and check out his reviews on OpenCritic.

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