Game reviews by Brandon, Elizabeth, Kristin, Stacy, Justine, and Sue.
Hello everyone! We hope you’ll enjoy these reviews for free games to entertain you! These are a mix of browser and smartphone games, and none of them will cost you anything to play.
Want to play free online games with friends and loved ones? Here are some great options!
Path of Exile
A downloadable game available here.
My brother and I have been playing online co-op games for the past five years: once every few months, he calls me to tell me about the new game we just have to try. “Path of Exile” is one that we keep returning to. “Path of Exile” is a fantasy RPG: you’re an outcast banished to a brutal world. You can fight your way through this world either by yourself or with friends, taking on different advanced missions and discovering information about who wronged you. My brother and I play very different types of games, but this has everything we both want: advanced combat tactics for him, a story for me, and items for both of us. It has competitive events and badges, too, if you’d like to play more competitively. Think of it as a free-to-play Diablo III. - Elizabeth
We Were Here
Available through Steam here.
“We Were Here” is game that was released for free on Steam back in 2017. Developed by Total Mayhem Games, this is a game with not a lot of story. You and your friend are trapped in a castle that you’ve discovered in the arctic wastelands - you aren’t sure why you are here, but all you know is you need to get out and FAST. With one person as the explorer and one person as the librarian, you must help each other get through each level solely via walk-talkie communication.
...
“Hey, sooo I don’t mean to rush anyone, but I might be dying?”
I played “We Were Here” with two of my closest friends in another city. We’ve done multiple escape rooms together before, but “We Were Here” adds an additional level of challenge: since my friends and I were separated, we couldn’t collaborate like normal. We couldn’t even see each other’s screens. Add the difficulty of carefully describing details and a few very brutal time limits to this escape room and we were left with a delightfully shriek-worthy experience. – Elizabeth
So let it be known, that Elizabeth played this game in a much more polite manner that I had. My experience was more of “ Stacy, STACY I’M GOING TO DROWN! PLEASE STOP ME FROM DROWNING!!” This game was an experience and perfect for cooperative play. The game lures you in with a false sense of comfort at first. You have no problem just chatting about anything with your partner, in between actual gameplay talk. As you progress, the game begins to implement time limits and you must turn your focus up at this point. The game promotes outside the box thinking and you will definitely benefit by playing with someone who can think in sync with you. Constant communication is key! There is also apparently some sort of terrifying puppet, but I’ll let Stacy tell you more about that. - Brandon
Although I only played with Brandon, I can agree that he was definitely not as nice as Elizabeth. As the librarian, I spent most of my playthrough wandering a set of rooms trying to figure out which symbols, notes, and words pertained to whichever puzzle Brandon (as the explorer) was on. At first it was really chaotic – I felt like I was just yelling nonsense at Brandon because neither of us could figure out what the other one needed; “A green eye and a blue eye? Two green eyes? Do these eye colors mean ANYTHING to you?" and “There are.....books here. Do you need books maybe?” Although I definitely remember yelling/crying at Brandon as he was trying to save me from a hauntingly scary marionette - which we failed many many times. I definitely recommend this game for anyone who is a fan of puzzle games, co-operative/non-player-versus-player games, and those who are fans of “Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes” or “Spaceteam!” - Stacy
Starcraft 2
Available through Blizzard here.
This is another of my favorite games to play with my brother. In Starcraft 2, players can choose between three space races: humans, the bug-like Zurg, or the psychic Protoss. You can choose to compete against each other or to team up against the computer. It’s a strategy game: you’re building up cities and armies in space, all in preparation to fight the other armies. Very war-like, but also (according to my brother) relaxing once you get good at it. Me? I just stay bad at it and piggyback on his success.
- Elizabeth
Do you have any favorite online cooperative games? Any great tales of playing together with friends and family? Let us know, and happy gaming!
|