What will co-op be like?

[Rapturous]

Hello!

I noticed this is local co-op and wanted to know in what fashion. Will second player be a clone of first player with full functionality, or will it be some kind of helper? Asymmetric gameplay? Thanks!

[RedBlueGames]

Hello! Yep, there is local co-op, and the second player will play an assistant/helper role. That said, the abilities of the companion character can be performed by Player 1 in single-player mode, as well.

[Darkness]

Honestly, I was expecting the second player to at least be able to have some assistance in combat, as most of the game is combat.

Compared to all other asymmetric co-op games I've tried recently (A Robot Named Fight, OUTBUDDIES, Timespinner, Crashlands, Woodpunk), this one seems the most uninteresting and limited due to the fact that the second player does nothing most of the time.

I expected the second player to use gadgets, stun enemies, block them, or even give some minor damage, but so far, nothing.

Allowing the pet robot do additional stuff in co-op compared to being controlled in singleplayer is a common tactic used by most of the games I referenced, precisely to make it more interesting and meaningful experience.

[Razzle]

aw thats a bit disappointing to be honest
my brother wouldnt like playing as a sidekick : |

Doesnt matter cuz I want this game either way

i notice a couple of people having "owns this game" is there a way to buy this currently ?

[76561198872486972]

There was a beta test a couple of months ago :)

[Razzle]

Ah i see thanks!

[Alice Bubblegum]

Usually games of this genre are the same for player 2, just a sidekick almost useless, it's there just to add "local co-op" to the tags.
:/
But the game looks very good and it's beautiful.

[Darkness]

I don't mind asymmetric co-op, sure it's usually not as fun as a symmetric one, but often it can lead to some interesting experiences. Still, it looks like here the scope is too limited for a meaningful co-op experience.

I hope the devs can make it interesting in upcoming patches, because currently I wouldn't recommend it as a co-op title, it's more like a way to "watch the other player play it and participate once in a while out of combat" as it is.

Usually I think "any co-op is better than no co-op", but as it is, I hardly think it justifies itself. The recently released OUTBUDDIES has a similar co-op relation, meaning playing solo you control your "assistant" to do some puzzles, but in co-op it changes the experience a lot by adding new abilities to the assistant to help in combat, and even a new navigation ability to allow a different kind of exploration compared to solo play. At first I was against this, but now I see it was a great idea that surely is missed here.

[Razzle]

if 2nd player is like in deathspank where its a fun to control side kick then that'd be great imo

[Darkness]

After killing the first boss, you unlock the "pet", which can be controlled by player 1 when desired, or assumed 100% by a player 2. It flies around the screen, can give light radius to player 1 (on very rare dark places), and has the initial ability of digging up (used a few times on some spots to uncover secrets, generally extra money only)

After killing the second boss, you unlock another pet ability to light stuff up. You can leave lights on the ground, and use it to solve very very few puzzles around, and again, there aren't many dark places.

After killing the third boss, another pet ability is unlocked, to suck up mud from the ground, unveling rarely some hidden stuff, and mostly only serves as yet another income generation system, again, rarely used.

Killed the 4th boss, nothing unlocked for the pet, and I suppose the 5th boss is the last one, maybe, so I doubt it'd unlock anything for the pet.

So, I haven't really tried playing in co-op, but from the looks, it wouldn't be interesting for the second player in any way, besides being a very very secondary player that once in a while do something slightly useful. Personally, I'd feel like I was watching the game, not playing it, and doing chores for the other player to make him not lose time doing petty stuff, but maybe that's just me.

[Graeme]

I would have been more excited if it were as simple as, adding a Player 2 doubles all enemies health.
You earn the same number of sparklite, share the same upgrades, only have 1 supply of items (although each can equip their own LB item), and only 1 person at a time can take control of the robot.
Hell. Make the second player simply an alt colour of the first, and never even acknowledge them in the story. Anything to make it actually feel like both players are actually playing