Tomb Raider Anniversary, Session 2: Single-Player Co-Op! Demiboy vs. Backlog, Game #3

This week I'm playing Tomb Raider: Anniversary! Each week, I select a game at random from the 228 entries in my backlog and play only that game over the course of the week, writing about it here whenever sufficient time and thoughts align. This game's series began with this post.

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My wife and I are both gamers,^* so games are a go-to bonding activity for us. That might involve going head-to-head in Ascension, teaming up to explore Wraeclast in Path of Exile, or roleplaying fellow party members in Dungeon World. We keep an eye out for "couch co-op" games in genres we both appreciate, from Super Mario Galaxy to Diablo III.

But as Tomb Raider: Anniversary has reminded me, a game doesn't even need multiplayer support for a couple or a crew to enjoy it together! The stereotypically lonely experience of video gaming can become social by simply inviting someone to hang out while you play, offering commentary and assistance. (No doubt this is part of the popular appeal of the streamer-plus-chatroom structure of Twitch!) If you don't mind a bit of "backseat gaming," the extra set of eyes can help you notice things you might have overlooked, suggest possible solutions to puzzles, and even provide that much-needed advice to take a break when you've been at it too long.

My coplayer points out grippable ledges and grapnel attach points I've passed up, and calls my attention to oddments like this that might otherwise vanish in the flow: "what's going on with her shadow?"

 
It's especially nice in the case of Tomb Raider, as my wife was an avid player of the original series. She knows pretty well how TR's designers think, even where this remade version of the game departs from its predecessor in mechanics or level design. Where I grumble and try to brute-force my way around what I at first assume are bugs or shoddy controls, she often points out a more effective approach. "That pillar you're pushing is getting stuck on the platform above it. Look up, then go around."

I'll have to keep such over-the-shoulder co-play in mind as I proceed through the backlog. Turn-based tactics and old-school CRPGs aren't likely to hold both our attentions simultaneously, but other action-adventures? JRPGs? Point-and-click puzzlers? Definite possibilities!

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* In the "players of games" sense, rather than the "louts who harass women on the Internet for doing basic feminist critique" sense.

P.S. It didn't fit the main topic of this post, but during this last play session I managed an out-of-bounds glitch--the sort that speedrunners use to skip chunks of gameplay--entirely by accident. I don't know how I was supposed to reach the Hephaestus door, but this extradimensional jaunt did the trick!