We went through a phase a while back of playing games “together” which meant one person controlling and both of us deciding where to go / what to do. Works really well for slower-paced and more explorey games (Outer Wilds being the pinnacle, go play Outer Wilds).
Anyway we tried to do this with a game called Heaven’s Vault, but other half wasn’t enjoying it so we stopped. I’ve just picked it back up again and decided to play through it myself, and it’s so odd and unique I figured it’s worth a mention.
It’s a sort of sci-fi archaeology narrative puzzle game where you explore and translate a language to piece together the story. How everything plays out depends on your choices, and I’ve just gone through a sequence in which, from what my little robot buddy told me, I appear to have made a very rare decision indeed so we’ll see how that works out.
The controls are awful and sometimes it feels like the game is just playing itself while you watch, but the language puzzles are compelling and the world-building is fantastic, I’m really looking forward to getting further into it and answering some questions!