I hate playing competitively; it's rubbish to achieve victory at the expense of someone else. So I asked for recommendations and picked the cheapest things which looked reasonable.

Several people recommended Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime. It's a neat little game which is just short enough to not get too repetitive. You and your friend (and, I'm pleased to say, lover) have joint control of a space ship. You fly around the screen shooting baddies, rescuing bunny-friends, and upgrading your craft. There's a lot of "You fly left and I'll shoot" and "I'll move the shield, can you fly us through the asteroid" chatter.

It works, and is fun. But after a few levels it becomes clear that there isn't anything else to it. The three different ships and various weapon upgrades give it a bit of variety, but it isn't one for playing long into the night.

I suspect it's probably better with four players - with two you frequently have to deal with your inability to move the ship and angle the shield and fire the weapons all at the same time. So it gets a bit frustrating.

It is delightfully cutesy - and I particularly loved the way the "OK" button was replaced with "YAY!". Something I think more interfaces should do.

The game was a fiver or so when I bought it, which seems reasonable enough.

Well, OK, that's not exactly what the game's about - but it might as well be!

My aim this year is to play more co-operative games with my wife. So she picked up the controller to play as the shrewish May while I steered the lug-headed Cody. Both have been shrunk to the size of toy dolls and have to navigate their house in an attempt to regain human-form and comfort their daughter. The game is a series of puzzles which can only be solved if you work together. Only by working together can you escape the quagmire you find yourself in. A sentient marriage guidance book continually reminds you that you only beat the last level because you worked together.

And then you murder a toy elephant who pleads for its life after you brutally mutilate it. That isn't an exaggeration. It is easily the most traumatic media moment I've ever experienced.

Unlike Unravel Two, the world is fully 3D and the quests are delightfully varied. Some are the usual "you jump there and I'll do the thing here" - others are more complex. There's logic, timed jumping, beat-em-ups, flight simulators, and a couple of dozen more inventive twists on familiar puzzles. Every single level seems to have a different game mechanic - and each level also has a unique æsthetic.

It is refreshing to play a game actually designed for adults. I don't mean "Rated 18 for blood and gore"; more like "grapples with the complexities of being a modern couple trying to raise a family". It's also great fun to collaborate on the puzzles, while also exploring the intricate world around you.

I don't know whether the game saved our marriage. There was certainly lots of working together to achieve a common goal.

The voice acting is excellent, the story isn't too cloying, and the animation is sumptuous.

I hate playing competitively; it's rubbish to achieve victory at the expense of someone else. So I asked for recommendations and picked the cheapest thing that looked reasonable.

Unravel Two is a little gem! It's a 2D platform puzzler dressed up in a 3D engine. You and your friend play little string creatures and have to work together to swing between points, lift objects, and pull each other over the lush scenery. It's the sort of physics-based game which could have been made for the 16-bit consoles of my childhood.

As befits a game this cheap and simple, it's fairly short. Once you've got the hang of the mechanics there are only a limited number of ways to solve each section. But it is great for shouting "No! Go left and pull!" or "We've got to time our jumps together" or "You stand on the button and I'll try swinging". It's also possible to temporarily switch to one-player mode - if one of you doesn't want to do the jumping puzzles, the other player can carry you.

Weirdly, the game is deeply portentous in a rather pointless manner. There's a story going on in the background about some kids who are either being abused, chased, or getting into trouble. It is utterly superfluous and detracts from the fun of the puzzles. Similarly, the level titles all have subtitles like "In which we find our way out of the sullen darkness and are redeemed." WTF? This is a silly game of string puppets - not every indie game needs to be "Life Is Strange"!

There's some replayability. You can see how quickly you can do the levels, there are some hidden collectables, and some extra challenge levels. Which, for £3.51 at time of writing is more than reasonable.

A good casual co-op game - just ignore the vague story playing out behind the action.