Alexia Unplugged

My partner, Floyd, and I have been in a mid-distance relationship for over 4 years now, only seeing each other once or twice a month (and almost never consistently). In spite of the distance, we’ve continued to create meaningful memories through gaming together. Recently, I had to move back to the US for about a year, so we’ve been searching through all games we can play together while we’re apart. So, here is a a few game series that have helped us get through long periods of separation.

1. The We Were Here Series

If you like collaborative puzzles, this series by the Dutch indie studio, Total Mayhem Games, are for you. You and your partner play as a series of explorers (or perhaps the same explorers over and over again) trapped in a castle. Disoriented and haunted by something not quite human, you desperately try to reach your friend, helping each other find the way through your walkie talkies. You can solve puzzles and uncover the castle’s history and lore on your way to each other. These games are intense, exciting, and will test your communication skills as well as your problem solving skills.

The first game in the series, We Were Here, is available for free on Steam, Xbox, and Playstation. The next 3 games, We Were Here Too, We Were Here Together, and We Were Here Forever are available from $10, $13, and $18 respectively, and go on sale pretty often. That makes this a really affordable game to test out, and then if you love it, you can wait for a bundle sale or just buy them all separately! My partner and I love these games, and were really sad when we finished We Were Here Forever. Imagine our excitement when Total mayhem Games released another game this year!

We Were Here Expeditions: The FriendShip

Released just last month, We Were Here Expeditions: The FriendShip begins with a mysterious distress call in the middle of a stormy sea. You and your partner answer the call and find yourselves on a strange theme park island. You find a tunnel of love ride and hop on, only to be met with a disembodied voice who introduces herself as Captain Marina Seaworthy. The captain presents you a series of challenges designed to test your communication, teamwork, and trust. Her strangle puppets (mannequins?) upgrade your boat after each puzzle based on how well you did. We haven’t finished this one yet, but I love it. The atmosphere and theming is the perfect combination of spooky and cozy, and the game seems to lend itself a little replayability because it challenges you to get the highest scores!

We Were Here Expeditions is available on Steam, Xbox, and Playstation for only $4! It’s definitely worth it. Have fun building your FriendShip together!

2. Divinity: Original Sin 2 (and Baldur’s Gate 3)

I’m sure you’ve seen Baldur’s Gate 3, with its sassy vampire rogue, egotistical wizard, ferocious Githyanki fighter, and bubbly tiefling barbarian. In case you haven’t, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a recent release of Larian Studios set in the world of Dungeons and Dragons. You and your ragtag party of adventurers make your way towards the great city of Baldur’s Gate, trying to get rid of a nasty tadpole planted in your head by the Mind Flayers. Along the way, the party grows closer, uncovering political intrigue, cults, and their own buried pasts. It’s a beautiful, story rich game filled with dangerous lore and sensational voice acting that makes you want to discover every secret!

But before Baldur’s Gate 3 came Divinity: Original Sin 2. Baldur’s Gate is almost a more polished version of Divinity, mechanics wise. While Baldur’s Gate is set in a lore-accurate Dungeons and Dragons world, Divinity takes a more homebrew approach, with unique magic and interesting religious lore. The main plot of Divinity is about a corrupt theocracy trying to imprison, experiment on, enslave, and perhaps even commit genocide against Sourcerers (basically, magic users). It’s challenging, with interesting characters and dozens of ways to play. Divinity also features a 4-player party system with unique characters and many different backgrounds and races to choose from!

I’ve gotten about as far in Divinity as I have in Baldur’s Gate. That is to say, barely past Act 1. But even though I’ve barely scratched the surface of the story, I am eager to play more (once we decide to play together again). There are so many ways to play these masterwork games by Larian Studios. They were truly well worth the wait, especially if you have a friend (or 3!) to play with.

3. Minecraft

At this point, Minecraft is a classic. So many games are based on building and surviving in a blocky world nowadays! My partner is Dutch, and I have a rough time working up the motivation to learn his language, simply because without him, I don’t have any meaningful exposure to it. To remedy this, and to force me to learn how to speak, Floyd and I have decided to make Minecraft our “Dutch only” game. It adds an extra challenge for both of us since he has to interpret my terrible Dutch and I have to figure out how to get my point across!

It’s exciting to get lost in the mines and fight zombies together, but sometimes a big sandbox game like Minecraft can feel a bit aimless. That’s where you can make your own challenges! Try to build a functional base with only a 5×5 area. Or challenge your partner to a building competition! You can even make silly challenges like “only eat vegetables.” I think the game is much more fun with team building goals, like building a long railroad or making a huge zoo. If all else fails, modded Minecraft servers like Sky Islands can make the game that much more fun for both of you!

4. Civilization V & VI

This is another game that has the potential to take up dozens if not hundreds of hours of your time. Civilization is a resource and colony management sim where you are playing as a historical leader, starting from the ancient era into the space age. I enjoy both Civ V and Civ VI, but I think that Civ VI is much more complex, and should definitely be played with the Rising Storm expansion. The only downfall of Civilization is that they are not very interactive games; they’re strategic, slow, and can be a little stressful if you choose to play with a turn timer. It’s definitely not for everyone, but I’ve definitely had dozens of hours of fun with this game, especially when I can gather a few people to play with!

5. Teamfight Tactics and League of Legends

My partner plays a lot of League of Legends, and I play a lot of Teamfight Tactics. These games are very different, but live on the same client and use the same lore. The world of League of Legends, set in Runeterra, has a rich story that keeps improving and evolving. You might know it from the Netflix series, Arcane, which was a huge hit even outside of the League of Legends fanbase.

Teamfight Tactics (TFT) is an autochess game, where you buy champions to place on your board and manage their synergies, items, and positioning. Each round, your champions fight against another player in a kind of interactive chess. I love this game because it’s strategic, features champions from League of Legends, and doesn’t have a high skill requirement. There’s even a double up feature that lets you play with your partner on the same team!

League of Legends requires much more skill and can be intimidating to play. I don’t play League very much now, but in the early stages of our long distance relationship, my partner and I spent many evenings playing League together, running it down in the bot lane. This game might require some research to start, since there are a lot of moving parts and almost 200 champions to learn to master (although you don’t have to learn them all; I only know how to play like 3 of them). In general, if your partner is level headed and doesn’t take the game too seriously, or if you’re both competitive and love a challenge, this can be a fun game to get into! Just don’t forget to mute all.