Stay Together Whilst Apart – The Best Video Games to Play with Others This Valentine’s Day

HyperX’s Be My Player 2 campaign launches to help us stay connected during lockdown

In 2021, the era of the virtual Valentine’s Day is upon us. With most of us still stuck in a lockdown it can be much harder to spend time with our loved ones, but thanks to video games you can still share and celebrate love with your partners, friends, family or even your raiding party this year. 

It may feel daunting to come up with ways to connect with each other during this time, it can be difficult to think of something to do that isn’t just a FaceTime or another Zoom quiz we hoped we’d left in 2020. Video games provide fun and innovative ways for us to bond during these disconnected times, no matter your skill level.

“Video games have a long history of creating communities and bringing us together virtually. On a grand scale they can bring millions of us together with online gaming and on an individual level people can begin long-lasting friendships and relationships that began just by playing video games together” says Jessany Van’t Hoff head of global gaming partnerships, HyperX. “During these challenging times that’s exactly what we want to do with our Be My Player 2 campaign at HyperX, help build those connections between people with gaming”

So whether you’re an expert builder on Minecraft ready to create a whole world together, looking to just hang-out on each other’s island on Animal Crossing or create a lobby with you and some friends in Fall Guys, here are six games that can help you stay connected this Valentine’s Day:

1. Animal Crossing

Perhaps the most famous pastime to come out of the initial lockdown was the chilled-out island building of Animal Crossing. It gave all of us a place to escape and chill from all the madness happening around us and instead allowed us to focus on fishing, bug collecting and paying back our numerous debts to Tom Nook. 

Since its release it has had numerous events built around almost every major holiday and Valentine’s Day is no exception. You can currently buy heart shaped flowers and chocolate boxes to adorn your island with for when your loved one next comes to visit your island or perhaps you might send one of these gifts directly to them. But even if you don’t want to decorate the island in hues of pink and red, hanging out with a friend or partner at your islands is a great way to connect and hopefully forget about the madness around us.

•  Minecraft

This is for those who want to get creative on Valentine’s Day and maybe best for those who are patient with each other as there is bound to be someone who doesn’t put the block in the right place. The sky really is the limit in creative mode for Minecraft and you choose to express your love for someone any way you want, be it a giant heart, a single rose or something completely unrelated, it’s about the time spent together that matters. But if you’re looking to impress there are plenty of Valentine’s builds you can watch and take the credit for later.

• Tabletop Simulator 

Board games are known to make us passionate; we dread to think how many boards of Monopoly have been flipped when bankruptcy draws near. However, the issue these days is getting everyone in the same room to play. Thankfully this is where Tabletop Simulator comes in. When you first download it, you have some of the games you would expect: chess or backgammon for example but start looking into mods or DLC available and you’ll soon find a huge library of games waiting for you to experience. There is the resource gathering Catan, epic fantasy game Gloomhaven or even the socially manipulative Secret Hitler, which if you can call, or video call the other players still works surprisingly well. And yes, you can still flip the table even virtually.

• Fall Guys

Sixty players go in, one comes out, that is the premise of the wildly popular Fall Guys. Going through a series of rounds, you slowly whittle down the competition to try to be the one holding the crown at the end. This is great for the more casual players out there with intuitive, easy to understand controls and hilarious results. Join as a group in the lobby and increase your chances that one of you will come out the victor and even if you lose you can continue cheering on and supporting the other little jellybeans on your team.

• Overcooked 2

This is for those who want to put their friendships and relationships to the test. A group of you come together to work in the most stressful kitchen you may ever find as you must coordinate between cooking, serving and washing up. Communication is key here to be efficient, otherwise your little chefs will be bumping into each other, leaving customers with empty stomachs and ultimately your failure. It’s a pressure cooker of a game but the feeling of triumph when you work with each other and succeed is worth it.

• Mario Kart

Would any list of games to play with others be complete without Mario Kart? The hugely popular arcade style kart racer remains a staple of cooperative play both locally and online. Its colourful cast of characters and tracks whilst being accessible for gamers of varying skill make it a great ride for everyone involved. Duke it out head-to-head to see who the ultimate racer really is, just don’t expect any immediate forgiveness if you are responsible for the blue shell that costs them the race.

To learn more about HyperX’s Be My Player 2 campaign and how you can win a personalized headset for your loved one then please head to hyperxgaming.com