Couch Monsters is very much like Snipperclips. You control two reprobates working together to solve a common problem. The problem here is a consistent one: get to the couch and put your feet up. More than an incentive for anyone.
Broken down into chapters, you play through each stage, manoeuvring over obstacles and strategically placing boxes to climb to elevated positions or cross a dangerous path, such as a floor with protruding spikes.
It’s a co-op game from Crunchy, Munch and Partners, but it does state that it’s a one-player game, which is technically true as you can control both characters; one with a keyboard, the other with a gamepad – depending on your setup. But this takes the fun out of it, in my humble (pah!) opinion.
Sure, you have the advantage of not fighting over who does what, and you can take complete onus for your actions without pointing the finger at your less dexterous partner. Still, moving a bit, swapping to the keyboard, then jumping with both characters to reach a new level is a bit of a chore.
Couch Monsters isn’t a bad game – you could argue that my lack of friends is the real issue. I am already at a disadvantage during lockdown with my flesh friends; I don’t play online with others unless the game automatically pairs me with a stranger. As far as I can see, you can only play with your online friends here, so local play was the way to go.
Alas, my eldest guinea pig wasn’t enjoying it. She felt the same way about Snipperclips. There was no issue with the former’s appearance – it was her choice to purchase in the first place, but perhaps it was working together with the old man that put her off. That was until the snipping mechanic was milked to death as she’d continue to sabotage our progress by slicing me up.
Cutting up your partner in Couch Monsters isn’t in the small print, nor should it be, so that incentive of sabotaging and mayhem didn’t ring true until we got to the box consumption. Until the first couple of levels, it’s all very Chuckle Brothers as one stands on the other’s shoulder for a lift up, then uses these boxes to reach new levels.
Lacking in the hands department, these little monsters (which look like a cute variant of Attack The Block) swallow objects whole for their partner to regurgitate them. Think of it as a portal mechanic, as the entire thing practically teleports. As a one-player, I found that positioned correctly, you could fire the boxes onto the monster below, so I naturally did this to my daughter.
Cue a mini-war between us where the objectives were thrown out the window, and the trick was to squash or crush one another. There aren’t any penalties for this, but we enjoyed this aspect. Perhaps a mini-game for the future – like a battle royale where players spontaneously hock up a box that could drop on another or block their path?
Back to the Couch Monsters gameplay, and the puzzles are intuitive. Depending on your mode, it’ll either be about swapping your controls back and forth or explaining (read: convincing) the other player to follow your instructions. Couch Monsters isn’t a walk in the park, though, so there will be times you get stuck, and there’s a hint system for this.
Heading to the pause menu will be a play-for-play hint showing you the next step. You can scroll through each clue if it’s still insufficient, so there will never be the argument that you can’t work it out. Note that it’s an optional feature, so if you’re hard-as-nails and don’t need help, go for it.
The art style looked interesting in the initial screenshots, but they weren’t that great when animated. Problem-solving is Couch Monsters’ strength, not the fluidity of platforming and Cuphead-like motion. For some reason, the sound defaulted to 50% for me. I wondered why it was so quiet and didn’t think to check the menu, but once reactivated, the sounds are a straightforward puzzle-type tempo. It gets pretty repetitive, though.
One of Couch Monsters’ highlights is the lack of timers. That might put off the die-hards, but for a couch co-op, that’s great. Working with others in these games is a nightmare, so having to beat the clock would end up in arguments, etc. If you want that kind of game, anything like Overcooked or Cannibal Cuisine should suffice, as those titles reveal your hysteria in trying to beat a task efficiently.
Couch Monsters is an enjoyable co-op game in the right company. While the puzzles are satisfying when working them out on your own without the hint system, the solo play gets a bit tiresome, and it was much better playing with somebody else, regardless of whether they wanted to crush you with a box. If you have a Steam network of friends, this would be better than playing this on your own from your desk. Or couch.
