It’s 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Your family has finished feasting and migrated to the sofa and recliners. Everyone has already changed into their sweatpants with elastic waistbands. The Chiefs and Cowboys are playing lackluster football, and not even Tony Romo’s exuberant praise over a Patrick Mahomes completed seven-yard-out can make the game entertaining.
Uncle Frank makes a “he’s had one too many” comment that causes you to reflexively cringe. You read the room: tempers are bound to boil as politics get brought up.
Your Xbox is right there. You want nothing more than to sneak away and game. But what if instead of playing alone, you bring the fam in on the gaming session? Get everyone a controller and a shared objective. Quell any Thanksgiving Day drama before it begins. You don’t want a repeat of last year.
This week’s recommendations are all about gaming together and include a retro beat ’em up, a very relaxing simulator, and a chaotic cooking game.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is a transformative game. With a few friends or family members playing beside you, it perfectly captures the feeling of huddling around an arcade cabinet from Way Back When, beating up on faceless goons as they wander onto level and into your swiping sword. Each Turtle is just different enough to make them all worth trying out, and DLC additions like ronin rabbit Miyamoto Usagi and the Foot Clan’s Karai offer even more gameplay variety. So instead of fighting with your brothers on Thanksgiving, fight some ninja goons alongside bros. —Austin Manchester
PowerWash Simulator 2
If you’re visiting family over Thanksgiving weekend, there’s a good chance your parents might try to coerce you into doing some chores around the house. This year, you can turn that back around on them with PowerWash Simulator 2. The newly released deep cleaning sim has players powerwashing dirty objects with high-powered water jets until they’re sparkling clean again. The best part about it, though, is that it features split-screen multiplayer allowing you to work on messes with another player. That’s the ideal PowerWash Simulator experience, as it’s a relaxing game designed to be chatted over. After a heated Thanksgiving dinner filled with political debates, it will be the perfect game to cool down with. Just don’t get too cozy and fall asleep in a tryptophan-induced slumber. —Giovanni Colantonio
Overcooked! 2
I respect Austin and Giovanni’s choices for games that encourage teamwork, collaboration, and the camaraderie that comes from working toward a shared objective. I also respect your choice of BURNING EVERYTHING TO THE GROUND. Overcooked! 2 is a “cooperative” game in the loosest possible definition of the term. Yes, you’re ostensibly working together as a crew of four to cook food, serve meals, wash dishes, and otherwise keep the wheels moving on a restaurant that always seems to be on fire (often literally). But ask anyone, and they’ll tell you Overcooked! 2, and its predecessor, are more likely than not to devolve into shouting matches as players try to shift the blame of a failed level. Screw it. Go big, then go home — or tell the rest of your family to.
—Ari Notis
