With dinner and a trip to the arcade unavailable this Valentine’s Day, HyperX are proposing virtual dates for gamers through their ‘Be My Player 2’ campaign. Having seen many other special occasions ruined by the pandemic, the gaming accessories company has selected six titles to share with someone special online. HyperX’s list is a mix of casual and not-so-casual so you can find something to share with your #gamerbae.
Loved-up gamers also have a chance to win a headset – the dark-blinged HyperX Cloud Alpha S Blackout. Compatible with consoles and PCs, Cloud Alpha S is a 7.1 surround enabled device with an adjustable low-end.
Here’s HyperX’s list of games to share this Valentine’s Day:
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.
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.
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.
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.
However, if you’re looking to impress there are plenty of Valentine’s builds you can watch and take the credit for later.
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.
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.
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.
