You’re sitting on a couch. There is a lukewarm pizza box between you and your best friend, and the screen is sliced right down the middle. One of you is screaming because a blue shell just ruined a friendship, or maybe you’re both leaning forward in dead silence, trying to coordinate a tactical breach in a dingy basement. This is the magic of split screen xbox games. It’s messy. It’s loud. It’s arguably the purest way to play, yet for a few years there, it felt like the industry was trying to kill it off entirely.
Online multiplayer is convenient, sure. But it’s lonely. There’s a specific kind of kinetic energy that only happens when the person you’re playing with is within arm's reach. Thankfully, despite the push for "live service" digital-only experiences, the Xbox Series X|S and even the aging One have become unexpected sanctuaries for local multiplayer.
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The Halo Effect and the Great Disappearance
We have to talk about Halo. For a generation, Halo was split screen. When 343 Industries released Halo 5: Guardians without local co-op, the backlash was visceral. It felt like a betrayal of the living room. They tried to fix it with Halo Infinite, promising that the feature would return, only to eventually scrap the local campaign co-op to focus on the live service elements. It sucked.
But here’s the thing: while the giants stumbled, others stepped up. If you look at the current Xbox library, the variety of split screen xbox games is actually wider than it was during the 360 era. You just have to know where to look. We aren’t just talking about shooters anymore. We’re talking about high-concept puzzles, brutal survival sims, and indie darlings that prioritize the "couch" over the "cloud."
The "It Takes Two" Revolution
If you haven't played It Takes Two, you're genuinely missing out on the best argument for local play in a decade. Hazelight Studios, led by the outspoken Josef Fares, made a game that cannot be played alone. That’s a bold business move. It’s a romantic comedy-drama wrapped in a genre-bending platformer. One minute you’re playing a third-person shooter with honey-guns, and the next you’re in a dungeon crawler or a rhythm game.
The brilliance here is that it forces communication. You can’t just "do your own thing." You are tethered to the other person. It’s a reminder that local multiplayer isn't just a technical feature; it's a design philosophy.
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Not Just for Kids: The Hardcore Local Scene
A common misconception is that local play is just for Minecraft or LEGO titles. Honestly, that’s nonsense. Some of the most punishingly difficult experiences on the platform are best handled with a partner.
Take Gears 5. The Gears of War franchise has remained remarkably loyal to the split-screen crowd. Playing through the campaign on Insane difficulty requires a level of coordination that’s just easier when you can glance at your partner’s half of the screen to see exactly where they’re pinned down. Then there’s Cuphead. It is a gorgeous, hand-drawn nightmare of boss rushes. Playing it solo is a test of patience; playing it in split screen is a chaotic dance of parries and revives that usually ends with both players sweating.
Stardew Valley added split screen a while back, and it changed the vibe of the game. It went from a solitary farm sim to a collaborative management project. You handle the mines; I’ll handle the pumpkins. It’s domestic bliss in digital form.
Why Performance Used to be the Enemy
Technically, split screen is a nightmare for developers. The console has to render the world twice (or four times). In the Xbox 360 days, this meant massive drops in frame rate or muddy textures.
But the Xbox Series X changed the math.
With the sheer power of the current hardware, we’re seeing games maintain 60 frames per second even when the screen is divided. This is why titles like Baldur’s Gate 3 can even exist in a local co-op capacity. Larian Studios famously struggled to get the split screen working on the Series S because that game is a technical behemoth, but they refused to ship without it on the Series X. That’s dedication to the format.
The Best Games for Your Next Game Night
If you’re looking to actually boot something up tonight, the "Best of" list is surprisingly diverse.
- For the Chaotic Souls: Overcooked! All You Can Eat. This game will make you hate your family. In a good way. It’s about yelling for plates and screaming that the kitchen is on fire.
- For the RPG Nerds: Divinity: Original Sin 2. Before Larian made Baldur's Gate, they perfected the isometric RPG co-op. You can literally walk to opposite ends of the map from your partner.
- For the Speed Freaks: Dirt 5. Modern racing games have largely abandoned split screen (looking at you, Forza Motorsport), but Dirt 5 keeps it alive with four-player local races.
- For the Classic Vibe: Halo: The Master Chief Collection. It’s still the gold standard. You get four legendary campaigns and the classic multiplayer maps. It’s like a time machine to 2004.
The Hidden Costs of Going Local
We should be real for a second: split screen isn't always perfect. There’s the "screen peeking" issue, which has been the cause of sibling rivalry since the dawn of GoldenEye 007. Even on a 65-inch 4K TV, cutting that real estate in half makes everything feel cramped. The UI often gets squished, making text hard to read unless you’re sitting three feet away.
Then there’s the controller tax. Xbox controllers aren't cheap. To get a four-player game of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge going, you’re looking at a significant investment in hardware.
Despite those hurdles, the demand is growing. Why? Because the "always-online" model is exhausting. Dealing with toxic lobbies, lag, and subscription fees like Xbox Game Pass Core just to play with a friend who lives down the street is a hassle. Local play is "plug and play" in its truest form.
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Game Pass: The Secret Weapon
If you have an Xbox, Game Pass is basically a curated library of split screen xbox games. Microsoft has been smart about including titles like A Way Out, Unravel Two, and the various LEGO games in the service. It lowers the barrier to entry. You don’t have to drop $70 to see if you and your partner actually enjoy playing Back 4 Blood together. You just download it and try.
Actionable Steps for the Ultimate Setup
If you want to get the most out of your local gaming sessions, don't just turn on the console and hope for the best.
- Invest in a Screen with High Verticality: Ultrawide monitors are terrible for split screen because they make the individual windows too thin. A standard 16:9 4K TV is your friend.
- Adjust the FOV: Many modern games allow you to change the Field of View. If the screen feels too zoomed in when split, bump the FOV up to 90 or 100 to regain some peripheral vision.
- Check for "Shared Gold": Remember that on Xbox, if one person has a Game Pass Ultimate subscription and that console is set as their "Home Xbox," any other local player can jump into most games without needing their own paid account.
- Audio Matters: Split screen audio is a mess because you’re hearing two different perspectives at once. Some games allow you to toggle "Focus Audio" to one player, which can save you a massive headache.
Local multiplayer isn't a relic of the past; it’s a deliberate choice to prioritize human connection over digital convenience. Whether it's the high-stakes tension of Call of Duty Zombies or the quiet cooperation of Portal 2, the best stories on Xbox are often the ones you share with the person sitting right next to you. Stop scrolling through the store alone and go find a second controller. It’s worth the clutter on the coffee table.