The 23 Best Multiplayer PC Games

It felt like during the pandemic, more people started both gaming and streaming more than ever. Those who were already streaming saw their available hours triple while they couldn’t leave the house and the period was perfect for growth.

A few different games boomed during the pandemic too, Fall Guys and Among Us to name a couple of them. For a while, multiplayer games were one of the ways we kept in contact.

As PC gaming continues to become more popular, so does the need for a selection of multiplayer games to play. As a result, we’ve made a list of the best multiplayer games that you can play on PC right now. Check them out below.

Developed and published by Innersloth, Among Us has actually been out since June of 2018 on iOS and Android and November of 2018 on Windows. It only had its surge last year as people were inside. Inspired by Mafia, the concept of the game is that you and the people you’re playing with are the crew on a spaceship. However, one of you is the Imposter and is trying to kill the other members of the crew. Every so often, meetings take place where crew members can discuss who they think the Imposter is and vote for people to be kicked off the ship. The game lost some momentum but was helped along by mods and there’s likely to be a big surge when the sequel gets released.

During the time that Apex Legends launched, it felt like there was a new battle royale coming out every month, but this one stuck with people, hence the 100 million players that the game had in April of this year. The unique selling point of the game is having different characters, called Legends, for people to choose from. They all have different abilities, which makes for a fun aspect of the game before the action even starts. At the time of writing, the game is in its tenth season which kicked off at the top of August. A new Legend, a new gun, a new battle pass, and a ranked version of Arenas were all introduced. It’s still free to play too.

Warzone launched right at the top of the pandemic and it couldn’t have happened better for the developers or gamers. While the game is currently facing a lot of criticism about not having a solid anti-cheat system, it’s looking like there might be a change coming with the launch of Call of Duty: Vanguard this November. Also coming before the end of the year is a brand-new map, one that’s set during World War II. We’re not sure what that means for Verdansk, or whether or not Modern Warfare or Cold War guns will still be available, but it’s worth hopping on for the ride regardless. The game will also continue to be free to play.

Released in 2017 and developed and published by Studio MDHR, Cuphead is a game that can be played solo, but is far more fun with a friend. One of you controls the title character Cuphead and the other takes control of their brother, Mugman. The concept of the game is that the brothers must play through different levels and fight bosses to pay their debt to the devil, but that makes the game sound far darker than it actually is. In reality, it’s a great run and gun platformer.

A great game for when you have a group of friends. Dead By Daylight makes one player the killer, whose goal is to kill other players, known as Survivors before they can escape. As well as escaping, Survivors have various tasks to complete, making it all the more likely that they put themselves in danger of being killed.

A free-to-play online multiplayer game, Destiny 2 sees players take on the role of Guardians, protectors of Earth. You pick a class, learn the combat and take on game modes like Crucibles, Strikes, Gambits, and Raids, the latter of which is perfect for a group of six.

Don’t Starve Together is the multiplayer expansion for Don’t Starve, the 2013 game developed by Klei Entertainment. Although, it basically functions as its own game. As you might have guessed from the name, it’s all about survival. You and your group must work together to stay full, hydrated, warm, and dry. If that wasn’t hard enough, the creepy environment is filled with deadly creatures.

Fall Guys, as we mentioned in the article’s intro, is one of the games that boomed in the pandemic, right when it launched and became a free download. The general consensus was that while the game was fun, updates full of new levels with season two came too late and many people had fallen out of love with it as quickly as they fell in love with it. However, the game has definitely seen a rise in popularity since, with the team aspect being catered to. The concept of the game, like a battle royale, is to be the last person standing, all the while going through obstacle courses to try to qualify for the next round. 

Fortnite isn’t the game that kicked off the battle royale craze in gaming, but it is the one that popularised it. It also gave developers the key to making money with the battle pass and having different seasons in-game. While you might think the game isn’t as popular as when it first came out, the numbers would prove you wrong. In April of last year, 12.3 million concurrent players participated in the Travis Scott event. Eight months later, that record was beaten by 3 million, when 15.3 concurrent players tuned in for the Galactus event. Despite the many things added to the game since its launch in 2017, the concept is still the same and great for playing online with friends or strangers. Oh, and it doesn’t cost a penny to play.

Released in 2018 was Forza Horizon 4, the eleventh installment in the Forza series. For us, this is must-play co-op content. Racing game fans will already know about how much respect Forza gets and we can only agree that they consistently make the best and most realistic driving games around. Horizon 4 on PC is no different.

Of course, since this article is about multiplayer games, we’re referring to the online version of the game here. It’s incredible that GTA: V has been around this long, but it’s managed to still be one of the most popular games in the world because of the constant online updates. It doesn’t look like the game is going anywhere anytime soon either because the launch for the PlayStation 5 version of the game is still yet to happen. So despite the game launching in 2013, it’s definitely not too late to jump on and kick things off with some heists and races.

Much like the name suggests, It Takes Two requires two players to work. You can either play with a friend or someone online. Either way, the game is a split-screen co-op game. You and your partner take on the role of two parents who are about to get divorced until your child pretends everything is fine with their dolls. You end up becoming the dolls and must work together to try to reach your child, to get them to turn you back into humans. The game features some great spots where timing and communication are key.

Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes is an incredibly fun co-op game where you and your partner must work with each other to defuse a bomb. One of you is the Defuser, staring at the bomb which has multiple modules. The other is called the Expert and must help the Defuser through each module. Some examples of the modules are morse code and wire cutting (in which the wire you need to cut varies greatly based on random circumstances).

Left 4 Dead 2 includes various game modes, most of which support multiplayer. The Campaign allows you to play with up to three people, although any untaken spots will be filled with the CPU. Survival is basically a gauntlet where you must survive waves of Infected. Then there’s Versus, where you can take control of Infected.

If you’ve only heard of Minecraft and never dived in, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s a game where you just gather materials and build things. Although that’s a big aspect of it, there’s so much more that you can do. There’s a Hardcore mode where the aim of the game is survival. There’s Creative mode where you have access to nearly all resources. Multiplayer could see you competing against other players with friends or having build battles. Of course, you could always team up to fight the Ender Dragon too.

Developed and published by Capcom, Monster Hunter World was released in 2018. Although the single-player portion of the game is a massive part of it, the game does offer great multiplayer support. Players join servers of up to sixteen people and go on quests, many of which are the same as you can do solo.

Overcooked! 2 puts you and your team in the kitchen of a busy restaurant. You’ll be tasked with gathering, chopping, and cooking ingredients, putting food on plates, serving dishes, and then washing dishes. If all of that sounds like it would be chaotic… that’s because it is. That’s what’s fun about it. Communication is key here.

Phasmophobia essentially puts you and your friends in the role of ghost hunters, completing contracts. This is a great one for you to play with a group of people over voice chat because of the game’s speech recognition feature, which means that enemies can hear you speak and even react to certain keywords. You also might need some friends to help you get through the horrors that await.

The first game in the Portal series was a big hit and the sequel only took things up a level. Portal 2 was released in 2011 and features not only portals but lasers, tractor beams, and more resources which add many more dynamics to the gameplay. Despite all of the additions, the goal is still the same – solve puzzles however you can.

The best way to describe Rocket League is that it is soccer in cars that can jump and damn near fly with enough boost. If that doesn’t make you want to play it, nothing will. The game has always been popular, even since its predecessor was called Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars. Ever since Epic Games took over this game, made it free-to-play, and added a battle pass, it has seen more and more players trying it out for the first time. There’s never really a bad time to play this one and it can be played solo, but it’s especially great to team up with a couple of friends against another trio.

Sea Of Thieves has been described as a “shared-world adventure game”, which means that you and the group of people that you’re playing with will often encounter other players in the same environment, which can either mean you form an alliance or you make an enemy. In general, the game sees you using a pirate ship to traverse the vast open world, completing voyages or just roaming.

Siege is a tactical shooter with an emphasis on destructive environments and communication, making it perfect for this list. Different operators have access to different gadgets. The tactical aspect of the game comes in because teams can choose where to spawn and attack the enemy team from, adding an extra layer that most multiplayer FPS games don’t have.

VALORANT, released last year, is a team-based FPS, a hero shooter, specifically. As more game modes get added, the game becomes more and more popular. It’s already been a hit with streamers. There’s Escalation, which is similar to Call of Duty’s Gun Game mode. There’s also Spike Rush, which is basically TDM, but best of seven.