Gaming Brings Us Together
With the lockdown still in full force around the globe, many people have turned to Zoom or Skype to stay in touch with their family and friends. Gamers, however, are spoilt for choice when it comes to how they spend their lockdown time with friends or family. With a plethora of multi-player games out there, gamers can go shooting strangers with their friends, share their villages and crops or just go on great adventures to foreign and exotic locations. Here are some of the bets multi-player games you can get stuck into right now.
A Way Out
Ever wanted to break out of prison with your best buddy in a high production action-packed, adventure-driven TV type style game? Well, then A Way Out is the game for you. As two prisoners trying to break out of prison, you’ll do everything together, from laundry duty to playing Connect 4, right through to chiseling escape tunnels in the wall. On the rare occasions, you’re not together, A Way Out reveals two perspectives with the pace of a typical action TV show. Unlike other games on this list, working together is essential and the only way you and your partner in crime will succeed.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is seen by many as the best kart racer ever made. Race along amazing tracks set in every single Nintendo location you can think of, driving as your favorite Nintendo character from Mario to Link to Yoshi. But don’t let the cutesy graphics fool you, this is as serious as it gets. Each racer picks up randomized weapons on the track that could spell victory or heartbreaking defeat. Connecting with up to 11 friends or internet randoms, you can play the Grand Prix, VS Race, and Battle modes over WiFi. Expect things to get tense and the high potential of ruining friendships with the guy that uses that damn blue shell.
Fortnite
No multiplayer list would be complete with the biggest game in the world right now. Fortnite is a global phenomenon with everyone and their grandma at very least having dabbled in this shooter/builder mega game. Yes, it’s your typical battle royale game with a 100 players dropped into a large map, an ever-shrinking safe zone, and one player left standing. But Fortnite is also a crafting game, where the best players aren’t just those who can shoot straight, but those who can build mega-structures and fortresses in a few button presses. Yet the biggest reason Fortnite is such a massive success is the regular seasonal updates, from actual live performances from artists like Travis Scott to featuring exclusive content from the Star Wars universe. Fortnite currently is unstoppable.
Monster Hunter World
Ever fancied you and your mates as monster hunters, tough guys and gals that could slay even the biggest monster out there? Then now is your chance to shine. Monster Hunter World is one of the most rewarding action games around, and playing with friends makes finding and crafting the best gear all the more satisfying. The fantasy setting allows for some truly unique monsters, each with their own challenges and tactics to figure out and implement. You track monsters through a dense, gorgeous world, before facing them in fights to the death. Enemies are smart, agile, and react realistically to your actions, but if you coordinate as a team, you’ll bring even the nastiest of beasts down.
GTA Online
For many years the Grand Theft Auto series was seen purely as a single-player experience, but with GTA V and the inclusion of GTA Online that all changed. More people are playing the online version than those that have actually finished the single-player game. GTA Online is a playground for you and your friends to live out a fantasy life of a super criminal. It lets you complete dangerous heists, illegal operations, and experience expensive luxuries from supercars to million-dollar homes. You and your friends can become underworld gods all while not running the risk of spending a long time in an actual real-life prison.
Apex Legends
A game that literally came out of nowhere and took the world by storm. EA just one day announced that the game existed and it is available to play right now. And boy did people play it. Millions logged in and experienced the fun and challenge of Apex Legends within days of release. A different take on the battle royale formula, Apex Legends sees teams of threes enter a map and have to work together using a unique ‘ping’ system to flag up items, tag enemies and suggest regrouping locations. It still feels like the best co-operative battle royale, with class abilities that combine to lethal effect. And with regular updates and a constantly changing world, Apex Legends is still millions of people’s favorite battle royale.
Sea of Thieves
Pirates are cool, that is a well-known fact and being a pirate with your best friends on your own ship going on adventures across the seven seas, battling other player pirates and finding hidden treasure is even cooler. And that is exactly what Sea of Thieves is. The ultimate pirate simulator. The pirate possibilities are endless, from singing sea shanties with your mates to chasing killer Skeletons around the various islands to taking on the scourge of the seas, the mighty Kraken. When initially launched Sea of Thieves felt very light on content but over the years it has become the perfect playground for any wannabe pirates.
Destiny 2
Destiny 2 is a first-person shooter with an incredibly complex story and mind-boggling complex upgrade systems. So why is this on the list? Easy, the shooting is amazing, the co-op raids to distant planets with a boatload of friends is unrivaled by any other game on the list. There’s so much you can do with friends in Destiny 2: farming for that next piece of awesome gear; mixing it up in the Crucible for some PvP; or learning the ins and outs of the latest challenging Raid. Plus the best part is that the base game of Destiny 2 is free to play, so you and your mates have no excuses.
FIFA 20
With the soccer season mostly canceled in most countries, soccer fans have had to recreate the magic by themselves in FIFA 20 and fortunately this is a game that will eat away hours of your soccer-loving life. Create online leagues or cup competitions with your friends and take your favorite team to the top along with the bragging rights over your friends. Then, of course, there is the super addictive FIFA ULTIMATE TEAM mode that uses a card-based system for you to level up your own team into world-beaters. Many may feel that FIFA series has become stale, yet during these lockdown times and lack of actual soccer on the TV, FIFA 20 is the perfect cure for our soccer sadness.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
If fighting games is more your style then look no further than the madcap Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This Nintendo Switch exclusive is the greatest hits of a legendary series. It takes old levels and characters and makes them feel fresh again, with snappy animations and visuals that look better than ever. Online, you can create a private room with your friends and settle decades-long debates about who’s the better Smash player, or test your skills against strangers, building your Global Smash and taking on the world. It’s the most polished version of Smash you can play, and with more than 70 characters to choose from, there’s a hero for every playstyle.
Divinity: Original Sin 2
For those itching for a game featuring hundreds of hours of questing with companions through a rich and detailed fantasy RPG, then Divinity: Original Sin 2 is the cure to that itch. Seen by many as the greatest RPG ever made, chock full of wonderful writing and fantasy storytelling layered on top of an intuitive, tactical battle system. Fights are turn-based, and coordination paramount. By combining abilities, weapons, spells and elements, you can outsmart your opponent and create fight-winning combos. Interesting multi-part quests hide behind every door and around every corner, and the world of Rivellon is full of memorable characters.
Call of Duty: Warzone
Call of Duty has been a mainstay in multiplayer lists since the genre-defining Modern Warfare, yet it’s a free to play game Warzone that has really brought the COD name back to the top of the list of multiplayer shooters. Warzone is a standalone battle royale mode. It’s not a wholesale reinvention of the genre, but it’s the most ambitious, original spin on the well-trodden formula yet. Instead of 100 players, it’s 150 players. Rather than solely focusing on killing players for loot, you can complete objective-based contracts dotted around the map, which net you cash to spend on better gear. And unlike in other battle royale’s if you die you get one more chance to return as you enter the Gulag, where you can win a 1v1 gunfight to parachute back down to the battlefield. It’s Battle Royale but with everything you love about Call of Duty.
Rocket League
The most basic way to explain Rocket League is, it’s soccer but with RC cars. Yes, it’s as mad as it sounds yet it is one of the most incredible online experiences you will ever have. Once you start rolling around the massive soccer ball and trying to outmaneuver your opponents, you’ll never be able to watch normal soccer ever again. The matches are quick and the rewards are plentiful, making it easy to lose hours upon hours of trying to score the perfect rebound goal.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Of all the games on the list, Animal Crossing is the most peaceful and good-natured one of them all. The core game is a wholesome, charming life sim about catching butterflies, trading turnips and decorating your home. The multiplayer part comes in though where you can visit friends’ islands to browse their shops, fish their ponds and mingle with their visitors, and walking around a new island seeing how your buddies have laid out their new hometown is endlessly relaxing. It’s one of the most relaxing games you will ever play and when traveling around your friend’s island you will wish never to come back to reality.