catwraith's games to play with friends
As much as I love single-player RPG titles and open world sandboxes to mess around in, sometimes I want to chill with friends and play something silly or wacky. This is my list of a few games you can enjoy with the group - some of them are free, too!
Cheese Rolling [ FREE | Steam ]
Based on the English annual event of the same name, Cheese Rolling is about chasing a wheel of cheese down a steep hill and catching it. There are a few game modes, but the one we enjoyed the most was where one player is selected to be the wheel of cheese, and everybody else tries to catch them. The chasers can jump, grab, and ragdoll down the hill in order to catch the cheese wheel, and it's overall just a ton of chaos and fun to play.
Guilty as Sock! [ $5.50 USD | Steam ]
Play as sock puppets and try your hand at the goings-on of a courtroom. You and your friends can play as a judge, prosecutor, defendant, bailiff, journalist, witness, and more. The prompts are wild and silly, while leaving plenty of room for you to roleplay your own twists.
Human: Fall Flat [ $19.99 USD | Steam ]
Among the many ragdoll physics multiplayer games out there (Gang Beasts, Party Animals, etc), I've always felt that Human: Fall Flat has the greatest "bang for your buck", so to speak. With a plethora of official levels that are jampacked with secrets to discover, plus an active community creating new levels via the Steam Workshop, you can honestly spent hours and hours solving puzzles with your friends.
Light Bearers 2 [ FREE | Steam ]
It's an asynchronous game of tag, featuring a bunch of glowing teddy bears and a slew of different evil shadows to choose from. At the start of each round, a random person is selected to be the Shadow. The Shadow then has to tag the light bears, corrupting them slowly until they transform in to shadow bears, and then assist the Shadow. The goal is to either tag all of the light bears, or escape into the pool of light after the timer runs down. The language in the game is rather vulgar and humorous, and there are a ton of customization options for the light bears. It should also be noted that this game can be quite fast-paced!
PEAK [ $7.99 USD | Steam ]
It's won numerous awards, and for a good reason. The side project from the developers of two different studios, PEAK is all about climbing to the top of an enormous mountain range in order to be rescued after a plane crash. You'll need to use various tools and combat the elements in order to make it, but it's all about the journey, not the destination. This game's in our regular rotation as a group, and it still hasn't gotten old.
Phasmophobia [ $19.99 USD | Steam ]
A lot of games have tried to replicate the formula behind Phasmophobia, but it still continues to shine as a pioneer in the horror genre. Phasmophobia revolves around investigating haunted locations and identifying which kind of ghost inhabits that space. You use a plethora of tools in order to complete your investigation, all while trying to maintain your sanity and avoid being hunted by the ghost. Oh, and it can hear you talk. (Did I mention you can play it in VR? Seriously, it's terrifying.)
Pummel Party [ $14.99 USD Steam ]
Think of Mario Party, but a lot more violent. Your goal is to make it around the board, collecting coins by any means necessary and opening chests to obtain trophies. The first person to collect the set number of trophies wins! This game is highly addictive and I've found that the minigames feel quite fair and balanced.
R.E.P.O [ $9.99 USD | Steam ]
Out of all the multiplayer games my group indulges in, R.E.P.O absolutely takes the cake. The core gameplay loop is extremely satisfying, the monsters are highly varied and fun to play against, and the developers are constantly pushing new and exciting updates regularly for free. Not to mention that you can easily mod the game via Thunderstore to add so, so many more customization options and gameplay variations. Seriously, I can't recommend this one enough.
Sledding Game [ $TBD | Steam ]
Sledding Game is a new title that technically hasn't been released yet. Even so, there's a demo currently available that you can try for free. I gotta say, I had no idea what to expect when my friend told me about this game, but good gravy, is it fun! You basically get to hang out and have fun in the snow with your friends at a winter lodge. There's sledding, snowball fights, curling, cornhole, darts, roulette, and so much more to do. I can guarantee you that this'll be a Day 1 buy for us when it fully releases; the amount of love that's gone into it is impeccable and I can't wait to play more of it with my group. As of the time of this post, the developer hasn't set a price for the full game, but chances are it won't be all that expensive.
The Spell Brigade [ $9.99 USD | Steam ]
The Spell Brigade is a action roguelite / "bullet hell" game (think Vampire Survivors, Megabonk, etc) for up to 4 players. It has an insanely easy learning curve and a ton of different ways to power up your characters throughout each round. For being in Early Access (at the time of this post), it has a ton of polish and is clearly a passion project from the team behind it. I'm not really all that into this genre of game, but I have to admit that I've had a ton of fun trying out new things to see if we can accomplish our tasks a little bit faster, or cause more devastation.
I hope y'all have fun with your friends! Happy gaming!
