MOST POPULAR PC GAMES BY MONTHLY ACTIVE USERS
Multiplayer games are the best, aren"t they? There"s something about doing battle with others over the internet that adds extra spice to lớn proceedings. You get the thrill of competition, or friendship, as you knock those scores upwards and combine your powers lớn outdo your enemies. So, that"s why we"ve curated the very best multiplayer offerings on PC for your perusal.
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For the record, the các mục below are geared - there are plenty that aren"t, though - towards competitive multiplayer. You know, quickscopes and lobbies and matchmaking. Make sure you head on over to our roundup of the 25 best co-op games on PC if you"d rather team up with a mate, as opposed to defeat them in a battle to lớn the death.
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The Best Multiplayer Games on PC
And just remember, this danh mục is in an order, but it"s a loose one. They"re all good games, so don"t get too caught up in the number they"ve been blessed with.
25. Regular Human Basketball
What else should I be playing: Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime also involves confusedly piloting a machine by jumping around its rooms, though in co-op rather than competitive multiplayer.
Just some regular humans here, nothing to lớn look at. Nope, no giant robots equipped with jetpacks, magnets & retractable legs playing basketball. I don"t know what you"re talking about.
You"ll need to lớn assemble four friends for Regular Human Basketball to lớn work properly, but if you can manage that you"re in for a treat. It"s just like normal basketball, except each team controls a mech by frantically running around inside it lớn reach the controls.
It"s difficult enough when you"re on your own, but coordinating with a teammate who has a VERY different idea about "appropriate times lớn activate the jetpack" can be a nightmare. A hilarious nightmare, but a nightmare nonetheless.
24. Mount Your Friends
What else should I be playing: They’re not multiplayer, but QWOP, GIRP and Getting Over It are all great games about overcoming infuriating control schemes.
Mount Your Friends is what QWOP would look lượt thích if it was a multiplayer trò chơi about having an orgy on vị trí cao nhất of a goat. It’s about overcoming awkward controls to lớn climb an ever growing mountain composed of your mates. It’s about cheering when they pull off something impressive & cheering harder when they spectacularly fail.
You’re eliminated if you can’t reach the vị trí cao nhất within 60 seconds, so when you start playing your piles of men probably won’t be that mountainous. Every limb needs to lớn be carefully extended individually, and you’ll find yourself slowly dragging your way up before pressing the wrong button and plummeting to the ground.
Put a little practice in though, & you can vì vertical cartwheels at speeds that would embarrass Mo Farah. Momentum can be used to lớn swing your body toàn thân far, far into the air… and over to lớn the opposite side of the tower, before plummeting lớn the ground. That’ll earn you the biggest cheer of all.
23. Golf With Your Friends
What else should I be playing: Definitely give Turbo Golf Racing a go, as we reckoned it was fun, futuristic, và fast-paced take on the "ol bat và ball. Golf It isn"t a bad shout for more mini-golf antics with your pals. If you"re after a super serious golf affair, then something lượt thích PGA Tour 2K21 will fit the bill nicely.
Continuing the friendly theme, Golf With Your Friends is your ticket khổng lồ a good hoot with your pals. On the flipside, it"s also a brilliant way to lớn fall out with them. This is a mini-golf trò chơi that doesn"t take itself too seriously, with wacky courses that features leaps into dinosaur heads, literal mortar strikes, and anti-gravity antics.
You can of course slop honey onto the course in an effort to lớn slow down your friends" balls, or even freeze them if you"re feeling particularly malicious. Speaking of balls, you can customise them with unlockable cosmetics like pirate hats, & burger hats, & many more silly hats.
22. Sea Of Thieves
What else should I be playing: There aren"t many good multiplayer pirate games about at the moment, but Valheim features boating and adventure and fun with friends.
Sea Of Thieves sees you don your pirate garb and set sail in tìm kiếm of gold khổng lồ plunder. While it might look a bit "kiddy", the act of sailing, và the scuffles you can get into with other players or skeletons or otherwise can prove extremely intense.
There"s never a dull moment at sea, basically. And this extends lớn the simple act of working together lớn get your ship skimming across the ocean. There"s joy to lớn be had in raising the sails and angling them just so, or asking your mates to scout ahead with their telescopes. Yes, the quests give you direction và are fun to lớn boot, but Sea Of Thieves excels as an accessible boat sim.
21. Mortal Kombat X
What else should I be playing: The same team made Injustice: Gods Among Us, if you prefer your fighting games to be a little more DC.
Mortal Kombat X is great fun. Look past the gratuitous gore (or look at it through begrudgingly appreciative "oh, come on now" spectacles) & you"ll see a solid punchfest between pleasingly outlandish characters. There are nuances to lớn delve into if you like, though you can go a long way with just a couple of combos & some panache.
This iteration of Kombat is particularly keen on turning each stage into more than a pretty background, offering opportunities khổng lồ jump about and occasionally chuck passers by at your opponent. Và did I mention it"s one of the smoothest too? Combos are snappy, movement is responsive, và there"s no wrangling your character around an arena.
There is, of course, plenty of depth to lớn the game"s characters if you"re a hardened fighting veteran. Long lists of combo-chains are there to be mastered, as are X-Rays, the game"s equivalent of ultimate moves that see your character literally bash people"s skulls & tibias và fibias in.
20. Northgard
Developer: Shiro GamesRelease date: 2018Where can I buy it: Steam, HumbleWhat else should I be playing: Here"s Brendy"s roundup of accessible RTSs.
Northgard is an elegant RTS where winter can pose a bigger threat than an army of axemen. Every villager adds another hungry mouth to feed, and food is always in short supply. Especially when the snow starts to fall.
Time ticks ever onward & winter is always just around the corner, bringing harsh production penalties along with rat plagues, blizzards and earthquakes. Even so, the slow pace and relative simplicity of Northgard make it an easy strategy trò chơi to get into - if not khổng lồ excel at. You probably won"t meet your viking foes until you"re fifteen minutes into a match, & it"ll be longer still before you start poking at their territory. If you even want to.
The dash of 4X in Northgard"s DNA means military conquest isn"t the only route lớn victory. Amass enough fame, wealth or knowledge and it won"t matter how many angry Norsemen are at your gates. That gives multiplayer matches a dynamic that goes beyond the one-note destruction of other RTSeses, where the leading player tries lớn distract everyone from their imminent victory.
19. Hearthstone
What else should I be playing: For a similar, perhaps less accessible experience, Legends of Runeterra is a good time.
Hearthstone"s a competitive thẻ game that"s just the right levels of accessible. Based off Blizzard"s beefy back-catalogue, you"ll throw down Warcraft-themed cards at opponents in the hopes of destroying their health bars.
Yes, there"s a fair amount of money to be spent if you want all the strongest cards; but honestly, it"s one of the rare breeds of CCG which remains so simple yet caters for big-brain-plays of the highest order. Và for that reason, I wouldn"t write it off just because of its microtransaction fast-track.
18. Fall Guys
What else should I be playing: For a similar tone, Fortnite hits the mark quite nicely. Plus it"s home to lots of custom modes và maps that"ll likely come close to lớn the Fall Guys format.
You"re a sentient Tic-Tac who must compete against 60 other Tic-Tacs in a series of gauntlets, where Tic-Tacs that don"t reach the end, or kết thúc up on the losing team are eliminated. It"s essentially a survival of the fittest which"ll see you guide your little guy through obstacle courses và painful group exercises. Think of it as a sort of mash-up of nin-ja Warrior with elements of a team-building course.
What makes Fall Guys a great multiplayer choice is its bittyness. You"re able to lớn jump in for a game, then hop off if you"d like. Or you can take it very seriously & channel all your energy into emerging victorious and nabbing that crown. Plus, it"s one you can play with your mates, your kids, your nan.
17. Towerfall Ascension
What else should I be playing: Samurai Gunn is sort of lượt thích a blend between this và Nidhogg.
Towerfall Ascension is my favourite local-multiplayer game. It’s got a neat wave survival co-op mode, but that’s not why it’s here. It’s here because nothing has thrilled or delighted me in quite the same way as one of Ascension’s archery duels.
It goes up to four players, and its best mode is its simplest: last archer standing wins. Ascension tells engrossing stories with just three verbs - dodging, jumping and shooting. It only takes a single arrow to take out a player, but a well timed dash can let them safely pluck the offending projectile out of the air. It’s a system that gives fights a wonderful back và forth feeling to lớn them, & results in the best slow motion replays in video clip games.
Plus the jumping feels real good.
16. Fortnite
What else should I be playing: Others on this list! Apex Legends and Warzone are probably your closest battle royale contenders albeit first-person và more difficult to lớn get to grips with.
Fortnite isn"t only a battle royale, but a messy metaverse, swimming in dabs & franchises. But accept the silliness & you"ll begin to uncover a polished shooter that"s surprisingly complex. There"s classic Fortnite, where building structures to aid you in battle is paramount to your success. A mode that I didn"t get on with, personally, but there"s no denying that those with adequate motor skills will delight in the building battles that can ensue between teams.
And then there"s No Build mode, a recent addition that"s brought me right into Fortnite"s fold. It"s battle royale as you know it - a circle closes in yada yada - without all the building malarchy. This means you"ve got Fortnite distilled into a more of a traditional shooter experience, only with the added benefits of Fortnite"s silly metaverse: cars & gas stations, weird hamster balls with grapple hooks, Darth Vader, firework guns, fishing. It"s without a doubt the most ludicrous battle royale mode out there, but it"s without a doubt the most joyous.
15. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
What else should I be playing: Valorant is essentially CS:GO, but with wizards and ninjas. The Insurgency games are also worth a look if you"re after that semi-realistic, military shooty bang bang.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is the culmination of 14 years of development khổng lồ a genre-defining team shooter. Five terrorists want to lớn arm a bomb, or defend a hostage. Five counter-terrorists want to stop them. You know how CounterStrike works, right?
It’s a deeply unimaginative premise, but that doesn’t matter - CS:GO is one of the most stimulating FPS games I’ve ever played. The guns feel great & if the maps were any more refined they’d start cutting into the fabric of reality, but those are the factors that enhance Counter-Strike’s best moments rather than generate them.
There’s an exquisite tension to lớn being the last person left alive on your team. The same can be said for any game with the same round structure, but the simplicity of Counter-Strike elevates that dynamic.
14. Rainbow Six Siege
What else should I be playing: Counter-Strike, though it might feel lượt thích a step backwards.
People will tell you tactics are more important than aiming, but they’re lying. If you don’t want lớn be the first one to die each round in this Counter-Strike-like shooter, you’ll need both.
The basics of Rainbow Six Siege will sound familiar: one team has to plant a bomb or pry a hostage away from the other. It diverges from Counter-Strike with its classes, which all bring different abilities to bear on levels with destructible walls và floors.
The team playing offense needs to carefully plan their attack, breaching rooms from multiple angles simultaneously. When you swing through a window at the same time as your friends detonate their C4 on the opposite wall, you can almost convince yourself you should be in the actual SAS.
13. Valorant
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What else should I be playing: CS:GO, if you want a similar experience without all the fireballs and wizards.
Valorant is a tactical team-based shooter that"s similar lớn CS:GO, but with ninjas và cyborgs. This isn"t a game where you can jump around corners và spray wildly, oh no. Lớn succeed, you must coordinate with your teammates, get your aim on point, và master your favourite agents.
And this is what separates Valorant from CS:GO really. Each nhân vật comes with cool abilities like flashbangs that"ll curve around walls, or teleports that"ll shift you behind targets in a pinch. The fun lies in using these powers in creative ways and pulling off some clutch plays.
12. Hunt: Showdown
What else should I be playing: Escape From Tarkov has a similar ominous energy to lớn it, with equal high-stakes lootin" & shootin".
Hunt: Showdown is a nerve-shredding PvPvE FPS, which sees you hunt down an AI nasty hiding away on a map. The catch being - other squads are also gunning for the same enemy as you. Oh, và another catch - if you die, you lose your equipment forever. That"s what makes this trò chơi so high-stakes, và ultimately, so much fun.
Unlike many "classical" battle royales out there, Hunt: Showdown separates itself from the competition with outstanding audio design. You"ll hear gunshots ring out in the distance, alerting you to lớn an enemy"s presence. Footsteps pad on wood. The creak of a door opening. Your reliance on these small cues can mean the difference between winning a fight or losing all your precious cargo. It"s quite something.
11. StarCraft 2
What else should I be playing: Again, Brendy"s guide khổng lồ accessible RTSs should steer you in the right direction.
The holy grail of RTS design, và not for no reason. It"s a slick, polished to perfection unit-bosser that hasn"t been bettered in the X years since it came out.
Gosh, it"s hard though. At least, if you want to compete on the ladder: that direction involves research, timing memorisation và a faster clicking finger than a snapping mouse trap. Playing with friends lets you be a little more goofy. Sometimes it"s nice not to have to lớn worry about zerg rushes because you know your mate always plumps for Hydralisks.
It"s another one where playstyles lead lớn identities. I play a particular brand of Protoss, because I"m a prick who loves the idea of kicking ass with all their fiddly units when really I"m more cut out for Siege tanks và marines.
10. Among Us
What else should I be playing: I mean, it"s not a clip game, but social deduction game Werewolf is similar. Also, Project Winter taps into the whole "whodunnit" fun.
Ahh, Among Us. A social deduction trò chơi where 4-10 players prepare a spaceship for departure, but one or two only pretend to vị so; because they are secretly out for blood.
I"m terrible at Among Us, mainly because I"m awful at lying, but also because I dislike confrontation. But I can see the appeal of calling emergency meetings to discuss why there"s a corpse in the engine room, or slitting someone"s throat và blaming your friend for it.
Whenever I play Among Us, I mainly focus on doing the mundane jobs & nothing else.
9. Garry’s Mod
What else should I be playing: For jumping into community servers và messing about with quirky builds, I"d say Valheim is the ticket.
Garry’s gian lận is many things to lớn many people, but for me it’s collection of home-brewed nonsense assembled from Steam assets và unhampered imagination. I"ve dabbled in the free-form construction mode, but most of my time has been spent on Fretta servers.
Within the same half hour, I’ve dodged geometric shapes while clambering up a slope alongside 30 other people. I’ve built bobsleds, then raced them. I’ve hunted down players posing as inanimate objects, completed obstacle courses & played charades.
The trò chơi changes whenever enough people vote for it to, so if you pile into a server with a handful of friends you can form a voting cartel and ensure the trò chơi swaps at your whim. Plenty of the games are fun in their own right, but Fretta works best when you’re constantly pushing on to the next.
8. League Of Legends
What else should I be playing: It"s nowhere near as accessible, but Dota 2 is the closest you"re going to lớn get. For a bit more of a laugh, Heroes Of The Storm is a fun-filled MOBA.
I lost thousands of hours to lớn League Of Legends at university. I"m actually convinced I put more effort into learning this MOBA than I did my course.
To put League Of Legends as simply as possible, two teams of five battle to lớn destroy each other"s Nexus; a big crystal located in each base. As each match wears on, you"ll get more powerful, kit your character out in new gear, & fight for bản đồ supremacy. I"d say it"s best played with a friend who"s played it before, as there"s a steep learning curve, và a huge amount of depth here.
But don"t let it put you off, as this is League of Legend"s appeal - at least to lớn me. I adored learning each character"s intricacies và how best to work with my team lớn win important fights.
7. Grand Theft tự động hóa Online
What else should I be playing: There"s not a great giảm giá khuyến mãi on PC that provides a similar experience to GTA Online, especially when it comes lớn multiplayer. Saints Row or Sleeping Dogs might satisfy some cravings?
Grand Theft tự động hóa Online (GTA Online) might be linked to GTA V, but it"s very much its own universe. Hop online và up to lớn 30 players can mess about in sandboxes designed for, well, practically everything. That"s the thing about GTA Online: it"s very difficult khổng lồ get bored. There"s mini-campaigns built around heists, or servers designed for roleplaying, or Hot Wheels-esque tracks for whizzing about in.
And much lượt thích many of the others on this list, GTA Online is constantly being updated with loads of new Heists, servers, and more. If anything, it"s only maturing with age, and is a theme park filled with excellent set-pieces và tonnes of silliness. Definitely worth a crack.
6. Minecraft
What else should I be playing: I"d highly recommend giving Terraria a shot if Minecraft is your jam. It"s similar, but has greater direction.
Minecraft, a blocky multiverse of possibilities. There"s a vps for anything in this survival game, which turns it from a "survive with your friends by building stuff", to lớn "survive to become the last person standing". Heck, simply input đầu vào a seed and you can just go about surviving in a really, really nice world.
Or if you"re after something that isn"t a traditional battle royale mode, you can take part in Bed Wars - a trò chơi mode which sees you protect your bed, or destroy other players" beds to win. Heck, you can even drop the whole PVP thing và simply build mad creations with strangers across the internet if you want a more relaxing time. Honestly, you can"t go wrong here.
5. Rocket League
What else should I be playing: laser League is a very different game, but mirrors Rocket League’s combination of depth & accessibility, và its matches only last a little bit longer. Regular Human Basketball & Pole Riders are both great games involving balls.
Bombastic joy. Those are the two best words to lớn describe Rocket League, a game about playing football with rocket-propelled cars.
That joy kicks in from the very first second. It’s scrappy at first, a mess that invokes childhood memories of school kids swamping the ball, not sparing a thought for teamwork or positioning. That can still provide a chaotic giggle, but Rocket League literally soars lớn greater heights once everyone knows what they’re doing.
A well-executed aerial shot is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in a đoạn phim game. Combing the boost button with a double jump at just the right time at just the right angle opens up a space for dextrous plays that hover just out of reach, accessible only to lớn the dedicated but on display for the masses.
4. Apex Legends
What else should I be playing: There"s nothing that"s going to quite match the pace of Apex, but call Of Duty: Warzone could be another battle royale avenue. Otherwise, PUBG, or even Fortnite are options too.
Apex Legends is a blisteringly fast-paced battle royale game, where different characters face-off lớn determine that they"re the đứng đầu survivor. & this is what sets it apart from the competition, really, as each character has three abilities to lớn turn the tides of battle, as opposed to, well, none in other games.
I"m a big fan hâm mộ of Pathfinder, a robot with a grappling hook that lets you close the gap, or escape from an enemy"s clutches. It also lets you build up some sweet momentum so you can swing into the air, drop onto a ramp, và pull off a sweet, sweet slide. Again, that"s something else Apex nails - a good slide animation.
3. Gọi Of Duty: Warzone 2
What else should I be playing: Apex Legends for a faster-paced affair, or PUBG for something a cảm biến more unforgiving.
I thought Warzone was the slickest battle royale at the time, & well, Warzone 2 is its long-awaited sequel. While it might not be quite as gargantuan as its predecessor in terms of popularity, it"s still a massive deal, with fantastic gunplay & COD"s famously streamlined shooting & looting. You"ve got a plethora of attachments khổng lồ match your playstyle, along with a meta filled with loadouts that"s constantly shifting.
And as Warzone 2 is free, you aren"t going khổng lồ be spending a dime - a great thing. What"s more, it really looks the part for a free-to-play experience, giving you that big budget feel for zero pounds. There"s never a bad time to lớn drop into Al-Mazrah (in my opinion, a markedly better map than Warzone"s Verdansk).
2. Team Fortress 2
What else should I be playing: There’s nothing quite lượt thích it, but Overwatch is similar in that each class has radically different capabilities.
The problem with writing about Team Fortress 2, Valve’s unsurpassed class-based shooter, is that I’m in love with one particular version of it.
It’s the version I get to play as a Spy, the weakest character in the game when it comes khổng lồ a straight up fight. His is a stealthy approach, often revolving around his ability to turn invisible with the aid of different types of watch. That’s deception of a sort, but not the kind that makes his the most unique và memorable role you can play in any multiplayer game. Really, the Spy is all about acting.
It only takes one suspicious Pyro for a ruse khổng lồ come undone, but you’d be amazed what you can get away with. Slap on a disguise, backpedal from the frontlines while screaming for a medic, & four times out of five times the most important member of the enemy team (their medic, always their medic) will trot right up to you. Maybe he’ll try khổng lồ give you an inquisitive whack with his bonesaw, but if you know what you’re doing that whack won’t land. You’ll have already stabbed him in the back with your insta-kill knife.
Each class plays like a different game - and some items transform their wielder into new classes in their own right. I’ve spent dozens of hours with the double-jumping Scout và the ‘nade spamming Demoman, but it’s the Spy who stole my heart. Give him a chance, and maybe he’ll steal yours.
1. Dota 2
What else should I be playing: Easy, League of Legends.
It feels contrived lớn describe Dota 2 as a hobby rather than a game, but that doesn’t make that description any less fitting. I’ve poured thousands of hours of my life into it, and I can see myself pouring in thousands more. Dota isn’t just a game: it’s an eternally evolving battleground where limits are tested và friendships are forged.
Sure, every competitive game is about testing limits, but part of what makes Dota special is how many it tests at once. There’s the sheer amount of knowledge that it demands you absorb, the hundreds of items và spells và the endless interactions between them. You’ll need to hone reflexes, develop strategies & learn khổng lồ be patient with both yourself và others.
Dota is stupendously silly. I mean that both in the sense that it’s ostensibly about wizards trying to knock over rock-gardens that form fragments of a sentient moon, và in a mechanical sense. I could have learnt a language (or several) in the time I’ve spent playing Dota, but almost every match still includes unexpected moments that make me gasp & giggle.
