Since its initial release 12 years ago, Valve's digital distribution platform, Steam, has revolutionized the world of gaming. While playing games on your computer is nothing new, Steam allows smaller development teams to get their game out to consumers directly, even allowing them to help the development of the game through Early Development. The interplay between developer and consumer allows for more unique experiences and frees developers to take more risks. As such, here are five games best played with others:
1. Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes
Released as early as last week, you will be hard pressed to find a game like Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes. The premise is simple, defuse a bomb. One player takes the role of the bomb defuser and is only allowed to look at the screen before them, depicting a complex bomb where each square on the bomb corresponds with a type of puzzle. The other players take the role of bomb experts and are only allowed to look at the bomb defusal manual, a pdf found on the game's website. What ensues in the course of five minutes can only be described as comically chaotic as the bomb experts have to decipher puzzles found in the manual as the bomb defuser does their best to describe them. Communication is key; this game will test your closest relationships.
2. Crawl
On the surface, Crawl looks like a pixelated, classic dungeon crawler but don't be fooled, this game employs some of the most interesting features I've seen in any RPG. At the onset of a round of Crawl, one player is randomly picked to start as the human player, the other three start out as ghosts. The goal of the human player is to reach level 10 in order to challenge and beat the dungeon's boss. The goal of the other three players is to kill the human player in order to become human, they do this by hovering over pentagrams found in various rooms in the dungeon which randomly summon one of three creatures in their arsenal. As such, the game creates a unique sense of cooperation and competition as a ghost, you want to work together to kill the human but you also want to kill him first. The team as a whole only gets three tries at beating the boss or everyone loses, lending another element of cooperation. While Crawl may have the steepest learning curve on this list, it makes for a riveting night of endless dungeon crawling and fun rivalry.
3. Rocket League
Rocket League is at it's simplest; Twisted Metal meets FIFA. A frantic match of Rocket League pits two teams of two to five player-controlled cars battling for an oversized ball in a game of soccer. While the goal is simple, there are a slew of mechanics that create a rich, competitive environment. Cars are able to boost, double jump, perform bicycle kicks, drift, drive backward and even drive on walls! These mechanics allow for deep strategy, the most competitive teams employ roles and tactics such as one player centering the ball, a striker to boost in and score and a third player staying back to defend. Couple this with the various cosmetic upgrades and options of cars and you have an incredibly addicting competitive title.
4. Jackbox
Essential to any party, Jackbox games are games anyone can enjoy. Packaged as a "Party Pack" containing five games, versatility is the main selling point, as any of these games can be played on a smartphone simply accessed through a browser. Drawful shows off Jackbox's quirkiness as players (up to eight) attempt to fool each other by titling drawings corresponding with ridiculous prompts each player was given at the start of each round. Prompts can be as absurd as "a sandwich with bacon, lettuce, tomato and pickles" making you question the ability of even the most artistic of your friends. The rest of Jackbox repertoire is just as ludicrous and truly make for an excellent game night, not to mention the second iteration, "Party Pack 2" is out October 13!
5. TowerFall
The more traditional game out of the list, TowerFall boasts a lot of content including a full four player cooperative campaign and an addicting versus mode. TowerFall is a pixelated archery battle game employing mechanics such as wall jumping, shields and various power ups. TowerFall's campaign mode is an excellent way of learning the ins and outs of the game but also stands alone in through it's difficulty; it is a ton of fun to play cooperatively with friends, fighting spawn of creatures and boses. However, TowerFall is best enjoyed competitively as there is a slew of options allowing players to customize matches, a personal favorite of mine being a complete dark match where each combatant only gets one arrow. TowerFall is easy enough for most people to grasp and can get as competitive and strategic as you and your friends want to take it.
