Best Multiplayer Games On Xbox Game Pass

The Netflix of video games, Xbox Game Pass has hundreds of titles (including many Xbox One exclusives) on its service to download and play for subscribers. That is an overwhelming number of choices that could easily paralyze those bad at making decisions.

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Xbox Game Pass is unquestionably worth the subscription fee, but which of the available games are the best use of your hard drive space?

And if you’re looking for multiplayer games in particular, whether co-op or competitive, the selection doesn’t become much less daunting. Xbox Game Pass has a wide range of games covering nearly every potential taste or style — but if you’re looking for the absolute gems among its multiplayer selection, you’re in luck. Today, we’re curating the best multiplayer offerings that the service has to offer.

Goat Simulator 3

Goat Simulator 3 is an improvement on the first game in many ways. The map is bigger, the list of activities you can participate in is larger, and the customization options for your goat are more…eclectic. But one of the best additions to Goat Simulator 3 was the inclusion of online multiplayer. Where the first game only let you form local parties, you can now invite up to three other friends to your multiplayer party in the sequel.

And if there’s one thing simulating as a goat has taught us, it’s the joy of spreading havoc as a group. You have the chance for more madness and chaos with all these playable goats running loose on the town. Sometimes you pray for a phenomenal new competitive multiplayer game in your life; other times, you ask for a fun, casual multiplayer game for you and your friends. Goat Simulator 3 is the latter.

Remnant: From The Ashes

If tough-as-nails combat in underground tunnels and dilapidated cities is your thing, then Remnant: From the Ashes is just the game for you. Up to three players can join forces as they attempt to survive the infestation of Root on the planet. The Root are these grotesque, misshapen, wood-like creatures that employ a variety of close-ranged and long-ranged attacks against you. It’s been said a million times before, but there really is a Soulslike quality to Remnant: From the Ashes’ set-up.

There are fog walls before boss areas, glowing bonfire-esque checkpoints, and even a Dragon Heart/Estus Flask that can be replenished at these checkpoints. However, what sets Remnant apart is its reliance on cooperation between players. Your team of three will be hard-pressed to survive every encounter completely unscathed, but if you work together and use your skills as a team, you will be more than ready to take on the challenges the game throws at you.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

If you are a fan of both the asymmetrical horror stylings of Dead By Daylight and the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre film, then the combination of your dreams has made its way to Xbox Game Pass. You can play as either a horrific member of the family, out to slaughter anyone they can get their hands on, or as one of their victims, desperately trying to make an escape from their bloody grasp.

Gameplay is tense if you’re one of the characters attempting to make a getaway, as every corner could spell your doom in the form of the terrifying visage of Leatherface. But difficulty is not entirely skewed in the killers’ favor, as you have to play smart on that side of the equation if you’re attempting to catch the other. And if you are a die-hard aficionado of the films this game is based on, then there is a delightful assortment of macabre easter eggs for you to find.

Minecraft Legends

Of course the latest offering from Mojang Studios would include a multiplayer option. Where vanilla Minecraft invites you and your friends to explore and build your own world and Minecraft Dungeons invites you and your friends to follow Diablo-esque questlines, Minecraft Legends provides a cooperative RTS experience for you and your buddies. Though split-screen isn’t an option, online multiplayer is baked into Legends.

You and up to three other players can take on the Piglin invasion together, gathering resources and supplying units to defend your villages. However, if co-op isn’t your style and you’d rather face off against your friends in a more competitive fashion, you can challenge each other or strangers to an RTS battle of the units as you fortify your positions and attack your opponents’.

Valheim

The heavily populated survival sandbox genre has another jewel to add to its collection. Valheim is a Viking-themed game that shouldn’t be as good as it is given how fatigued you might be with yet another survival sandbox game, but it surprises you. Its mist-shrouded world invites you to explore every hill and valley and uncover the monstrous bosses that lurk within. Building fortresses and fenced encampments is an engrossing process that can keep you occupied for hours.

And the ability to experience all that Valheim has on offer with friends more than triples the entertainment. You can gather resources for your friend’s next ingenious base idea. You can hunt down animals for armor and equip yourselves for taking on a gargantuan boss. You can attempt to build a raft and sail the sea even though you know in your gut you’re nowhere near leveled up enough for it. Even though it’s still in early access, Valheim is not a title to miss, and it’s one of the best multiplayer games on Xbox Game Pass right now.

Guilty Gear Strive

Even though Dragon Ball FighterZ departed from our Game Pass library, a new fighting game has come to take its place. The visual style of Guilty Gear Strive alone is enough to recommend it to new players, but it’s honestly one of the most enjoyable fighting titles around. As with most games in the genre, there is a bit of a learning curve as you figure out what combos to use and which characters best suit your style.

But after gaining a firmer understanding of what works (and what doesn’t), Guilty Gear Strive is the gift that keeps on giving. The story is basically just a movie, but you can create rooms for you and your friends to go toe-to-toe with each other. And let’s not forget the Tower, the hub for starting matches with online strangers. We’d recommend getting used to controls first before heading there though. As said earlier, there’s a bit of a sharp learning curve, but it’s one that easily lends itself to mastery with practice.

Hot Wheels Unleashed

It might surprise you to discover that Hot Wheels Unleashed is a hilariously good arcade racer. The realism of the Forza series is completely absent from this more kid-friendly title, but nothing beats the thrills of zooming through toy-inspired race tracks at breakneck speeds. It presents more of a challenge than you would expect, but maintains the straightforward nature of a one-way race car track.

You can hop onto tracks in both online and offline multiplayer, and to tie an even niftier bow on top of the package, local split-screen is offered across all platforms. So now two of you can race around, shuttling past other toy cars and hurtling off into the abyss after you fail to execute an impossibly tight turn.

Terraria

Terraria brings with it the joys of Minecraft in a 2D setting. With a larger emphasis on building and upgrading your character so you can take on the game’s various bosses, Terraria still comes with a delightful multiplayer component. Not only can you play it splitscreen with a friend by your side, the game also supports online multiplayer. You and your buddies can team up to build fortresses, delve deeper into the underground, and duke it out with the monsters that populate the great outdoors.

There’s a definite challenge to be found in Terraria, so playing it with friends is one of the ways you can seek to ease the difficulty. Or it can be the way you spend hours arguing over how to design your base.

Monster Hunter Rise

You know what’s better than hunting down giant monsters and engaging in absolutely dynamite battles with them once you’ve found them? Doing it with friends. Monster Hunter Rise is a more streamlined version of the Monster Hunter formula, so while you might not find the same level of depth that you would in World, it’s a lower bar for entry.

It’s way easier to invite a crew of friends to play with you and help you track down and kill a behemoth like a Crimson Glow Valstrax. Just make sure everyone has prepared for the fight. Otherwise, you could end up doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Golf With Your Friends

Nothing says good multiplayer fun like a game of golf. And by golf, we of course mean the sort found in Golf with Your Friends. You and several of your buddies can tee up for a delightful version of golf that has been converted into an almost cartoonish proceeding. The course set-up is out of this world rather than the staid meadows you usually see the sport played in.

Players can customize their little balls to be different colors and have them don hats or even outfits. And once you’ve dolled up your golf ball, you’re ready to participate in the most infuriating game of golf of your life. Courses seem to strive to be tough as you progress, but that only means it is as tough for your friends as it is for you.

Grounded

Taking on the terrors of your backyard is a gazillion times better with friends. Grounded lets you and up to three other people assume the role of kids who have been mysteriously shrunk to ant-size and need to figure out a way to unshrink themselves. This is a survival sandbox game at its best.

You can craft weapons, build bases, and tackle varying mission objectives all while operating under one of the most creative premises a survival game has ever adopted. You’ll laugh in delight at the hums of ladybugs and cower in fear at the undeniably horrific visages of orb weavers and wolf spiders. Grounded is a fantastic multiplayer experience, and you’d be missing out if you didn’t try it at least once.

Chivalry 2

Nothing says multiplayer fun and shenanigans quite like Chivalry 2. Two opposing medieval armies square off in large battlefields, swinging gigantic swords, chucking rocks, or firing arrows from afar (like a coward/strategic thinker). Though you can definitely approach Chivalry 2 from a tactical perspective and work out the precise timing for parrying and dodging, the major draw of the game comes from the sheer hilarity and joy of screaming your way into a fight alongside dozens of other shouting compatriots.

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Whether you’re storming a castle with an invading army or defending a garrison from a swarm of foes, Chivalry 2 blends competition with camaraderie, into a one hilarious multiplayer mix.

Gears Of War: Ultimate Edition

Nothing says multiplayer fun like a Gears of War game, and while Gears 5 is out and available on Xbox Game Pass, the one that started it all is another option for fans looking to chainsaw their way to nostalgia. Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is the supreme method for reliving Marcus Fenix’s original adventure against the Locust threat. You and a buddy can play as Marcus and Dom as they make their way through the desolated ruins of war-torn towns and the terrifying caverns the Locust call home. Classic cover-based shooter mechanics any Gears fan is familiar with are here in full force. While the game shows a bit of its age, it’s worth it to experience this premier co-op shooter title.

As Dusk Falls

If a competitive multiplayer game is not exactly up your alley, we’ve got an alternative that is just as entertaining. As Dusk Falls is a narrative game in the vein of those we’ve seen from TellTale. However, the intricacies of its plot land ten times better than anything we’ve seen before, and it comes complete with a multiplayer component. Up to eight players can join together to decide the fates of characters stuck in a hostage situation.

From using majority rules to determine what a person says to quick-time events that need to be completed jointly in order for an action to succeed, As Dusk Falls does an admirable job incorporating a multiplayer component into a genre most would consider to be better suited to a single-player experience. If you and your friends are looking for a superb example of an “interactive movie,” you can’t go wrong with As Dusk Falls.

PowerWash Simulator

Sometimes, rather than hopping onto an MMORPG to grind some loot or rolling into some fast-paced online shooter, you just need to unwind with your buddies by cleaning a dirty bungalow. The surprisingly satisfying PowerWash Simulator is by far the most relaxing game you and a team of up to six friends can play together. Combat dirt, grime, and rust using your handy pressure washer and the various extensions and nozzles that come with it.

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There are various locations and vehicles you can clean, and once one is unlocked in Free Play, you can invite your buddies to scour the entire location with you until it is pristine. While the gameplay is bare in terms of mechanics, the ability to just sit with your friends and idly clean while you talk is not to be denied. Don’t listen to the naysayers. PowerWash Simulator is fantastic.

Human Fall Flat

If you’re looking for a more cooperative spin to your multiplayer game, look no further than Human Fall Flat. Hilarity will ensue between you and your friends as you stumble from map to map solving physics-based puzzles that require you to inexpertly flop your way to a solution. Light platforming mixed with these puzzle elements result in a simultaneously low-key experience with tense, controller-clenching moments. Either way, whether you’re trying to balance on a twig-thin pole to get to a new area or figuring out how to use conveyor belts to get an out-of-reach box, Human Fall Flat is a lot of multiplayer fun waiting for Xbox Game Pass owners.

7 Days To Die

A multiplayer zombie survival game on Xbox Game Pass is like having vanilla at an ice cream store. You can never have too much; it’s a classic. And thanks to the inclusion of 7 Days To Die in the Game Pass library, we have another gem of a multiplayer game to dive into. As with most survival games, 7 Days To Die has players rely on building a small base, crafting weapons, and maintaining a health and stamina meter in order to survive. However, shambling zombies are a constant presence threatening your well-being. In the daytime, they’re not much of a threat as sprinting past them is all you really have to do to deal with them. The night is an entirely different story. Nighttime means hordes of zombies that dash toward your location without mercy. Hastily constructed bases can see their doom in seconds from the pounding fists of berserk undead. You’ll need your wits and your friends to make it through a week alive.

Research and Destroy

Research and Destroy is one of the most stylized multiplayer experiences you can find in the Xbox Game Pass library. It combines cooperative turn-based action with this Goat-Simulator-esque zaniness. You take control of three scientists as they work together to defeat the supernatural forces that plague our world. Calling these three characters scientists is a bit of an overstatement, but regardless of that fact, they do have it out for the ghosts, ghouls, and monstrosities roaming around. While the gameplay is delightful on its own, Research and Destroy’s main attraction is the style with which it executes its odd plot. Comic-book panels border the action of the game, and they lend themselves well to the atmosphere Implausible Industries crafted.

Shredders

Shredders is the multiplayer game all snowboarders should play. The straightforward nature of just cutting through snow-laden slopes is as beautiful as it is simple. There are no frills to worry about. Just you, your character, and a snowboarding course. Well, you, your character, and your friends. It feels like Shredders was made with multiplayer functionality in mind, as it encourages you to tackle tricks and runs with your buddies alongside you. There is a rather therapeutic nature to the game as you hurtle down hills with fellow snowboarders right next to you.

Mortal Kombat 11

Since gamers could first walk into arcades, fighting games have been practically synonymous with multiplayer fun. Typically, up to two players test their skills against each other as they duke it out with well-timed button presses and an innate understanding of their fighter’s strengths and weaknesses. No developer does this as well as NetherRealm Studios, with its illustrious history of continuing the Mortal Kombat series’ legacy. Fans of outrageously tense battles and the fighting game genre should be immensely pleased that Mortal Kombat 11 is in the Xbox Game Pass library.