The best multiplayer games on PC in 2026
Destroy your friendships with the best multiplayer games on PC
Often it's nice to hang with your pals online, particularly if you're doing battle against one another in an evening of virtual debauchery and shenanigans. Those shenanigans perhaps taking the form of snaffling the contents of a glowing chest before they can get there, knocking their golf ball off course, or hitting them with a combo composed of precisely engineered inputs. No, it doesn't all need to be malicious like the examples I've listed here, but what fun would that be?
To get the thrill of competition then, we've curated the best multiplayer games on PC for your perusal. Expect a selection that caters to all tastes, whether you're into an RTS, an FPS, or something with more of a party atmosphere. Once you've read through the list your world should expand and your friendships should collapse. Lovely.
The best multiplayer games on PC in 2026
Now that the first intro is out the way, let's get to the second intro: the multiplayer games here are geared toward competitive play. For a more team-building time, our round-up of the best co-op games on PC will be more your speed. Now onto the third intro: what's changed in the latest update of this list?
We won't list everything, as that would be tedious. Just know that we've refined the list, like a newly pressed olive oil. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, for instance, has been swapped out for Counter-Strike 2. Hunt: Showdown sees its 1896 update slot into its original place. Warzone 2 gets kicked out for the 2022 version. New additions include World Of Warcraft, EVE Online, and Arc Raiders, all of which offer more of a community focus on competition, which is something this list was lacking a bit.
Simply click the links in the list below to hit that section like you're a Rocket League car flying towards a goal made of... words. Okay just ignore that example. Just click below, please. Cheers.
- Mount Your Friends
- Golf With Your Friends
- Sea Of Thieves
- Mortal Kombat 1
- Northgard
- Hearthstone
- Fall Guys
- Towerfall Ascension
- Fortnite
- Counter-Strike 2
- Rainbow Six Siege
- Valorant
- Hunt: Showdown 1896
- Starcraft 2
- Among Us
- Garry's Mod
- League Of Legends
- Grand Theft Auto Online
- Minecraft
- Rocket League
- Apex Legends
- Call Of Duty: Warzone (2022)
- Team Fortress 2
- Dota 2
- Arc Raiders
- Gang Beasts
- DayZ
- Trackmania
- World Of Warcraft
- EVE Online
Mount Your Friends
Mount Your Friends is what QWOP would look like if it was a multiplayer game about having an orgy on top of a goat. It's about overcoming awkward controls to climb an ever growing mountain composed of your mates. It's about cheering when they pull off something impressive and cheering harder when they spectacularly fail.
You're eliminated if you can't reach the top within 60 seconds, so when you start playing your piles of men probably won't be that mountainous. Every limb needs to 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, and you can do vertical cartwheels at speeds that would embarrass Mo Farah. Momentum can be used to swing your body far, far into the air and over to the opposite side of the tower, before plummeting to the ground. That'll earn you the biggest cheer of all.
Golf With Your Friends
Continuing the friendly theme, Golf With Your Friends is your ticket to a good hoot with your pals. On the flipside, it's also a brilliant way to fall out with them and as James says in his Have You Played... Golf With Your Friends? piece, "Just make sure that you know them well enough for that friendship to, uh, survive". So yes, this is a mini-golf game 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 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, and burger hats, and many more silly hats.
Sea Of Thieves
Sea Of Thieves sees you don your best pirate garb and set sail in search of gold to plunder. It is, as Nate says in his Have You Played... Sea Of Thieves? write up, "Kraken open a cold one with the boys", The Videogame. While it might look a bit "kiddy", the act of sailing, and 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 to the simple act of working together to get your ship skimming across the ocean. There's joy to 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 and are fun to boot, but Sea Of Thieves excels as an accessible boat sim.
Mortal Kombat 1
As Brendy says in his Mortal Kombat 1 review, "In short: good fightin', rushed writin'". Confusingly, it's a sequel to Mortal Kombat 11. And sadly, it's not quite as sensational under the fingers when it comes to the combat. This doesn't mean it isn't good nor a terrific gorefest filled with nuance and panache.
The online modes are rock solid (provided your kombatants follow through) and the story mode is a good laugh if you're after kung-fu kapers and perverse comedy. Background environments are vibrant, where you might find yourself beheading lads in treasure vaults hiding gleaming gold or laboratories containing wretched fleshdudes. All in all, it's bloody great fun.
Northgard
Northgard is a "superb RTS that's easy to pick up but difficult to master" according to Matt Cox in his Northgard review. It's one 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 and winter is always just around the corner, bringing harsh production penalties along with rat plagues, blizzards, and earthquakes. Even so, despite the slow pace and relative simplicity of Northgard it is one of the best strategy games on PC and easy to get into - if not to excel at. You probably won't meet your viking foes until you're fifteen minutes into a match, and 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 to 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 to distract everyone from their imminent victory.
Hearthstone
Hearthstone's a competitive card 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. And for that reason, I wouldn't write it off just because of its microtransaction fast-track.
Fall Guys
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 end 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 and painful group exercises. Think of it as a sort of mash-up of Ninja Warrior with elements of a team-building course.
What makes Fall Guys a great multiplayer choice is its bittyness. You're able to jump in for a game, then hop off if you'd like. Or you can take it very seriously and 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. Read more in Matt Cox's Fall Guys review.
Towerfall Ascension
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 and forth feeling to them, and results in the best slow motion replays in video games.
Plus the jumping feels real good. Graham called it "Hyper-Specific Wanking" in his Towerfall: Ascension review, make of that what you will.
Fortnite
Fortnite is both one of the best battle royale games, and a messy metaverse, swimming in dabs and franchises. But accept the silliness and 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, an 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 and 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.
Liam Richardson particularly loved Fortnite's gunplay in his Have You Played... Fortnite? piece if you want a clearer picture of its combat prowess.
Counter-Strike 2
Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) ousts Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which might surprise some. It's the same game isn't it? Five terrorists fight five counter-terrorists in the hopes they can plant a bomb without it being defused. No, you're wrong.
Well, sort of. The rules of engagement remain the same as does its refined FPSing, but there's a new Source 2 engine providing it with some renewed clean energy and some smaller tweaks to further polish a Steam stalwart. A big change: smoke grenades are now 3D volumetric objects that interact with the environment (oooo), meaning you can chuck a grenade into them and they'll dissipate briefly, granting you a brief window to blast any wannabe ninjas (aaaaah).
Will most even recognise CS2's changes? Maybe not, according to Ed Thorn's Counter-Strike 2 review. But what it remains is a top tier shooter that demands precision and rewards patience. If you're tired of the noise of modern shooters, CS2 is more than a welcome reprieve - it could spark a competitive streak you didn't know you had in you.
It's also a game that's still evolving. Valve recently made a change to how you reload weapons that could make for significant changes in how players approach gunfights.
Rainbow Six Siege
People will tell you tactics are more important than aiming, but they're lying. If you don't want to 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 and 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. Read more in Adam Smith's Rainbow Six: Siege review.
Valorant
Valorant is a tactical team-based shooter that's similar to Counter-Strike 2, but with ninjas and cyborgs. This isn't a game where you can jump around corners and spray wildly, oh no. To succeed, you must coordinate with your teammates, get your aim on point, and master your favourite Valorant agents.
And this is what separates Valorant from Counter-Strike really. Each hero 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. Learn more about Valorant from a Counter-Strike player's perspective in Matt Cox's Valorant review.
Hunt: Showdown 1896
Before Hunt: Showdown got a next-gen update to Hunt: Showdown 1896, it was a nerve-shredding PvPvE FPS that helped pioneer the wave of extraction shooters we've seen more recently. And since the update went live, it's very much the same but slicker. More maps, a new UI, some new weapons and tools. You can see the "new era of Hunt" over on a bit of the 'ol news we covered a while back.
The key thing about Hunt is its outstanding audio design. You'll hear gunshots ring out in the distance. Footsteps pad on wood. The creak of a door opening. And all of it set in a swampdark world that's rather distinct from your usual FPS haunts. Just, uh, don't let losing all your loot on death haunt you. It probably will, mind. Read more on how Hunt plays in Ollie Tom's Have You Played... Hunt: Showdown? piece.
StarCraft 2
Starcraft 2 is the holy grail of RTS design, and has earned its place on our best strategy games on PC list. It's a slick, polished to perfection unit-bosser that hasn't been bettered in the many years since it came out - I mean, it was the last multiplayer game Matt Cox took seriously, which he goes into in his Have You Played... Starcraft 2? write up.
Gosh, it's hard though. At least, if you want to compete on the ladder: that direction involves research, timing memorisation and 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 worry about zerg rushes because you know your mate always plumps for Hydralisks.
It's another one where playstyles lead to 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 and marines.
Among Us
Ahh, Among Us. A social deduction game where 4-15 players prepare a spaceship for departure, but one or two only pretend to do 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 and blaming your friend for it.
Whenever I play Among Us, I mainly focus on doing the mundane jobs and nothing else.
Garry's Mod
Garry's Mod is many things to many people, but for me it's collection of home-brewed nonsense assembled from Steam assets and 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 and played charades.
The game 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 game 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. Brendy calls it a "must-own sandbox game" in his Have You Played... Garry's Mod? write up, if you needed any more convincing.
League Of Legends
I lost thousands of hours to 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 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, and fight for map supremacy. I'd say it's best played with a friend who's played it before, as there's a steep learning curve, and 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 me. I adored learning each character's intricacies and how best to work with my team to win important fights.
Grand Theft Auto Online
Grand Theft Auto Online might be linked to GTA V, but it's very much its own universe. Hop online and up to 30 players can mess about in sandboxes designed for, well, practically everything. That's the thing about GTA Online: it's very difficult to 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 like 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 and tonnes of silliness. Definitely worth a crack.
Minecraft
Minecraft, a blocky multiverse of possibilities. There's a server for anything, which is what makes it one of the best survival games on PC.
In Bed Wars, for instance, you turn the game from a "survive with your friends by building stuff" to "survive to become the last person standing". It's a mode which sees you protect your bed, or destroy other players' beds to win. Or drop the whole PVP thing and simply build mad creations with strangers across the internet if you want a more relaxing time. Heck, simply input a seed and you can just go about surviving in a really, really nice world. Honestly, you can't go wrong here.
Rocket League
Bombastic joy. Those are the two best words to 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 to 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 video 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 the dedicated but on display for the masses. Ollie Toms calls it his "perfect e-sport" in his Have You Played... Rocket League? piece, so do give it a read for even more reasons as to why you should probably get it downloaded.
Apex Legends
Apex Legends is a blisteringly fast-paced battle royale game, where different characters face-off to determine that they're the top survivor. And this is what sets it apart from the competition, really, as each character has three abilities to turn the tides of battle, as opposed to, well, none in other games.
I'm a big fan 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, and pull off a sweet, sweet slide. Again, that's something else Apex nails - a good slide animation. Read more in Ed Thorn's Have You Played... Apex Legends? article, as he explains how the game's silky shooting and movement eventually swayed him towards mainlining it for a bit.
Call Of Duty: Warzone (2022)
Ah Warzone, a battle royale that's gone through about one thousand iterations. It started off as, quite possibly, the slickest of the bunch. Then it morphed into Warzone 2, slowing things down and introducing a new map (read more on Warzone 2's changes in Ed Thorn's Call Of Duty: Warzone 2 review). And now, honestly, I've lost track. But do know that it's now back to Warzone with a lot less emphasis on the slow and more emphasis on how it used to be: slick
We're talking slick in punchy gunplay. Slick in the movement. Streamlined looting. Possibly a few too many guns. Maybe a few too many attachments. A horrid launcher. Yet, there's really nothing that quite matches the pace of a Warzone when it hits just right. Ollie's Have You Played... Call Of Duty: Warzone? piece sums up the experience very nicely indeed.
Team Fortress 2
To Graham, Team Fortress 2's joys are found in its "small, independently satisfying interactions", according to his Have You Played... Team Fortress 2? write up. To me, it's the version I get to play as a Spy, the weakest character in Team Fortress 2 when it comes to 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 and 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 to 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, and 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 to 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 and the 'nade spamming Demoman, but it's the Spy who stole my heart. Give him a chance, and maybe he'll steal yours.
Dota 2
James says it's "easy to get lost in Dota 2" in his Have You Played... Dota 2? write up. And in many ways, it feels contrived to describe it 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 and 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 and spells and the endless interactions between them. You'll need to hone reflexes, develop strategies and learn to be patient with both yourself and 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, and 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 and giggle.
Arc Raiders
"In a crowded field of extraction shooters, Arc Raiders feels unique", says Samuel Horti in his Arc Raiders review. Why? It combines punchy combat, nerve-shredding tension, and a fragile alliances into an extraction shooter soup from which to sup on every evening. Except the soup is filled with bits of metal with missile launchers and tesla cannons that threaten to kill you. If you want to survive the sup, you best be ready to best the robots, too.
While tricky, the game is also a perfect place for beginners to get started in the world of extraction shooters. And despite some boring quest design, it's a story-generator for you and your pals regardless, given how wonderful the world is just to exist in at times. Julian spends his time going for relaxing walks in the world, for goodness sakes.
Gang Beasts
Set in Beef City (excellent name), Gang Beasts sees you and up to three other pals take control of pudgy creatures. Your aim is to batter said pals to death, even if all of you will fight like "drunk baseball mascots" as Brendy says in our best fighting games roundup. It's physics-based, daftness as you wrestle each other on top of speeding lorries or avoid flinging yourself into industrial furnaces.
Our hands-on with an old version of Gang Beasts by Adam Smith still holds up today, mainly its chaotic magic remains rather timeless. If you have a spare 30 minutes and you need a laugh, this game has you covered.
DayZ
DayZ first emerged as a mod for ARMA 2 and it was, ahem, a bit rough albeit exciting. Exciting in the sense it presented something new and survival-y and sandboxy. Players would be plopped in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-ridden world and, without structure, they'd generate their own stories. We're talking elaborate tales of betrayal and triumph, despite all the clunk and the undead nipping at everyone's heels.
The game looks pretty different now, given a much larger and more detailed map and refinements to the clunk. There are other additions, like illness, temperature, food management, crafting options, and wolves who'll also nip at your ankles. The raw survival experience remains the same, it's just a bit more consistent in leading you through a progression track and lending your stories some environmental flair. Read more on early DayZ in Matt Cox's DayZ review
.Trackmania
Not to be confused with Trackmania Turbo (a one-time purchase game in the traditional sense), Trackmania is the original free-to-play, live-service racer where the "cars take second place" according to Brendy in our best racing games roundup. At its core, the game is Hot Wheels for adults who want to take their track mania online.
You can race on a bunch of curated tracks for free, but you'll need to purchase a decent version of the track editor. Similarly, if you want to see every wild creation from the Trackmaniacs, you'll need to fork out some hard-earned cash. It could very well be worth it if you're after serious challenges on truly creative tracks you wouldn't find in your Forzas. I mean, just take a look at Deep Dip 2, which took over a month of constant racing to conquer.
World Of Warcraft
One of the most influential MMOs on the planet and one of the most influential games ever, World Of Warcraft combines Blizzard polish with a gorgeous universe and a consistent cadence of expansions. It's incredibly difficult to sum up, so just know it's something to lose yourself in, whether that's chasing a community to go raid with or ticking off a few chill quests after a hard day's 9 to 5. There's something rather special about how transportive a stroll through some moonlit glades or a quick soar above molten wastes can be, trust us.
Lose yourself in fishing. Manage your cooldowns. Join a guild. The possibilities are almost endless, to the point where it can be a bit overwhelming. Check out Liam and Ed's video on getting started in World Of Warcraft as a new or returning player for greater perspective. Just know that there's a Classic WoW component, too, that caters for those who want a 'purer', less hand-holdy experience. Whatever option you choose, just don't be that guy who forgets to ready up when the dungeon queue's popped. Please.
EVE Online
A bit like World Of Warcraft, you could consider EVE Online an MMO that's been around forever. Except it's less on the warm, fuzzy side and more on the yawning chill that emanates from the gaping hole of an infinite space. This is a game where espionage and war are part and parcel, with results that Brendan Drain goes into here. And honestly, that article of Drain's? It contains links to many other stories we've covered on RPS over the years, which is testament to the tales EVE can weave.
Expect to join player-run corporations and interactions with players who'll hand over ships, blueprints, and in-game currency to help you get started. Sure, it might be cold out there, but some will hand you a coat. Just make sure you're a little wary so you don't stumble into a big con. This is a space game that's almost an extension of actual life, with real politics and councils driven by actual human beings.
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