Credit: Dominic Bayley / IDG
Move Or Die
Developer: Those Awesome Guys
Platforms: Steam (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Players: 1-4
Credit: Those Awesome Guys Move or Die is a game where you and your friends have to keep moving, or you’ll perish if you stand still for too long. Additionally, every 20 seconds the mechanics of the game change, forcing you to adapt constantly. Be ready for a frenzied time and crazy moment-to-moment action.
Ultimate Chicken Horse
Developer: Clever Endeavour Games
Platforms: Steam (Windows, Mac, Linux), PS4, Xbox One
Players: 1-4
Credit: Clever Endeavour Games A deadly party platformer in which you need to navigate several hazardous levels whilst deploying traps to slow your friends down. Ultimate Chicken Horse can even be fun when everyone is failing, because at least you’re failing together.
Mount Your Friends
Developer: Stegersaurus Software Inc
Platforms: Steam (Windows)
Players: 1-4
Credit: Stegersaurus Software Inc In Mount Your Friends, you’ll literally be doing just that: taking turns to see how far you can climb a slowly growing mountain of naked men you’re friends have built with you, within a time limit. It’s ridiculous - but there’s a surprising amount of strategy to creating obstacles that’ll slow down your friends.
Death Squared
Developer: SMG Studio
Platforms: Steam (Windows, Mac), PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, IOS & Android
Players: 1-4
Credit: SMG Studio One of the deadliest co-op puzzle games ever made, Death Squared sees you guide a set of fragile cubes through a series of deadly tests. The puzzles themselves can be quite clever and it’ll usually take a few tries as you and friends accidentally and inevitably end up killing each other, over and over again.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Developer: Bandai Namco
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Players: 1-8
Credit: Bandai Namco Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a fighting game featuring some of our favourite characters from the Nintendo universe and other franchises. For a not too serious tussle with family or friends, it's riotous fun. The player roster is extensive and the action is quick with plenty of variation in play. It's also great for noobs, since battles can turn on a dime - especially when you have eight players all duelling it out.
Where to buy? Amazon, JB Hi-Fi, Mwave, Nintendo online
Screencheat
Developer: Samurai Punk
Platforms: Steam (Windows, Mac, Linux), PS4, Xbox One
Players: 1-8
Credit: Samurai Punk ‘Screen-cheating’ has always been a part of the party game experience - but what if there was a game in which you had to screencheat to win? Armed with wacky weapons, Screencheat is a multiplayer shooter where everyone is invisible and you have to look at their screen to find where they are and take them out.
Push Me Pull You
Developer: House House
Platforms: Steam (Windows, Mac, Linux), PS4
Players: 2-4
Credit: House House Push Me Pull You is as about as wacky as they come as you and your partner, joined at the waist, share a single wormy, human body and must wrestle other humanoid people to win control of a ball. If that sounds unapologetically weird, that’s because it is. It’s a hilariously strange game about working together and being the best wormy-sports-ball-person you can be.
#IDARB
Developer: Other Ocean
Platforms: Windows, Xbox One
Players: 1-8
Credit: Other Ocean Born out of random features suggested by fans on Twitter, #IDARB is a chaotic and frantic sports game that lets spectators influence the match. Two teams battle for the control of a ball, with the goal of scoring through the opponent’s goal, while spectators can change elements of a match, from adding fireworks, changing physics and more.
Starwhal
Developer: Breakfall
Platforms: Steam (Windows, Mac, Linux), PS4, Xbox One, Wii U
Players: 2-4
Credit: Breakfall Never has there been a party game so graceful and comical as Starwhal. Playing as narwhal in space, you’ll often find yourself in a beautiful dance of death, chasing each other across 2D neon space maps trying to pierce one another with your deadly horns.
Monster Prom
Developer: Beautiful Glitch
Platforms: Steam (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Players: 1-4
Credit: Beautiful Glitch A multiplayer take take on the dating sim genre, Monster Prom puts you up against your friends as you each try to find a date for the monster high school prom. The writing is deliciously funny and with hundreds of unique scenarios there is a ton of replayability. You can derail your friends and even attempt to seduce the same character.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Developer: Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Players: 1-4
Credit: Dominic Bayley / IDG Mario Kart 8 is arguably Nintendo's best racing game, featuring all the DLC from Mario Kart 8 plus extra content too. There are a whopping 48 courses to ride, and a diverse character list of 42. Unique characters to the game include the Inklings from Splatoon as well as Bowser Jr. There are also tons of vehicle mods and you can also choose a ride from the super fast 200cc vehicle category if you have a need for speed.
The Jackbox Party Pack 8
Developer: Jackbox Games Inc
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Mac, Linux, PS5, PS4, Xbox One
Players: 2-10
Credit: Jackbox games Jackbox releases Party Packs every now and then, but this one packs some of our favourites mini games including 'Job Job' - a twisted interview game where you use other players' answers to score a job and 'Weapons Drawn' - where you have to solve murders while hiding others. For some games you'll need up to 4 players to play, so you'll want to plan an evening of fun with friends and family to get the most from it.
