Local Multiplayer Games That We Are Most Hyped About Right Now

With Parsec, you can play local-only multiplayer games online. You can invite your friends to join you on your PC and play any game together via our friending system or link sharing. Building online multiplayer for local couch co-op games was inspired by Chris and Jamie’s desire to play games together despite living more than 1,700 miles away from each other. As they built the technology to make it possible to play games together again, a whole world of opportunity for people wishing to play classics, indies, or other local multiplayer games online was unlocked. We couldn’t be happier that this is reuniting friends who haven’t been able to play games together since moving across the country, giving long-distance couples the chance to stay in touch, and a father-son the opportunity to continue Obduction together while the son is at college.

We wanted to highlight a few recent and upcoming games that are either promoting Parsec as an online multiplayer option or have local-only co-op. This is our own sequel to an article we published in November about local co-op games available at that time. We’ve been having a lot of fun playing these games, and we hope you and your friends enjoy them together both in-person or online with Parsec!

Wizard of Legend (released on May 15)

Contingent99 released a hit with Wizard of Legend. It’s been hovering near the top of the charts on the Switch and Steam, and we’ve been loving playing the game on our YouTube Channel. The game developers have also been recommending Parsec to their community on Steam for online multiplayer since it’s a local-only co-op game.

Riverbond (not released yet)

Riverbond hasn’t been released yet, but as a team, we voted on this being our favorite indie game at PAX East. It’s a beautifully designed voxel art adventure game built by a small team in Toronto. The game can be played in single-player or multiplayer mode. One of my favorite parts of the game was destroying the world around me and watching the voxels spray across the screen while my friends finished off the enemies. We really enjoyed hanging out with the co-founders of the studio, Martin and Vanessa, at PAX East, and we cannot wait to get our hands on the final game when it comes out later this year.

The Swords Of Ditto (April 24)

The Swords Of Ditto was published by Devolver Studios. I recently played the game with someone in Parsec’s Party Finder matchmaking system who is based in the Netherlands. He had already beaten the game, so he was showing me the ropes and helping me get through the quests without running out of time. This Zelda-like game is really fun and during the all-day marathon Twitch stream the developers were playing the co-op game online with Parsec.

I Hate Running Backwards (released on May 22)

I Hate Running Backwards is a product of the Croteam incubator and published by Devolver Digital. It uses the same great voxel art style that Riverbond is using and many new games have adopted. The co-op mode puts you and your friend against a never-ending wave of enemies in a continuously changing environment. It’s a lot of fun to jump in and play together. We’re working with the game developer to cross-promote the online version of the game via Parsec.

Guacamelee 2 (not yet released)

We got a preview of the sequel to the 2013 hit at PAX East, and it brings the same fun and awesome mexican-style art design as the first. This time, there’s a 4 player co-op mode for the platformer that lets you and your friends take on los muertos and swing and uppercut from one stage to the next as your favorite lucha libre character. We’re excited to see this come out on PS4 and PC later this summer.

Unravel 2 (released on June 9)

The surprise EA release of Unravel 2 at EA Play has us very excited. The first game was a ton of fun, and the added element of local co-op makes this beautiful platformer even more exciting. Although we haven’t yet finished Unravel 2, our early playthrough has been great. The Coldwood Interactive team really followed up their first hit with a great sequel. You can play the PC version co-op missions online with Parsec.

King of The Hat (not released yet)

We were introduced to King of The Hat at PAX East. It’s a fantastic multiplayer brawler that adds a really fun strategic element through its hat mechanics. Essentially, you have to use your hat to knock the hat off another player, but when your hat is out in the open, someone else can jump on it and kill you. The game is still in development, but we took home an early copy at PAX and have been loving the game at the office. We like to switch this game into the rotation when we’re all sick of getting beat by Chris in Towerfall.