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.
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.
Doom + Doom II
Sometimes, you can’t go wrong with a classic — at least id Software seemed to think so when it surprise-dropped an updated and repackaged port of its classic suite of Doom and Doom II during 2024’s Quakecon.
In addition to every Doom episode released to date, Doom + Doom II also hosts an updated and rerecorded soundtrack courtesy of Andew Hushult, modding support, a brand-new cooperative and single-player episode, and perhaps most relevant to this particular article, full online multiplayer support alongside a host of brand-new deathmatch maps.
It’s no Zandronum or Zdoom, but the matchmaking is fairly smooth, and the new multiplayer maps are great. The fast-paced arenas are a perfect salve for your boomer-shooter fragfest itch.
Valorant
The wait is finally over; Valorant (at the time of this writing) has moved to console spaces. And wouldn’t you know, it’s available on Xbox Game Pass. Valorant is a highly competitive shooter that will feel like a second home to anyone who has enjoyed a round of CS:GO in the past few years. However, there’s a dash of “hero shooter” thrown into the mix as well.
You play as one of 24 available Agents, each of which has unique abilities that make them suited to playing the role of a controller, duelist, what-have-you, on a team of five against five. You then take turns attacking and defending as you would in a regular Counter-Strike game. However, the hero shooter elements really come into play as you strategically engage in team fights for control of pathways. If our current selection of multiplayer games on Xbox Game Pass felt too cooperative in nature, then the addition of Valorant is a definite competitive feather in our cap.
Moving Out 2
Most often, the joy you find in multiplayer games comes not from the competitive element, but from the cooperative one. And nothing screams jolly cooperation like gathering your friends to be part of an interdimensional moving company. Moving Out 2 is the sequel to the delightful physics-based first game, in which you and your friends play as movers. Together, you help the denizens of a town gather their belongings and toss them onto a moving van. Yes, there are fragile items, but you’re paid for speed, not caution.
You’re technically not paid at all; this is a video game.
In this fun-filled second title, your company has expanded beyond the merely local, and you can take portals to strange new places and help those people with their moving needs. No matter where you and your pals are working, it’s going to be hilarious as you need to work independently to move smaller items more quickly and cooperatively to heft larger pieces of furniture onto the truck. And while your customers might not yell at you for damaging their goods, your friends certainly will, as you incorrectly toss chairs where they shouldn’t go, accidentally slide on slippery surfaces, and jostle your way to messy victories.
Diablo IV
Diablo IV embraced multiplayer in a way that other games in the series haven’t thus far. Since you’re always online and (hopefully) successfully connected to Diablo servers, as you make your way across Sanctuary, you’ll see other players traveling through their own questlines during your journey. In this fashion, you can tackle world bosses and events with a group of strangers on the fly. The difficulty of enemies scales according to player level to ensure you’re never outmatched in an area, though that does mean “starter” areas will scale up as you do as well.
In addition to this broad multiplayer component, the story of Diablo can be played with friends both locally and online. Far be it from me to tell you how to play your Diablo game, but playing through it with a friend was by far and away the best way to play the game in my opinion. So if you and a buddy both have Xbox Game Pass, and you’re looking for a fantastic multiplayer time investment, the Daughter of Hatred is waiting for you with open arms.
Hell Let Loose
Hell Let Loose immediately strikes a couple of FPS tropes that may tempt one to overlook it — a large-scale WW2 Battlefield-like shooter doesn’t exactly break new ground when taken on the tin. However, what HLL delivers in terms of depth, strategy, and immersion executes on that vision far better than most of its contemporaries.
Where teamwork provides a distinct tactical edge in most team-based FPS titles, HLL practically mandates it to secure victory. Its communication system is broken down into two tiers; squad-based communications and leadership communications between individual squad leaders and the commander. The commander depends on squads in order to secure resources, while the squads depend on the commander for tactical advantages like powerful, game-changing bombing runs, temporary spawn points behind enemy objectives, spawning in tanks, and the like.
Class-based loadouts are nothing new, but HLL goes a step further in wrapping it around squad selection as well — players can join rank-and-file infantry squads, a tank crew, or a stealthy recon squad to get stuck into the action.
And really, this just scratches the surface. HLL is a fantastically deep, tactically robust WW2 FPS experience with a high skill ceiling, and a definite must-try for any devotee of that specific niche.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Among Us
The indie game that took the world by storm is available on Xbox Game Pass! With the implementation of controls for controllers, the move to consoles is complete. Take part in the chaotic and hilarious deduction game that is Among Us. If you’re a crewmate, your job is to stay alive, complete tasks, and figure out who the impostors are. If you’re an impostor, you have to eliminate all crewmates, murdering them anonymously in hallways or sowing dissension among their ranks in order to have them kill innocents themselves. Among Us is a fantastic indie title that is a gem in the Game Pass library. If you haven’t already played it, you owe it to yourself to grab a few friends and suss out the traitor among you.
