Best online party games

So, you and your friends have decided to have fun. Music and dancing is not a bad option, but it is not suitable for everyone. You can play a board game, but it's an amateur's game, and it takes up hours of your time. Fortunately, the Internet, computers and voice chats in Discord save people from the need to gather in one room for fun. Today we will tell you about online games that allow you to have fun in short sessions, but do not require participants to invest large sums of money or build expensive PCs.

To make it clear at once what we are talking about in this selection, let's start with the classics. Visually Among Us is as simple as five kopecks, so you won't need a powerful hardware for it - it will go both on an outdated computer and on a smartphone. The rules, inspired by the cult "Mafia", also do not require seven eyes in the head. The action unfolds on a spaceship, in a research laboratory and the headquarters of the organization MIRA, where a team of characters under the control of players is assembled. One of the men in multi-colored spacesuits is a disguised alien, but no one knows about it except him. The whole intrigue is built on this important nuance.

The party members, naturally, begin to suspect each other, and the villain is quietly naughty while the starship is crashing. The main thing is not to get caught by random witnesses. Let others fix the systems and clear the exploded compartments, and the villain should only do the appearance of useful activity, but when no one sees - to break just repaired systems. You can turn off the lights, lock someone in a compartment, or commit murder altogether. If there are no witnesses to the crime, everyone has to vote to pick a traitor by instinct. Whoever the majority suspects goes into outer space or into the lava. And what if the majority is wrong? Then the situation for those left behind gets worse.

Where teasing your buddies is absolute, it's in Pummel Party. The game by Rebuilt Games studio is a set of various competitions - you have to race against the clock, walk through the cages avoiding traps, search for treasures in the desert, participate in shootouts or analogs of Snake and Bomberman. And all this - with a view from above and the possibility to put your teammate under a blow or throw him into the abyss, because of which the game is joked that it is the best way to stay without friends. The trick is that each of the modes implies the victory of one hero - friendship can't win here. But fun can.

Ridiculous objects and situations like a live eggplant, a rabid boxing glove or a sandworm popping out of the ground and devouring a stray victim add to the jokes. What's more remarkable, you can have fun both at different computers and in front of one screen - in the company of eight people. The top view and low-polygonal graphics turn Pummel Party into a kind of board game, so fans of this kind of leisure will not be left in the lurch. It's also worth noting the modes without multiplayer: if you can't gather your friends, there's nothing stopping you from fighting alone against bots or going through separate mini-games without opponents. It never hurts to practice before meeting real opponents.

Released in 2023, Party Animals was a real hit. Like in Pummel Party, you have to compete with your friends, occasionally giving them a piggyback ride. And sometimes literally - among cute animal characters there are not only bears, dogs, dinosaurs, ducks and monkeys, but also piglets. No violence on the screen: toy heroes just kick the ball on the field, slide on the ice after the puck, run along the track with obstacles, try to keep balance on moving platforms, carry coal to the cars - in short, contests for the younger age. Even its own version of the "royal battle" is presented. Where the passions can flare up, it is in front of the monitor, because there are plenty of options to put sticks in the wheels of rivals.

The general atmosphere of fun is enhanced by the funny rag doll style physics of the animals. It's funny to watch them running on short legs, often waving their arms, or falling down after tripping over something. The very case when the animators do not eat their bread in vain. Just imagine how at such a workout of movements look like somersaults and combos with punches in the jump! Just keep in mind that to participate in matches you will need a constant connection to the Internet, and there are no single modes here - only multiplayer. And it is desirable to have fun with friends or family members, so that no one gets seriously angry with anyone.

And this is an action movie, where SpongeBob can beat up the Ninja Turtles, and those can kick the ass of Master Chifu from Halo shooters, Ezio from Assassin's Creed or Ryu from Japanese fighting games Street Fighter. In general, the characters are presented for every taste, including even those familiar to the public from children's cartoons. And each of them has his own features - both in terms of characteristics and in the choice of fighting techniques. In total, there are more than fifty legends. And they are engaged in only one thing - fight among themselves at various levels. In fact, the game is a reimagining of Super Smash Bros from Nintendo, but available for free.

The gameplay gives the participants a real test of finger dexterity and reaction. After all, you need to press the buttons in time, using the strengths of the chosen character, and at the same time - to know the rules of the competition. There are several modes, including duels, two-on-two battles, Capture the Flag, and even a special variation of volleyball called Volleybrawl. Up to eight characters under the control of live players can fight simultaneously on a level. There's also cross-platform support, meaning that you can, for example, sit at a PC, one of your opponents can sit at a PlayStation console, another with a Nintendo Switch, and a third with a smartphone in general.

Who says you have to fight in a game to have fun? The authors and fans of Overcooked! 2 would argue with this statement. Because the main goal here is cooking. Cooperation is based on the fact that you and other team members share different tasks in the kitchen: someone chops vegetables, someone fusses over the stove, and someone - mixes ingredients to get a ready dish. On top of that, you need someone who's willing to pick up dirt off the floor and wash dishes. And the catch is the timer. Yes, you have to fulfill the order within the allotted time, otherwise you won't be rewarded.

And that's where the fun begins. The more the rush, the more nervous the participants of the event get. The button that allows you to throw food at your partners comes in handy. You can visit the Onion Kingdom only with four people, but even such a small company is enough to enjoy the process. All the more so as the recipes become more and more complex and the conditions for their fulfillment more and more diverse. You cook Italian dishes by jumping over obstacles, or you cook in Japanese style, but with a portal near the stove. Who knows where it will throw your hero? And will your team then have time to complete the task?

The action of the game takes place in the world of dreams. There is no other way to explain what is happening on the screen. Formally Human Fall Flat is a platformer, where the team of participants must explore the underwater kingdom, cities, mountains, deserts, ancient temples and volcanic caves, overcoming many obstacles on the levels. But in reality, we are facing a puzzle game with elements of surrealism, where clumsy people use bizarre mechanisms for movement, ride on giant burgers and jellyfish, and at the same time try to use different objects to achieve their goals. "Trying" - because the physics model here is also left-handed, although basic actions like running, jumping and hand grabs are spot on.

A total of eight people can participate in the adventure. Obviously, the bigger the team, the wider the possibilities open to it - some tasks here can be solved only together, when, for example, you need to pile a bunch of people on a lever or break something to make a certain mechanism work. It is also noteworthy that in addition to dozens of ready-made locations, the game offers the "Human Fall Flat Workshop" tool, where you create levels, devices and traps yourself, and then try them out. Nothing prevents you from using the fruits of other people's creativity.

Most gamers hardly associate the genre of "battle royal" with quick matches. You have to look around, gather supplies and cannons, map out the route and go as carefully as possible, so as not to get ambushed. Only a stray bullet can kill you in a hurry. But Knight Squad 2 breaks this stereotype: the battles in the game are very dynamic and fast-paced, because the whole level fits on one display, and the characters are shown from above in simple graphics. Somewhat reminiscent of old arcades from eight-bit consoles, only there are more effects and the interface is more modern. And so - the feeling is the same.

The game's arenas are compact and symmetrical, so that match participants starting from different ends of the map have the same shelters with bonuses. Up to eight users can fight in one party, and they are free to split into groups - up to four teams of two people. All heroes are depicted as knights dressed in colorful armor, but they fight not only with swords: unicorns, boxing gloves, bazookas and other unusual items are used. By the word Trials in the title it's easy to guess that this is a trial version - it has a limited set of maps, characters, modes and everything else. But you can download it for free on Steam and check it out if you like it or not. If you like it, there is nothing to stop you from buying a full copy of Knight Squad 2.

Another exotic genre for a party is tower defense, i.e. "tower defense". The essence of such games can be easily explained by the example of the famous Plants vs. Zombies: crowds of enemies are coming at you from nowhere, and you have to create fortifications, guns and traps to stop this onslaught. The more efficiently you spend your resources, the less chance the enemy has of breaking through your defenses. Bloons TD 6 offers to do the same, but in the company of friends. Controlling a team of monkeys, you need to work together to build defenses and destroy not monsters, but aggressive balloons and airships.

It is interesting that the tower defense mode is not limited to it. There is a fight for territory against other players, story missions, "Odyssey", where you have to pass several levels in turn, and also battles with boss balls. And all this - in a bright cartoon style with plenty of effects. The choice of heroes, as in any online game, is also available - each of the monkeys can be pumped to get unique skills. Although the main mode here is co-op for four people, Bloons TD 6 has a single-player mode that can be played without the internet at all.

Last year's unexpected hit hardly needs any special introduction. Lethal Company is not only scary, but also fun and interesting, because you never know what is waiting for you around the corner. In the game you need to gather a squad to go to distant planets and find there different resources by the order of the galactic Company. Roles during each mission are divided: while some explore the location for prey and monsters, others have to cover their comrades, and someone stays in the vehicle to coordinate the actions of the group and warn about dangers. Is it worth saying that in such conditions there are a lot of funny and frightening situations?

You will be among the ominous industrial ruins and meet extraterrestrial monsters with unique habits. While some of them, when they see strangers in their territory, attack at once, others (for example, giant spiders) hide and wait for their victims in an ambush. Take a wrong turn and you are already in a trap from which you can't get out without coordinating the actions of the whole group. For success during the tasks, the participants of the outing are rewarded with resources and gadgets to make the next expedition more convenient and safe. But with the death of heroes you lose everything you have collected on the location. Rare game can keep you in such tension as Lethal Company.

Lastly, one more original entertainment for a cheerful company. Of course, you have heard about the game Hello Neighbor, and if you haven't played it yourself, you have probably seen how your kids spend their time playing it. Its rules are simple: you have to sneak into the house of a suspicious neighbor to unravel his secrets. And the uncle there is very complicated, and he is hiding for very specific reasons. In 2019, the developers released a special version with multiplayer - for those who would like to get similar adventures, but experience them together with friends.

The plot is as follows: a neighbor caught a child who snuck in and imprisoned him in his house, and a group of other children need to rescue their friend from captivity. But there is one nuance in the spirit of Among Us: one of the rescuers is a traitor, secretly cooperating with the neighbor. So he must stealthily prevent his partners from getting into the basement of the ominous building, and also direct the mustachioed man to the team. Otherwise, the freedom of action here is the same as in the original game: you can use any doors, windows and manholes, use different gadgets and tactical tricks. If you can't go somewhere, there is a key hidden nearby to open the right lock. Classic.

Now you know what you can occupy the party buddies and in what with them narubit online to pass the evening. And what games for a friendly company you prefer?