Whether you’re visiting your family for the holidays in person or over a video call, it’s fun to play games with others. Here are five multiplayer games we found.
Command & Conquer: Rivals PVP
Take control of your customized army and conquer your opponent in The War for Tiberium. Team up with friends to share resources in alliances. Create your combination of infantry, tanks, aircraft, and more to outsmart your opponent’s strategy in fast, fun PvP matches. Free
Among Us
Play online or over local WiFi with 4-10 players as you attempt to prep your spaceship for departure, but beware as one will be an impostor bent on killing everyone. Crew mates can win by completing all tasks or discovering and voting the impostor off the ship. The Impostor can use sabotage to cause chaos, making for easier kills and better alibis. Free
Super Impossible Road
Master hairpin turns across dangerous courses that twist and coil over beautiful galactic backdrops. Knock opponents into the void of space. Kick into hyperdrive with temporary speed boosts. And use every opportunity to jump off the paths of the rollercoaster-like tracks, bypass gates and checkpoints, and roll over competitors on the way to first place and glory. Apple Arcade
Monopoly
Are you ready to experience the thrill of bankrupting your family and friends in life and becoming a rich landlord in Monopoly, one of the most iconic board games of all time? Roll the dice, take risk, make your way around the board and buy real estate, collect rent and build hotels to become a landlord tycoon, just like the popular Hasbro family board game. US$3.99
HyperBrawl Tournament
Heroes compete in electrifying 2v2 PVP matches fusing no rules soccer, combat and skill-based weapon power ups. Challenge for trophies and artefacts in the single player Galaxy League and Cosmic Cup modes; or head online and compete with players from around the globe in Blitz mode on your quest to become the ultimate HyperBrawl Champion! Alternatively, battle it out in one of the 9 unique arenas with up to 4 friends in the local quick play party mode, where friendships are forged and rivalries created. Apple Arcade
In Among Us, you play with a group of 4-10 players as you attempt to prepare a spaceship for departure.
However, there’s a twist – one of the players is an impostor whose goal is to kill everyone without getting caught.
Crewmates must complete tasks to win the game or identify and vote off the impostor.
The impostor can sabotage the spaceship, causing chaos and making it easier to eliminate crewmates while also creating better alibis.
Among Us is a social deduction game that’s excellent for fun and suspenseful multiplayer sessions.
Thank you
Liar/traitor games can be relationship-damaging in my experience, so a word of caution regarding Among Us.
I think Nintendo’s classics for the ages, Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros., and Mario Party can all be played online over the internet.
Cooperative (A)RPGs are another go-to holiday game for me. Diablo 3 can be played remotely as can Divinity:Original Sin, but be careful with the latter because it can get really tense during co-op battles!!
Board games are basically a killer app for the iPad. Games like Carcassonne work great and are both cheaper and more compact than the physical board game; I believe Carcassonne needs an IAP to unlock network play but that could be an option.
In spite of the 32-bit apocalypse, there are more games available on macOS than one might imagine. I just found out gummy brawler Gang Beasts, a personal favorite, is available for macOS and supports online play as well.
Jackbox games are great multiplayer get-together games; unfortunately I don’t think they support online play out of the box, but people have come up with workarounds such as running zoom (etc.) and sharing the screen of the system where the game is running. Then everyone can see the game and enter in answers in a web browser on phone or elsewhere.
Obviously those are on the Switch, not on a Mac/iPad/iPhone, but I had to mention them because they are fantastic games and reasons to buy a Switch if you don’t have one in my opinion.
I do hope that things return to normal so we can have holiday gatherings without worrying about the pandemic.
In the mean time, you might consider covering games that work well played remotely over the internet and augmented with zoom or other video/audio chat.
Things like Roll20, Virtual Tabletop, and Discord can also help with playing RPGs and board games with remote friends and family.