Our Steam Remote Play guide will help you reconnect with all friends and relive the glory days of couch co-op gaming.
The holiday season is upon us, and the upcoming long break is something us gamers are looking forward to. May you still be a student or are already working, chances are you're planning to use this holiday break for gaming. In the previous years, this was the perfect time to catch up with friends, hang out together, and play couch-coop games together. Someone plays host, lending their living room and consoles, while everyone else bring the other party stuff. Bring the pizza in and lounge at the sofa. But that can't happen now.
Thankfully, we have Steam Remote Play . But not everyone knows about this Steam feature. That's why we're doing our civic duty as gamers. We made this Steam Remote Play guide to help you set-up the perfect couch-coop experience with your friends. All the while practicing social distancing.
WHAT DOES STEAM REMOTE PLAY TOGETHER DO?
Before we head straight to tour Steam Remote Play guide, let's explain what Steam Remote Play is first, and how it works. The feature just requires one copy of the game in question. We'll call the owner of the game the “Host”. With Steam Remote Play, the host can usually invite up to three other friends to share the game with. All four players will be playing the host's copy of the game. This means all players can enjoy the game even if it's just the host that has a copy of the game in their library. That also means you will all also be sharing the same screen at all times, just replicated across your four monitor screens. You can even play single-player games together!
The fun part here is that the friends' computers won't even be exerting much effort in running the games. The host's PC will take care of all the computing, sharing audio, video, and voice between all four players. You can play the game with shared controls or with separate controllers, just like in an actual couch-coop sessions. The host can configure which controls from his own set-up he'd like to share with his friends, including their keyboard (for multiplayer fighting games that have all input mapped on a single keyboard) and mouse (for, say, turn-based games that only requires a mouse to work). The host doesn't have to worry about sharing anything outside of the game – Steam makes sure that it will only stream whatever the game's window has at any given moment.
HOW DO I START A STEAM REMOTE PLAY SESSION WITH MY FRIENDS?
This won't be much of a Steam Remote Play guide if we don't actually teach you how to use it, so here's how.
First, make sure that you all have a Steam account with the latest version running. Then, the host will have to add all the players on his Steam friends list. Make sure that all players are appearing online on the friends list. After doing all this, activating Steam Remote Play Together is as easy as 1-2-3.
- Have the host launch the game.
- From the host's friends list, right-click the name of your friend, and choose “Remote Play Together”
- The friends will receive an invite through chat, and they'll just have to accept the invitation.
Do this with all your friends and voila, you've got Steam Remote Play running.
THE ULTIMATE STEAM REMOTE PLAY GUIDE: BEST GAMES TO PLAY WITH STEAM REMOTE PLAY
The next section of our guide talks about the best games to play with Steam Remote Play. Sometimes, playing together is as easy as browsing through a catalog of games and choosing one that everyone will enjoy playing. But having a large library of games might make it hard for you to decide which game to take out for game night. Some of you might not have even considered a few of these games we'll be suggesting, because they don't really fit the traditional idea of couch-coop. In any case, here are a couple of suggestions from us for you to try on your next game night:
TRIPLE-A GAMES TO REMOTE PLAY TOGETHER
You may have noticed that some of these games have their own online multiplayer aspects. While that is cool and all, we can make use of Steam Remote Play Together to let everyone join in on the fun without actually having a copy of the game. Do note that the experience may be different from what you're used to in online multiplayer. For example, in Left 4 Dead 2's online mode, each player will have their own screen all for themselves. In Remote Play, all players will share one split-screen.
STEAM REMOTE PLAY GUIDE: OPTIMIZED FOR SMARTPHONES
As mentioned earlier, the games shared to the host's friends are actually just a mirror of the host's video and audio output. That means, as long as a smartphone can stream video and audio, they can join in on the fun. Hook up your favorite bluetooth controller on your smartphone device or tablet and play PC games. Sounds like magic? It's not magic, it's Steam Remote Play.
INDIE DARLINGS, DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH, AND CULT CLASSICS
Some of these games may not have the same widespread appeal as the others. But you might be a fan of it and want to share it with your friends. Now, you don't have to convince them to buy their own copy. Give them an exclusive demo of the game by having them hop into it with Steam Remote Play.
- Crawl
- Killer Queen Black
- Wattam
- Worms W.M.D.
- Brawlhalla (this game is, in fact, free-to-play. Your friends have no excuse to try it out)
MORE TIPS AND TRICKS FOR THE ULTIMATE HOLIDAY GAME NIGHT
There are a plethora of games for you and your friends to enjoy. While many of you might have your own copies of your favorite games, you can use this feature as an opportunity to share your favorite obscure games to your friends. You might even find new converts to the fandom!
So to end this Steam Remote Play guide, here are some tips for you to have the most out of your Stem Remote Play experience:
- Hook your friends up on smartphones, tablets, and even on Smart TVs. As long as they can stream and have the Steam app, it can be sued for Steam Remote Play.
- Plan ahead: make sure everyone knows the game you'll be playing, and that everyone knows how to set-up their controllers.
- Explore together. Find new games to add to your Steam library together using Steam's store page. You can even do shopping together in the upcoming Steam Holiday Sale.
We hope this Steam Remote Play guide has been helpful to you. It's our wish that old friends can use this holiday break to reconnect and rekindle their interest in video games. Relive the glory days of the couch co-op, all while practicing responsible gaming by adhering to social distancing protocols. After all, we can still share an experience no matter how far away we are with each other.
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