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.
The Best Games On Xbox Game Pass (January 2026)
Xbox Game Pass is unquestionably worth the subscription fee, but which of the available games are the best use of your hard drive space?
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.
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Aliens: Fireteam Elite
Aliens: Fireteam Elite
- Released
- August 24, 2021
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter
If you’re looking for the sort of cooperative multiplayer experience that a Gears of War game can give to you, but you want to double down on how many Xenomorphs are included, then look no further than Aliens: Fireteam Elite. You and your squad are tossed into levels of varying difficulty where you have to fend off hordes of the titular alien as you make your way from objective to objective.
Gone is the creeping pace and sustained tension from Alien: Isolation. Fireteam Elite practically buries you in an avalanche of Xenomorphs. And while that might detract from the horror element of the game, it makes for challenging encounters as you and your team work out how your differing skills can best be used to withstand the coming flood of enemies.
The Ascent
The Ascent
- Released
- July 29, 2021
WHERE TO PLAY
One of the great things about The Ascent is that it can be played both locally and online. You and up to three other friends can hop into the game and journey through the neon-lit streets of Veles. But even without this multiplayer functionality, The Ascent is a phenomenal game. It’s a better cyberpunk-themed game than Cyberpunk 2077.
It takes the engrossing gameplay loop of Diablo and sticks it into a gritty urban environment where rival gangs and corporate entities seek to take control of the real estate, with little to no care for lives lost in the process. You and your friends can spend hours leveling up your Indents, all so you can go to the next cluster of cityscape and do it again.
Ultimate Chicken Horse
Ultimate Chicken Horse
- Released
- March 4, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- 2D, Platformer
Despite multiplayer games having the tendency to cater to groups of friends looking to have a great time, some diverge from this goal. Instead, they focus on breaking friendships by pitting everyone against each other in games of fair/unfair and ingenious competition. Ultimate Chicken Horse joins the likes of Speedrunners and Gang Beasts as a multiplayer game clearly geared toward testing the bonds between you and your friends. All in the name of that competitive spirit.
You and your (for now) friends essentially have to create platforming paths to reach the end of a level. However, you don’t just lay out platforms. You can place spike traps, inconvenient gravity holes, slippery ice, and more in your quest to make the journey difficult for your compatriots. After laying the groundwork, no matter how treacherous, you all have to race to the finish line. Whoever doesn’t die and gets there first wins. It’s a simple objective, made difficult by your friends.
GTA Online
Grand Theft Auto Online
- Released
- October 1, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Action
There is nothing quite like playing GTA Online in the world. Of all the multiplayer games someone could dip into that are available on Xbox Game Pass, Grand Theft Auto Online gives players more depth and freedom to live a life outside of their own. You can start a career in crime, engage in a list of side activities bigger than your arm, build a thriving, heist-minded enterprise for you and your friends, and basically just get up to so many shenanigans.
If you loved even a fraction of the freedom that the base story of GTA V gave you, then ignoring GTA Online is a crying shame. Some multiplayer games are all about the skills you can display and competition; some are about the grind for loot. GTA Online is all about fun.
33 Immortals
33 Immortals
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Blood, Violence
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Action, Roguelike
The premise of 33 Immortals caught my eye the minute I saw the first trailer. A roguelike boss-rush-like, bullet hell-like that features up to 33 other players is intriguing, you’ve got to admit. After playing it in early access using Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, I can now confirm that it is not just an intriguing premise. It’s a hella good one. (Forgive me the use of “hella,” please.) After picking up a weapon, customizing your little damned soul, and equipping any ability-enhancing Relics you have acquired, you head out into a purgatory landscape alongside 32 other damned souls.
Once there, you fight battles in various locations in order to unlock one mega battle against a big bad. The joy in 33 Immortals truly comes from the multiplayer aspect of the game. You get the feeling of being in an MMO boss fight without the accompanying hassle of level grinding; it’s a streamlined version of the best parts of an MMO. There’s nothing more enjoyable than to rush toward a giant skeletal devil and see dozens of people doing the same thing.
And the moment when everyone uses their cooperative powers (each weapon type gives you a different one) against a boss makes the joint effort both a visual delight and a powerful gameplay incentive to work together. It’s overall fantastic and worth dipping your toes into at least once, though you’ll probably stick around for a while after that first taste.
Kingdom Two Crowns
Kingdom Two Crowns
- Released
- December 11, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Fantasy Violence
- Genre(s)
- Strategy
Supporting both local and online multiplayer, Kingdom Two Crowns is a fairly mellow experience you can share with your friends. Situated in a two-dimensional side-scrolling environment, the game has you and one other friend roam the land, gathering resources to make your initially small kingdom larger. You build it bit by bit, exploring the areas to either side. You occasionally encounter night-driven enemies who will attack you on your expeditions or swarm the defenses of your blossoming kingdom.
Eventually, when the bounds of the land become too small for your now expanded realm, you can set sail to a new country and expand there. It’s an enjoyable experience, made even better by having a friend by your side as you conquer the known and unknown world.
Hunt: Showdown 1896
Hunt: Showdown 1896
- Released
- February 22, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Violence
- Genre(s)
- First-Person Shooter, Extraction
Not everyone plays a multiplayer game for tension. Some people play just to have a chill time with the bros. Laidback and fun. Hunt: Showdown 1896 is not for those people. Hunt: Showdown 1896 is for the people who love to sweat bullets, knowing there are drastic repercussions for every in-game decision you make.
Sure, you can hunt down terrifying monsters of legend with a couple of friends, having a jolly cooperative time, but the main draw of the game is the complete and utter tension that blankets the whole experience when you fear another player is somewhere around about to a) steal your bounty or b) kill you. If that kind of nail-biting, brow-moistening, palm-sweatening gameplay sounds up your alley, then Hunt: Showdown 1896 is just the multiplayer game you’ve been looking for.
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled
- Released
- June 21, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ due to Cartoon Violence, Comic Mischief
- Genre(s)
- Racing
When you’re picking games to play with friends, it’s always nice to have a diverse array of options to pick from. A never-ending supply of battle royales or hero shooters would make game nights feel a little stale. So when browsing through Xbox Game Pass for new multiplayer games, imagine our delight upon landing on Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.
The Crash Bandicoot-themed answer to Mario Kart, Crash Team Racing was an undeniable joy to play when it first came out all those years ago. Its remaster, now available to Game Pass subscribers, is the ultimate way to play it these days. It’s seriously one of the best online kart games you can play. With a plethora of tracks to choose from and modes to try, it's a surefire hit for gaming night.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
- Released
- October 25, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Suggestive Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Genre(s)
- FPS
It may seem like an obligatory inclusion — I mean, how exactly do you expect to get through a “best multiplayer games” roster without the most recent Call of Duty release making an appearance? It’s like eggs without bacon, peanut butter without jam, dinosaur teeth without… look, you get the picture.
In most respects, Black Ops 6 doesn’t break the mold. It packs in the game modes, loadout options, and progression systems you’d expect — and it does all of those definitively COD things exceedingly well to begin with. But its biggest bit of polish (as you’ve surely seen in every bit of promotional material) is the new-ish “omni-directional” movement system, which allows for a ton of John Wick-esque parkour gunplay shenanigans that will take a good long while to get old. And that’s just the core multiplayer. We haven’t even touched zombies yet. Anyway, if you like COD, or really just FPS games in general, Black Ops 6 deserves more than a bit of your time.
Doom + Doom II
Doom (1993)
- Released
- December 10, 1993
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Genre(s)
- First-Person Shooter
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.