Valve has been busy little bees recently with the newest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive update, the next iteration of Half-Life, and the popular winter Steam sale on the very-near horizon. Rolling stones gather no moss, however, and Valve seems eager to continue pushing the envelope after a couple of years of general silence.
Enter Valve’s newest Steam platform technology, Remote Play Together. Remote Play Together is a new function that allows gamers to play a game together, without everyone owning the game; only the host must own a game, and others can join in from any type of streaming device.
Whether your friends want to play with you on their cell phones, television, or tablet, they can do so seamlessly and for free. A sizeable amount of heavy-hitter games are already in the program, making this technology something you can use immediately.
Cuphead is one such game, with the functionality working surprisingly well in such a difficult game. Latency was minimal in connection, and we were able to clear two encounters after a bit of work. The functionality working well with a difficult game like Cuphead bodes well for the technology, as near-perfect timing is necessary to complete anything.
Latency would have killed this project long ago.
Yet if Cuphead can work well enough to actually clear content, one wonders what else is on the horizon for the Remote Play Together technology. Imagine hopping on your cell phone to help your buddy with a boss in Dark Souls, all while you’re on your lunch break at work.
The best part is this is all absolutely free; there’s no monthly subscriptions to access this functionality, as it simply comes with the Steam platform. Which is also free.
Valve didn’t stop with just that, however. While reminding everyone that they’ve also refreshed the Play Anywhere technology, that lets you play any game in your library anywhere you have internet, from another PC, tablet, or phone.
Oh, and there’s a surprise monstrous sale going on right now as well, with titles up to 80% off. The sale favors games that work well with the Remote Play Together functionality, so don’t expect your favorite single-player game to be on a steep discount, but discounts on gems are to be found. Crypt of the Necrodancer is $2.99 right now, Enter the Gungeon is $7.49, and Spelunky is $2.24. Almost every Lego game is also at a steep discount on the platform, which is a perfect cooperative experience to test this new functionality.
With the newly added caveat that only one of your friends needs to own a title for everyone to play together, you and your friends can easily be playing new titles until Christmas with the smallest amount of planning.
It’s worth noting that in order for Remote Play Together to operate properly, the host PC needs a strong internet connection. The stronger their network is, the more players you’ll be able to add to the game without impeding gameplay quality.
Now Valve just needs to help everyone make friends.