11 Best Online Games to Play With Friends

With a near-endless selection of online games and blockbuster titles vying for your time, it can feel a bit overwhelming to choose what you and your buds are gonna play next. How do you choose? Start with a helpful guide like this, of course!

This is an updated list of the best online games you can find today. We did our best to whittle the list down to a manageable 11 suggestions (since we know your time is finite), and, since prices vary depending on platform, we’ll give you an idea of how much it’ll cost. We’ll also aim to keep this list updated as new games come out and prove themselves, so keep your eyes peeled!

Whether you’re looking for free-to-play games to kill some time or a new virtual life to lose yourself in for 100 hours (or more, no judgement here), we’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so without further delay: here’s the best online games for you and your friends to check out in 2024.

The Best Online Games to Play with Friends

1. Path of Exile 2

• Genre: Action RPG
• Platforms: Steam (Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
• Players: 1 – 6
• Price: AU$42 for Early Access, but will be free at launch

This one is for all the jaded Diablo fans out there that have been left wanting by the last few decades of Blizzard games. Path of Exile was already well known as a fantastic alternative demon-slaying ARPG, but with the recent launch of its sequel the series has shown off what it’s really capable of.

And it’s capable of a lot.

The game is still in early access, so expect more to come, but for now you’ll get access to six fully fleshed out classes: the crossbow-wielding Mercenary, pet summoning Witch, elemental archer Ranger, ki-powered Monk, martial powerhouse Warrior, and arcane adept Sorceress.

Each of those classes get access to an absolutely massive skill tree that gives me nightmares, and can be further ascended into a more focused subclass a bit further into the game. Everyone that complained that Diablo III and IV failed on the skills front should be salivating at this game.

And that’s just the character customisation. There’s a whole dark fantasy world out there to explore, along with 5 of your friends, and plenty of woop-ass to unleash on the nightmarish creatures of Wraeclast.

2. Marvel Rivals

• Genre: Hero Shooter
• Platforms: Steam (Windows), Epic Store (Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
• Players: 1 – 5
• Price: Free

In the lead up to its release, Marvel Rivals was called a lot of things: an Overwatch rip-off, just another big-budget trend-chasing shooter conceived of in a board room, doomed to follow Concord’s lead and be dead on arrival. A few weeks after launch, though, it seems to have silenced the haters.

Yes, it plays very similarly to Overwatch, in that you pick a (super)hero and engage in a team-based deathmatch. The game is played entirely from a third-person perspective, though, and defaults to a 6v6 fight, rather than 5v5. Plus, you’re playing as your favourite superheroes and villains from Marvel’s varied comic-and-movie empire: Iron Man, Wolverine, Spiderman, Venom, Magneto, Loki, and the rest of the gang are all here, and all fill the necessary roles of Duelist, Strategist and Vanguard.

In fact, perhaps the game’s biggest difficulty curve is that it has launched with 33 different heroes to choose from, making it difficult for newer players to know where to start. Hero shooter veterans might have an easier time, but suffice to say there’s a lot of choice and, with some good coordination, you can pull off some pretty awesome combos.

It’s free to play, and that usually means microtransactions are pretty egregious. That’s true here, but you can also just not spend any more money and enjoy the fun gameplay, rather than needing new costumes. I know, I’m not even fooling myself.

3. Helldivers 2

• Genre: Third-person shooter
• Platforms: Playstation 4/5, Steam
• Players: 1 – 4
• Price: AU$59.99

If you ever watched Starship Troopers and thought, “man, that’d be a fun video game”, play Helldivers 2. That’s essentially the pitch: Starship Troopers, but you’re the one killing the bugs.

It’s a simple pitch, but an effective one. You and your allies will take on the role of soldiers fighting back the Terminid invasion of Super Earth. You’ll jump onto different worlds, take on missions ranging in difficulty from Trivial to Super Helldive, and (should you survive) get paid. You’ll spend your Super Credits on better weapons, armour and tools, before heading back into the fray for one more mission. Before you know it, it’s 3 am.

While there aren’t classes per se in Helldivers 2, the gear you choose to outfit your soldier with very much changes how you’ll play. Will you go with heavier armour, a flamethrower, and get in a bug’s face? Or stay nimble to avoid and exterminate the alien plague from afar? It’s up to you, and since you can swap gear out between missions you can actually try out whatever you want.

If you’re looking for one of the best co-op shooters in recent memory, you’ve found it. I’m doing my part!

4. Counter-Strike 2

• Genre: Team-Based First-Person Shooter
• Platforms: Steam (Windows, Mac)
• Players: 1 – 5
• Price: Free

Counter-Strike has a long history in online competitive scenes, and despite being far simpler mechanically than many of its contemporaries, it’s latest iteration, Counter-Strike 2, opts for ‘simple to learn, hard to master’ rather than flashy but shallow.

The concept of the game is simple: A team of terrorists must plant a bomb and protect it, while a team of counter-terrorists must find the bomb and defuse it. Each time is made up of 5 players, and, since players are all on the same playing field in terms of abilities, a player’s skill and knowledge of the map becomes more important than knowing to use your ultimate during a team fight.

It’s a fast game, with players often being killed with one or two shots from across the map, so knowing when, where and how to move becomes key, as does effective communication.

If you and your friends consider yourselves pretty good at working together, and are looking for something deep to sink your collective teeth into, Counter-Strike 2 will suck up hundreds of hours of your life before you know it. Have fun!

5. Valheim

• Genre: Survival
• Platforms: Steam (Windows, Mac), Mac App Store, Xbox One/Series X/S
• Players: 1 – 10
• Price: AU$30

When Valheim dropped in 2021, it surprised a lot of players with just how robust an experience it offered while it was still in early access. Cut to 2024, and, well, the game is still in early access, but it has been improved and expanded on immensely.

The game sees you take on the role of a Viking exploring the purgatorial realm of Valheim for Odin, who has tasked you (and your friends) with defeating creatures across the game’s hostile biomes. You’ll need to survive the wilderness, gather ingredients to build a homestead, and forge new weapons and equipment to help you enter more deadly regions – which of course offer better materials for crafting. It’s the tried-and-true survival game formula, but executed incredibly well. 

Plus, even though the game doesn’t push the most photorealistic graphics known to man, it’s pretty and it’s atmospheric. The first time you attempt to circumnavigate an island using a rickety raft, it begins raining, and you see some movement in the water, you’ll probably think you’re playing a survival-horror game. Valheim can be punishing, but if you master its systems and remember to keep your shield up, you’ll be clearing out new islands in no time. 

6. Baldur’s Gate 3

• Genre: Isometic RPG
• Platforms: Steam (Windows, Mac), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
• Players: 1 – 4
• Price: AU$89.95

Dungeons & Dragons has become incredibly popular in recent years, and the first really good D&D video game in quite a while dropped in Baldur’s Gate 3 in 2023. Though it’s a sequel to the legendary Baldur’s Gate series, it isn’t a direct continuation of that storyline: you and your friends can jump in without knowing your Bhaal from your Beholder.

This isn’t a particularly fast-paced game, though. Instead, it’s a deep and methodical RPG experience, in which you and your friends can work together to shape the general direction a fantasy storyline heads in. You’ll play a group of adventurers thrust into a world filled with ghosts, goblins, demons, mindflayers, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, dragons.

While the cinematic storyline is certainly the draw with Baldur’s Gate, there’s also a lot of character customisation available, with each player able to create their own character, made up of different species, classes, subclasses, and backgrounds. Do you want to be a Dwarvern Battle Master Fighter? Or an Elven Evoker Wizard? Or maybe a Gnome Arcane Trickster Rogue? Sure, do it.

It enables each player to bring their own skills to the table, and change the way you as a group deal with each situation. It’s a lot of fun – I mean, it won a lot of Game of the Year awards in 2023 for a reason.

7. Fortnite

• Genre: Battle Royale
• Platforms: Epic Store (Windows), Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S/One
• Players: 1 – 4
• Price: Free

Fortnite is an interesting game, because not only is it incredibly popular, it’s also evolving beyond just being a battle royale murder simulator. You can go to concerts in Fortnite now, and race cars, or play a survival game as a Lego figure. There’s even a Counter-Strike-esque first person shooter attached to the game now called Fortnite Ballistic that has essentially changed the game entirely.

It’s getting weirder with every new season (which tend to last around three months each), but thankfully the basic act of dropping out of the battle bus, scavenging for weapons and teaming up with your friends is a lot of fun, whether it be in the ‘modern’ playlist, or in the ‘OG’ recreation of season one.

There’s a lot to talk about with Fortnite, and honestly we just don’t have the time. Compared to other games of its ilk, Fortnite’s main difference from its competition is that you can build defensive structures almost instantly, provided you have the resources. There is also a zero-build mode if, like us, you’d rather just scope out the competition mano-a-mano. Or, if you’re like me specifically, you can let your teammates do most of the killing while you hide in a bush. 

The one thing to keep in mind with Fortnite is that if the season doesn’t jive well with you, you’re stuck with it for months (I’ll have nightmares about Ang from Avatar for the rest of my life, I swear), and the game can be a bit slow to nerf things that are problematic. That being said, each update tends to totally change the experience, so if you don’t like where the game is now, in a few months it’ll be very different. 

Plus, since it’s free, you can drop in and out as you see fit!

8. Portal 2

• Genre: First-Person Puzzler
• Platforms: Steam (Windows, Mac), PlayStation 5/4, Xbox Series X/S/One, Nintendo Switch
• Players: 1 – 2
• Price: AU$14.50

One of the best single player games ever made In my list of online multiplayer games? What gives? Portal 2 does have one of the best campaigns, filled with some of the best writing and characters ever to grace the medium, but it also hides it’s own sequel: a co-op campaign that takes place immediately after the credits roll.

Rather than playing as the ‘mute’ Chell, you (and one buddy) play as two Aperture Science testing robots that are pushed into ever more diabolical test chambers at the behest of a revitalised GLaDOS: only now, you’re using four portals, rather than two. All the improvements to the gameplay are here, but with the exanded puzzle difficulty such a change leads to. You’ll need to analyse the room, and co-ordinate where each player’s portals go in order to make it through each room in one piece.

It’s not only a lot of fun to be able to delete a portal that is keeping a light bridge suspended over a pit of acid that -oops- your co-robot happens to be standing on, but you also get the benefit of seeing more of the fantastic writing the series is known for.

If only Valve could count to three…

9. Final Fantasy XIV

• Genre: MMORPG
• Platforms: Steam (Windows, Mac), Playstation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
• Players: 1+
• Price: Free*

Okay, hear me out. Yes, this is a game from 2010. Yes, it will require hundreds of hours to catch up on 14 years of expansions. Yes, it requires players that are into the later stages of the game to buy the ability to play for a few months at a time. All that said, you can play the entire base game and the first few expansions for free, for an unlimited amount of time.

If you’re looking for a sign that it’s time to finally jump into the critically acclaimed game, this is it. Final Fantasy XIV released the ‘Endwalker’ expansion in 2021, which finally concluded the main storyline that has been brewing for over a decade. Now, with the release of ‘Dawntrail’, a new story is beginning. Do you have to play through all of the prior four expansions to get to that new story? Unfortunately, yes. Will you have a great time doing it? Fortunately, yes.

Final Fantasy XIV is probably the one massively-multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) that you can rely on for its writing. Characters are fleshed out, motivations make sense, and the stakes are constantly being raised. And, as a bonus, the game is really fun to play. If you’re able to come in with a team of four friends, each willing to experiment with different jobs and roles (Tank, Healer and DPS), you’ll have a fantastic time moving through the games’ combat and boss scenarios. If you’re playing on your own, it’s still fun, but you’ll spend a lot more time waiting in dungeon queues, unless you want to to use the game’s AI-buddy system. 

Related: Why Final Fantasy XIV’s Naoki Yoshida Doesn’t Make Other Games

10. Street Fighter 6

• Genre: Fighting
• Platforms: Steam (Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
• Players: 1 – 2
• Price: AU$99.95

Fighting games are an odd fork of multiplayer games, largely because they are inherently competitive. There is no co-operating to win together here, if you’re playing with friends, it’ll be on opposite ends of the ring. Not everyone likes this, but if you’re the kind of friends that can beat the shit out of one another and then have a laugh about it, there’s a lot to love here.

Street Fighter 6 is about as solid as any fighting game gets, with a roster of more than 20 characters that fill the typical Street Fighter roles of Shoto, Grappler, and Charger, as well as some more ‘out there’ options. There are quite a few new modes in the game, including a new ‘World Tour’ mode in which you create your own fighter, learn from the masters, and create your own hybrid character with multiple characters’ moves.

You can then meet up with other players online and challenge them to fights with your own mixed martial artist, completely blowing any semblance of balance out of the window. It’s awesome.

11. Enshrouded

• Genre: Survival
• Platforms: Steam (Windows)
• Players: 1 – 16
• Price: AU$42.99

If you’re like me and sunk a few hundred hours into Valheim (yes, really), you’re probably already well aware of this one, but for those of you who aren’t in the know, let me break it down. Enshrouded is a third-person survival crafting game, set in a fantasy world called Embervale, where you (and up to 15 friends) explore the world with the goal of gearing up before diving into swathes of the map that are covered in magical, and oppressive, fog.

You’ll spend a lot of time out of the fog, but when you enter it you’ll start running into more dangerous foes, but likewise find better rewards. Together, you may just be able to get out alive to return to your base, regroup, and build out your operations.

You can certainly play games like this alone, but it becomes a bit easier when you have multiple players taking on different aspects of the game at once. For example, my friends love being in charge of building up our base and coming up with fun new designs, whereas I prefer to take care of farming and alchemy. Additionally, with a fairly flexible class system, we can each build out our own characters to support one another.

It’s still in Early Access, like a few other games on this list, but it’s already had a massive content drop in the form of the northern mountains. The update brought on a whole new biome, as well as a new boss, a new tier of weapons and armour, new mechanics, and an expanded farming system. It’s a big change, and it’s only made the game better (in my eyes, at least).

How We Select the Best Online Games

When it comes to picking the best online games, we like to do our due diligence, so we try to only recommend games that we have extensive experience with. However, if something is new, and tons of fun, we might add it on the list to spread the word. Everything on the list has been tested by staff at Man of Many (and their friends, in this list’s case), but we also take industry reviews and player feedback into account when deciding what to showcase. For more information on how we do what we do, check out our Editorial Policy.