Not every multiplayer title needs to have angry shouting players in the voice chat orfrantic real-time battles– there is a more subtle (and intriguing, I must say) subgenre called “asynchronous multiplayer”.
Despite sounding a bit complicated, it works in a very simple way: players are not directly connected or playing at the exact same time, but they still interact and influence each other in a shared experience.
It is like leaving an invisible impression on other players, whether it is positive or not, without the need to be online together. So no rage quit!
Jokes aside, that idea opens up space for unique experiences, such as ghosts of other players, messages and buildings left by strangers, or even enemies indirectly controlled by someone else. So, shall we take a look at some games that do that?
9Meet Your Maker
Anti-Social Multiplayer
Meet Your Maker
Despite having a very small fanbase,Meet Your Makeris actually an intriguing multiplayer game, where your goal is to create your base with a bunch of traps and devious little tricks, while also trying to invade other players’ levels.
It is like organizing and vacuuming your own place to keep potential visitors away from it – which makes a lot of sense when my social battery is down - and trying to invade someone else’s house in your spare time.
It is a nice and fun concept on paper, but, sadly, it can get repetitive quite quickly, hence why there are not many people playing it.
However, since it is asynchronous multiplayer, you can visit every level created by another player without directly connecting with them, so you can hop on it if you would like.
8Rise of the Ronin
Sending Cute Dogs To Other Players
Rise of the Ronin
Fextralife Wiki
Despite being a single-player game,Rise of the Roninhas some co-op andPvP features, such as aiding (or messing with) other players in specific missions, alongside some asynchronous elements.
For the latter, you may encounter other people’s ronin characters as wandering NPCs while roaming in the world, and also send your pilgrim dog to give money in exchange for valuable items from other players (or the other way around). And no one needs to be online at the same time for any of that.
It is a relatively timid form of interaction between you and other ronin, slightly impacting their worlds, but it brings a comforting feeling of “hey, I have got your back if you ever need something!”.
But yes, it is quite limited, and that is why the game is not higher in the list.
7Planet Coaster 2
Playing Together In Another Time Zone
Planet Coaster 2
Imagine building and creating a thrilling theme park with the help of your friends – even if you are struggling to find a time when everyone is free and can play online together?
Well, the “Franchise mode” inPlanet Coaster 2manages to do that, allowing players to collaborate on their buildings asynchronously, which means that they take turns over time and share their save file with others.
So you can start building some incredible water slides by morning, right before work, and your pal takes control at night to finish them. Also, you can play with up to four other friends in a single park.
That way, you are not only sharing an epic creation with someone else, but actually creating something really cool cooperatively, because the more, the merrier!
6Backpack Battles
Leon Is Proud
Backpack Battles
If you have ever played Resident Evil 4 (whether the original one or the remake), you have probably spent thousands of hours organizing herbs, fish, ammunition boxes, and guns in Leon’s inventory – and that is basically the core ofBackpack Battles’ gameplay.
This is a captivating indie game about buying nice items and managing them to create a rather powerful inventory, then auto-battling other players with it.
And it has asynchronous PvP, meaning that you fight against builds created by other players on the same level of progression as yours. It ends up being perfect for solo players despite the multiplayer factor.
It is as fun and quirky as it sounds, with super-fun managing mechanics that make you spend many hours on it without even noticing.
5Chess.com
True Classic For Everyone
Developers
Erik Allebest and Jarom “Jay” Severson
Release Date
PC, iOS, Android
Well, we couldn’t just ignore what is currently the best and most accessible online chess game, right?
Chess.com is available as a free-to-play game on mobile devices and directly through your web browser, offering both synchronous (that is, directly online) and asynchronous multiplayer with over 200 million players from around the world.
In asynchronous chess, players can take turns making moves at their own pace, but with extended time limits to avoid people taking forever to make a simple move, only to annoy each other.
As someone who loves to play chess in a moderate way, whether it is during lunchtime or taking the bus home, this format is simply ideal for people who have busy schedules or prefer to make a deep analysis before making a move.
4Bionic Bay
Racing Against Ghosts
Bionic Bay
Bionic Bayis a great platformer about a scientist who needs to escape from a mysterious factory with deadly traps and many hidden secrets.
Despite the story being amazing (I highly recommend it), I must confess that my favorite part of the game was its online mode, which made me spend about 47 hours on it.
It basicallyencourages you to speedrunsome levels to asynchronously compete against other players, since it features an online leaderboard – and it feels like a very challenging race against ghost data from other players.
You can actually see other people’s ghosts (like the “Time Trials” in a Mario Kart game), which adds an extra layer of pressure. It is fun and matches perfectly with its gameplay, which uses gravity as an important element of the mechanics, making every step chaotic!
3Dark Souls
Finding Messages and Bloodstains
Dark Souls
In addition to helping friends who are having trouble witha specific bossand invading other people’s worlds to create mayhem, the multiplayer essence ofDark Soulsis present throughout the whole experience – and asynchronously, which has become a trademark of every Soulsborne.
From the beginning to the end of the game, you stumble upon messages on the floor by other players, which contain tips, warnings, or sometimes even jokes related to that specific place where the message was written.
You can also find bloodstains and ghost data from other players, quickly showing what happened to them in this same place.
All of that is extremely useful in a game like Dark Souls – even the jokes, since laughs are always welcome! –, because it has so many hidden secrets, bosses, and places that are easily missable.
2Sid Meier’s Civilization 6
Let’s Rule the World Together
Sid Meier’s Civilization 6
What if we were both leaders of a promising civilization and could work asynchronously to rule the world together?
That is exactly whatCivilization 6offers. It is called “Play by Email”, and you can set up a hotseat mode game and pass around your save (with a password). Then it basically works sequentially: the first person finishes their turn, it goes to the next, and so on.
I played Civ 6 like this with a friend, so I just have to warn you to really organize your schedules so you can progress at a good pace; otherwise, you will end up playing a single match for more than a year – exactly what happened to me.
you’re able to also attempt to use a notification system, such as Play Your Damn Turn, to email the next player, alerting him that it is his turn.
1Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
The Hideo Kojima Way
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Named as the “Social Strand System” by Hideo Kojima himself,Death Stranding 2: On the Beachhas some elements of asynchronous multiplayer, which makes players help each other all the time without any direct interaction between them.
As soon as you start playing it, you automatically hop onto a random server that already has other players dealing with their own business, so you constantly stumble upon items, cargo, vehicles, and constructions left by them in the open-world map.
There were countless times when a simple ladder created by other players literally saved my delivery, and the game also offers thousands of customization options for everything you create, which makes the world feel even more alive.
With all this, it is impossible to feel alone, despite you actually being completely alone while playing it, which speaks directly to the premise of the story about reconnecting people. So, I could not give any other position other than first place to Death Stranding.
