Summary
From the age of lugging PCs and monitors to the same room, to recent years when laptops have been designed specially for PC gaming, linking computers up via a local area network has been a PC pastime for decades.
From exemplary arena shooters and remastered classics to modern hits, local play through a LAN connection is arguably just as social and dynamic as it has always been. These great Steam games support all your LAN needs.
Since its 2018 launch, Innersloth’sThe Thing-inspiredsaboteur titleAmong Ushas been praised as a"pioneer in multiplayer online social deduction games,“becoming a poster child for the social deduction genre as a whole.
WhileAmong Ushas become so popular as to have a port on almost every platform available, removing the ability to hide behind your monitor as impostor accusations are bandied about can create a much more social and memorable experience. As such, linking up devices through a local area connection can force all players into a much more vocal and dynamic system of play than perhaps would occur naturally in an online multiplayer setting.
With 50 varied civilizations, all witha whole host of dynamic leaderswith individual strengths and weaknesses,Sid Meier’s Civilization 6is not only the most recent 4X strategy title from Firaxis Games, but arguably its most content-packed entry.
Adding new cultures and mechanical upheavals in a jump from previous entries,Civilization 6continues to beone of Steam’s most positively reviewed gameswith expansive single and multiplayer offerings. With map size customization allowing for play on ‘huge’Civilization 6worlds capable of holding up to 20 players, and the seeming stability afforded by a LAN connection, the full range of societies and playstyles opens up to a grand narrative the likes of whichCivilizationproudly boasts.
1999’sQuake 3: Arenais not only a revolutionary first-person shooter in its own right, but a pivotal installment in thegenre-defining FPS franchise. Ditching a single-player campaign and instead doubling down on the series’ fast-paced arena combat,Quake 3: Arenais a hyperfocused multiplayer title that is arguably just as enjoyable to play now as it was more than 25 years ago.
Boasting"a huge selection of maps to play on and a substantial variety of game modes to choose from”,Quake 3: Arena’s lightning pace and creative destruction are almost exactly what LAN party play was designed for. While many other FPS franchises have come and gone, with their interpretation of the first-person shooter formula,Quake 3: Arena’s focus on fun-filled fragging has kept it a solid choice since its release.
Despite consisting of theCommand and Conquerreal-time strategy series' 30-year-old inaugural titles,Command and Conquer: Remastered Collectionremains"something to behold"in the modern era of RTS titles.
In reworking Westwood Studios' original work into 4K, while retaining the"fast-paced combat and high-octane cut scenes"that made the Command and Conquer series so beloved in the first place, Petroglyph Games' remaster is an incredibly efficient way to experience one of gaming’s most notable strategy series through nail-bitingly tactical LAN play. In incorporating custom lobbies and the two games' original expansion pack content,Command and Conquerhas arguably never been easier to get into with friends.
With the combined legacy of the nearly 50-year-oldWarhammerand relatively youthful 25-year-oldTotal Warproperties, Creative Assembly’sTotal War: Warhammersubseries is a franchise with clear reach across genres. Coming to a point with the 2022 release ofTotal War: Warhammer 3, the"epic conclusion to the three-game collaboration"boasts up to eight-player multiplayer warfare and a hectic yet fulfilling culmination to the grimdark-themed real-time strategy installments.
From the Empire to the Skaven, and every faction in between and beyond, players have no lack of options when it comes to what variety of Games Workshop-themed carnage they may wish to unleash on their friends in LAN play. While online and cooperative options are, of course, available, bantering back and forth in-person while combating one another’s troops can be half of the fun — similar to Warhammer’s tabletop roots.
Just over ten years afterCounter-Strike: Global Offensiveoriginally launched, developer Valve undertook the arguably unpredictable endeavor of redefining one of the video game industry’s most renowned first-person shooter properties. In doing so, however, Valve intended to respect the proven bones ofGlobal Offensive’s FPS combat and launchedCounter-Strike 2to critical proclamations that it remains"among the best FPS games on the market."
Beyond making the technological jump from Valve’s 20-year-old Source game engine to the appropriately named Source 2,Counter-Strike 2also contains a robust private matchmaking system along with the tried-and-true terrorists versus counter-terrorists FPS framework. Although the core ofCounter-Strike 2’s gameplay could be argued to be 25 years old at this point, the shouting and bawling that ensue from online and LAN player-versus-player matches is arguably proof enough that Valve has a winning formula.
It could be stated that Microsoft’s flagship science-fiction first-person shooter franchise is renowned forthe galaxy-spanning antics of its mascot character, Master Chief. However, it could similarly be argued thatHalo: Combat Evolved’s local multiplayer offerings — along with the franchise’s consistent pioneering in the player-versus-player arena shooter space — did much the same for the series' growth in the 2000s.
Although online matchmaking has become the industry standard,Haloand LAN connectivity have a relationship that goes back nearly 25 years. Appropriately, with the compilation efforts of 2014’sThe Master Chief Collectionfinally being brought to Steam four years after launch, 16-player matchmaking and LAN play are staples ofHalo’s multiplayer experience and are fully utilized in Microsoft’s PC port of John-117’s adventures.
Considering the age and acclaim of Microsoft’s nearly 30-year-oldAge of Empiresreal-time strategy series, the fact that"Age of Empires 2is regularly touted as the best of the bunch"is incredibly high praise. As such, with the 2019 release ofAge of Empires 2: Definitive Editionbringing 4K improvements to the graphics and four new playable civilizations, arguably the best RTS of all time is now not only easily accessible but utilized on modern PCs.
While online matchmaking forAge of Empires 2: Definitive Editionis incredibly enjoyable, the strategic and entertainment possibilities granted with the proximity afforded by LAN play are indisputable. Playable within the Xbox console ecosystem,Age of Empires 2: Definitive Editionis a title that is not only improved by PC play and controls but undeniably more headache-inducing without it.
