Steam Games for Video-Call Game Night.


Notes:

*All prices are as-of the time of writing. Steam constantly changes prices, so takes these as ball-park.


I have noticed that there is a theme to this list -> all the games are either puzzle based, or some take on a “party” game. I guess that’s the types of game-nights we like to setup 🙂

Some of our favorite Steam games for a video-call game night with friends

  1. Escape Simulator (* $10 + DLC)

    store.steampowered.com

    We like escape rooms, and we have found the original rooms and a lot of the community rooms that have played to be good/fun. This seems to work well for 2-4 people (4 can be crowded depending on the “room”).

    All players must own the game (+ the relevant DLC if playing a DLC room).

    There is a version 2 that is coming out, we have not had the opportunity to explore it yet.

  2. Among Us (* $3)

    store.steampowered.com

    Ah, yes, the game that took the internet by storm c. 2020. With our friend group, we like to play where:

    • use a private room for just our group
    • “classic” mode
    • we set the the traitor’s visibility all the way down
    • the traitor announces that it is “them” when roles are assigned
    • we don’t hold meeting / report / vote, we just run around and try to avoid the person who is “it” while getting our tasks done.

    We do keep count of whether the traitor or the crewmates are winning more often (and adjust the number of tasks to try to keep it fairly even). (We have decided that some of the sabotage methods are over-powered when playing this way…)

  3. Wing Span (* $8)

    store.steampowered.com

    We were introduced to this game in board-game format by a friend who really likes engine builders. We like that the Steam version offers a simple interface (that helps players figure out if they can’t do something right now) and makes sure that actions are taken.

    All players must own the base game; but, if any player has an expansion, the cards (birds) from the expansion can be used.

  4. Dominion (* $0 + DLC)

    store.steampowered.com

    We learned to play the board game first, and decided to check out the Steam version as a way to play with friends that don’t live close / against bots when we’re not all free. The base game is no cost, and if any player has expansions (DLC), they can be used in a game. There are several ways to play this game online / on-computer, but we like the Steam interface and its automatic counting and progression if there isn’t a choice to make.

  5. Jackbox Party Pack 3 (* $15)

    store.steampowered.com

    Only one person in the “party” needs to own the game (they will also need to run/host it and screen share in some way -> most of these games assume a TV, but we find that most of them work ok screen-shared on a video call).

    Note that some of the titles are not family friendly (this is a collection of “games”), and that even with “family friendly” filter turned on in some of the games, we have seen some things mentioned that we would not consider family-friendly (more like, PG-13, or maybe higher)…