Competitive games are often a massive source of frustration, given they’re usually pretty addictive and hook you on playing every match until you finally end on a win.
While the stress that comes from the need to succeed is pretty inherent to competitive games, there are quite a few that do their best to mitigate it and end up being way more fun as a result.
15 Best Competitive Multiplayer Games
Competitive multiplayer games are some of the biggest games around. Here are some of the best of the best.
These few games take that feeling of hatred towards your competitors and shift it more to a playful rivalry, and while losing can still be frustrating, it’s less mental anguish and more “Let’s do that again!”
While you can certainly still get stressed out by these games, it’s far less frequent, and I find these are ten great examples of how to still have a PvP environment without it being abysmal after a few hours.
9Fall Guys
Fun Forever
Despite the dropoff in quality the last few years,Fall Guysis still a great game at its core, and it’s quite hard to get mad at such a vibrant, colorful battle royale platformer, despite the trolling.
Whileit can be a bit frustrating to get grabbed and thrown off the ledge by a random dude in a goofy outfit, it’s even better when you get to do it, and no matter what, you may just laugh things off.
I feel like this is purely due to the vibe of this game. If it wasn’t trying to be goofy and silly, being eliminated by a random fruit beaming you in the head would feel awful, but any time it happens, the sound and visual design make it funny.
It’s not a solution every game can go for, but the way Fall Guys makes every death out to be a hilarious elimination on a game show always keeps things moving along in your mind, and you never get hung up on a loss for long.
8Grapples Galore
Somewhat Niche, Rather Goofy
Release Date
February 7th, 2025
Arena Shooter
While it’s anincredibly niche free to play title, Grapples Galore is a natural extension of what Fall Guys does to mitigate stress, combining that silliness with quick matches that don’t give you time to meditate on deaths.
The entire point of the game is grappling around big buildings, which is a bit tricky to get a hang of.That main mechanic is so fun to mess around with, you forget you’re competing sometimes.
13 Best Non-Competitive Co-op Games
Whether you’re playing with a partner or a friend, sometimes, the best times in gaming are sharing it with someone else.
Swinging into a train, scooping up an RPG, and then promptly blasting anyone near you to bits feels incredibly cool, and even when you’re the one getting decimated, you respawn so quickly that you can easily forget your frustration.
On top of the fun mechanics, the super-goofy animations and overall vibe of the game make for one of the most consistently fun competitive shooters, even if it’s not incredibly in-depth.
7Forza Horizon 5
Racing For Pleasure
Forza Horizon 5
While a lot of racing games can throw you into matches with other people and have you do nothing but go as fast as possible,Forza Horizon 5makes things far more casual, and it’s lovely.
You only get to compete by driving through the very energetic and enjoyable open world, and each race takes place in that open world, leading to things feeling far less tight-knit and boredom-inducing.
On top of that, the banger music and fun driving gameplay mesh to create a really fun vibe that leaves a smile on your face, even when someone slams into your car and makes you get 6th place.
Even if you didn’t place high, you still feel the thrill of each turn, every zoom through checkpoints is exciting, and at the end, you’ll think about what a fun race it was, rather than obsessing over doing better.
6Super Mario 3D World
Getting Crowned
Super Mario 3D World
While you probably think ofSuper Mario 3D Worldas more of a cooperative multiplayer platformer, there’s the weirdly competitive aspect of who gets the Crown at the end of the stage.
Every time you finish a level while playing with your friends, it’ll tally up your score and give the highest-scoring player a golden crown, which doesn’t mean much, but it does make it a competition.
Now, while you’re all having fun exploring and grabbing collectibles, you have an incentive to grab the crowned player and try to steal the crown for yourself, since it’ll give a ton of points at the end.
It makes the game even more fun and chaotic than it already is, having you try to progress while also trying to nab your golden prize, and it’s all in good fun, rarely becoming a source of frustration or stress.
5Tower Unite
Friendly Rivalry
Tower Unite
While Tower Unite is primarily a game where you just hang out at the arcade or casino or in your friend’s condo, there’s also the Game Worlds, all of which are competitive games in different ways.
Accelerate is like a chilled-out version ofMario Kart, Ball Race is multiplayer Monkey Ball, Minigolf is Minigolf, and Virus is a survival game where the other players are zombies, and they’re all good fun.
Every single one of them feelsfast-paced enough to not make you focus too hard on a loss, and they all reward you with credits no matter if you win or lose, so you’re always coming out of the experience better off.
On top of that, you get sent right back to the main hub once you’re done, which means you can go have fun in thedozen other parts of the game, which makes it a thoroughly relaxing experience.
4Super Animal Royale
Hilariously Violent
Super Animal Royale
Similarly to Fall Guys, Super Animal Royale manages on vibes alone, with an adorable art style depicting cute animals throwing hands and unloading lead into each other.
It’s pretty silly, and it’s evenfurther supported by the game being rather enjoyable whether you live or die, with fun exploration, a ton of stuff to collect, and all the players feeling like normal enemiesin a single-player game.
If you already enjoy top-down shooters, this just adds a massive world to explore and a ton of enemies into the mix, which makes it a good time that’s easy to get sucked into, without making you want to murder people.
It’s further proof that making the other players feel on the same level as you in a game that doesn’t take itself super seriously is a great way to reduce stress, plus it has fishing, so it’s peak.
3Minecraft
Jump For The Beef
You can playMinecraftin just survival multiplayer and have itbe entirely non-competitiveif you want, but there are about a million different ways to enjoy your block game, and plenty are fun PvP matches.
While you could sweat your ass off at 1.8’s mashy-style combat, most normal peopleenjoy minigames on servers that are actually fun, like Build Battle, which just ends up a fun art contestagainst other players.
A lot of games on servers like Hypixel are great fun, which goes for games like Disasters, Prop Hunt, and even some combat-focused ones like Skywars or Duels, all of them fast-paced and creative enough to not be super stressful.
Even if you’re just playing on an SMP or anarchy server, Minecraft inherently enables creativity so much that you can always rebound from every attack and feel like you’re playing an awesome strategy sandbox game.
2Super Auto Pets
Watch and Learn
Super Auto Pets
It’s pretty hard to get stressed out when you’re disconnected from the action, and Super Auto Pets is the biggest example of that, making you build a team and then watch them battle another team without your input.
Most of the gameplay is setup and strategy, and since you’re not the one fighting the other team,it feels more like watching an experiment unfold rather than something so competitiveit gets frustrating.
10 Best Competitive Couch Co-op Games
Get ready to fight from the comfort of your couch.
Each win still feels satisfying, and each loss feels like a further opportunity to learn and build your team up. I have never once gotten upset at this game, since it always feels like I can just improve my team casually.
Most games can’t have the advantage of not being involved in the action, but with Super Auto Pets in particular, the formula works so well that I can’t help but enjoy every minute of watching my horse-fueled whale dominate the battlefield.
1Jackbox Party Pack 3
Endless Laughs
The Jackbox Party Pack 3
EveryJackbox Party Packcontains a handful of casual competitive gamesthat are always great fun, but I chose Party Pack 3 in particular since I believe every game inside can do wonders to not stress anyone out.
Guesspionage and Fakin' It are both inherently chilled out and super casual, Tee K.O. and Quiplash are both so funny that no one cares about the score, and Trivia Murder Party is tense, but you’ll never stress over competing.
Whenever you bust out this game at a family get-together or in a voice call, you’ll hear pretty much everyone having a great time, and even when it feels like you should be stressed, hearing your friends laugh makes it all better.
The fact these games are all made to help people get together and connect is a massive reason why Jackbox is so successful, and despite the competitive nature of every game in the pack, no one’s ever frustrated.
