Chained Beasts Steam: Co-op Gladiator Roguelike

Chained Beasts (Steam). Hover for a Voidge draft sketch inspired by a fragment of the header key art.

For real, Chained Beasts is the co-op gladiator roguelike my squad did not know it needed. Up to four players step into the Colosseum literally chained to each other, then hack, trip, and fling their way through a bloodthirsty crowd's favorite show. It launched on Steam on October 15, 2026 from Featherweight Games, the Sydney duo of Tim Kaldor and Dylan Bevis, self-published. Same day on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Game Pass day one on Xbox and PC. App ID 3569420. List price $19.99, launch discount 35% off at $12.99 for the first two weeks. Windows and Mac.

The hook is hella simple. Your best weapon is also your worst enemy: a chain. Coordinate and you clothesline a whole line of legionaries. Panic and the four of you wrap around a pillar like a tetherball while a guy with a mace walks up. That is the vibe, and it is fire.

Open the clip on X if the embed does not load. Cut from the official Chained Beasts Gameplay Trailer.

What is Chained Beasts?

Chained Beasts is a top down action roguelike for 1 to 4 players, solo or with friends, with brutal combat and a lot of slapstick. Steam players tag it Action Roguelike, Co-op, Multiplayer, Hack and Slash, Top-Down, PvE, Roguelite, Funny, Online Co-Op, Medieval, Souls-like, Perma Death, Swordplay, Rome, and Beat 'em up. No Horror tag, and no AI disclosure on the store page we checked. The one content note from the devs: combat leaves visible blood sprays in the arena. Cartoon style, but heads up.

The loop, straight from the store and the studio's launch countdown:

• Fight chained to your friends in cruel and creative tethers, or go solo
• Use the arena: hurl an urn at foes or foes at an urn, charge them into spikes or a pit of snakes
• Throw your weapons, but keep a spare in hand
• Climb from arena fights to bosses on the road to Rome
• Heal at a price: every fix can leave a new injury or malady

Featherweight lists 9 battles, 3 acts, 10 difficulty levels, 70+ afflictions, 70+ skills, 8 beasts, and 40+ items, with cross play and couch or online co-op. No permanent upgrades between runs. That is a bold call for the genre, and lowkey the reason every run feels like it matters.

Is Chained Beasts on Steam?

Yes. The chained beasts steam page is live with the full game. Steam lists Single-player, Online Co-op, Shared/Split Screen Co-op, Cross-Platform Multiplayer, Remote Play Together, 60 Steam Achievements, full controller support with DualShock and DualSense, Steam Cloud, and Family Sharing. Twelve interface languages, full English audio. Minimum PC spec is a GTX 1050 or RX 460, 8 GB RAM, and Windows 10. One clutch detail: same screen co-op needs at least one gamepad. Steam Deck has no official rating yet.

Chained to your friends: the arena brawl

This still is the whole game in one frame. A round sand arena. Square stone pillars. Three beasts linked by one long iron chain that loops around a pillar and sweeps through a pile of legionaries. Foes with round shields and maces close in from every side, and the crowd at the bottom edge is losing it.

Chained Beasts (Steam). Hover for a Voidge draft sketch inspired by a fragment of the arena brawl screenshot.

Real talk on the chain: sync up and you trip enemies, clothesline a line of soldiers, and turn a bad spawn into a highlight. Desync and you are a knot. If your lobby loved the shared object chaos in Trash Day, this is the combat version with way more swords.

Healing that costs injuries

This is the sick twist. Each day in the arena leaves new wounds. A painful limp. A missing left eye. Hallucinations only you can see. Potions patch you up, but the side effects can be worse: the studio's countdown teased a broken finger, loss of vision, unstable footing, and even spontaneous combustion. Or there is surgery. Your build is not only skills and loot, it is the scar tissue you dragged out of the last fight.

Boss fight: Beastmaster Barca and the rhino

Bosses are heroes of the arena, armed with every advantage. One screenshot shows Beastmaster Barca riding an armored rhino with a plumed helmet, a long spear, and rune shields on its flank, slamming the sand while two chained beasts brace below. The trailer also flashes a boss called Goliath on a snowy stage full of fire. Fun lore beat from the studio: players asked to throw their shields, so they built the Reckless Rhino ability.

Chained Beasts (Steam). Hover for a Voidge draft sketch inspired by a fragment of the boss fight screenshot.

What the trailer shows

Our clip keeps three beats of pure play from the official Chained Beasts Gameplay Trailer (movie 257418730). First, two beasts on the sand whipping the chain through a squad and finishing with a big crescent slash. Second, a snowy arena where the whole chained crew brawls through fire bursts and wooden barricades. Third, back on sand by the crowd wall, a duo swinging the chain through a pack of foes. No menus, no logo cards.

From a 48 hour game jam to Game Pass

Featherweight says Chained Beasts began as a 48 hour game jam project twelve years ago. The duo shipped mobile hits like Rodeo Stampede and Skiing Yeti Mountain in between, then came back to the arena. Before launch they posted 200k+ wishlists. Their X account @Featherweight (about 2.8k followers) is active: launch post on October 15, replies to bug reports the next day, and a post launch roadmap dropped on October 17.

Is Chained Beasts worth it?

Here is the scoreboard as of about 10:57 BRT on October 17. Steam reads Very Positive, with 262 of 307 reviews positive across all languages (about 85%) and 147 of 160 in English. Players call couch co-op the best way in, and one reviewer says solo holds up too. The fair knocks: some want more boss variety, and a few say progression is slow. At $12.99 for two weeks, or free on Game Pass, that is a clutch price for a four person lobby. For another co-op roguelite that hit Game Pass day one, check Shape of Dreams.

Who should grab it?

Grab Chained Beasts if your squad lives for friendly fire energy, shared risk, and losing a run because somebody ran the wrong way around a pillar. Skip it if you want permanent upgrades or a chill solo grind. For me it is fire: one chain, four egos, and a crowd that wants blood.

Image credits and rights

Images on this page are hotlinks from the official Steam store assets for Chained Beasts, used with respect for their copyright.

• Chained Beasts on Steam
• Featherweight Games (@Featherweight) on X
• Screenshot sources remain on the Steam CDN (header and store screenshots for app 3569420). Voidge hosts only purple crop-inspired draft sketches for hover and fallback, plus the short blog clip.