A major barrier for multiplayer indie games over the past decade has been the addition of online lobbies or matchmaking. It's a challenging amount of work for any indie team, especially when poor online multiplayer implementation can damage the quality of an otherwise great local multiplayer game's reputation. That's why Steam's Remote Play Together feature, which implements an online way to play local multiplayer games, is so exciting. And why Steam's latest update has made it even better.
It's weird to consider it a limitation, but up until now Steam has had a big one for its Remote Play Together feature. That limitation is that Steam users could only invite other Steam users to play with them. That may seem like an obvious and sensible limitation. It's how it works for other multiplayer games, after all. But Valve appears to have found that, in the case of Remote Play Together, it's not a necessary limitation. As such, Steam users can now invite anyone to play local co-op games with them, even if they don't have a Steam account.
Describing the process of inviting someone to a Steam game via Remote Play Together makes this feature much simpler to understand. Steam users inviting another player to their game will be able to create a browser link. This link can then be shared with a friend, like how a Discord server link might work. The link will open Steam or the Steam Link mobile app directly, from which the game will be able to launch sans a Steam account.
According to a search of Steam's database, there are nearly 5,000 games that have a Steam Remote Play flag on their profile. These are all games that now require just a single person to own that in order to be played via Steam Remote Play Together with friends.
Example games include Civilization 6, Stardew Valley, Left 4 Dead 2, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Tabletop Simulator, Tekken 7, and many, many more. The key idea is that many games that support online multiplayer also support local multiplayer that may rarely be used. However, with the new Steam Remote Play Together functionality, it becomes very easy to play with friends.
To be clear, this is a new feature and may have some time before it's completely polished. There's basic functionality for supporting both keyboard and mouse or controller, as well as the option of voice chat, for example. It isn't clear if a Steam account will be available without an account, however. Regardless, Remote Play Together sounds a lot like something Steam users should try out for themselves.