Chained Together is a co-op hardcore platformer in which players are literally linked by a single chain and must climb their way out of Hell. Developed by Anegar Games and published by Secret Mode, it launched on Steam on June 19, 2024.
A solo mode exists, but the design lives and dies on online co-op for up to four players (you plus three friends): the question is never whether you are good at platforming, but whether four people can commit to the same decision at the same instant.
Overview
Moment to moment, the game is a simple loop of jumping from one narrow ledge to the next. The catch is the chain, which has a fixed maximum length.
Jump ahead of the group and the chain snaps taut, yanking everyone else off their footing. Let one player fall and their weight drags the rest down with them.
That sensation — someone else's physics leaking into your own movement — is what no other platformer offers.
The climb runs upward through layers of Hell, with gaps widening and hazards turning nastier the higher you get. The goal is simply to ascend as far as you can.
It plays less like level-by-level progression and more like an endurance test of a group's collective focus.
What the Chain Actually Does
The chain is both the constraint and the only real tool. You can dangle below a partner to swing them like a pendulum, haul someone up to a ledge they could never reach alone, or anchor yourself so a teammate can push further.
These are two-player-minimum techniques, and they form the backbone of the climb. Playing solo turns the chain into dead weight you drag behind you — a genuinely different, lesser experience.
The defining trait is that failure is never private. One person's mistake drops everybody.
That is why the game gets described less as a difficulty test and more as a friendship stress test. Who you play with matters as much as how well you play.
Choosing a Difficulty Mode
There are three modes — Normal, Beginner, and Lava — and picking blindly is how groups quit on night one.
| Mode | Character | Best when |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | No checkpoints; you lose whatever you fall past | Everyone is committed and has hours to give |
| Beginner | Checkpoints protect your progress | First session, or mixed skill levels |
| Lava | Climb ahead of rising lava | You want split-second decisions over caution |
For a first group, Beginner is the honest recommendation. Normal really will erase an hour of climbing because of one mistimed jump, and that only works if your group finds it funny.
If that specific cruelty is the appeal, Normal is the only choice. Lava changes the rhythm entirely — there is no time to survey a ledge — so treat it as a second course after you have some Normal runs behind you.
System Requirements
The published minimum specification is as follows.
| Item | Minimum |
|---|---|
| OS | Windows 8 / 10 / 11 (64-bit) |
| CPU | Intel Core i5-6600 @ 3.1 GHz or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X @ 3.5 GHz or equivalent |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 or equivalent |
| RAM | 8 GB |
| Storage | 8 GB available space |
The striking thing is how modest that is. A GTX 1650 with 8 GB of RAM is clearable by a mid-range desktop from around 2019 or an entry-level gaming laptop, and an 8 GB install barely dents an SSD.
In practice this means the friend with the oldest PC in your group can almost certainly join.
No recommended specification is published, so nobody can honestly tell you what frame rate the minimum config delivers. Platformers translate frame stability directly into input precision, so if you are near the floor of these requirements, drop resolution or graphics settings and prioritize a steady frame rate over visuals.
One more official requirement matters a great deal: online play calls for a high-speed internet connection and a good connection between players. Because the chain keeps everyone's physics continuously synchronized, one unstable connection destabilizes the whole party, not just that player.
Wired beats wireless, and geographically closer teammates make a visible difference.
Review Trends
The game has held strong standing since release. Positive comments keep returning to the discipline of building an entire game around one idea, and to the specific comedy of four people screaming at the same moment.
Groups also praise how well it plays on stream or voice chat, and how differently each collapse unfolds, which keeps it replayable.
Critical comments cluster just as clearly: frustration at losing progress instantly, chain physics that occasionally feel arbitrary, and reports of friction getting online sessions started. It reads less like a game people dislike and more like a design that some players simply cannot tolerate.
Check this page's ratings panel for the current standing.
Getting Started
The first task is not climbing — it is talking. A single rule, say "jump" out loud before you jump, visibly cuts accidents.
Then pick one leader. If everyone acts on their own read at once, the chain gets pulled four ways and nobody moves.
One player scouts ahead while the others hold a ledge and act as anchors.
The other rookie mistake is bunching up. When everyone stands on the same ledge, a single fall takes the maximum number of people with it.
Spread across safe and risky footing so somebody is always stable, and you will climb faster overall.
Who It's For
- You have two or three friends on voice chat and a relationship that survives failure
- You already enjoy the Getting Over It style of losing everything in a second
- You want a game that produces reactions worth streaming or recording
- Someone in your group is on older hardware and you need a title everyone can run
- You appreciate a design that commits to one simple idea all the way through
Caveats and Who Should Skip It
First: do not buy this for solo play. Single-player is supported, but it strips out the chain negotiation that is the entire point, leaving a narrow-ledge platformer with a weight attached.
Most of the value here lives in synchronizing with other people.
Second: skip it if losing progress is intolerable to you. Normal has no checkpoints, and a single fall can undo a long climb.
That is intentional tension, not a defect, but if you have limited play time and want reliable forward progress it will only frustrate you. Choose Beginner or choose something else.
Do not plan on public matchmaking either. Being chained to strangers you cannot coordinate with usually means being dropped repeatedly with no recourse.
Line up your group before you buy. The connection requirement compounds this — distant teammates or shaky Wi-Fi will stall you for reasons unrelated to skill.
Also be cautious if platformer controls themselves give you trouble, or if you are prone to motion sickness; frequent falls mean long stretches of the camera swinging violently up and down.
Finally, the store page is the authoritative source for supported languages and controller support. Automatically collected product data sometimes contains details belonging to a different title, so confirm the language and system-requirement sections on the store page yourself before buying.
