Steam Remote Play Together is now in beta

Steam’s newest feature, which allows you to enjoy all the fun of couch co-op without actually having anyone else on your couch, is now in beta.

Remote Play Together lets you invite Steam Friends to join local co-op, local multiplayer, and even shared/split screen games online. At the moment, up to four players can join in, and only the host needs to own and install the game.

That means if you own a game such as Overcooked and want three of your friends to join but you can’t find a date that’s good for public transport to bring you all together or whatever, you can now just hop online and play together – without actually being together. Magic.

Here’s how Remote Play Together works, and how you can get yourself into the beta:

1. Join the latest Steam Beta (you can find out how by following the instructions in this article here!)
2. Launch any of your local multiplayer games.
3. Invite your friends by going to your Friends list in the Steam Overlay and selecting “Remote Play Together”
4. Wait for them to accept and you’re in!

Remote Play Together acts as though your friend has shown up at your house and plugged their controller directly into your computer. You can also share, or limit access to, the keyboard and mouse, based on how much you love and trust your friends.

Voice chat and volume options will also all be in the same place, so you don’t have to worry about spending hours looking for the right options to make sure everyone can hear each other.

For more information, you can check out the official Steam post about the service by following the link here. Happy gaming!