Atomic Hockey

Atomic Hockey is a chaotic couch co-op game for up to twelve people. Each of you controls one or more hockey players sliding along their lanes, and together you take on the other team: you pass, shoot, score goals and use power-ups. With so many modes, no two games are ever the same.

All it takes is one screen and a few gamepads. Everyone grabs one or more hockey players and switches between them, so you can go one-on-one with a friend or play a full six-on-six with everyone running a single hockey player. Friends who can’t make it to the couch can jump in through Steam Remote Play Together. You only need one copy of the game.

It’s all about having fun. Who’s minding the goal? Who’s passing to whom? Who’s diving for that power-up crate? Think those are the questions that matter? Think again. Just check the stats at the end of every game: what really counts is how many friends you blew up, how long you spent flat on your back, or how fast you spun around in circles.

EVERY MAP PLAYS DIFFERENTLY

The lanes the hockey players slide along are laid out differently on every map, and on some of them they even shift mid-game. Where each hockey player can go decides who you can pass to, where you can defend and where you can shoot from. On a new map, the whole team learns to play all over again.

EASY TO PICK UP, HARD TO MASTER

One stick slides your hockey player along their lane, the other spins them around. At a party, spinning like crazy and hoping for the best works just fine, and anyone gets the hang of it in a minute. Put in a little practice, though, and you’ll learn to keep the puck glued to your stick, thread passes across the whole rink and put your shots exactly where you want them. That’s when you find out who’s actually any good.

POWER-UPS THAT PUT FRIENDSHIPS TO THE TEST

Power-up crates drop onto the rink during the game. Some give you a boost: a harder shot, a shield or a stronger puck magnet. Others nobody wants: reversed controls, getting shrunk down to pint size, or flatulence, which leaves a trail of tiny bombs behind your hockey player. And here’s the thing: you can grab a crate with your stick just like a puck and shove it over to the other team, so they’re the ones stuck with the nasty stuff. Then there’s the wind-up frog with a bomb that hunts you down across the whole rink, a disguise in the other team’s colors, and plenty more.

PLENTY OF WAYS TO PLAY

Classic is good old-fashioned goal scoring. In Atomic, the puck is a bomb on a countdown. In Portals, the puck disappears at one end of the rink and pops out at the other. Turf War isn’t about goals at all, it’s about who paints more of the ice. And more modes are on the way. You can play all of it on any gamepad, no matter how old, or even use your phone as a controller.

Think your friendships can survive this kind of madness? Lace up your skates and hit the ice!