Updated November 2026
Games Like Chained Together, Free in Your Browser
- Chained Together is a paid Steam game for up to 4 players, online or in split screen, as of November 2026.
- PEAK and Bread & Fred are paid too, and the free PICO PARK: Classic Edition left Steam in June 2026.
- Pecking Order is free in the browser and has two rope modes: Chicken Chain for pairs and Rope Duos on the Pecking Peak.
- In Chicken Chain, if either tied chicken hits anything, the pair splats back to the last flag together.
Your partner clips a saw blade. The rope goes tight. You both splat back to the last flag, and the blame game begins. The best games like Chained Together are mostly paid Steam climbs; the free one in a browser is Pecking Order, whose Chicken Chain and Rope Duos modes tie you to a friend. It's 2D chickens, not 3D.
Chained Together turned "we're tied together and it's all your fault" into a whole genre. Most lists of games like it skip two questions: how many people can play, and is any of it free? Here are the honest answers, as of November 2026. (Full disclosure: we make Pecking Order, and the complete Pecking Order guide covers the rest of it.)
Which games like Chained Together are free?
| Game | Cost | Players | Where it runs | The rope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chained Together | Paid | 1 to 4, online or local | PC download | Chains between every player, climbing up out of hell |
| PEAK | Paid | Up to 4 online | PC download | No chain: a co-op climb where you haul each other up |
| Bread & Fred | Paid | 2, on one screen or online (varies by platform) | PC, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox | Two penguins on one rope; solo, you're tied to a rock called Jeff |
| PICO PARK 2 | Paid | 2 to 8, local or online | PC download | No rope: puzzles where everyone has to cooperate |
| Fireboy and Watergirl | Free | 2 on one keyboard | Browser | No rope: two characters who need each other |
| Pecking Order | Free | 1 to 20 | Browser | Chickens tied in pairs: Chicken Chain and Rope Duos |
A note on PICO PARK: its Classic Edition was made free on Steam by mistake in October 2025, and the studio pulled it from the store in June 2026. Players who claimed it keep it; everyone else has the paid PICO PARK and PICO PARK 2.
The paid picks, honestly
Chained Together is the one everybody means. If all your friends have PCs that can run it, buy it: nothing free matches its 3D climb straight up. It peaked near 95,000 players at once on Steam in June 2024, and it also plays in split screen for up to 4 on one PC.
PEAK, from Aggro Crab and Landfall, is a 4-player online climb where one slip can end the run. There's no chain, but the "grab my hand, GRAB MY HAND" moments feel the same. It's the best of these for groups who like exploring as much as panicking.
Bread & Fred is the purest rope game going: two penguins, one rope, swings and wall grabs. It's made for exactly two, ideally on one sofa.
How do Pecking Order's rope modes play?
Pecking Order is a 2D pixel-art party game, free in the browser on phones, laptops and controllers. Two of its seven modes put you on a rope with a friend, and both are excellent at ruining friendships for about a minute at a time.
Chicken Chain: tied in pairs, racing sideways
You and a partner are tied together, racing sideways over a void, with a checkpoint flag roughly every sixth of the course. If either of you touches anything, saw, spike or wall, you both splat back to the last flag. First pair with both birds over the line wins.
The rope means you need each other's timing, and the game rewards it:
- SYNC! Flap at the same moment as your partner and you both get a push forward.
- TEAM DASH. Press the button together and you dash, then wait a few seconds for it to recharge.
- Rescues. Peck a frozen or gummed partner free, or haul them back up out of the void.
The courses are built for two brains. There are team gates (one of you on the floor plate, one in the ring), twin switches, poles you must pass on the same side or get TANGLED!, swing gaps, pulleys and carry jobs with a golden egg slung from the rope. Every world ends in a finale, like THE LASER GRID in the Neon Tower or THE PUMPKIN ROLL in the Haunted Barn.
With two or more teams, the sabotage starts. Between rounds each team gets 9 seconds to pick 1 of 3 curse cards and throw it at the leaders. There are 21, from BACKWARDS and SLIPPERY FEET to RUBBER DUCK and HOT POTATO. A curse lasts until the next flag (or 40 seconds at most) and lifts after 2 splats: MERCY!. The end-of-round awards say the rest: DEAD WEIGHT, THE CARRY, TELEPATHIC and MARRIAGE COUNSELLING NEEDED.
Rope Duos on the Pecking Peak: the climb
The Pecking Peak is Pecking Order's mountain climb, where you only get 3 flaps in the air. In Rope Duos, two climbers share a rope. Slip while your partner stands on a ledge and you're SAVED!: you dangle there while they mash flap to haul you up, or tap POWER to FLING you upward (once a ledge). But if you're both in the air when one of you falls, you both go. Both of you have to reach the flag.
That's the closest thing to Chained Together in our game, and the Pecking Peak guide covers it ledge by ledge. Try either mode in your browser.
What if you don't have an even number of friends?
This is where most rope games fall apart, and Pecking Order doesn't. In Chicken Chain, a solo player or the odd bird out is tied to a floppy sack chicken that flops along behind you. In Rope Duos, the odd climber gets a sandbag. Neither one helps in the slightest, which is half the joke. With exactly two players, Chicken Chain becomes a co-op run against the course.
Rooms hold up to 20 birds, so ten pairs can race the same course and curse each other between rounds. Chained Together's 4-player cap can't do that.
Which one should your group play?
- Everyone has a gaming PC and wants the real thing: Chained Together. It's paid, and worth it.
- Four friends who like a long expedition: PEAK.
- Exactly two of you on one sofa: Bread & Fred, or Fireboy and Watergirl for free in a browser.
- Laptops, phones, or friends who won't pay for anything: Pecking Order's Chicken Chain and Rope Duos.
- More than four people: Pecking Order, with rooms of up to 20.
For more games where the whole group is on one side, see the Pixaplay list of co-op browser games. To win your first Chicken Chain, read our Pecking Order tips for each mode, and if your crew also loves Fall Guys, there's our list of Fall Guys-style games in a browser.
Questions people ask
Is Chained Together free?
No, as of November 2026. Chained Together is a paid Steam game for up to 4 players online or in split screen on one PC, with a solo mode too. Online, everyone needs their own copy. If the cost or the computer is the problem, Pecking Order's two rope modes are free and run in a browser.
Is there a free rope co-op game in a browser?
Yes. Pecking Order has two. Chicken Chain ties pairs of chickens together for a sideways race over a void, where one bump splats you both. Rope Duos on the Pecking Peak ties two climbers together up a mountain, where your partner can catch you when you slip. Both are 2D pixel art, not 3D.
Can I play Chicken Chain alone or with an odd number of players?
Yes. Chicken Chain works from 1 bird up to 20. If you're on your own, or the odd one out, you get tied to a floppy sack chicken that just dangles there being useless. With exactly two players, the mode turns into a co-op run against the course instead of a race against other pairs.
How many people can play Pecking Order's rope modes?
Up to 20 in one room, so up to 10 tied pairs racing the same course at once. With two or more teams, curse cards come out between rounds and you get to throw them at the leaders. Rope Duos on the Pecking Peak pairs everyone up too, with a sandbag for the odd climber out.