How to play Chained Beasts

What kind of game is this?

Chained Beasts is a 1–4 player co-op gladiator roguelike. You fight through arena waves, choose upgrades between battles, and push toward the next boss. The hook is the chain: every player is physically linked, so movement is a shared problem. The developers call the result a “hardcore party game” — brutal combat with slapstick co-op chaos.

A full run is nine battles across three acts: Carthage, Germania and Rome. Each act ends with a boss. You can play alone or with up to three friends online, or share a screen at home.

Your first run, step by step

1. Learn the prison. The tutorial teaches movement, attacks, blocking, throwing and the chain. Do not rush it: the arena assumes you can read a wind-up and disengage.
2. Pick a beast. Each animal gladiator has its own traits. You earn XP with a beast and unlock variants with different stats, abilities and cosmetics.
3. Fight with the chain, not around it. Circle enemies so the chain crosses their path, knock them down, then commit to a follow-up. In co-op, call your direction before you move.
4. Use the arena. Urns, spike walls, snake pits and fire are part of your damage rotation. Position enemies between you and the hazard before you attack.
5. Take the execution. Downed enemies can be finished with executions. The crowd rewards style, and the animation is free value when the arena is calm enough.
6. Choose your healing carefully. Potions restore health but inflict physical or mental afflictions. Pick the drawback you can play around, not the one that ends your run.
7. Spend coins on a fix. The Merchant sells weapons, armour and consumables. Buy what solves your current problem before the next boss.
8. Use the Surgeon between acts. The Surgeon can manage afflictions or grant body modifications that add new skills. Every procedure has a cost.

Controls and setup

The Steam page lists full controller support and recommends a gamepad. On PC, same-screen co-op requires at least one gamepad. The official material does not publish a complete key-by-key binding list, so check the in-game settings for the current layout.

Online co-op supports cross-platform play. Couch co-op uses shared or split-screen play, and Steam Remote Play Together is supported. There is no PvP at launch; the roadmap lists PvP for Q1 2027.

Chain combat basics

• Trip, do not tug. A chain dragged through an enemy's path knocks them down. Pulling in a straight line usually just drags your team out of position.
• Watch the pillars. The arena is full of objects that catch the chain. A careless loop can wrap the whole team around a pillar while enemies close in.
• Use it defensively. The chain can pull a teammate out of a bad spot or interrupt an enemy that is about to commit to a heavy attack.
• Coordinate the direction. In four-player co-op, opposite movement inputs turn a simple reposition into a tangle.

Weapons, shields and throwing

Combat is built around melee attacks, charged attacks, blocking and throwing. Shields are pickups with durability: blocking briefly stuns the attacker, but each hit damages the shield until it breaks. You can pick up replacements from enemies who carry them.

Throwing a weapon can delete a dangerous target, but you may be left empty-handed. Keep a backup, or throw only when a replacement is nearby.

Healing is a bargain

Potions are the main healing choice between rounds, and they come with afflictions. There are more than 70 at launch, ranging from movement penalties to mental effects that change how you and your teammates play. The Surgeon can remove or modify the damage between acts, but surgery is not free.

The practical rule: heal when the next fight is unwinnable otherwise, and choose the affliction whose downside your build can absorb. Do not stack three movement penalties because you were scared of a boss.

Training and injuries

The Trainer fills a shared XP bar. Each rep adds pain, and too many reps cause injuries such as a broken toe (movement), a dislocated shoulder (throwing) or apunctured lung (stamina). The team shares the XP, but the injury is personal. Stop before the bar costs someone the run.

What to do after the first boss

• Bank coins before the next act; the next shop is not guaranteed to be kind.
• Check the Surgeon for an affliction that is quietly ruining your build.
• Level the beast you actually want to play, not the one you happened to start with.
• Try a new route or difficulty only after you can consistently reach the act boss.