On June 19, one in a long list of video game releases for the month occurred in the form of Chained Together. This Anegar Games platformer became such a success in its first week that it ended as one of Twitch's most popular and watched titles.
For those unaware, it is a solo/co-op adventure game where friends, chained together, must climb from the depths of hell through diverse worlds to reach the summit and discover what awaits them there, leading to some hilarious yet frustrating moments for players. As a result, video game lovers have been arriving in droves to give it a try, leading to it blowing up on Steam, where it became the seventh most-sold game between June 18 and 21 and hit a peak of 92,945 concurrent players.
This mass acceptance from the community the world over has also helped Chained Together enter the top ten game lists on Twitch over the past week. When looking at the watch time leaderboard, it occupies the ninth spot with 6.40M Hours Watched, ahead of prominent names like Apex Legends, Overwatch 2, and Minecraft.
In terms of peak concurrent viewers, it has done even better, hitting 218K PV to occupy sixth place. This has helped it outperform big-name titles like Fortnite, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike on the Amazon-owned platform, which is no mean feat for a new game considering how loyal these entries' fans are.
Many news and review outlets have called it a 'cruel co-op platformer,' but it is this very feature that has helped it emerge as a unique proposition. The premise might be simple, but it is in the co-op mode where all the fun lies. As many as four persons can band together to try and beat the game, although the climbing becomes increasingly difficult, meaning that all it takes is one small good-up from one member to spoil any impeccable play and send the squad back to the depths of perdition.
What has added to the charm for many gamers is the various difficulty levels, with the checkpoint system making things easy for those looking for a less stressful time. However, the hard mode, where lava chases them upward and forces them to climb faster, is what separates the truly great players while also allowing for big saves and dramatic victories.
That it's available for as little as $2.99 (it can currently be obtained for $2.69 thanks to an ongoing introductory offer) has added to the cult it has built for itself within just a week of release. Perhaps this is what has helped it sustain a large player base despite not being available on consoles or handhelds, apart from the obvious fun, clippable, and meme-worthy moments it can generate.
This ability to provide an enjoyable experience, especially when playing with friends, has also resulted in many popular streamers putting in lots of hours into conquering Chained Together. The rapidly rising caseoh_ has emerged as the top name, topping the watch time and peak online spectator charts for the game since it was released.
There are also the likes of Aqua Ch. , auronplay, alanzoka, Tumblurr, Squeezie, xqc, and loud_coringa, whose gameplay of this casual simulation title has each attracted over 40K PV. It is not often that so many content creators of such repute get hooked to a game, but when that does happen, it more or less tends to be a success on live-streaming services.
This success in such a short time has also made Chained Together the fourth most popular game to be released this year. The leader is Palworld, which took the purple platform by storm upon its early access release on January 19 and became its most-watched game over the first three days.
Of course, the thing with online success is that the good times can sometimes last a mere few days before netizens' attention moves to the next shiny new toy released by another publisher. However, Chained Together seems to have hit a pulse that might just make it a more permanent resident of the top games list on Twitch, especially if renowned streamers continue to pour hours into beating it.
