Added Golf with your friends. Thanks kung fu.

Golf With Your Friends
https://store.steampowered.com/app/431240/Golf_With_Your_Friends/

This game supports up to 12 local players. After disabling Steam Input, you can use more than four controllers with a mix of Xbox and PS gamepads. When it’s your turn, press your controller to take control.

Added. Thanks kung fu

MiniGolf Maker
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1036660/MiniGolf_Maker/

This game supports up to 8 local players, but only up to 4 controllers. Players 5–8 can join using a shared controller mode, taking turns by passing the controller around.

Thanks kung fu!
I've removed "BLOKES on BLOCKS" and added "Mind Maze".

Mind Maze
https://store.steampowered.com/app/645460/Mind_Maze/

This game supports up to 8 local players and is a turn-based puzzle battle game, but I’m not sure if it supports multiple controllers.

BLOKES on BLOCKS!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3757020/BLOKES_on_BLOCKS/

The game now seems to support up to 4 players plus 2 CPUs. I tried the demo version, and the interface indeed only allows 4 players and 2 computer players.

Hi supersmo,

Thank you for your quick and detailed answer, I'll look at vJoy and Universal Control Remapper alternative, hope I'll be able to configure it :)

Example of a free alternative: vJoy + Universal Control Remapper (+ HidHide if you need to hide the controllers from the game.) It can work but Controller Remapper has been a bit unstable when I have tested.

Whether or not you need to use reWASD to get more of your XBox controllers to work depends on the game. This is a restriction imposed by the API used to read the controller input. If the game uses the XInput API to read the XBox controllers then it is restricted to 4. If it uses Windows.Gaming.Input, RawInput or DirectInput to read the XBox controllers then more than 4 will work without workarounds. You can still have issues getting more than 4 XBox controllers to work in such games if you have Steam Input enabled but haven’t installed XBox Extended Festure Support Driver. Then you either need to disable Steam Input or install the driver.

Unfortunately, a lot of games use XInput so if you want to play these with more than 4 XBox controllers then reWASD is currently the best solution I have found. Note that there is a lifetime subscription which is a one time cost. It goes on sale several times a year.

Hi,

I played yesterday a tournament with hope that I can bring 8 players to play at the same time.

I had many Xbox controllers but never succeed to make more than 4 work at the same time even with my newly bought powered usb hub.

I looked everywhere on the internet but it seems to be a limitation with Xinput used in Xbox controller with no practical way to have a workaround.

The only way I was able to make my 8 xbox controllers works was to use Rewasd (I had big trouble to configure but finally succeed to make 8 xbox controllers works after couple of hours playing with random configurations in rewasd.

Unfortunately it's a paid workaround after the 7 day free trial.

Is there any way to plug 8 wired or wireless Xbox controllers without Rewasd / with a free software ?

I found it so frustrating that Microsoft in 2025 can't handle more than 4 controllers at the same time.

Thanks :)

Thanks, I just bought a powered hub so I can test 8 controllers with it :)

If you’re having issues getting them all to show up in the control panel (joy.cpl) it could be that you need a powered USB hub when you connect many.
Otherwise spreading them out to several different USB ports on the PC might help. If you’re lucky the ports far away from each other don’t belong to the same USB hub internally which in theory could also help with power.
(I always use powered USB hubs when connecting many USB devices to avoid power issues.)

Hi Supersmo,

Thanks for these points you mentioned ! :)
I was talking more about hardware than software but it may be interesting if the 8 controllers are recognized :)

Hi Karl Van Zandt!
It’s important to distinguish between 2 things:
* 8 XBox controllers successfully connected. To see if your controllers are successfully connected you can check the gamepads in the control panel. (Win + R and then type joy.cpl)

* The game working successfully with 8 XBox controllers. Some games support 8 players but max 4 XBox controllers. To get around this see if the game has a setting to ”Disable XInput”. If it doesn’t, I use a tool called reWASD that I use to turn them into virtual PlayStation 4 controllers.

One thing you can try to install is the ”XBox Extended Feature Support drivers”. This can be done from within the Steam Settings. It helps with very few games e.g. Super Bomberman R. It also helps if you are confused by not seeing all XBox controllers in the Steam Controller UI or if you have Steam Input enabled when you start a game. (I generally have Steam Input turned off.” Except for the handful of games that require it on.)

Hi supersmo ! First of all thank you again for this curator list and the ad you make everywhere (saw you on reddit and youtube too) for these kind of games to live on !

I have one question regarding usb wired controllers.

Do I have to install something special to add more than 4 controllers (up to 8) with usb controller ? (I have a mix of Xbox X/S, one and 360 controllers + some dualshock 4).

I'm wondering because few months back I tried to plug 6 of them and it didn't work with some controllers (only xbox with mix of gens) but i saw a post you made on reddit where you said you were able to plug 8 controllers without issue.

Does it only depend of the usb hub (powered or not ?) or maybe was it due to xbox 360 controllers ?

Thanks for any info you can bring :)

Great! I’ve now updated the review and the lists!

They just announced improved support for local players of up to 8 people for Hitmen Party. I haven't tested it yet, but I hope it works.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1815290/view/668340807104725229?l=spanish

Thanks suchy. Added Plush Time.

Plush Time
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3764040/Plush_Time/

a game that supports 1-6 players (both locally and online), its a party game experience with a shared screen, lots of minigames in a board game. Think Mario Party but with plushies (and better minigames).

Thanks for reporting this! Review and lists updated 👍

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2816870/Mighty_Morphin_Power_Rangers_Ritas_Rewind/?curator_clanid=11707935

Although this game is set to support 5 local players by default, it actually allows 6-player local gameplay. To do so, you must complete all 15 levels to unlock the 6th character, Tommy the Green Ranger. Alternatively, you can manually edit %appdata%\MMPR Ritas Rewind\alpha_settings.json and set "num_unlocked_rangers": 6 to unlock the Green Ranger without finishing the game.

Thanks. I removed it now.

Snowbrawll
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2247510/Snowbrawll/?l=english

It seems this game has been changed to support only local play for up to 4 players. The game description page also states that it supports a maximum of 4 players. After purchasing and testing it post-release, it indeed only allows 4 players.

Thanks @LokoPBsr!
I added the Cluedo games and found that the Ticket to Ride has the same feature so I added that as well.

I'm not entirely sure, but it seems that Clue/Cluedo games can be played locally for up to 6 people using a mobile app.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/794800/ClueCluedo_Classic_Edition/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2506480/ClueCluedo/

Thanks for reporting. I have now removed the game and asked if they have plans for increasing the player limit for local multiplayer.

Nubs! Arena
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2337860/Nubs_Arena/

This game might only support 20 players in online mode, while local mode supports only up to 4 players. In local mode, no matter whether I enable Steam Input or not, and even when using both Xbox and PS controllers together, it only allows up to 4 players at most. In particular, the game has poor support for PS controllers—if Steam Input is disabled and more than one PS controller is connected, none of the PS controllers work at all.

I use the built-in Bluetooth on my laptop, it's an Acer Predator Helios 300.

Damn you must have a heavy duty USB Bluetooth dongle, that cant work well with that many controllers.

Hi, I'm here to share my setup, as I've seen many recommendations on this. In my case, I use eight DS3 controllers and convert half to Xinput and the other half to DS4 controllers. This way, I can play wirelessly via Bluetooth.

The programs I use are "DSHMC" and "DS4Windows."

You are correct. Without reWASD i think 4 XBox + 4 PS4 is a good mix. With SteamInput enabled you then have 8 virtual XBox controllers and without SteamInput you have a mix of 4 XBox and 4 PS4 which most of the games support.

An unexplored hack:
There is a hack to make XBox controllers to be directInput controllers but I haven't tested how well it works. It could be that it still gets filtered out from games if they still see that it's an XBox controller. The hack is to go to device manager and change the driver for "XINPUT compatible HID device" to "HID-compliant game controller".
I wonder how well it would work to have XBox controllers like this and if then works well to use use SteamInput to make them into virtual XInput devices again.

reWASD licenses:
You mention already having 2 reWASD licenses. They can be moved from PC to PC quite easily. Once you move, there is a cool-down period before you can move it again.

To support more than four Xbox controllers, in addition to installing the "Xbox Accessories Extension Driver" in the Steam client, it seems that the game itself also needs to support it. Most games still only recognize up to four Xbox controllers, and any additional controllers must use DirectInput to be recognized, such as PS4 controllers.

If I had bought reWASD earlier, it would have been the best deal because the price has increased several times. Before the price hikes, paying with a credit card and selecting the Ukraine region would grant an additional 50% discount due to the Russia-Ukraine war. At that time, I purchased the full lifetime license for only 18.89 EUR. I even bought two sets for two different computers. Now, a single license costs 69.99 EUR, which is a significant increase.

Currently, the cheapest option I know of is on China's Taobao, where an officially authorized reseller offers a lifetime license for 300 RMB, which converts to approximately 37.95 EUR.

It was an Xbox Series Dongle up to 8 controllers. I tried to plug 4 wired controllers + 4 Xbox Series wireless controllers and no game recognize them. Some games recognizes 5 controllers some 4, some had double input etc.

Strange, ehat xboxndongle did you use?
The old one for 360 does not work with more than 4 btw, 8 is only with the new one for xbox one/series controllers and you probably need to enable 8 gamepad support in steam settings. Check the guide in the forum

Thanks supersmo, my tournament was already behind when you answered :p
Finally I only did 4 players games because my 5-8 were never recognized even with the Xbox dongle.
Next time I'll try PS4 and Xbox controllers. I don't want to invest on Rewasd it's quite expensive for my usage.

Thanks again.

(Option 3:)
Use a controller that has a switch to toggle XInput on or off. As I recall, the one recommended in a forum discussion is wired and I don’t have any experience with it.

I’m a bit late with my recommendation but Engoni has a solid recommendation.

Option1
If you want 8 player wireless with all controllers of the exact same kind then I recommend XBox One or XBox X/S with the wireless receiver (not bluetooth).

For dealing with issues with max 4XBox controllers for several games, I recommend reWASD. DS4win can’t read XBox controllers, X360ce is a hassle and only converts to emulated XBox.

Option 2:
If you don’t want to invest in reWASD and you don’t mind 4 controllers being of a different kind I would recommend:
* 4 XBox One or XBox X/S + the wireless receiver.
* 4 PS4 controllers that you connect via Bluetooth I disable the onboard Bluetooth and use a long range Bluetooth dongle instead.

Then depending on the game you can enable SteamInput for the PS4 controllers when they need to be XBox controllers and disable SteamInput when they need to be PS4 controllers.
This setup should work for the vast majority of games.

Ok I just bought a dongle (not the official it was out of stock) + I'll try with wired controller to see if it works. Thanks :)

I doubt there are many other valid ways to have 8 controllers other than the official Xbox dongle if you want it wireless since it is using a custom 2.4Ghz signals and not Bluetooth, the more controllers you connect with Bluetooth you will get more unstable connection and delay.

If you are OK with wires than most solutions will work.

Hi @supersmo, I follow your list since a long time as I organize many 8/10 players parties on multiple games every couple of months since years now. Your games lists have been very helpful (I have an excel with more than 600 games I want to play on my tournaments).

One question though, if I want to play with more than 4 players what are the best solution for me ?

Usually when it comes to more than 4 players I either use the game app controller for phones or I use emulation on old games.

For some PC games now, I would like to be able to connect 8 controllers, what are the best options for me : use Rewasd ? (saw it became a paid app), use an xbox dongle (generic one from Amazon would work ?) ? Use others tools like DS4Windows or X360ce ?

Thanks in advance :)

@Dracgnar Good question.

It's not an easy decision. The Nucleus games don't natively support more than 4 local multiplayers, but we've already opened that can of worms when we added modded games...

I'll continue the discussion here: https://test1.login.steam.hlxgame.cc/groups/morethan4localmultiplayer/discussions/0/392183857629731797/?ctp=52#c601897008023788243

Do you think it might be a good idea to add games supported via Nucleus too?
Perhaps using a new list for those

https://www.reddit.com/r/nucleuscoop/comments/opu0eg/list_of_nucleus_coop_supported_games/

Thanks! Added 👍

The game ShellShock Live supports up to 8 players locally and online, but it only recognizes a single controller. Players must take turns passing the controller, or they can use the reWASD software to bind all controllers as one to avoid passing it around.

The gameplay is similar to Worms W.M.D, with matches being 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, or 4v4.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/326460/ShellShock_Live/

Thanks for reporting. I'll add it. 👍

Forgot to include the link. "Hellcrackers"
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3489640/Hellcrackers/

The game "Hellcrackers" supports up to 8 players. I tested it using 4 Xbox Series X controllers, 1 PS5 controller, 1 PS4 controller, and 1 Xbox 360 controller. With Steam Input enabled, only the Xbox 360 controller was unresponsive. However, when Steam Input was disabled, all controllers were detected properly.

Additionally, since I have the reWASD software installed, I did not enable Steam's Xbox extended feature support driver to avoid software conflicts. I'm not sure if this is the reason why, when Steam Input is enabled, more than 4 Xbox controllers cannot be recognized.

Thanks! Actually both DOOM + DOOM II and Quake II are in the list already but please keep reporting anything we may have missed.