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Ultimate Chicken Horse (PC, Mac)

CLEVER ENDEAVOR

Beneath the friendly veneer of party games like Mario Party and Mario Kart lies the murderous need to beat your friends at all costs. Sure, it’s all fun and games—until someone throws a red shell only to pull up ahead of you during the final lap. In that moment, winning becomes secondary. Nothing matters more than destroying your friend/betrayer. Ultimate Chicken Horse drops all pretenses by inviting you to participate in the game equivalent of cutting off your own nose to spite your face. Before each round, everyone is given a selection of traps and hazards to be laid out on a platforming level. Each player must attempt to cross the resulting death trap in one piece, usually to no avail. The game forces you to ask, what do I care about more: winning or making sure my friends can’t win? With all the fun of a murder-suicide, Ultimate Chicken Horse is not only a test of skill but also the health of your friendships.

Perfect for: Frenemies, sociopaths, actual chickens

Playtime: A few minutes per round