How to Use Steam Remote Play? A Complete Guide

It is always fun to play your favorite games with friends. Having popcorn nights with fun games gives the ultimate joy of competition and fun. But this ideal situation does not always persist. Sometimes your friends are not near you, or on summer break then you miss these game nights.

Steam has introduced a new feature, “Steam Remote Play,” which lets you play games and have fun with the friends remotely. You can play local multiplayer games with your friends online. It has plenty of options, and even you can play the games together if they do not support multiplayer.

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steam remote play

What Is Remote Play Together?

There are a plethora of games that offer multiplayer features using which you can play games online with friends. But few games have not multiplayer design, and they are meant for people playing together on the same screen using different input methods.

With Steam Remote Play, you can play games with friends that are not even multiplayer titles. You run the game on your computer, and Steam streams it lives with your friends. Now the fun part is that everyone on your Steam Play sees what is on your screen. Whatever they input on their sides, send to your side. It operates like Google Stadia, but it runs entirely on your PC while Stadia works on cloud-based technology.

Steam Remote Play’s exciting part is that the game that you are playing with the friends does not need to be installed on every computer. The computer which runs the game only needs to install the game. This is a handy feature to host pricey games, and everyone can enjoy the game without even purchasing that title.

How does Remote Play work?

When watching YouTube or Twitch streaming, you might think at some stage that you should have purchased that title and play with your friends. But the price tag of the game exceeds your budget. Well, in that situation, Steam Remote Play got you covered.

It works on the same principle as most remote software works, but the difference is that you can send your feedback to each other. One person needs to install the game on its side, and the other connects through Remote Play to enjoy the game. The audio and video are sent to the other devices connected to the Remote Play, while the feedback from the mouse, keyboard, and gamepad is sent back to the streaming device.

Remote Play offers another great feature that lets you play the games on different platforms. For example, a game designed for the Windows PC can be streamed to the Mac or Linux operating system. This cross-platform support is awe-inspiring. It features even more exciting things like you can stream the games from a beefy rig, and your friends can play on their traditional or office computer without any need for a dedicated graphics card or a high-grade processor. Even you can start the game from the computer and play it on your laptop while staying cozy in your bed.

Check out this guide if you want to try hiding games in Steam, or hiding game activity on Steam.

How to use Steam Remote Play Together

It is straightforward to set up Steam Remote Play if you follow these simple instructions. These steps will answer your query “how to use remote play on steam?” effectively.

First of all, launch the game that you want to play together from Steam. Once the game starts running, open the Steam Overlay function by pressing Shift+Tab and then click on “View All Friends.” See this guide of quick fixes if steam is not opening.

set up steam play

Some people have a disabled Steam Overlay. In such cases, you can re-enable it. For turning it on, go to the game library and right-click on it. Now select the “properties” and click on the “Enable the Steam Overlay While In-Game” option.

Now coming back to the first step, right-click on the friend name you wanted to invite for Remote Play. See the options under the game title and select “Remote Play Together.” It will invite your friend to the session. Remember that inviting your friend starts the voice chat on Windows and Linux PCs, and inviting more players turns the voice chat into the group voice chat.

set up steam play on pc

You can invite more than one player in the Remote Play session, but we have seen more than five players. Even Valve claims that you can invite up to four players. But we believe that more players can be invited if the network connection is stable as it takes more bandwidth.

One limiting thing about Remote Play is that only the host can invite people to the party. If you are not the host, you can only invite the people to view the gameplay, but they cannot participate in the game.

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How to use Steam Remote play on Android

Steam has updated its Remote Play, and now you can stream and play games on android phones using the Steam Link app. However, you need a few pre-requisites, like having a PC capable of running and streaming Steam games. So, your phone connects to that PC and renders the games running on the host.

Before starting, make sure that your PC is on and can host the games. Run Steam on the host, and now go to your Android device and head to Google Play Store.  Search and download the Steam Link app from the store. Once installed, launch it and choose the controller that you want to connect. It can be a Stream controller or any other controller. Try these fixes if your Steam is downloading slowly, or Steam download is stopping.

steam link
steam link settings
steam link android

For pairing with your controller, follow the controller manual for the instructions as most manufacturers have different pairing instructions. If the controller is from Steam, then the app will itself guide you through the pairing process. Pairing is not complex and mainly needs to turn on the Bluetooth on both devices.

steam link controller settings

After successfully connecting the controller, see the available devices and select your PC from that list. Now network information will be shown to you on the screen. Once gone past that, you need to give authorization to the device. A code will generate by the Steam app, and you need to run the code into the Steam app, and it will process the authentication of your device.

steam link input settings

Once you establish the connection, go to the Steam library and select the game you like to play on the Steam Link. The streaming works best if you have both devices on the same network and the network bandwidth also matters. This way, you can easily play Steam games on your phone using the Steam Link application.

How to use Steam Remote play on TV

Steam Remote Play Together gives you options to share the game with your friends over the internet. They can watch and play games from Android, TV, and other compatible devices. It is an uplift of the local multiplayer games with a new way to connect and have the same fun with friends virtually. They even do not need to install the game on their TV.

steam remote play tv

To begin with, that, install Steam Link on your TV from the Google Play Store. Once installed, open the application and run it. It is better if your host PC and TV are on the same network. Not pair both devices and set the controllers for the first use.

Go to the Steam Library on your host and select the game which you want to play. Once the game starts, you can play on both devices. The inputs from your TV registers to the host through the controllers, and you can enjoy quality time with your friends.

How to improve the streaming experience on Remote Play?

Hardware: For better performance, the CPU should be at least quad-core. It has better speed and can handle the client requirements. A GPU that has a hardware acceleration H264 decoding is a better option for Remote Play. Any PC with mid-range specs can fulfill the client’s requirements.

Network: Having a higher network bandwidth is necessary for seamless gameplay.  It is better to have a wired connection as it has less latency issues. Any wireless N or AC network can do the job provided with stable and excellent signal quality.

Game Settings: Game settings play a vital role if you have limited bandwidth or hardware that is not high-end. To keep the Remote Play run smoothly, go to game settings and lower the resolution. You can turn off the vertical sync for better results.

Steam Settings: Remote Play experience is directly linked with Steam settings. You can choose between the quality and speed by tuning the resolution, limiting the network bandwidth, and turning off unnecessary options.

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How can I tell if a game supports Remote Play?

Checking the compatibility of the games on Steam is not very difficult. All the Remote Play feature-supported games are enlisted on the respective page of the Steam store. Or you can access the details from the right side of the game page.  It has a listing of devices that can support the gameplay and have details on whether the Steam Remote Play can be played or not on that specific game title.

Bottom Line

Steam Remote Play Together is an impressive utility that lets you play your favorite games remotely with your friend circle and have fun together like good old times. You can play on different devices without even installing games on all devices. Host PC runs the games, and others join the remote sessions and can play the games with their controllers.

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Muhammad Kashif

M. Kashif is a published author at Gaming Expert.net. He is a tech enthusiast, a passionate gamer and loves to try new gadgets and writing about games and technology events.