Cozy Game Reviews was given a complimentary game code courtesy of The IndiEXP. Our game coverage is always objective and honest; read more about our transparency policy. This is not a review.
It’s probably not controversial to say that I loooooove multiplayer party games. But I’m not much of an online multiplayer so couch co-op was always my preferred method of play. All my best childhood gaming memories are local multiplayer: Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Tales of Symphonia, Soul Calibur, Jak X: Combat Racing.
Imagine my surprise to find out that Turtle Flip Studio is bringing back the art of cozy local multiplayer with their latest launch. Which Way Up: Galaxy Games is a frantic, physics-based collage of minigames where you can test your might against up to 3 friends while jumping, propelling, and…playing golf?
Which Way Up: Galaxy Games Summary
Which Way Up: Galaxy Games takes party gaming to interstellar heights—literally! This gravity-defying multiplayer platformer turns physics into pure chaos as you and your friends race, leap, and tumble through the cosmos. Compete in the ultimate Galaxy Games, where every event bends the rules of movement, letting you run on walls, orbit planets, and fling your rivals into the void.
With 12 unique mini-games, you’ll be dodging black holes, scoring goals with moons, and scrambling across constellations in fast-paced, laugh-out-loud challenges. Whether you’re playing locally or teaming up online with Steam Remote Play Together, up to 4 players can experience the thrill of cosmic competition.
Choose from 7 quirky celestial characters (5 available in the demo) and dive into hours of family-friendly fun that’s easy to pick up but wildly unpredictable. Get ready to test your gravity skills, sabotage your friends, and prove you’re the true champion of the galaxy!
There are 12 mini-games to choose from, including:
- Event Horizon: Outrun your competition in a moving-screen platform level and try to push opponents into the void. 🥇
- Comet Collect: Volley comets into your homebase and try to collect more than your frantic frenemies. 🥇
- Hole in One: Fight against bending and shifting gravity to score a hole-in-one across 6 intergalactic golf greens. 🥇
- Berry Barrage: Dodge berries that blow up or slime you on a rotating platform in order to stay in-screen the longest and score points. 🥇
- Puff Panic: Navigate crumbling platforms as a fire-breathing dragon tries to roast you mid-leap.
- Constellation Catch: Touch and capture as many constellations as you can, racing against up to 3 other players.
- Gravapult: Chuck bombs at your opponent’s planet while protecting your own from taking damage.
- Star Ring: Fight to stay in the “life ring” for as long as possibly, being the first to fill up your power gage.
- Overload: “Hot-potato” unstable energy onto your competition, trying to ensure they are holding it when it blows up.
- Bumper Stars: Knock others off-screen and be the last one standing…er, orbiting to win.
- Nebula Nab: Collect PIPS and funnel them into the waiting atom, scoring a point per PIP as you do.
- Gastronomer: Possess a big silly blobby guy and eat your friends before they knock you out!
🥇 = my personal favorites so far.
My Experience with Which Way Up: Galaxy Games
Hours played: >1 hr
Rolled credits: N/A
Coziness rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A friend and I sat down together to give Which Way Up: Galaxy Games a try—couch co-op style. We used Steam Link to stream the game on my smart TV and hooked up a couple DualShock PS5 controllers to play. It was refreshing that it was even an option to couch co-op nowadays. And, honestly, the more the merrier with Which Way Up!
The game will launch with 4-player support but I can see it being a great candidate for 8-player+ down the line. Truly, the more going on on-screen, the better.
Which Way Up is all about causing chaos. Being set in outer space, half the battle is just finding your footing on a series of shifting, moving, and bouncing platforms per game. The game plays with gravity and physics in ways reminiscent of Fall Guys, where nothing quite moves the way you expect it to move—with hilarious results.
No matter which mini game you settle into, your biggest opponent will be gravity. You’ll have to navigate how to keep your feet on the ground, leap around obstacles, while also trying to outmaneuver your opponent(s).
Some minigames are very “attack” focused, where the goal is to push your rivals into danger while avoiding it yourself. These include Event Horizon, Gravapult, Overload, Bumper Stars, and Gastronomer. You will spend your time launching competitors into space or other hazards, throwing bombs at one another, bumping each other out-of-bounds, and even eating other players to win points.
However, the majority of the game will give you something other than your versus crew to focus on. Much of the time, staying alive or performing an activity to score the most points is your main goal. Tossing your bestie into danger behind you is just icing on the cake.
You can play the game how you want: get super competitive and try to throw other people off their game, or hyper-focus on your task at hand and score the most points throw grit and determination.
Either way, you can pick your setting: 1) A campaign of X-number minigames, winner-takes-all style OR 2) single select your favorite games and play them until the levels are seared into your mind.
My favorite minigames were the “sports”-like games: Comet Collect and Hole in One. In Comet Collect, you have a “net” and you try to bounce, propel, knock, and shift a series of floating comets into your goal area to score points for yourself. Two comets appear on screen at once so you have to work fast to steal them from your opponent.
Hole in One is a “one shot” golf game that reminds me a bit of pinball if you only got one hit on the ball per round. You fire your golf ball into a light obstacle course and try to have it navigate to the “hole” planet to score. Being the first person to score gives you the most points, though the other players will be given one final shot after someone “wins” to earn a lesser amount.
I also really liked the obstacle courses, like Event Horizon, Berry Barrage, and Puff Panic. I mainly focused on trying to stay alive and on-screen, with subterfuge being a secondary component. The games has a plethora of cool intergalactic platforming gimmicks to play with, from ricochet effects to slippery ledges. And sometimes a little something extra is thrown at you, as a treat, like exploding berries or blazing fireballs.
But what I really need to talk about is my gal Maggie. Look how cute she is! She has a magnet head and + and – for eyes!!!! All of the characters are adorable but Maggie was an instant favorite for me.
Which Way Up: Galaxy Games Final Thoughts
Which Way Up: Galaxy Games is a chaotic multiplayer platformer set in space, featuring 12 gravity-defying mini-games where players compete in physics-based challenges like dodging black holes, flinging rivals into the void, and scoring goals with moons. Up to four players can participate locally or online, choosing from seven quirky celestial characters.
Here are my final thoughts about Which Way Up:
- 3-4 players per match would be the optimal experience, it was a bit lonely with just two of us,
- Gamers who love versus silliness like Fall Guys and Ultimate Chicken Horse will enjoy Which Way Up,
- Which Way Up would be a great game for Twitch Streamers and YouTubers, as it promises tons of improv, laughs, and chaos,
- Which Way Up is family-friendly, and can be played with kids of all ages so long as they can hold a controller,
- There’s tons of potential for free updates or paid DLC to unlock more minigames later on.
Stay cozy, gamers!
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