@supersmo : Wow that's a great news ! Let us know when it will be available :)

Thanks :-)

I just wanna say that your guys work in this group is amazing

That sounds amazing!

@ Karl Van Zandt
Yesterday evening I started creating an application that does this. We’ll see how it turns out. I’m prompting it up via AI and actually have a virtual PS4 responding to input. Shouldn’t be long until there is something you can try.

@kung fu:
Thanks for reporting.
Store page says "Offline multiplayer up to 8 players" and screenshots showed 8 players so I figured it was 8 human players. I'll remove it from the curator for now and add it back when supported.

@goron_elder_chris:
SantaCorps 4 and SantaCorps: Snow patrol are only for 4 players.
Santa Corps: Snow patrol was for 8 according to the store page but they changed it. See the developers answer here: https://v1.steam.hlxgame.cc/app/3398700/discussions/0/599640501555095523/#c691999379595382415

Nice To Yeet You
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3108230/Nice_To_Yeet_You/

The game currently only supports 4 local players, and the only way to reach an 8-player free-for-all is by adding 4 CPU players. However, the developer replied that they’re working on a dynamic player limit, which will allow up to 8 players in both CPU and local modes.

New games:
SantaCorps 4
SantaCorps: DX

I really wish there was some sort of free Rewasd alternative, just for stuff like this. But i bought a lifetime lisence.

Thanks for your answer, will try some ! :)

Unfortunately I don't have anything new to share.

You could attempt to change the XBox One driver to a generic one. See: instructions here: https://www.snes9x.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?t=27510
That makes your XBox controllers not use XInput. I haven't done much testing in this mode so I don't know if this makes a lot of games work. I noticed that when restarting the controllers I (sometimes?) had to redo the trick.


vJoy + Universal controller remapper + HIDHide could work. When I tried before Universal controller remapper needed to be the focused applictaion so it could work for games that can run and accept input in the background. UCR was a bit unstable when i tested this before.

Someone should write an application that does this for XBox controllers... I could potentially do it but I have way too many cool idea projects that I currently can't find the time to do. :-(

Hi supersmo ! :)

Do you have any free alternative to rewasd in 2026 ? I only need one feature :

the one which allow me to plug 8 xbox controllers and make the game think that some of them (or all) are not Xinput.

Thanks

Thanks!
They must have changed to 4. Removed it from the curator and asked about it in their forum.

SantaCorps: Snow Patrol
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3398700/SantaCorps_Snow_Patrol/

This game was recently released, so I took a look out of curiosity. I’m not sure whether the final supported player count has changed, but it says it supports up to four local players.

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