Chained Beasts Beginner Guide: Runs, Chain & Next Steps

What is Chained Beasts?

Chained Beasts is a 1–4 player co-op gladiator roguelike from Featherweight Games (Sydney), published on 2026-10-15. Steam tags it as Action Roguelike with co-op, multiplayer, and hack-and-slash combat. You play beast-masked gladiators who share a physical chain: movement and positioning are shared problems, not solo reflex tests.

Official structure, from launch announcements: three acts—Carthage, Germania (frozen wasteland), and Rome—with nine battles and a final encounter after those fights. The run also layers 70+ afflictions, 70+ skills, 40+ merchant items, and eight Beasts (playable characters) with unlockable variants via run XP. Difficulty runs ten increasingly harsh tiers, with Jupiter named in the King of the Gods achievement.

For platforms, price, and Game Pass, see the release date and platforms guide. For trophy and achievement wording, see the achievements guide.

Official Steam store screenshot. © Featherweight Games.

How does a run work?

Think of a run as alternating arena days and night hubs shown in official screenshots and trailers, without assuming a fixed menu order Featherweight never published.

• Days use Roman numerals such as DAY I with a sun icon. Camp scenes show four player slots (P1–P4), health bars, and empty affliction slots before injuries stack.
• Nights use labels like NIGHT I or NIGHT IV with moon icons. Official art shows the Trainer (afflictions and level bar), CHOOSE YOUR SKILL, the Merchant, and a Healer screen in the Gameplay Trailer. Store copy also describes a Surgeon between acts who can treat afflictions or offer augmentations at a cost—we do not treat Healer and Surgeon as the same NPC because the sources never say so.
• Progress across the world is confirmed by act survival achievements: Can’t Stand The Heat (Carthage), Out of the Cold (Germania), and Rebel Leader (reach The Senate in Rome).

Between fights you grow through skills, Trainer levels, merchant purchases, and Codex entries. Twitch integration lets viewers vote on which affliction potion you drink between rounds, per official news.

Deeper scoring and crowd rules live on the crowd favorite and scoring guide. Planned post-launch arenas, bosses, and PVP are summarized on the roadmap and Update 1.1 page.

How does the chain work?

The chain is a core combat tool, not cosmetic. Official descriptions and achievements confirm you can:

Chains also appear in boss arenas— for example chained players around Goliath in official snow screenshots—so spacing matters in boss fights even without published HP numbers. Read co-op and multiplayer for party size, couch co-op, and crossplay notes, and all bosses for named boss contexts.

Official Steam store screenshot. © Featherweight Games.

What should you do in the first fights?

Featherweight’s Steam store guidance (not a hidden optimal build) stresses practical habits:

• Carry a backup weapon so you are not helpless after throwing your main one.
• Use arena props—pottery, snake jars, spike walls, spike plates, fire pits, explosive barrels—because achievements reward environmental kills.
• Coordinate with partners instead of freelancing, as the Steam store page recommends.
• Avoid getting the chain caught on pillars, which stalls the whole squad.

Combat also supports executions and dismemberment on downed foes; thrown limbs can become weapons (Stop Hitting Yourself). Enemy types named in demo-era news include Archers, Wrestlers, and Defensive Swordsmen—useful context, though full 1.0 rosters are not listed in the sources we read.

Beastmaster Barca (rhino mount) is the named Act 1 Carthage boss; Goliath is tied to Act 2 Germania; Praefectus and siege gear belong to Act 3 Rome. Battle order within each act is not disclosed in the launch sources we read. Fight pages stay descriptive only—see Beastmaster Barca, Goliath, and Praefectus & the Siege.

What happens between battles?

Official screenshots and trailer frames show several night systems without a published step-by-step checklist:

Afflictions use skull icons for severity; Medical Marvel wants 20 total skulls in one winning run. Examples from store text include Psychosis, Untouchable, and Priceless Vase. For verbatim Trainer, Healer, and skill lines—with screenshot disclaimers—open afflictions and Trainer. Shopping tables live on merchant items.

Official Steam store screenshot. © Featherweight Games.

Frame from the official Gameplay Trailer. © Featherweight Games.

What is the Controls situation?

Steam lists full controller support with Gamepad Recommended. Local co-op requires at least one gamepad when mixing keyboard and controllers; DualShock and DualSense are supported. A complete keyboard table or rebind list is not disclosed in the store fields we read.

Check system requirements for Windows and macOS minimum specs and the current Steam Deck rating status (Valve had not assigned a category on 2026-10-16). Difficulty names—including demo tiers Pleb, Legionnaire, Centurion, Hades, and the retail tier Jupiter—are covered in difficulty levels and Jupiter.

Do you need to play co-op?

No, but co-op is the headline feature. Modes listed on Steam and in launch news:

• Solo play
• Online co-op with crossplay
• Local shared-screen or split-screen couch co-op
• Steam Remote Play Together and Family Sharing

Third-party reviews we cite for flavor only: GamesStarter (2026-10-13) called co-op the standout; Game Critix (2026-10-15) scored 4/5 with notes on long-term variety and injury punishment—we treat those as opinion, not mechanics.

Party sizes P1–P3 and P1–P4 both appear in official screenshots; see co-op and multiplayer for mode tables and chain photos.

Why doesn’t this site have a tier list or builds yet?

Chained Beasts launched on 2026-10-15. Featherweight has not published complete Beast stat sheets, skill damage formulas, merchant roll tables, or boss phase HP in the sources we read, so a “best build” or weapon tier list would be guesswork.

When developer posts or store updates add verifiable numbers, we will add ranked pages. Until then, use all eight Beasts for the achievement-confirmed roster and merchant items for item names from official screenshots (those pages carry the usual screenshot disclaimer).

Where to go next

Use these fifteen routes as a verified wiki spine (including this hub):

Sources and verification

• Sources: Featherweight Games Steam store page; Steam Community launch announcements; Steam achievements list; official Steam store screenshots; official Gameplay Trailer frames.
• Verified: 2026-10-16. We omit boss HP, phase scripts, Beast DPS, and night-menu order because Featherweight did not publish them in the sources above.
• Images: Official Steam store screenshots and trailer frames, © Featherweight Games. Used for identification and commentary; removal on request.

Chained Beasts Guide is an unofficial fan site and is not affiliated with Featherweight Games.