Beginner Tricks And Tips In Chained Together (2024)

Surprisingly tight with its puzzle based platforming, Chained Together is a sleeper Indie hit that’s highly enjoyable with the right group and a solid challenge on your own. Scaling up a seemingly endless peak of floating props with a drop to the bottom or the last checkpoint just one slip or mis-timed leap away.

It’s a tough climb ahead and you’re going to need every bit of help to get to the Garden at the very top and there’s some nasty platforms and tricky puzzles waiting for you up in that sky. So whether you’re playing by yourself, or with a group of squabbling friends, here’s some helpful beginner tips for Chained Together.

Climb Around On Solo Mode For A While First

Whilst Chained Together is all about the chaos of climbing in multiplayer, you can still free climb by yourself if you want, and it’s worth doing. Going up by yourself lets you scout out what areas will give you the most grief, how you should be platforming and will let you have a general gist of what to expect.

Trust us when we say that multiplayer makes it so much harder and everything takes so much longer. Going by yourself lets you grab all those hidden wings instead of dragging extra players around as some of them are hidden in some very tricky spots.

Also, whilst you’re scouting out the route, don’t take everything you see as exactly what your friends will be running into as they add a few new platforms for multiplayer. It’s nothing major, but there’s a few special multiplayer-only type obstacles.

Bring A Full Group If You Can

In multiplayer the minimum number of people that can play the game is two, because obviously you need to be chained to someone after all. But the maximum is four and it’s recommended to try and at least fill that roster out if you can.

It’s not a major requirement if you can’t field the extra friends, but having four people substantially extends the chain and there’s some particularly pesky platforms that you can cheese by just dragging people over them. Whilst this won’t work in two player, with four there’s enough weight on the chain to dangle one or two people over the precipice without trouble.

Don’t Worry About The Timer

As you and your group are going up towards the top you may notice that on the top left of the screen is a little timer. In general, just ignore this. It’s used primarily for the high score board and people that like to show off super fast ascents or speed runs. You definitely won't be setting records on your first go.

On your first go up, just delete that information from your brain and focus on finding the best way for your group. Rushing everyone to the top to hit the fastest time will just cause more chaos and the faster you go, the quicker you will fall.

Stick It On Beginner Mode First

If you’re aren’t tackling Chained Together for the very first time, or have infinite time for the evening, then play the game on Normal or Lava. Otherwise, you really should set the difficulty level to Beginner. Whilst that may seem counterintuitive to most people, it’s the only way to play the game and retain your sanity.

On Beginner you can reset your position to a checkpoint or the last highest point your group got to. On Normal, if you fall you can go all the way to the bottom of the map to start over. Same with Lava. So unless you want big arguments to start, or to frustrate yourself further, just keep it on Beginner. It doesn’t change anything but your ability to spawn on the map, any other option is really not worth the anguish.

Closed Loop Chains Cause Too Much Chaos

So when you’re setting up a multiplayer room with your friends you’ll find that there’s a few customisation options for your game. One of them lets you select the type of loop you’re chained into, Open or Closed. Keep it on Open.

The Closed setting connects the first person in the loop directly next to the last person, hence the closed loop. But that substantially shortens the length of the chain and keeps everyone in one tiny chaotic ball. This makes platforming a nightmare as there’s less room for error, and everyone has to coordinate their jumps to happen at the exact same time. Unless you want another screaming match, keep the chain loop set to open.

Take It Slow

Whilst you have a timer ticking overhead constantly, it’s going up not down. So you have infinite time in which to clear the map and you should use that to your advantage. There’s often going to be moments as you’re going up where the group will need to pause and figure out where to go next.

The route isn’t always clear and often you’ll leap onto something that you’ll phase through, bounce off, or just not mantle onto when you really should be able to. So take a breath after each section to figure out what you need to do next, who should be jumping, and how the group can make their way across. It’s a long way down after all.

Avoid Mantling If You Can

On the topic of mantling, avoid it if you can. It’s buggy, just a few seconds too slow and sometimes at certain sections on the map it will just straight up stop working. On timed sections this can and will soft-lock you as your character freezes up and you just fall.

Or you may be leaping towards something with the intention of grabbing it, and your character just won’t, and you’ll fall. So try to land your whole body on platforms if you can as mantling at the moment is far too slow and unreliable.

The Prop Hitboxes Are A Little Funky

It’s not just the mantling that’s causing a lot of problems as some of the hitboxes on the props are either a little funky, or completely broken. In general, it’s worth selecting someone in the group, ideally the person at the front, as the Guinea Pig. Ideally the person at the front, because there’s going to be a lot of platforming props that will bug out.

It seems to happen the longer a game is going for. So either it’s a memory leak, or just hitbox detection running amok. But there will be moments when you leap onto something and you’ll just slide off, or bounce off something invisible, or not climb at all. So pick a Sacrificial Lamb in the group to test any section that looks a little treacherous.

Communication Is Key

In most games you can skate by without having to say anything, mainly because there’s a workaround. In Chained Together, if you’re not talking, you’re the problem. This game is all about communication and talking your way through each platform.

Because, if someone jumps when they’re not supposed to, gets stuck or falls, then there’s a chance everyone is going to get dragged down with them. There’s no way to cut stragglers loose so thewhole group needs to be talking near constantly. Especially in the second to last challenge as you need to run through a breakable door puzzle on a collapsing treadmill in a specific order. So it's vital that you open your mouth and talk.

Falling Off Isn’t Failure

This is a tip that applies more to a four or three person group as the more people on the chain, the less likely you are to drag everyone off. As you’re climbing, especially in a Four-Man Chain, someone is going to get accidentally dragged off a platform eventually.

But if you do, you’ll just dangle and your friends can pull you up. Or in some cases, swinging someone on the chain from below can let you cheese some tricky parts. So if you fall off, don’t get exasperated or feel like you’re letting everyone down. It’s going to happen a lot, so try and use it to your advantage if you can. Although, just don't start swinging around wildly as that definitely will pull everyone down with you.