Best 2D Platformer Games on Steam
Side-view platformers focused on jumping, timing, hazards, and stage flow.
Browse all 2D Platformer →
1Celeste
- Players say: Guide Madeline up Celeste Mountain with precise jumps, dashes, and climbs as she faces dangerous obstacles and inner turmoil. Players like: Precise Controls · Rewarding Challenge · Emotional Story
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Help Madeline survive her inner demons on her journey to the top of Celeste Mountain, in this super-tight platformer from the creators of TowerFall. Brave hundreds of hand-crafted challenges, uncover devious secrets, and piece together the mystery of the mountain.
Jan 25, 2018
In this game, you can…
- welcome your shadow self back and gain a second midair dash.
- build momentum with no speed cap, carrying platform speed into jumps and stacking it into ridiculous velocity.
- turn on assist options like extra jumps or invincibility to push past a wall and keep the story moving.
- battle a physical version of your own self-doubt.
- chain jumps, air-dashes, and wall climbs as your dash refreshes on the ground, new screens, or dash-reset gems.
- read your remaining midair dashes from your hair color mid-jump.
- ride bubbles for a speed burst that refreshes your jump, then dash through wind, ice, and void zones in the same run.
- find secret routes by spotting tiny hints, then take an easier path or a wildly harder one to reach hidden areas.
2Noita
- Players say: Descend procedurally generated caverns as a spellcaster, building wands and surviving a world made of reactive pixels. Players like: Custom Wand Building · Reactive Pixel Physics · Secrets and Exploration
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Noita is a magical action roguelite set in a world where every pixel is physically simulated. Fight, explore, melt, burn, freeze and evaporate your way through the procedurally generated world using spells you've created yourself.
Oct 15, 2020
In this game, you can…
- swap positions with something you launched so far away it clips out of reality, and end up somewhere it shouldn't exist.
- trigger a chain reaction where electricity detonates a hanging bomb, the blast becomes gas, the gas ignites, and the whole oil pool erupts.
- turn an eldritch monster into a sheep, then teleport it into lava — or just dig a tunnel and ignore it.
- turn a harmless-looking spell into a face-level explosion or a portal to a tentacle realm.
- eat weird fungus, vomit, and watch the vomit transform into lava.
- build a wand that spawns a lava star with its own gravity and melts you instantly.
- kick objects like minecarts into enemies and use the physics as your weapon.
- get turned into a sheep by a pink potion even after you can vaporize mountains and turn ground into gold.
3Katana ZERO
- Players say: As katana-wielding assassin Zero, plan lethal 2D missions, bend time through deadly fights, and piece together your past. Players like: Satisfying Fast Combat · Memorable Soundtrack · Intriguing Story
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Katana ZERO is a stylish neo-noir, action-platformer featuring breakneck action and instant-death combat. Slash, dash, and manipulate time to unravel your past in a beautifully brutal acrobatic display.
Apr 18, 2019
In this game, you can…
- slow time until bullets hang in the air, then slice them back into shooters.
- finish a level and watch a security-camera replay of your one perfect run after all the rewinds.
- interrupt someone mid-sentence and shatter the text box to force your response through.
- die, hear "No… That won't work," rewind instantly, and retry until the route finally works.
- solve a room by mixing one-hit slashes, dodge rolls, bullet deflects, and thrown objects into a clean chain.
- turn the environment into a kill plan by stealing guns, triggering traps, and setting off lasers or explosions.
- pick dialogue on a timer, so conversations demand the same split-second decisions as fights.
- chase platinum ranks with an in-game timer and built-in speedrun mode, replaying rooms to shave off seconds.
4INSIDE
- Players say: Guide a hunted boy through a bleak 2.5D world of hazards, stealth, and environmental puzzles as he enters a hidden project. Players like: Oppressive Atmosphere · Wordless Storytelling · Clever Puzzle Design
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Hunted and alone, a boy finds himself drawn into the center of a dark project. INSIDE is a dark, narrative-driven platformer combining intense action with challenging puzzles. It has been critically acclaimed for its moody art style, ambient soundtrack and unsettling atmosphere.
Jul 7, 2016
In this game, you can…
- wear a helmet to mind-control other people and use their bodies to solve puzzles.
- pretend to be one of the mindless workers by matching their steps, jumps, and where they face so guards let you pass.
- get swallowed by a giant writhing mass of human bodies, then take control of it and smash through the facility.
- blend into a marching crowd to avoid getting spotted and killed.
- pilot a tiny submarine and use underwater movement as a full-on traversal and puzzle mechanic.
- as that giant body, rampage through the complex, kill the person in charge, and end by collapsing into a strange pool of light.
- reach a secret ending by hunting down hidden orbs that unlock an alternate conclusion.
5BattleBlock Theater®
- Players say: A shipwrecked performer jumps, fights and solves trap-filled stages in a cat-run theater to free friends and save Hatty. Players like: Chaotic Co-op · Funny Narration · Creative Levels
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Welcome to BattleBlock Theater! You’ve got no where to go but up...on stage. Play single player or co-op to free your friends and save Hatty Hattington! Jump, solve and battle your way through a mysterious theater inhabited by highly technological felines.
May 15, 2014
In this game, you can…
- get kidnapped by giant cats and forced to run deadly theater obstacle courses for their amusement.
- slap and shove your co-op buddy, including launching them into hazards as part of the level plan.
- compete in multiplayer modes like Capture the Horse, Basketball, Whale Chasing, and Grab the Gold instead of standard combat.
- escape a level by grabbing just three gems, then come back for every gem and a hidden yarn ball to chase an A++ rank.
- play co-op levels where you hoist a friend up, throw them to high ledges, and blast them forward to reach impossible routes.
- use weapons like top-hat cannons, exploding marching frog dancers, acid bubbles, and grenades to kill or launch friends.
- build your own stages and share them through the level editor and Steam Workshop for others to play.
6Pizza Tower
- Players say: Race through a cartoon tower as pizza-shop owner Peppino, smashing foes, collecting toppings, and escaping levels on a timer. Players like: Fast, Fluid Movement · Energetic Soundtrack · Expressive Cartoon Art
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Pizza Tower is a fast paced 2D platformer, with an emphasis on movement, exploration and score attack. Featuring highly stylized pixel art inspired by the cartoons from the '90s, and a highly energetic soundtrack.
Jan 26, 2023
In this game, you can…
- trigger a timer and race back through the entire level in reverse while a one-hit-kill pursuer closes in if you're too slow.
- become a fire tornado in one level, then get a literal shotgun in another, then play a golf stage where speed is the swing.
- hit Mach 5 and blast through rooms like a ballistic missile once the movement clicks.
- chain runs, slides, dives, wallruns, and grabs into one continuous sprint.
- reach the goal, smash a pillar, and then discover the entrance door is now the exit.
- turn a whole stage into a precision run by collecting every secret, every topping, the special item, and keeping one huge combo.
- hit Lap 2 on the escape and loop the dash again, with the whole vibe flipping into a second, faster victory lap.
- keep momentum through a botched situation by grabbing an enemy near a wall and chaining straight into wall-climbing without stopping.
- perfect boss fights by learning every pattern and winning without taking a single hit.
7Rain World
- Players say: As a stranded slugcat, scavenge and evade predators in ruined lands, finding shelter before deadly rain sweeps in. Players like: Living Creature Ecosystem · Atmospheric Ruins · Hidden Worldbuilding
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You are a nomadic slugcat, both predator and prey in a broken ecosystem. Grab your spear and brave the industrial wastes, hunting enough food to survive, but be wary— other, bigger creatures have the same plan... and slugcats look delicious.
Mar 28, 2017
In this game, you can…
- get dropped as prey, then watch two rival lizards start fighting each other instead of eating you.
- get chased by a lizard, only for a dropwig to drop from the ceiling and grab the lizard mid-chase.
- trigger turf wars where predators block routes, steal each other's kills, and suddenly switch targets without anything being scripted.
- race the rain by scavenging food and reaching shelter before a downpour arrives and crushes the whole region.
- pull off backflips, rolls, wall-jumps, and corner-kicks to slip through tight tunnels and outmaneuver predators.
- bait a stronger creature into attacking a weaker one, then slip away through pipes while they tear each other apart.
- be both hunter and hunted at once, eating small creatures while bigger ones treat you like food.
- wander an interconnected world out of order, accidentally enter a totally different zone, and realize you've been progressing without noticing.
8Ultimate Chicken Horse
- Players say: Players build a trap-filled platform course together, then race through their creation to reach the goal and outscore rivals. Players like: Friends' Party Chaos · Creative Trap-Building · Local Multiplayer
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Ultimate Chicken Horse is a party platformer game where you build the level as you play, placing traps and hazards to screw your friends over, but trying not to screw yourself.
Mar 4, 2016
In this game, you can…
- build the level as you play, placing traps and platforms before everyone races through it.
- seal off the start so other players spawn into a cage and can't even leave.
- create community-style levels with up to 500 placed items on a single map, then make friends try to clear it.
- draft a trap from a shared box, snatch it first, and watch the route change for everyone that round.
- stack traps so one mistake sets off multiple hazards and someone dies to four different things at once.
- throw a bomb to blow up a carefully built cluster of traps right before the next run.
- race on a space level where gravity gets lower the higher you climb toward the goal.
- make a course that's technically beatable, but only if you know the exact jump and wall-jump sequence.
- host matches with custom rules that change gravity, speed, lives, and how scoring works.
9SANABI
- Players say: A retired veteran scales a deserted cyberpunk megacity with a chain-hook arm, fighting through traps to find the entity SANABI. Players like: Emotional Story · Chain-Hook Movement · Expressive Pixel Art
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SANABI is an exhilarating stylish dystopian action-platformer. Play as a legendary retired veteran and use your signature prosthetic arm to jump over cliffs and skyscrapers, zip through bullets and traps and defeat powerful enemies.
Nov 8, 2023
In this game, you can…
- hook directly onto enemies to destroy them, then push off their bodies to keep your momentum and use them like extra platforms.
- get a second pass through stages where the same mechanics suddenly let you blast through three times as fast.
- get a story that unfolds out of order, then replay and notice clues and foreshadowing that reframe the whole conspiracy.
- swing through a mega-city without almost ever touching the ground.
- zip from room to room with a chain-hook arm, then boost, slow time, and keep the whole combo going in midair.
- turn movement tricks into a full toolset—boosting, reeling in, slowing time, grabbing enemies—and route through levels in wildly different ways.
- fight bosses with their own unique mechanics that force you to learn new ways to use your movement and hook.
- run with a hacker companion who opens locked doors, reveals enemy weaknesses, and pulls encrypted secrets out of the city as you climb.
10ROUNDS
- Players say: A 2D duel shooter where you shoot, block, and jump through rounds, drafting upgrades after losses to counter your rival. Players like: Fun With Friends · Chaotic Card Combos · Modded Replayability
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Rounds is a 1v1 rogue-lite shooter where each round gets more intense. The losing player of each round unlocks clever upgrades to create a better build to counter their opponent.
Apr 1, 2021
In this game, you can…
- steer a bullet with your cursor so it stays airborne, keeps scaling damage, and eventually wipes the screen.
- stack upgrades until you fire 50 bullets in under a second.
- teleport through a wall, then fire a shot that drills back through it to hit someone on the other side.
- stack cards until your shots drill through walls, home in, and ricochet into a maze of projectiles.
- lose a round, grab a new card, and turn that defeat into a comeback build that flips the match.
- turn the map into a weapon by pushing objects, cutting ropes, and collapsing floors onto opponents.
- chain effects so a single trigger pulls in poison clouds, explosions, and even saws spawning midair.
- mod the rules into a 16-player free-for-all where everyone's builds escalate into total mayhem.
