At Gamescom 2026, PUBG creative director Dave Curd told Polygon that Dednet is about “hijinks” and “having a beer with the boys.” That is a very specific pitch, and it is not the pitch that made the original PUBG a genre-defining battle royale. The squad-of-friends-yelling-on-Discord shooter is a narrower shelf than it sounds, and it has its own short-list of games that already do the job well.
The catch is that PUBG: Dednet has no release date. The interview confirmed the tone and the intent, not a launch window. So if you came looking for PUBG: Dednet alternatives to play tonight with three friends and one beer each, the seven games below cover the same ground. Some lean funny, some lean tense, all of them are built around a squad and a headset.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Free plan | Starting price | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deep Rock Galactic | Overall casual coop | No | Around $30 | Fully destructible procedural caves |
| Helldivers 2 | Friendly-fire comedy | No | Around $40 | Live galactic war metagame |
| Left 4 Dead 2 | Cheap classic pick | No | Under $10 | 15 years of active mods |
| Payday 3 | Heist roleplay | No | Around $40 | Stealth-to-loud transitions |
| Warhammer: Vermintide 2 | Fantasy squad brawler | No | Around $30 | First-person melee that feels physical |
| GTFO | Serious-squad tension | No | Around $40 | Mandatory voice comms |
| Human Fall Flat | Pure hijinks | No | Around $15 | Ragdoll physics coop puzzles |
Why fans are hunting for PUBG: Dednet alternatives
Dednet is trying to catch a mood the original PUBG never sold. The 2017 game was hardcore, unforgiving, and full of players who took the top-ten grind seriously. That reputation stuck, which is why Curd’s Gamescom framing landed with such a jolt. A comedic spin-off is a different genre, and the crowd that wants it is not the crowd currently queuing for solo squads on Miramar.
The other issue is timing. Krafton has shown Dednet publicly but has not committed to a launch window, which means the casual-coop audience is being asked to wait indefinitely for a game that was pitched at them by name. Meanwhile, the exact vibe Curd described, four friends, low stakes, laughter over K/D, is already the entire selling point of several live games on PC.
The seven picks below cover that space from different angles. Some are pure comedy, some earn their laughs through tension, and one is a physics playground with no shooting at all. Every one of them supports the “beer with the boys” pitch, and none of them ask you to wait.
Deep Rock Galactic
Ghost Ship Games’ four-player coop shooter puts you and three friends into procedurally generated caves as space-mining dwarves. The class kit (Gunner, Driller, Scout, Engineer) forces cooperation, the caves are fully destructible, and the comedy comes for free the first time a Scout mains a zipline into a swarm of glyphids. It has been in live service since 2020 and still ships regular seasons.
Where it falls short. No PvP. If your group wants competitive tension against other humans, this is not that game.
Pricing. Paid, around $30. Regular Steam sales drop it lower. No free trial, but frequent free weekends. Dednet has no announced price yet.
Migrating from waiting for Dednet. Load into a Haz 3 mission on your first night. The onboarding is short, the class identities are clear, and the comedy scales with the difficulty.
Download. Steam
Bottom line. The closest thing to what Curd is describing that you can actually play right now. Rock and Stone.
Helldivers 2
Arrowhead’s 2024 squad shooter is the loudest, funniest coop game on PC by a wide margin. You drop onto planets as troopers of a satirical Super Earth, spread “managed democracy,” and kill your teammates with a stray orbital strike roughly once per mission. The live galactic war metagame gives every session a reason to matter beyond the immediate squad.
Where it falls short. Requires PSN linking, which caused a well-publicised regional mess at launch. The always-online design means solo play is possible but joyless.
Pricing. Paid, around $40. No free tier. Cheaper than Dednet is likely to be if PUBG follows its usual premium pricing.
Migrating from waiting for Dednet. Start on Medium difficulty and pick a stratagem loadout that includes at least one Eagle strike. The friendly-fire jokes write themselves.
Download. Steam
Bottom line. If Dednet nails its comedy tone, it will be aiming at what Helldivers 2 already hit.
Left 4 Dead 2
Valve’s 2009 zombie coop shooter refuses to die. The four-survivor formula, the AI Director, the versus mode, and a 15-year mod scene keep it near the top of Steam’s concurrent player charts most weekends. It is also the cheapest way to get four friends into a squad shooter for one evening.
Where it falls short. The base campaigns are old, and matchmaking outside peak hours can be thin without a full pre-made group.
Pricing. Paid, under $10, often under $5 on sale. No subscription, no live-service overhead.
Migrating from waiting for Dednet. Play the Dead Center campaign on Advanced. If the group clicks, install a mod pack and try a community campaign next.
Download. Steam
Bottom line. The blueprint every four-player coop shooter still cribs from, at a price that makes it a rounding error.
Payday 3
Starbreeze’s coop heist shooter is built entirely around the “coordinated squad, plan goes wrong” fantasy. You wear a clown mask, case a bank, and either pull off a clean stealth run or accept that someone triggered the alarm and now the SWAT team is arriving. Both outcomes are entertaining.
Where it falls short. The 2023 launch was rough, with matchmaking issues and a thin heist roster. Patches and content drops have improved things, but the game is still finding its footing versus Payday 2.
Pricing. Paid, around $40. Game Pass availability varies by region.
Migrating from waiting for Dednet. Run a low-difficulty stealth heist first to learn the systems, then switch to a loud run and let chaos take over.
Download. Steam
Bottom line. The best “the plan is falling apart” coop story generator on PC when it works.
Warhammer: Vermintide 2
Fatshark’s 2018 coop brawler is Left 4 Dead in a Warhammer Fantasy setting, with far more depth. Four heroes hack through hordes of Skaven ratmen and Chaos warriors using a mix of first-person melee and ranged weapons. The melee feels weighty in a way most shooters never bother with.
Where it falls short. The class and talent systems have grown into a maze, and new players can bounce off the difficulty curve without a veteran in the group.
Pricing. Paid, around $30, with several paid DLC careers and maps on top.
Migrating from waiting for Dednet. Pick a hero, run Recruit difficulty on Righteous Stand, and ignore the loadout theorycrafting until you have twenty missions in.
Download. Steam
Bottom line. The fantasy squad-shooter with the best melee combat on this list.
GTFO
10 Chambers’ 2021 coop dungeon crawler is the opposite of “beers with the boys,” which is exactly why it belongs here. It is what happens when squad coordination is not optional. Voice comms are mandatory, ammo is scarce, and one mistake ends the run.
Where it falls short. Genuinely hard, requires four committed players, and rewards planning over improvisation. Not the right pick for a casual pickup group.
Pricing. Paid, around $40. No microtransactions or season pass.
Migrating from waiting for Dednet. Do the tutorial as a full group of four before touching any expedition. Assign roles early. Whisper on comms.
Download. Steam
Bottom line. The counter-pick to Dednet’s casual pitch. Save it for the friend group that already treats squad play as a discipline.
Human Fall Flat
No Brakes Games’ 2016 physics platformer is on this list because sometimes the “hijinks” part is the whole point. Up to eight ragdoll characters flop through puzzle levels together, and the failure states are funnier than most scripted comedy in the genre.
Where it falls short. No combat, no progression, no stakes. The comedy is the entire game, so a group that wants any tactical layer will get bored fast.
Pricing. Paid, around $15. Regular deep discounts.
Migrating from waiting for Dednet. Skip solo play entirely. Load an eight-player lobby, pick the Aztec level, and watch what happens.
Download. Steam
Bottom line. The purest hijinks generator on Steam when aiming is off the menu.
How to choose
If the group wants the closest match to what Curd described in the Polygon interview, start with Deep Rock Galactic. It nails the squad-of-four cadence, keeps missions short enough for a school night, and the comedy is baked into the class kits rather than bolted on.
If the group already lives on Discord and treats friendly fire as content, pick Helldivers 2. It is louder, denser, and the live-service structure gives every weekend a reason to log in. Pair it with the mixed feelings about always-online design if that matters to your crew.
If the group is on a budget or has one holdout who refuses to spend more than a coffee on a game, Left 4 Dead 2 ends the debate. Four people can be playing within ten minutes for less than the cost of a pizza.
If the appeal of Dednet is the roleplay layer, the mask-and-crew fantasy, choose Payday 3. It is the only game on this list where a full-stealth run is possible and satisfying, and the loud-run pivot is its own genre of coop story.
If the group leans melee or the shooter genre is already burning them out, Vermintide 2 is the counterprogramming. It scratches the same squad itch with weight and heft that a rifle cannot deliver.
If the group takes coordination seriously and wants to be tested, GTFO is the one. It is not the beer-with-the-boys pick. It is the earn-your-beer-after-the-boys-clear-the-level pick.
If the group is genuinely there to laugh and shooting is optional, Human Fall Flat is the shortest path from “install” to “we are all crying.”
FAQ
When is PUBG: Dednet coming out? No release date has been announced. As of the Gamescom 2026 interview, Krafton has shown the game and confirmed the tone, but has not committed to a launch window.
Is PUBG: Dednet free-to-play? The business model has not been confirmed. The original PUBG is now free-to-play, but Krafton has said nothing definitive about Dednet’s pricing.
What is the best coop squad shooter on PC right now? For most groups, Deep Rock Galactic. It has the cleanest onboarding, active servers, ongoing content, and a comedy tone that matches what Dednet is pitching. Helldivers 2 is the strongest alternative if the group wants a louder, live-service feel.
Does Deep Rock Galactic have a beta or demo? No permanent demo, but Ghost Ship Games runs free weekends on Steam several times a year. It also appears on Game Pass in some regions.
Are any of these games cross-platform with console? Helldivers 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and Payday 3 have varying cross-play arrangements. Deep Rock Galactic supports cross-play across PC and Xbox. Check the current status on each store page before organising a mixed-platform night, since these arrangements change.
What if the group hates shooters entirely? Human Fall Flat is on this list for exactly that case. It captures the hijinks half of Curd’s pitch without asking anyone to aim.
