What Drunken Wrestlers is
Drunken Wrestlers is a minimalistic ragdoll fighting game made by Oleg Skutte in seven days for the NextCastle DevCup 2013 contest. It was built when the developer was 16, and it shows: the whole thing is a rough, physics-driven prototype rather than a finished fighting game. The developer says it is not a good game on its own, and that you should only play it if you are curious where Drunken Wrestlers 2 came from or feeling nostalgic. Treat it as a piece of history that explains the later game.
The matches are simple. You try to force your opponent to lose balance, or you inflict critical damage. A match goes to 5 wins, so rounds are short and you can jump straight back in.
Playing together
The game has an option to play together on one device, so a group can take turns or sit side by side and fight it out on the same screen. Remote Play Together is also listed as a Steam feature, which lets people join in over a connection. Either way, the setup is the same: pick it up, start a match, and see who can knock the other wrestler off balance first.
Because rounds only last until someone reaches 5 wins, it works well as a quick rotating thing between friends, where everyone gets a shot and the loser swaps out.
Before you start
Go in knowing what this is: a seven-day jam prototype that was pulled from Google Play Store and put on Steam mainly so some trace of it survives and so Drunken Wrestlers 2 has context. The developer points you toward Drunken Wrestlers 2 as the real game. Expect rough edges, minimal presentation, and physics-based ragdoll flailing rather than tight fighting mechanics.
The game carries a Gore tag alongside Funny, Casual, Simulation, Sports, Fighting and Local Multiplayer tags, so the ragdoll damage is part of the joke rather than something played straight. If you and your group want the polished version of this idea, Drunken Wrestlers 2 is where to look; this one is for the origin story.