Pid is a puzzle-platform adventure about a boy named Kurt trying to get home after he becomes stranded on an unfamiliar planet. You and a friend can play through its levels together in two-player local co-op: one of you controls Kurt and the other plays as Audrey, a small robot. Each player can place one gravity beam at a time, so the two of you build routes through the same platforming puzzles, hazards, and robot encounters. There is no native online multiplayer, though Steam Remote Play Together can stream the local mode from one player’s computer to a friend.
A planet where gravity becomes a tool
Kurt’s trip home runs through a dreamlike place full of eccentric robots, odd machinery, quiet streets, and buildings that look a little out of scale. The soft colors and hazy lighting give the levels a storybook feel, while hazards make the route anything but gentle. A room might start as a simple gap with a few platforms, then add a patrol robot, moving machinery, or a camera whose sightline turns the crossing into a timing puzzle.
The gravity beam is the game’s main trick. Kurt throws a small orb that creates a column of force: place it below a character and it lifts them upward; place one beside a surface and it can redirect movement across or around an obstacle. Beams can also affect objects and enemies, shift security cameras, carry bombs, and open unusual paths. They last only briefly, so a placement is less like building a permanent bridge and more like setting up a short, moving lift at the right moment.
In single-player, Kurt can keep two beams active. Co-op changes that limit: each player can have only one beam on screen at a time. That makes the mode more than a second character running alongside the first. A route that one player could make alone with two placements may require both players to contribute. One beam can lift a friend toward a ledge while the other creates a diagonal push or pulls an object into reach. You can also place a beam to affect a shared enemy or move a bomb toward a target.
The same shared space makes coordination imperfect in a useful way. A beam can help your partner climb, but a badly timed lift can send them into a hazard or move an enemy into their path. Reviews of the co-op mode describe the interaction as capable of helping or hindering the other player. The game does not lock each person into a separate class or ability tree; the distinction comes from the fact that both players control a character and place their own single beam. You are solving the same physical puzzle from two positions, and the result depends on how your placements interact.
Build a route through each room
Most of Pid’s progress comes from crossing a succession of compact rooms and larger level areas. You jump between ledges, ride moving platforms, pass through hazards, and work out how the beam changes what is reachable. Some spaces ask for a quick lift over spikes; others use a moving object, a patrol route, or an enemy’s position as part of the puzzle. The solution is often visible in the arrangement, but carrying it out can take careful movement and timing.
Co-op gives these spaces a second moving character and a second beam, which can open a different line through the same obstacle. One player might reach a safe platform and set up the next lift while the other is still crossing below. In another room, a beam that shifts a camera or moves an object can make room for both players to pass. The game’s puzzles are not built around fixed jobs such as a permanent “builder” and “scout”; each player has the same basic tool, and the level determines when two placements matter.
That freedom also means co-op is not automatically easier. The game’s movement and beam placement are precise, and a mistake can cost a life or send both players back to a checkpoint. One player may be lining up a jump while the other’s beam changes the available lift. A narrow platform can become a bottleneck when both characters need to cross it. You can make a careful route together, but the second player adds another source of motion to a game already built around timing.
Pid is a platform game first, so the two of you are not managing a shared base, selecting character builds, or dividing a roster of combat roles. The cooperation is immediate and physical: each player moves, jumps, and places a temporary gravity field. That makes the mode easy to understand once the first beam appears, while still giving you room to experiment with a puzzle. A placement can be useful for traversal, redirecting an enemy, or moving something else in the room; there is rarely a separate co-op objective screen to manage.
Robots, stealth, and bigger encounters
The planet’s robots turn some rooms into stealth puzzles. Security machines patrol or sweep a bright cone of vision across the platforms. If Kurt is spotted or touched, you can be sent back to the previous checkpoint. Beams let you rise above a patrol, travel around a sightline, or manipulate what an enemy sees. In co-op, the two characters can be at different points in the room, so one person’s movement may draw attention while the other’s beam creates a way past the robot.
Other encounters mix platforming with combat. Kurt carries a backpack for tools and items found along the way, and the game introduces things such as bombs, timed bombs, smoke bombs, slingshots, and protective gear. Stars gathered in levels act as currency for items sold by vending machines. The slingshot can send a gravity orb toward a surface that is otherwise too far away, extending the beam puzzle beyond the next ledge. Bombs and other tools can change how you handle enemies and obstacles, while protective items offer a buffer against damage.
These tools add options, but the basic movement remains central. The beam can lift a player through a gap, move a bomb, or help place a shot; it does not turn the game into a run-and-gun action platformer. Many enemies are obstacles to outmaneuver as much as targets to defeat. The game also uses bosses to cap parts of the journey, and these battles ask for repeated jumps, beam placements, and attacks around large enemies. A friend can contribute another beam and another character, but the encounters still use the same demanding platforming that appears elsewhere.
The challenge is one of Pid’s clearest fit factors. Several reviews praise the inventive gravity puzzles and visual presentation while also criticizing the game’s controls, difficulty spikes, and boss fights. Co-op adds another set of hands and another beam, but it does not remove the need for careful jumps or make every boss straightforward. If you and your friend enjoy platformers where a failed attempt sends you back to try a room again, that retry loop is part of the experience. If you are looking for a gentle puzzle stroll with little risk of falling or restarting, the game’s demanding sections may feel like a mismatch.
Progress through a strange, changing world
The story follows Kurt from one area of the planet toward a way home. The path moves through varied spaces, including industrial machinery, strange homes, city streets, and rooms with a theatrical or dreamlike look. Locales introduce new visual arrangements and enemy types, while the familiar core remains jumping, avoiding danger, collecting stars, and using the beam to reach the next exit. You and your friend can keep moving through the adventure as a pair rather than switching between a set of discrete co-op missions.
Exploration gives the levels some extra texture. Stars, useful items, and hidden routes can sit above the obvious path or behind a puzzle. A collectible may encourage you to try a less direct beam placement or get past a patrol without touching it. The backpack keeps found tools available, while the currency creates a small choice about what to spend before a difficult stretch. Those pickups support the platforming rather than changing into a long-term character progression system: the main difference between one part of the adventure and the next is the room design and the challenges inside it.
The atmosphere does a lot of the work between those challenges. Robots, strange signs, unusual props, and quiet stretches make the planet feel more like an illustrated fable than a conventional sci-fi battlefield. Music shifts between jaunty and more subdued passages, and the levels use color and lighting to distinguish one setting from another. The presentation is a strong part of the appeal, but it sits alongside a game that asks for patience. The story is told lightly through the journey and its characters rather than through long dialogue scenes.
Pid’s replay value comes mainly from revisiting its platforming and finding collectibles, not from branching missions or persistent co-op unlocks. A harder difficulty becomes available after you finish the game. Your friend is there to share the same traversal and puzzle-solving, but the game does not advertise a separate co-op campaign, online progression, or player-versus-player mode. Think of it as a two-person way through Kurt’s adventure, with a shared screen and a second beam that changes how each room can be crossed.
What your group needs
The built-in co-op is a two-player local mode on one computer with a shared screen. Steam Remote Play Together can stream supported local multiplayer to a friend: one player launches Pid and invites the other through Steam, so you join the host’s local session instead of a native online lobby. A steady connection helps with streaming. It is still the same two-player local mode, not a separate online campaign.
Pid is available for Windows and macOS with full controller support. The default keyboard layout can feel awkward, but you can change the bindings. Local play uses a shared screen, so both characters stay in the same room rather than separate worlds. A player cannot join or leave a co-op session after it starts.
Pid is at its best for friends who want a compact two-player platform adventure centered on one unusual tool. Its beams give both players a way to shape the route, and the same ability can make the other person’s crossing easier or more dangerous. There are no online lobbies to fill and no long-term builds to maintain; you share the adventure in local co-op or stream that local session with Steam Remote Play Together. The tradeoff is that the beam puzzles sit inside a challenging platformer, with strict timing and difficult encounters that can test your patience as much as your ideas.