WheelMates
A 2-player co-op driving adventure about RC cars the size of your hand, lost inside a professor's house. You and one friend roll, push, and fall off furniture together. It went live on Steam on September 1, 2026 for $19.99. The 10% launch discount ran through launch week and has ended. Friend's Pass means the second player doesn't pay.
What you're actually doing
The setup is that a professor has disappeared from his home, and the house itself has become the level. Both players drive tiny RC cars with the same clumsy physics a real RC car has: tight turning radius, zero grip when you floor it, easy to flip over if you take a corner at speed. The two cars have to coordinate because most puzzles in the trailer need a button pressed on one end and a panel opened on the other, and you're never in the same room as your partner for more than a few seconds at a time.
The co-op design is closer to It Takes Two than to a racing game, even though the box says Racing. The Steam page lists Adventure and Indie first and Racing third, and that's the order it actually plays in. YouTube is full of \"this is not a racing game\" comments from people who read the store tags and expected something else. There's a launch trailer and a separate gameplay trailer, both on the Steam page; the gameplay one is more representative of what the first hour feels like.
Firevolt is the developer and the publisher. The studio is small, the credits list a single lead programmer, and the dev team has been posting launch-week patch notes to the Steam community hub, including a hotfix for a login issue that kept some players from getting into the game on day one and a second hotfix for progression and co-op bugs. That's a normal launch for an indie of this size, and worth flagging because the patches landed within 48 hours of release.
What's in the house
The game is set in a single large environment — a researcher's home that's been turned into a maze of test chambers. The Steam page calls out specific rooms and puzzles without spoiling the order:
The Laboratory
The main hub and the first room you'll spend time in. Connects to the rest of the house through vents, drawers, and at least one bookshelf that turns out to be a door. The central puzzle here is learning how the two cars work together, and the level is forgiving enough that you can fail repeatedly without it being frustrating.
The Living Room
A larger open space with furniture acting as ramps, walls, and obstacles. This is where the RC physics start to matter because the floor is uneven, the couch is a mountain, and the coffee table is a checkpoint. Co-op is essential here — one car holds a switch down while the other races across a section that's only open while the switch is held.
The Library / Office
Where the story fragments live. Books scattered around the room are readable; some are story, some are flavor, a few are red herrings. The narrative is told through notes and short voice clips, and the pacing leans on exploration more than dialogue.
The Workshop
The hardest room in the early game. The puzzles here chain three or four steps together, and getting one wrong resets the whole sequence. Expect to retry sections until you and your partner have a clean callout system for who's holding what.
The Steam page hints at more rooms beyond these. Players who've cleared the launch build report a 4-6 hour main story with some collectible-style extras that push the run to 8+ hours if you go for everything.
Launch price and Friend's Pass
The standard price is $19.99; the 10% launch discount dropped it to $17.99 during launch week and has since ended. Friend's Pass is a separate, free download on Steam. Player 1 buys the full game; Player 2 downloads the Friend's Pass version, the two invite each other, and they play the entire game together. There's no recurring fee, no subscription, no time limit on the pass.
This is the same model Sackboy: A Big Adventure, A Way Out, and It Takes Two have used, and it works well for a 2-player-only co-op game. You can bring a friend in who wasn't planning to buy the game, and if they like it they can pick up a copy later. The Friend's Pass player doesn't keep any progression after the session ends; the host's save is the one that matters.
Steam price checked Sep 21, 2026: $19.99 full price. The launch discount (-10%, $17.99) has ended.
How co-op actually works
Three co-op modes are listed on the Steam page, and they all work differently.
- Online co-op: the standard mode. Both players on their own PCs, voice chat through Discord or whatever you already use. This is how most people will play, especially in the first week.
- Shared/Split Screen co-op: both players on one PC, one screen, two windows. Works with controllers and keyboard+mouse. Good for two people on a couch with a Steam Deck or a TV-connected PC.
- Shared/Split Screen: a single-player split-screen mode that's also listed, more for testing the game than playing it long-term.
Controller support is full — DualShock, DualSense, and the standard Steam Input layer all work. Steam Achievements are supported. There's no online PvP, no async play, no shared-progression. It's two players in the same session, working through the same puzzles, for the length of the game.
Launch week, in real terms
Day one had a login bug that locked a chunk of players out of online co-op. The dev posted a hotfix to the Steam News hub the same day (Sept 1). A second hotfix the next day addressed progression and co-op bugs that were blocking some players in the second room. Both fixes are documented in the Steam News feed on the game's store page.
This is normal for a small studio shipping its first major co-op title. The dev team is responsive on the Steam community hub, the bug reports are being acknowledged by name, and the patches are landing within 24-48 hours. If you're buying the game in the first week and hit a bug, check the News tab on the store page first — there's a decent chance a fix is already queued or live.
Should you buy it
It's a co-op game for exactly two people, and that's the whole pitch. If you have a regular co-op partner, the Friend's Pass model means the second person pays nothing, and at $19.99 for the host that's still a cheap night or weekend. The puzzle design leans on communication more than twitch skill, so it works for non-gamer partners. The launch patches show the dev is on top of day-one bugs.
It's a hard pass if you mostly play solo — the game is built for two, and the Steam page doesn't list a meaningful single-player mode. It's also a pass if you wanted a racing game: the Racing tag is the studio covering itself for the RC car physics, but you won't find tracks, laps, or leaderboards. If you came in looking for that, you'll bounce off in 20 minutes. If you came in looking for a small, friendly co-op adventure to play through with one other person, this is exactly that.
Quick facts
- Released: September 1, 2026 on Steam (PC)
- Developer / Publisher: Firevolt (both)
- Price: $19.99 USD (the 10% launch discount has ended)
- Players: Exactly 2, online or split-screen co-op
- Friend's Pass: Yes, free for player 2
- Length: ~4-6 hours main story, longer for collectibles
- Controller support: Full controller, DualSense, Steam Input
- Languages: Interface and subtitles in English; check the Steam page for the current full list
FAQ
- Is there a single-player mode? The Steam page doesn't list one as a feature. The game is built around two-player co-op. You can technically run split-screen solo, but the puzzles are tuned for two people and most of them require it.
- Does Friend's Pass work for online co-op or only split-screen? Online. The Friend's Pass player downloads a free build, the host invites them, and they play the full game together over the internet. Split-screen is a separate option that doesn't need Friend's Pass.
- Does it work on Mac, Linux, or Steam Deck? The Steam page lists Windows. Steam Deck compatibility isn't verified at launch; the store page should show the Deck Verified badge once the studio submits it for review. Check the page before buying on Deck.
- Will there be a console version? Not announced. The PlayStation Blog post about WheelMates (in the dev's marketing) was a launch announcement, not a port announcement. For now, Steam only.
- How long is the game? About 4-6 hours for the main story if you don't get stuck. Add 2-4 hours if you go for the optional collectibles. The game is one playthrough; there's no New Game+ or chapter select.
- Are there microtransactions? No. The price is the price. The launch discount is the launch discount. There is no in-game store.
The official launch trailer is on the WheelMates Steam store page. If you want to see what the puzzles actually look like, the Gameplay Trailer (also on the store page) is more useful than the Launch Trailer — it shows two players working through a room together, which is closer to the real experience.