Multiplayer and split-screen
Airframe Ultra has online PvP, online co-op, split-screen PvP and split-screen co-op — Steam lists all four. It has no Single-player category and no offline mode. Bots are contested: one review says yes, hub threads say no, Steam lists no bot flag.
Airframe Ultra is a multiplayer game in every mode it ships. Steam's category list is unusually complete on this point, and reading it carefully answers most of the questions people have before buying.
The category list, verbatim
Steam lists fifteen categories for this game:
| Category | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Multi-player | The game's default mode |
| PvP | Players fight players |
| Online PvP | Over the internet |
| Shared/Split Screen PvP | Two or more on one machine, versus |
| Co-op | Players cooperate |
| Online Co-op | Over the internet |
| Shared/Split Screen Co-op | On one machine, cooperating |
| Shared/Split Screen | Local multi-screen support |
| Steam Achievements | 21 achievements, listed on our achievements page |
| Full controller support | Every action is bound to a pad |
| Custom Volume Controls | Per-channel volume sliders |
| Gamepad Recommended | The store's own recommendation |
| Keyboard Only Option | Playable without a pad |
| Playable without Timed Input | No input-timing requirement to progress |
| Family Sharing | Steam family library sharing works |
There is no Single-player category. That absence is the whole argument you will see on the Steam hub this week, and it is covered properly on the no single-player page.
Online play
Online PvP and online co-op are both supported. The 3 November launch coverage notes that the studio prioritised a short path from menu to race, which matters more in a multiplayer game than it sounds: matchmaking that takes two minutes kills a ten-minute session.
One reviewer's concern is worth quoting because it is the structural risk of any small multiplayer game: long-term appeal depends on whether the community can keep the tracks populated. On 7 November, Steam's public player count API reported 230 players online. That is a real number from Steam's own endpoint, not an estimate, and it is the number to watch if you care about queue times.
Local split-screen
Shared/Split Screen appears four times in the category list — PvP, co-op, and the general row — which is Steam being thorough about a feature the developers clearly care about. The Couch Co-op Chaos pillar is explicit that local play comes first: "We'll always prioritize the couch co-op experience over the competitive one. Who wins is secondary to crazy, chaotic plays."
| Local mode | Confirmed by |
|---|---|
| Split-screen PvP | Shared/Split Screen PvP category |
| Split-screen co-op | Shared/Split Screen Co-op category |
| Simultaneous local players | Shared/Split Screen category |
How many players fit on one screen is not stated in the official material. Steam's categories confirm the feature, not the count.
What is not in the game
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| Single-player campaign | Not present; no Single-player category |
| Offline play | Not supported — the game is online-first |
| Bot matches | Steam hub reports from launch week say there are none; one launch-week review mentions bots. The two conflict and the store lists no bot category |
| Cross-platform play | Not listed in Steam's categories |
| Remote Play Together | Not listed in Steam's categories for this app |
The bot question is the one where sources disagree, and it is worth being precise: the Russian launch review says the available modes are online, local split-screen and bots. Steam hub threads from 5–7 November include "No bots on a 'Single Player' racing game!!!!????" and "Not buying until there are bots and singleplayer". Those two cannot both be right. The store page itself lists neither Single-player nor a bot category.
Why online-first is a design choice, not an omission
The 3 November post frames it as a deliberate staging decision: "This initial Airframe 1.0 focuses on establishing the fundamentals of the game in a way that (we hope) will break in the fewest amount of ways, be a great introduction to the game for new players and still have fun even for the grizzled veteran Airframe beta 1 warriors."
A studio moving from a 2D single-player platformer to a 3D online racer with matchmaking, lobbies, progression and a shop is building four systems it has never built before. Shipping those first and the content later is a defensible order, and the launch-week complaints are the price of it.
Practical setup notes
- Two controllers for split-screen. Full controller support plus Gamepad Recommended means the local mode assumes pads.
- Broadband required. The system requirements list "Network: Broadband Internet connection" for both minimum and recommended.
- 1 GB install. Small enough that a second machine on the LAN is not a burden.
- Family Sharing works, so a second account on the same machine can play the same copy, subject to Steam's usual one-at-a-time rule.
If you are buying specifically for couch play, the is it worth it page weighs the split-screen case against the price, and the controls page covers what the pad mapping actually needs to do.