Co-op for up to 8 players

Play solo, or share one Dark Forest with up to 7 friends. That is 8 players. The store page says it twice, once as "up to 8 players" and once as "up to 7 friends," and the 14 October announcement says a group of 8. Fireshine's post says you and up to seven other friends. The numbers match. It is co-op PvE. There is no PvP mode on the store page.

What co-op is for

The store pitch is a shared wilderness. You gather, craft, climb and build a home, and you meet Väsen who may sit by the fire or attack. In Early Access the plan includes calming them or offering something so they might live with you. In the playtest that befriend path is off, so a co-op group should not build its night around taming. Use the group for shelter, hauling and not losing each other in the canopy.

The forest is procedural, and the scale is a 10-centimeter gnome. A partner one tree away is out of easy sight. An official screenshot labels Whistle on Z. That is the call button while rebinding is disabled. Agree before you launch that Z means "I am on this trunk." Controls has the rest of the printed hotbar.

Who should host

The 12 November post lists host performance with many clients as a known issue, plus desync and failed connections. Put the recommended PC in the host seat if you have one. The system requirements recommended column is Windows 11, 32 GB of RAM and an RTX 3060-class GPU. A minimum-spec host with seven clients is the case the studio already flagged.

Start at two players. Add people after a save and a reconnect both work. A full group of 8 is the cap, not the recommended first night. If the host and a client see different stones on the same ground, that is the desync the studio described on known issues. Capture it and keep playing the host's version of the terrain rather than arguing the client into a ditch.

Invites in the playtest

On 10 November, invited players in the closed test could bring up to 3 friends. That sentence was about the closed wave. The 12 November open post did not repeat a 3-friend cap. The game's own group size remains 8. Get each person into the playtest from join the playtest on their own Steam account, then gather in one world.

You need a connection for online co-op. The spec sheet lists broadband on both columns. Solo offline is a separate promise, covered on solo and offline. Do not expect a dropped host to become a local split-screen session. Split-screen is not listed. The categories are single-player, multi-player, co-op and online co-op.

What not to do in a group

Do not quit while the game is saving. The studio says that can strip the textures off your character in that save. In a group, the host should say when the save has finished, and everyone should leave after that. Saves is the short version.

Do not stand inside a fight between Väsen to see if a gift works. Befriending is removed in this build, and the beings may fight more than they should, including each other. Give them space and build the shelter on building.

Verdict: Co-op is the right way to play once one person has survived a solo hour. Keep the first group at two or three, put the strongest PC in the host seat, and save the full group of 8 for a night when joins are already stable.

FAQ