Last updated: 5 September 2026

Grounded 2 Co-op Guide — How to Play With Friends in Brookhollow Park

Grounded 2 is designed to be played either solo or with up to three friends in optional co-op — no content is locked behind multiplayer, but the game scales to the group. Whether you want to split gathering duties, tackle tougher creatures together, or just explore Brookhollow Park with friends, the co-op setup takes a few minutes to get right. This guide covers hosting, joining, crossplay setup, Shared World, and tips for playing together efficiently.

01How to Host a Co-op Session

Hosting is straightforward from the main menu. Your world save is stored on your device (or cloud save) and you run the session — friends join your instance.

• From the Main Menu, select Multiplayer.
• Choose Host Online Game.
• Select Continue Existing Save to play your current world, or New Game to start fresh with friends.
• Set your session visibility: Friends Only (recommended), or Public (anyone can find and join your session from the server list).
• Optionally enable Shared World (see below for what this does).
• The game loads and friends can join from their own Multiplayer menu or via a direct platform invite.

The host's world progress, structures, and resources are what the session uses. Guest players' personal progress (character gear, story flags) does carry over when they leave — but changes to the world are saved to the host's file only.

02How to Join a Friend's Session

Joining is equally simple, but there are two methods depending on how the host set up the session:

• Server List: Main Menu → Multiplayer → Join Online Game. The list shows available Friends Only and Public sessions. Find your friend's session and join directly.
• Direct Invite: If the host's session doesn't appear in the list (network or visibility settings), ask them to send a platform invite (Xbox friends list or Steam overlay friend invite). Accepting the invite joins the session immediately, bypassing the server list.

If you consistently can't see a friend's session in the list, the direct invite method is more reliable. NAT type mismatches between networks are the most common cause of sessions not appearing publicly.

Important: Make sure you and the host are running the same game version. Version mismatches (one player on an older build) prevent joining and can cause unexpected disconnections. Update Grounded 2 before attempting to join any session after a new patch.

03Shared World — What It Is and When to Use It

The Shared World option (set when hosting) changes the access rules for the save file:

• Standard World (Shared World OFF): Only the host can start the session. If the host is offline, no one can access the world — friends can't play it without them.
• Shared World (ON): Any player who has been added as a Shared World member can start and host the session themselves, even when the original creator is offline. This is ideal for friend groups with different play schedules.

To add someone as a Shared World member, open the save file's sharing options from the main menu and select them from your friends list — no need for them to have joined a session first. Use Shared World if your co-op group wants to play independently between sessions — it avoids one player becoming a bottleneck for the entire group's progress.

Two caveats worth knowing: you still need an internet connection to play a Shared World, even if you're playing solo — it isn't a fully offline save. And Shared World syncs progress between sessions, not in real time across simultaneous sessions, so avoid having two members host the same save at once — play one session at a time to prevent progress conflicts.

04Crossplay — PC and Xbox Together

Grounded 2 supports crossplay between PC (Xbox App) and Xbox Series X/S automatically — no setup needed. However, Steam and PS5 players each require a one-time manual crossplay setup, since cross-platform identity across all three platforms is tied to a linked Microsoft account and shared Xbox Gamertag.

Steam crossplay setup (one-time):

• On the Grounded 2 main menu, press F1 to open the crossplay menu.
• Follow the on-screen instructions to link your Steam account to a Microsoft account.
• Once linked, you appear in the Xbox friends network and can invite/join Xbox and PC Game Pass players normally.
• Crossplay is on by default once linked; you can toggle it off from the same F1 menu if you prefer Steam-only sessions.

PS5 crossplay setup (one-time): Grounded 2 launched on PlayStation 5 in Early Access on August 11, 2026, as part of the Into the Abyss update, and PS5 players can now play with Xbox and PC players.

• From the Grounded 2 main menu on PS5, select Link Microsoft Account.
• Sign in with a Microsoft account using the pairing code or QR code shown on screen.
• Once linked, your Xbox Gamertag appears in-game — that Gamertag, not your PSN friends list, is your shared identity for crossplay invites and sessions across PS5, Xbox, and PC.

No splitscreen: Grounded 2 does not support local splitscreen co-op. All multiplayer is online only.

05Co-op Gameplay Tips — Playing Together Efficiently

Grounded 2's co-op is genuinely better than solo for certain tasks and roughly equivalent for others. Here's how to use the group effectively:

• Divide and conquer resource gathering. One player chops grass while another scans materials at a Resource Analyzer (inside a Ranger Outpost) and a third scouts a new area. This is far more efficient than everyone doing the same task.
• Assign a dedicated builder. Base construction in co-op can get messy if everyone tries to place tiles simultaneously. One player placing, others hauling materials on Buggies, produces a clean base faster.
• Boss and creature encounters scale with player count. Tougher creatures have more HP in multiplayer — a solo Wolf Spider fight is easier than a 4-player Wolf Spider fight. Don't assume co-op means free kills on dangerous enemies.
• Share scanning duties. Each player should scan different items so the group unlocks more recipes faster. When one player scans a new material, the recipe unlock is shared session-wide.
• Use the Buggy relay. One player on a Buggy can haul materials from distant resource nodes while another defends the base or continues crafting — the logistics advantage of the Buggy multiplies significantly in a group.
• Keep everyone on the same version. One player lagging behind on updates causes session join failures. If someone can't connect after a patch, check their game version first.

06Guest Progress — What Carries Over

Understanding what saves for guests versus the host is important to avoid confusion after a session ends:

• Host's world: All structural changes (base building, item placement, resource depletion) save to the host's world file. These persist for the next session.
• Guest character progress: Each guest player's personal character — inventory, equipped gear, unlocked mutations, and individual story flags — saves to their own profile and carries over when they join other sessions.
• Guest Raw Science and crafting unlocks: These save to the individual player's profile, not the host's world. A guest who unlocks a recipe in your session has it permanently in their own game.
• What guests lose: Any resources dropped in the world, structures they built, or items left in storage chests stay in the host's world — guests can't take them to a different session.

If you're a guest planning to transition to your own solo world after a co-op session, make sure to carry your key resources in your personal inventory when you leave — items in the host's storage stay in the host's world.