If you’ve spent hours digging through Embervale’s biomes alone, you’ve probably wondered if teaming up with friends makes building bases, taking down shrouded bosses, and scavenging rare resources easier. The short answer is yes, but first you need to understand how does enshrouded coop work to avoid the frustrating bugs and progression missteps that trip up most new groups. I’ve logged over 120 hours of Enshrouded multiplayer with 3 to 4 player groups, so I’ve tested every edge case, from crossplay lobbies to shared quest progress, to break down exactly what you can expect when you play with others.
How Does Enshrouded Coop Work: Core System Basics
Enshrouded’s coop system runs on a peer-to-peer host model, which means one player acts as the server for the rest of the group. Sessions can support up to 16 players total, though most players stick to smaller groups of 2 to 4 for smoother performance and balanced difficulty. Only the host’s world progress is saved permanently, so guests will keep their personal character levels, skill points, and items they collect, but any changes to the base or world map only stay in the host’s save.
You don’t need to own paid DLC to join a host who has purchased additional content, either. I’ve joined friends’ worlds with the latest biome DLC even before I bought it, and I got full access to all new areas and items while I was in their session. The only catch is you can’t craft DLC-exclusive items in your own world until you purchase the content yourself, even if you collected the materials for them in a coop session.
Enemy difficulty scales automatically based on the number of players in the session, so you won’t face easy bosses just because you brought extra friends to the fight. I once brought 10 friends to a public lobby for a base building contest, and we quickly noticed that enemy health scaled so high that even basic shroud creatures took 10 hits each to take down, so we stuck to groups of 4 for actual progression after that.
Setting Up Your Enshrouded Coop Lobby Step by Step
Getting a coop lobby running takes less than 5 minutes if you follow the right steps. Start from the main menu, select “Multiplayer”, then choose either “Host New Game” to start a fresh coop world, or “Host Existing Save” if you want to bring your single player save into multiplayer. You can set the lobby to friends only, invite only, or public, but public lobbies carry a risk of random players joining and modifying your base without permission.
Crossplay is fully supported between PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, but you’ll need to link your platform account to a free Keen Games account first to connect with players on other systems. If you’re having trouble getting friends to join your lobby, try these quick fixes that resolve 90% of common setup issues:
We recommend sticking to invite-only lobbies if you’re building a permanent base you don’t want modified. You can adjust build permissions in the game settings later if you want to let specific players edit your base, but locking the lobby to invited friends only prevents any unexpected griefing from random players.
Shared Progression and Loot Rules for Enshrouded Multiplayer
One of the best parts of Enshrouded’s coop system is that you don’t have to sacrifice your personal progress to play with friends. Any levels, skill points, crafting recipes, or items you collect in a coop session will stay with your character when you go back to your single player save. Quests you complete in a host’s world will also count for your own save, as long as you meet the minimum level requirement for that quest line.
I tested this last month when I joined a friend’s world that had already unlocked the desert biome, which I hadn’t reached in my single player save. When I went back to my own world, all the quests I completed in their desert counted for my save, and I got to keep the rare sandstone I collected too, which saved me hours of grinding. The only thing that doesn’t carry over is world-specific progress, like unlocked fast travel points or base builds, since those are tied to the host’s save.
Loot is instanced for every player, so you never have to fight over rare drops. When you open a chest, defeat a boss, or harvest a resource node, each player gets their own separate set of items that no one else can access. You never have to compete with friends for rare crafting materials or legendary gear, since every player gets unique drops from every loot source. Playing with friends actually makes grinding for rare items faster, because you can split up to hit more resource nodes or bosses in the same amount of time, and share any extra materials you don’t need.
Common Enshrouded Coop Issues and How to Fix Them
Even with a stable connection, you might run into small bugs or issues during coop sessions. The most common one I’ve run into is desync, where you see enemies moving in slow motion, or building changes you make don’t show up for other players. The fastest fix for desync is to leave the lobby and rejoin, or ask the host to restart their game if the issue persists for everyone.
Rarely, players might lose items they collected during a coop session if they leave before the host’s game saves automatically. Always ask the host to manually save the world before anyone leaves the lobby to avoid losing rare loot or progression. You can manually save by opening the menu and selecting the save option, which only takes a few seconds.
If you’re dealing with unwanted base modifications from other players, you can adjust build and storage permissions in the game settings at any time. You can set it so only trusted players can edit your base, or even lock specific shared chests so only you can access them. Crossplay invite issues are also common, but usually fixed by adding your friend to your Keen Games friend list directly, instead of sending invites through your platform’s friend system.
Teaming up with friends in Enshrouded turns a fun survival crafting game into an even more engaging experience, as you can split up roles for building, combat, and resource gathering to progress far faster than you ever could alone. Taking the time to understand how does enshrouded coop work before you start your first multiplayer session will help you avoid most common frustrations, so you can spend more time exploring the shroud and building your dream base instead of troubleshooting connection issues. Even if you only play with one other friend, you’ll find that coop adds a whole new layer of fun to every part of Embervale.