If you’ve spent hours grinding for flame altar upgrades alone or getting swarmed by shrouded mobs in a dark valley, you already know Enshrouded is exponentially more fun with a crew. That’s why so many new players search for how to play with friends enshrouded right after they boot up their first save – the game’s co-op features aren’t always immediately obvious, and connection snags can derail a planned play session fast. I’ve put over 80 hours into co-op runs with 3 of my closest friends, working through every bug, sync issue, and argument over base design you can imagine. This guide breaks down everything you need to know to get your group connected and playing smoothly, no technical expertise required.
How to Play with Friends in Enshrouded: Full Setup Walkthrough
The process to get a co-op lobby up and running is actually pretty simple once you know where to look. First, the player who wants to host the world will need to either load an existing single-player save or create a new one. Co-op is enabled by default for all new saves, but you can double check by opening the settings menu and navigating to the multiplayer tab to confirm your lobby visibility is set to friends only, or public if you want to let random players join too.
Once the host is loaded into the world, they just need to open the pause menu and select the “Invite Friends” option to send invites directly through their platform’s overlay. If you’re playing across PC, PlayStation, or Xbox, you’ll need to take one extra step first. Important note for crossplay users: You need to link your Keen Games account across all platforms to send and receive invites between different devices. You can do this through the in-game account menu in less than a minute.
If you’re the player joining a friend’s world, you don’t have to worry about losing your existing progress. All of your character’s skill points, unlocked recipes, and gear carry over between worlds, so you can jump between your own save and a friend’s whenever you want. Up to 16 players can join a single lobby, though most casual groups find 2-4 players is the sweet spot for balanced progression and minimal lag. Once you’ve got the basic setup down, you’ll never want to go back to solo play now that you know how to play with friends enshrouded.
Common Co-op Issues and Quick Fixes
Even with the right setup, you’ll probably run into a few hiccups when you first start playing co-op. Most of these issues have super simple fixes you can implement in 30 seconds or less, no restart required. The most common complaint I hear is invites not showing up for friends. If that happens, first confirm all players have the latest game patch installed – even a small version mismatch will block invites. If that doesn’t work, have the host share their 6-digit lobby code, and you can join directly by typing the code into the multiplayer browser.
Sync issues are another frequent headache, especially when multiple people are building at the same base. If you place a wall or chest and it disappears for other players on the server, just have the host fast travel to a nearby flame altar and back. That resets the local world sync for all connected players, and all your builds will show up correctly. If you keep getting kicked from lobbies repeatedly, check that your firewall isn’t blocking Enshrouded’s network access, especially if you’re playing on PC.
Before you start any co-op session, run through this quick checklist to avoid most common problems before they pop up:
- All players have installed the latest Enshrouded patch and have no pending platform updates
- The host has a minimum of 5 Mbps upload speed per connected player to avoid lag during exploration or boss fights
- Every player has linked their Keen Games account if playing across different platforms
- Your group has agreed on a shared base location before starting to avoid conflicting build projects later
For issues with quest progress not syncing across players, just have the group stick together when turning in main quest objectives. Only the host’s world quest progress counts, so if you unlock a new flame altar level when playing alone on your own save, that progress won’t carry over to a friend’s world.
Pro Tips for Enjoyable Co-op Gameplay
Once you’ve got your lobby running smoothly, there are a few small changes you can make to your group play that will make your runs way more fun and way less frustrating. First, split roles based on your class specializations. If one player is specced into the mage tree for group healing, another into warrior for tanking boss damage, another into ranger for long-range mob clearing, and another into the survival tree for building and resource farming, you’ll progress twice as fast as a group where everyone is running the same generic build.
Set up shared storage chests at your main base, and label them clearly for different resource types. Nothing kills a play session faster than a fight over who hoarded all the iron ore needed to upgrade everyone’s weapons. You can also set aside private chests for each player if they want to keep rare items for their own builds. Assign one player to track main quest progression, so you don’t accidentally skip key story beats that unlock important upgrades like higher flame altar levels or new craftable gear.
You don’t have to stick together 24/7 either. One of the best parts of Enshrouded’s co-op design is that players can split off to do separate activities whenever they want. If one person wants to work on expanding the base while another explores a new shroud zone and a third farms cotton for new armor, you can all do your own thing and meet back up later to take on a boss. Just make sure everyone sets a shared respawn point at the nearest flame altar if you’re planning to take on a tough fight, so you don’t have to run 10 minutes back to the boss arena if you die.
Dedicated Servers vs Peer-to-Peer Co-op: Which Is Right For Your Group?
Most new groups start with the default peer-to-peer co-op setup, where one player hosts the world on their own device. This option is totally free, takes 10 seconds to set up, and works perfectly for small groups of 2-4 players who only play at the same time. The big downside of peer-to-peer is that the world is only accessible when the host is online. If the host can’t make a play session, no one else can log in to build, farm resources, or progress side quests.
Dedicated servers are the alternative, and they’re a great pick for larger or more active groups. These servers run 24/7, so anyone can log in whenever they have time, even if no other players are online. They also support up to 16 players at once, and have way less lag than peer-to-peer lobbies, even if half the group is exploring different parts of the map at the same time. The only downsides are that you’ll either have to pay a small monthly fee for a third-party server host, or run the server on a separate device you own at home, which takes a tiny bit of technical setup. If your group plays 3+ times a week and has more than 4 regular players, a dedicated server is almost always worth the small monthly cost.
You can test both options out to see what works for your group. Most third-party server hosts offer 24-hour free trials, so you can test a dedicated server for a weekend before you commit to paying for it. If you only play once a week with a single friend, peer-to-peer will work perfectly for you, no extra cost required.
At the end of the day, figuring out how to play with friends enshrouded doesn’t have to be a headache, even if you run into a few connection snags at first. Some of my favorite gaming memories from the past year are from my group’s Enshrouded co-op run, from finally beating the Warden boss on our fourth try to building a giant castle on top of a mountain overlooking the entire shrouded valley. Try out the tips and fixes in this guide for your next play session, and you’ll be exploring and building with your crew without any issues. If you have a favorite co-op hack that works for your group, drop it in the comments below to help other players out.