Getting four people into a session
Four ways, and the newest one changes the game for anyone without a standing group.
- “Public servers are now available to join via an in-game browser.”
- “Added support for password protected servers.”
- “The friends only and invite only privacy mode now allows for friends of anyone in the server to join, not just the host.”
That last line is the one groups miss. Friends-only used to mean the host’s friends. Now anyone in the session can pull in their own, so four people can assemble through two who have never met. If you have been struggling to fill a lobby, that is the setting to revisit.
Full breakdown of the options on the player count page.
Host controls worth turning on
- “Added multiplayer settings for lobby privacy and max player count.”
- “Added a view lobby menu where you can adjust player mic volume and kick / ban players.”
Per-player mic volume is the underrated one. This is a game where sound is the enemy’s detection system, and a group that cannot hear each other over one hot mic is a group that walks into things.
The player cap is worth setting deliberately too — a three-player run is quieter than a four-player one, and quiet is the whole currency here.
Division of labour that actually works
Community Not an official system, just the shape good groups converge on:
- One person banks. Loot in the elevator is safe; loot in hands is a bet. Someone should be making trips rather than everyone hoarding. See scrap or grind for what is worth the trip.
- Somebody else is the noise. The Corrupted hunt by sound and react to each other — which cuts both ways. Noise you make on purpose, somewhere you are not, is the closest thing this game has to crowd control.
- Scout as a Spark, not as a body. An unoccupied vessel is not a target, so the cheapest reconnaissance in the game is leaving your body somewhere safe and floating ahead. How the Spark works.
- Nobody fights what they can walk away from. Stamina runs out for you and not for them.
Whose Outpost are you playing?
Community Progression follows the host. Join someone else’s session and you are advancing their Outpost, not yours — your unlocks do not travel with you, and a host further behind you will show you doors you had already opened.
This is the single most common source of “my floor 2 disappeared” confusion, which the floor 2 page covers in full. Decide whose save the group is building before the first run rather than after the third.
When someone drops out
“Fixed an issue where the items owned by a client gets destroyed when they leave the game. They should now either be dropped on the ground or moved to the lost and found crate.”
Before 1.04 a disconnect took their carry with it. Now it lands on the floor or in the lost and found crate — so if a friend drops mid-run, the haul is recoverable. Check the crate before you write it off.
What is still coming
“We’re currently testing a public lobby browser, alongside improvements to the way friends can join a session.” The studio also says it is “working on more tools to help hosts manage their sessions.”
So the multiplayer layer is actively moving. Anything you read about GRAIN ROT co-op written before 12 August is describing a different game in this respect — including, until recently, most of the internet. The roadmap has what else is planned.