How to play local co-op and multiplayer in Minecraft Dungeons

Minecraft Dungeons was a game designed for players to jump into a dungeon crawling adventure with their friends. You can choose to play them online or in a local setting from the hardware options available to you. Those who play a local co-op game of Minecraft Dungeons won’t have split-screen, but you will share a single screen during your adventure. If you are playing an online multiplayer game, you do not share the screen and can run away from your other players in your party.

Online Multiplayer

To start an online multiplayer game with your friends, both of you need to have access to Minecraft Dungeons and to be on the same console. When you are both online, you do need to be friends to play a game together, so make sure you are on each other’s friends list. After that, one of you can start a game and make your way through the tutorial. When you gain access to the camp area, you can send an invite to your friends or join you if you have an open online session. Random players will not be able to enter your game, even if you have an open online session. 

You will have access to cross-play in the future in a free update. Additionally, you won’t be able to play with online players during a local co-op session, but you will be able to do it in a future update.

Local Co-op

For console players, local co-op games are pretty easy to create. All you have to do is have another controller available and connected to your console, and your friends will be able to jump right into your game. If you have two controllers, you can have a two-person game going, and the same goes for three or four controllers.

For PC players, you need at least two controllers to make local co-op work, not just another controller and your keyboard. When you attempt to connect a controller into your PC for your second person, the controller overrides the controller, and the game thinks you are trying to play on a controller as the first player. So, you will need two controllers, even if the first player plans to use a mouse and keyboard to play.

When you play in a local co-op session, all players share the same screen. It does not split off for everyone to wander around the entire map. You will need to stick together, and if a player becomes too far away from the whole party, they will teleport the party leader’s position automatically.

Unfortunately, local co-op games only use the characters on your account. If you have a level 26 character with a high gear power, your friends will need to make a level one character and start from the beginning. It’s better to have a character equal, or close to, your level when doing this, or you can choose to start fresh with your friends.