How to play local and online co-op in As Dusk Falls

As Dusk Falls can be enjoyed on your own, but it has been designed to be experienced with other players. Everyone will be making their own choices, participating in the quick time events, and discussing the story with each other. The idea is to share opinions on what people believe is the right choice, understand that everyone has a different decision-making process, and dive into the story’s themes.

Experiencing the story with other people can take different forms, depending on whether you are playing locally in the same room or playing online with others. Co-op isn’t difficult to set up, but you do need to coordinate your efforts if you want everyone to participate in the same game.

How to play As Dusk Falls locally

If you are playing locally, you do not need every participant to have their own copy of the game. You just need to ensure that all of your players are in the same room, with every player’s controller connected to the same device. If you are playing with only controllers, you can play with up to four people. If you are playing with controllers and smartphones, that number will go up to eight.

Only one player can use the keyboard/mouse combination locally; everyone else will have to sync their controllers to the console or computer that is running the game. If players are going to participate with their smartphones, they should download the As Dusk Falls companion app on either the Google Play or iOS store, and run it before the game begins.

When beginning the game, create a new profile and choose to “Play with Friends”. Set up a game in the local Lobby, and choose to add players. For players who brought an Xbox controller, all they need to do is connect their controller to the console at this time. For players who are participating by smartphone, there will be a five-character code that they can input to join the game.

After all the players have joined, choose “Ready” to begin the game.

Related: How many chapters are there in As Dusk Falls? Full chapter list

How to play As Dusk Falls online

To play the game online, you will need to sign in to Xbox Live and have all players on your Friends List. Every player will need their own copy of As Dusk Falls. The player hosting the game should create a new profile and then choose “Play with Friends”. At the lobby select screen, choose “Go Online” and then “Invite Friends”.

Send the game invite to your friends, who should join the lobby upon accepting the invite. You can also take this opportunity to add anyone who wants to play locally, confirming the total number of players. Once all players have joined, select “Ready” to begin the game.

How multiplayer works in As Dusk Falls

Players will be experiencing the story at the same time, and the game will take a vote every time you reach a choice/major decision. After every player has made their choice, the game will tally the votes and will choose the option that the majority of players went with.

If a player thinks a choice is wrong, they will get a special override option to “force” the game to pick another option. If the vote is a tie, the choice will be chosen randomly.

All players will be participating in quick time events as well, with the success/failure depending on the total number of successes/failures. All quick time events can be done with controllers and smartphones.

Now that you know how to set up multiplayer for As Dusk Falls, start a game and enjoy it with your friends and family.