Co-Op

Overview

DragonSword: Awakening is a single-player RPG, but Hound13 has built in limited cooperative play for specific content types. The main story and open-world exploration across the Continent of Orbis are solo experiences. Co-op is opt-in for Subjugation boss content (also referred to as Battle) and for Raids, both accessible through invite codes rather than public matchmaking.

Some English-language coverage and the Steam FAQ interchange the words "Subjugation" and "Battle" when referring to the 2-player boss tier. They describe the same content. The rest of this page uses "Battle" for consistency with Steam's own wording.

Player Caps by Mode

Battle Mode (2 Players)

Battle is the 2-player cooperative tier built around named boss encounters, sometimes called Subjugation content in prior builds. A host player opens a session for a specific Battle and shares an invite code with one other player, who drops into the encounter with their own Hero loadout. Both players use their full kit of Active Skills and Signal Skills together against the boss.

Because Battle scales around two players rather than a full party, it sits between the solo main story and the larger Raid tier in terms of difficulty and preparation. Players who prefer to fight these bosses alone can still attempt them in single-player, but the encounter is tuned with the 2-player option in mind.

Hound13 has said the 2-player cap on this tier is deliberate: with three or more players, normal boss combat became too chaotic and hard to follow, so the studio settled on two for the subjugation bosses.

Raid Mode (3 Players)

Raids are the top-tier cooperative content, supporting up to 3 players in one session. Like Battle, Raids are joined with an invite code shared by the host, not through a public matchmaker. The 3-player cap is the largest party size the game supports: there is no 4-player or larger group play anywhere in DragonSword: Awakening.

Raids are designed as the most mechanically demanding encounters in the game. Each player brings their own Hero, Familiars, skill loadout, and gear. Coordinating Signal Skill chains and status-ailment tag-team combos across three players is the intended way to clear the hardest Raid bosses.

The studio has confirmed that the first raid was originally designed for eight players but was reduced to three after testing showed three made for the most enjoyable raid. A scene shown on an early developer stream, in which eight characters open a dragon gate together, is part of the main story rather than an eight-player raid mode.

Raids are the endgame farming activity. They drop Runes, the endgame growth materials, along with items that lower the hurdle for equipment farming. Crucially, raids can also be played solo and offline, and a solo clear awards the same rewards as a co-op clear, so no best-in-slot loot is locked behind mandatory group play. Co-op raids are joined through a Steam lobby.

How Co-Op Works

• Invite codes, not matchmaking. Players share a code to pull friends into a session. There is no public lobby browser and no automatic matchmaker.

• Host-based peer-to-peer. One player hosts the session; other players connect directly to that host. This is distinct from the server-hosted model used by MMOs.

• No regional restrictions. Because the session is host-based, players from different regions can co-op together freely. Significant latency to the host may affect gameplay smoothness, but the game does not block cross-region sessions.

• Opt-in for supported content only. Co-op is available for Battle and Raid content. The main campaign, open-world traversal including Dragon Riding, and general exploration stay single-player.

• Lobby text chat. The co-op lobby screen supports text chat between players. In-combat interaction features such as emotes are low priority and may not be in the launch build.

• Launch scope, with more planned. At launch, co-op is limited to Battle and Raid content. Hound13 has said it plans to add co-op for towns and open-world exploration in a post-launch update.

Rewards and Progression

Alongside co-op raids, the game ships a solo-friendly endgame: the Tower (also shown as the Tower of Trials), a high-difficulty climb where defeating powerful monsters yields key materials that can be exchanged for exclusive Karma. The Tower is single-player content and is available at launch.

Co-op rewards feed back into the same single-player progression systems. Gear, materials, and Hero upgrades earned in Battle and Raid sessions apply to the player's own account regardless of whether they were the host or a guest. Because there is no gacha and no monthly pass under the game's buy-to-play model, co-op exists for the content itself rather than as a funnel into monetisation.

New players can approach co-op content whenever they feel ready. The Getting Started flow does not require co-op, and the full roster of Heroes including Kalien and Lute is earned through story progression rather than through multiplayer drops.

Single-Player vs Co-Op Differences

Design Intent

The framing Hound13 has used is "single-player package with optional co-op" rather than a live-service MMO structure. In the CEO statement accompanying the self-published Steam release, content that previously supported multiplayer in the Korean free-to-play version, specifically Subjugation and Raids, is preserved here as peer-to-peer play. Everything else has been adapted into a self-contained single-player experience.

Related

• Heroes - the 19 playable characters, each with their own skill kit.

• Familiars - collectible companions and mounts that travel with each Hero.

• Active Skills and Signal Skills - the two skill tiers that power both solo and co-op combat.

• Dragon Riding - the solo-only aerial traversal system.