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Multiplayer and Co-op
May 26, 2026 at 11:38 PM
Embedded 1 Romestead screenshot (2026-05-27)
Romestead is built to be played either as a standalone single-player journey or as a cooperative experience. The world supports one to eight players, and difficulty scales depending on how many players are in the world.
The game is finely tuned for one to four players and scales for groups up to eight. Beartwigs has noted that they balance for up to eight players but do not stop players from inviting more. Steam lists the game as supporting single-player, online co-op, and LAN co-op.
Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
Players supported | 1 to 8 |
Tuned for | 1 to 4 players |
Co-op types | Online co-op and LAN co-op |
Cross-play | Not applicable (PC-only) |
Difficulty | Scales to the number of players in the world |
Friend invites | Steam friends menu (Steam Friend menu improvements landed in 0.20.2_5) |
Session privacy | Password setting for hosting (added 0.23.3_0) |
Cooperative play is where role specialization shines. While solo players do a bit of everything, a co-op group can divide responsibilities so members focus on:
Fighting the dead and biome bosses.
Gathering and hauling heavy resources.
Crafting at the Workbench, Blacksmith, Leatherworker, and Carpenter's Workshop.
Farming and managing the Farmstead, Beehive, and food chain.
Automating production via the Logistics Tent and Trading Post.
Growing the settlement and recruiting citizens.
Restoring the gods is also a group decision: players choose together which deities to empower. Because each god offers different buffs and technology unlocks, a co-op group usually picks one or two gods to focus on first. See The Gods and Worship.
Standalone dedicated server software was released alongside the Early Access launch, letting players host their own persistent worlds from day one. The dedicated server runs without a player connected. The game also supports Steam Cloud and Family Sharing.
Each world stores its own state, including buildings, citizens, quest progress, and the seed visible via the }worldseed chat command. Players can join an existing world hosted by a friend through Steam, or via a direct IP for LAN play. Demo saves are not compatible with Early Access, so groups returning from the demo should start a new world together.
Agree on the chosen first god before lighting the Altar: switching mid-progression wastes Worship Points.
Assign a single player to citizen management; happiness and food are easier to maintain with one set of eyes on them.
Use shared Storage Boxes with renamed labels (added in 0.21.1_3) to avoid confusion over where things go.
In ranged/melee/magic mixed parties, route caster offerings through Diana once Vulcan is reserved for forging.
For getting a group started, see Getting Started.
