Multiplayer

Overview

Solarpunk supports online co-op multiplayer for up to 4 players. Players can work together to build, manage farms, explore islands, and set up automation chains as a team. The game is also fully playable solo.

Personal Inventory and Airship

In co-op, each player keeps their own inventory, and each player has their own airship rather than sharing a single group vessel. Players can choose to build a base together or work on separate projects, then meet up and combine their efforts.

Cross-Play

Cross-play between platforms is not planned at launch. Everyone in a session must be on the same platform, so players on Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2 play within their own platform ecosystems.

After launch the developers named cross-platform play as one of the larger features they want to build next, with the goal of letting players share a session across PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch 2. They described it as both a feature in its own right and groundwork for further improvements, and slowed the update cadence to focus on it. It is in development and was not part of the launch build, and the team stated it carries no fixed date, so same-platform-only remains the rule for now.

After the crossplay announcement drew feedback from players who wanted fixes prioritised first, the developers clarified that the work runs in parallel with ongoing bug fixes and content rather than pausing them. They also described the new multiplayer system as more than a crossplay enabler: it is meant to fix existing multiplayer problems as well, including cases where players on the same platform cannot reliably connect to each other. The launch behaviour is unchanged for now, with sessions still limited to a single platform.

Co-Op Gameplay

Because the game has no combat, co-op is cooperative in the most literal sense: players divide up the peaceful tasks of running a sky-island home. Common ways groups split the work include:

• One player manages farming and cooking, supplying the group with food and temporary bonuses.

• One player focuses on building and base expansion.

• One player handles automation and energy management.

• One player explores new islands by airship and gathers distant resources.

Controller Support

Solarpunk supports controllers, which suits the console versions handled by Mi'pu'mi Games on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2.

Pre-Launch Multiplayer History

Co-op was a central part of the design from the Kickstarter campaign in 2023, but it was not always part of the planned launch. Earlier in development the team focused on the solo loop, and online co-op was added later as a stretch goal. In late 2025 the team announced that the launch was moving into 2026 specifically to give multiplayer the time it needed to ship in good shape, rather than going out alongside an unfinished co-op layer.

That decision shaped how the four-player mode works at launch. Each player gets their own inventory and their own airship, so groups can split up across multiple islands without queuing on shared resources. There is no shared bank and no shared airship in co-op.

Multiplayer Quick Reference

Tips for Co-Op Sessions

• Agree on who owns what before placing big builds. Each player has their own inventory, but the world is shared, so two people stacking conflicting designs on the same plot wastes materials.

• Decide together which platform the group will play on, since cross-play is not supported at launch. A console group must stay on consoles of the same family; a PC group must stay on PC.

• Send one player out by airship on a long resource trip while others stay home to tend crops or run automation chains. Because there is no combat, work-splitting is the main optimisation in co-op.