Is Baldur’s Gate 3 co-op?

Looking to play Baldur’s Gate 3 co-op? Larian Studios’ Dungeons and Dragons inspired RPG has been gaining plenty of attention lately. But what good is a party-based fantasy game if you can’t play with friends?

In this guide, we’ll cover Baldur’s Gate 3 co-op, if it’s available, and how it works. Make sure you’re familiar with Baldur’s Gate 3 races before you jump in though, so that your character creation and setup go smoothly.

Does Baldur’s Gate 3 have co-op multiplayer?

Yes, Baldur’s Gate 3 does have co-op multiplayer. The game will support up to four players in online multiplayer co-op. Co-op will be fully available on PC and console platforms from launch. Check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 crossplay guide if you want more on the specifics.

Players in both types of co-op will work together as a party to meet certain goals, but won’t necessarily be restricted by each others movements. Every player can engage in solo combat if they wish, though plenty of fights will require cooperation, unsurprisingly. If a player wants to talk to an NPC, they can do so, and other players can watch in on the conversation to suggest dialogue options, or go and talk to the NPC themselves afterwards. It’s effectively the same structure of multiplayer that games like Wasteland 3 use. Though not the most refined and elegant, it should get the job done for most people.

There are a couple of different ways you can set up a co-op game, too. We’ll go through both of them to give you a full outline of the system.

Is there Baldur’s Gate 3 split screen co-op?

Yes, Baldur’s Gate 3 will feature local split screen co-op.

How to invite players to a single player game

If you’ve already started a game, but grown bored of your NPC companions, you’ll be able to turn it into a co-op multiplayer experience. To do this, the host for the session will need to load a save of their single player game. Once in the game, the host needs to press Escape and navigate to the session menu. From there, the host can hit the settings button and open the lobby to invites, which’ll start as open to nobody by default. Then you just need to invite your friends.

When your friends join into an ongoing single player game, they’ll take control of one of your NPC companions. If there are no companions available, they won’t be able to join. This does of course mean that they won’t be able to craft their own character from scratch, so they should hope that you’ve outfitted your party members with some decent gear. You also won’t be able to talk to or interact with your party members while they’re under the control of player as you would when they’re NPCs.

How to start a new multiplayer game

This is the recommended route to multiplayer. To start a new multiplayer game, just hit the multiplayer button from the main menu, and then the “Create” button at the bottom of the screen to make a new lobby. This done, you just need to change the “who can join your game” option to friends only. Then you can simply click on the empty lobby slots to send out invites to your friends. Alternatively, you can always send the server ID to friends, and they can direct connect through the multiplayer server menu.

When setting up a new game this way, all players will have the option to create their own characters at the start of the game, hence why this is often a preferable approach for multiplayer co-op. All players will be able to choose from the various different Baldur’s Gate 3 classes, choosing skills and abilities that best suit their playstyle. This should result in a more cohesive and versatile co-operative experience than you might otherwise get.

Loading a multiplayer game is also pretty straightforward, as it works the same way as starting a multiplayer game from a single player save. The host simply needs to load up the multiplayer save they want, load in, and then open the lobby in settings to allow the other players to join.

That covers everything you need to know about Baldur’s Gate 3 co-op, and how it works. It’s a system that we’ll hopefully see continue to receive care and attention as we near the Baldur’s Gate 3 release date and finally leave Early Access. If the system does indeed change in the future, we’ll be sure to keep you appraised.

Is Baldur’s Gate 3 co-op?

Baldur’s Gate 3 is co-op, with both local and online co-op supported from launch.

Is Baldur’s Gate 3 splitscreen?

Baldur’s Gate 3 will support split screen play for local co-op sessions.