Join a Crew Through the Session Browser
Yes, GRAVHOUNDS supports online co-op for up to four players: you can browse public sessions, host a public game, or restrict your session to friends. You choose a session manually; the game does not offer automated quick-match matchmaking.
Choose Who You Want to Play With
| Option | What You Do |
|---|---|
| Join a public crew | Browse the available public sessions and choose a game to join. |
| Host a public session | Host your own public game so other players can find and join your session. |
| Play within your friend group | Host a session and restrict access to friends. |
Public hosting is useful when you want other players to join your crew. Restricting the session to friends suits a group that wants to play together without opening the game to the wider public. Decide which experience you want before arranging your session.
Check Platform Compatibility First
Steam players currently play within the Steam community. Xbox Series X|S players can play with Xbox on PC players, but Steam-to-Xbox crossplay is not currently supported. Check which storefront your friends use before troubleshooting a missing session, even if everyone is playing on a PC.
Multiplayer also requires an internet connection. Offline play is available for single-player sessions. If you are preparing a group session, make sure everyone is ready to play online before choosing a host.
Host a Public or Friends-Only Session
- Choose who will host your crew. On PC, favor someone with a capable system in a nearby region, following the developer's recommendation for player-hosted multiplayer.
- Choose to host an online multiplayer session. Your game becomes the player-hosted session that the rest of the crew joins.
- Choose who can join: make the session public for other players to browse, or restrict it to friends for a session within your friend group.
Browse and Join a Public Game
- Open the multiplayer session browser to view available public games. This is where you choose a crew instead of entering an automated matchmaking queue.
- Select an available public session to join its host and crew. If you would prefer to run the session yourself, use the public-hosting route instead.
How Manual Selection Differs From Quick Match
GRAVHOUNDS has the infrastructure for players to find multiplayer sessions, but it does not automatically assign you to a game through quick match. You browse and choose a public session, or create a session for others to join. A traditional matchmaking queue is therefore not the route to finding a crew.
The developer describes the game as using listen servers and player-hosted multiplayer. That makes the host's hardware and internet connection relevant to the session's quality and performance. When organizing a regular group, give the hosting choice the same attention as choosing compatible storefronts.
Crew Size and Communication
A crew holds up to four players in total, including the host. You can also play solo, and the game scales difficulty and mission timing with player count. You do not need a full crew to start playing.
GRAVHOUNDS includes built-in voice communication. Use it to agree on building, repairs, combat, and gathering duties when you join a crew. Those responsibilities are flexible, so you can change jobs as the mission needs change.
Reconnect After a Disconnect or Failed Join
- Return to the main menu if you have trouble joining or rejoining a session. This is the starting point for the developer's Early Access reconnect advice.
- Try connecting to the session again from the main menu. This gives you another attempt to join the host's game.
- Ask the host to recreate the session if joining still fails. You can then try joining the newly created session.
For persistent problems on PC, review who is hosting and where they are located. The developer recommends a capable host system in a nearby region because multiplayer quality depends on the host's hardware and connection. Treat changing the host as something to try, rather than a guaranteed fix.
Keep Demo Menu Changes in Context
The playtest-to-demo update moved Multiplayer to the top of the main menu and sent players to the Host/Join screen after the tutorial. For that demo, entering Multiplayer no longer required tutorial completion, while Single Player still did. The same update described automatic character selection after disconnecting and rejoining a friend's session; these details belong to the demo changes.
For Early Access connection trouble, follow the main-menu reconnect procedure above. The Early Access fixes also addressed a rare crash when loading into or out of a session and a controller navigation issue in the server browser. Those fixes are relevant if an older attempt failed during session loading or browser navigation.