How to play Palworld multiplayer with friends

Palworld, the Pokémon-like survival crafting game, has a multiplayer component, but it can be finicky. There’s no PvP in the game, and while you can collaborate with your friends to build bigger bases and take down baddies, some of the progression remains solo.

All that said, playing games is more fun with more people. Below, we explain how the multiplayer and crossplay (or lack thereof) works in Palworld.

HOW TO PLAY MULTIPLAYER IN PALWORLD

You can either host or join your friends in a personal save file (up to four players) or you can join a dedicated server (up to 32 players). To join a personal save file, you’ll just need to input the invite code, which the host player can find in their options.

If the invite code doesn’t show up, you the host may need to toggle the multiplayer option in the world settings. Every time you start a new session, you’ll have to send your buddies the invite code, as a new code will generate.

To play on a dedicated server, you can either join one of the Palworld public servers, host your own, or pay for a hosting website. (I typically opt for the latter, since that’s the easiest way to handle it.)

Dedicated servers are only available on Steam (at the moment), so unless you want to limit yourself to four-player sessions, you’ll need to play on Steam.

HOW DOES MULTIPLAYER WORK IN PALWORLD?

Multiplayer plays quite differently from the regular game mode. Here are some of the notable differences:

• You can take down tower bosses, like Zoe and Grizzbolt, together as a group.
• Guilds function like parties and only those in your guild can work on your base with you. If your friends want to build unique bases, they will want to be in their own guild.
• World exploration is solo. Players will have to individually uncover the map and unlock fast travel points.
• Loot is unique to the world, not the player. If you see a chest or a shiny Pal Sphere on the ground and pick it up, your buddies can’t have it.

It’s also worth mentioning that our dedicated server ran into some weird issues that weren’t there when we were playing solo, though we’re unsure if these are multiplayer issues or server issues. This includes not being able to jump up cliffs without falling (so you have to slowly climb up) and items not being counted correctly when building. Palworld is an early access game, so it’s not super surprising that there are some hiccups.

WHY AM I ‘PREVENTED FROM PLAYING MULTIPLAYER’ IN PALWORLD?

The game’s massive popularity levels right now are causing some server stability issues. It’s not you, it’s Palworld. That said, if you run into a note saying you’re “prevented from playing multiplayer,” you can try doing the usual fixes for when games give you errors: close and relaunch the game, run the game as administrator (if you’re on PC), and turn your console or PC off and on again.

IS THERE CROSSPLAY MULTIPLAYER IN PALWORLD?

No. The Xbox version and the Steam version cannot crossplay with each other. In addition, the version playable via Xbox Game Pass on PC is also not crossplay-compatible with the Steam version of the game.

If you want to play with friends, you have to either all buy it on Steam or all buy it on Xbox.

According to a FAQ posted by Pocketpair, they are “working to make this a possibility as soon as possible!” so hang tight.

IS PALWORLD COMING TO PS5?

According to the same FAQ mentioned above, developer Pocketpair have no plans for a PlayStation 5 launch, but “will consider it during development.”