Multiplayer is misrepresented.

[MadMage]

For anyone looking at this game for the multiplayer co-op experience:

The co-op portion of the game is only a sandbox region that is not accessible until the story is progressed to unlock it; several hours of game-play in. The story is entirely single-player.

[7empest]

Thanks for noting this. But for the part that is multiplayer, is it robust a full featured? Could a person lose many hours in the game-world building things and battling enemies with a buddy?

[Tamaster]

Originally posted by MadMage:

For anyone looking at this game for the multiplayer co-op experience:

The co-op portion of the game is only a sandbox region that is not accessible until the story is progressed to unlock it; several hours of game-play in. The story is entirely single-player.

Saved me my money. Thanks.

This thread should be pinned.

[Syncronis]

Thank you for the heads up, was about to push for coop until I saw this. May get it still for single player later.

[Dezzy]

Oh that sucks, I was excited to play co-op with my wife on this, but I guess we really can't. :(

[Minoes]

Thanks for letting us know.

[BananaJane]

Sheesh why does every game have to do this it's so stupid

[🅸🅽🆂🆃🅰🅽🆃🅲]

Oh come on! They had a golden opportunity to make that a decent co-op minecraft clone... Such a shame.

[Kikinaak]

Not surprised. Balancing an entire campaign for SP and coop, not to mention any cutscenes etc takes work. Bolting on a separate coop island lets them skip that but still advertise it as a feature of the game.

[Flame6]

Thanks, Saved me tons of $. Will avoid

[Naijiro]

Thanks, for this, i'll probably still get it, but this is a bummer.

[breeece]

Originally posted by Jaypi3:

Thanks, for this, i'll probably still get it, but this is a bummer.

It is quite a bummer...

[Mist of Majora]

Yeah the game was a great single player experience, but it would have probably been one of my favorite games of all time had they allowed you to bring friends on your adventure.

It's also worth noting two other things to everyone in addition to the poster's note. First, you gain tons of new recipes that are almost all tied to story progression. In other words, if you boot up multiplayer when you first gain it and get paired with someone who has beaten the game, you'll likely see them have access to hundreds of more building blocks and 'assets' (to keep this spoiler free) that you never knew were in the game, and that you still won't have access too until you progress to that point. In other words, depending on the type of player you are, this may lead to frustration or spoilers.

Secondly, while you can bring blocks with you when joining the host's 'region', if you ever need more that aren't available there or want to continue your story progress, you'll have to exit the session to single player, go/get what you need to do, and then rejoin the multiplayer session again. Basically, anything outside of the host's 'home base' is off limits to all forms of co op/multiplayer, but to be fair it is a giant region.

[breeece]

Originally posted by Mist of Majora:

Yeah the game was a great single player experience, but it would have probably been one of my favorite games of all time had they allowed you to bring friends on your adventure.

It's also worth noting two other things to everyone in addition to the poster's note. First, you gain tons of new recipes that are almost all tied to story progression. In other words, if you boot up multiplayer when you first gain it and get paired with someone who has beaten the game, you'll likely see them have access to hundreds of more building blocks and 'assets' (to keep this spoiler free) that you never knew were in the game, and that you still won't have access too until you progress to that point. In other words, depending on the type of player you are, this may lead to frustration or spoilers.

Secondly, while you can bring blocks with you when joining the host's 'region', if you ever need more that aren't available there or want to continue your story progress, you'll have to exit the session to single player, go/get what you need to do, and then rejoin the multiplayer session again. Basically, anything outside of the host's 'home base' is off limits to all forms of co op/multiplayer, but to be fair it is a giant region.

Thank you for all this information. I really appreciate it..

[MadMage]

Originally posted by 7empest:

Thanks for noting this. But for the part that is multiplayer, is it robust a full featured? Could a person lose many hours in the game-world building things and battling enemies with a buddy?

The game world operates on separated islands (just like the first) and you create portals to access new islands for new resources as the story progresses; the multiplayer section is a 'sandbox' style island you can teleport to and build to your heart's content, however it serves no function otherwise. Your enjoyment of this section depends entirely on how much you enjoy building for the sake of building.

Full disclosure: I purchased two copies for my wife and I on Switch at launch; after discovering the multiplayer features were vastly misrepresented I returned the second copy for a refund.

[MadMage]

Originally posted by 🅹🅰🅸❷🆈🅴🆄🆇:

Oh come on! They had a golden opportunity to make that a decent co-op minecraft clone... Such a shame.

These were my thoughts exactly.

However, beyond that I was (and remain) angry at the misrepresentation of multiplayer experience - the promotional materials indicate a much more robust multiplayer experience and the 'multipleyer/co-op' designations on both the digital stores and the physical product are misleading. The physical box even has the words "BUILD A NEW WORLD-TOGETHER" right at the top: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D_U7xB1XYAAW-mO.jpg