Shared Screen Co-op / Remote Play Together Guide

Short(-ish) summary of the things that you need to have and steps that you need to perform in order for the Shared Screen Coop to work for the Steam version of The Ascent

Intro

Despite the unintuitive UI, The Ascent still can be enjoyed in Couch Coop via Steam, and even in Remote Play Together, which allows you to buy 1 copy of the game and play with up to 3 friends.

It took some time to investigate how this features work exactly, but here some tips for you so you won't have to waste any more time and play the game:

Shared Screen Co-op on the same PC

You can play in Shared Screen coop on the same PC, but only if you have 2 joysticks. Setup with 1 keyboard/mouse and 1 joystick unfortunately isn't working, because game treats both this inputs as one.

Thinks that you need:

• 1 Beefy PC to run the Ascent
  
• 1 The Ascent game in your Steam Library
  
• 2 Joysticks (for 2 players coop)

Steps:
1) Connect Joysticks to your PC. It can be even different joysticks. I've tested with on DualSense and one XBOX 360, with both of them being connected wirelessly.

2) Launch the Game.

3) Select Local Coop mode (Couch Coop) from the Main Menu Screen.

4) Load existing save/character or start new, this one is up to you.

5) As first player, navigate the screen with your joystick, so that Press 'A' to join button is highlighted

6) As second player, press 'A' (XBOX) or 'X' (PS) on your joystick. After that the character selection screen is opened. You can select any existing save data, or create new (in this case your character will copy its look from the host's character)

7) As first player, Start the game session.

Remote Play Together

Remote Play Together feature allows you to buy the game and then share it with up to 3 friends at the same time.
The two downsides for this feature are

• Players who joining you (guests), can only play with Joysticks
  
• You, as a host, should also have your joystick connected.

If not, the second player won't be able to open Character Selection screen, because, as you remember, the game treats friend's joustick and your keyboard/mouse as one input. That's why each player need their own joystick.

Things that you need:

• 1 Beefy PC to run the Ascent and good internet connection
  
• 1 The Ascent game in your Steam Library
  
• 1 Joystick for each player in the session (min - 2, max - 4)
  
• 1 Steam account for each player in the session (Accounts should be friends with Host)
  
• Good internet connection for each party member

Steps:
1) Each player should connect their joysticks to their PC, including Host

2) As Host, launch the Game.

3) As Host, select Local Coop mode (Couch Coop) from the Main Menu Screen.

4) As Host, load existing save/character or start new, this one is up to you.

5) As Host, open Steam Overlay and invite the friend via Remote Play Together.

6) As Host, close Steam Overlay. Whenever Steam Overlay is opened for the Host, guests can not access the game stream. Also, only the game is visible to the guests, so Host should not worry regarding any other data from other apps.

7) As Guest, accept invite.

8) As Host, navigate the screen with your joystick, so that Press 'A' to join button is highlighted

6) As Guest, press 'A' (XBOX) or 'X' (PS) on your joystick. After that the character selection screen is opened. You can select any existing save data, or create new (in this case your character will copy its look from the host's character)

7) As Host, Start the game session

Outro

So, yeah, that's it.
All the fuss is caused by keyboard/mouse + joystick which are treated as one input device. Not sure that this will be fixed, after all the game is also released on consoles, so nobody is interested in changing anything related to input devices on PC at this point of time, I suppose.
Either way, feature is working, so deal with it and have fun!

[Ceptor]

Для сплитскрин / Remote Play коопа обязательно нужны два джойстика (по одному на каждого игрока)

[HEBECTA]

Привет. а как для ПК тоже самое сделать ?
у етой функции кривая реализация клавиатуры.
второй екран бегает моим героем ) а его стоит на месте.

[The Nameless One]

Pretty awesome game to be held back by this stupid joystick bit....

[jkessinger82]

Awesome, thanks again :-)

[Ceptor]

Glad it was helpful.
- All player 2 progress is saved in the respective save slot. For example you've got two characters that you created: one you select for yourself, another is selected for player 2.
- If you got only 1 character - player 2 can select new slot, and in that case new character will copy the look of your character (however I don't know whether your xp will be copied to new profile)
- If player 2 wants some specific customization from the start of the game, you can start new game solo to create specific character, and then restart game in coop. Anyway player 2 should be able to customize their character later in the hub

[jkessinger82]

Thanks for this. Haven't played yet but plan to start couch co op soon. Does player 2 keep a profile with xp and equipment? Or is player 2 always a copy of player 1?