How to Fish: Co-op and Multiplayer Setup Guide

TL;DR

• How to Fish supports online co-op for up to 4 players. One player hosts and up to three friends join.
• To host: launch the game, select multiplayer from the main menu, choose Host, set lobby privacy, then invite friends via the Steam Overlay (Shift + Tab).
• To join: accept a Steam invite or right-click a friend in your Steam friends list and select Join Game.
• All players share the same island and progression. Individual gear upgrades are per-player, not shared.
• How to Fish has no built-in voice chat. Use Discord or Steam Voice while playing.
• There is no crossplay, no split-screen, and no local co-op. All players must own the game on PC via Steam.
• The host controls which island the group is on and determines the save state.

Does How to Fish Have Co-op Multiplayer?

Yes. How to Fish supports online co-op for 1 to 4 players, which is where the game truly shines. One player hosts the session and up to three friends join. Everyone lands on the same island, fishes the same waters, fights the same bosses, and contributes to the same progression. It is a fully cooperative PvE experience — there is no competitive mode or player-versus-player.

The game was built from the ground up with multiplayer in mind. The physics engine, the trick shot system, the seagull chaos, the friendly fire — all of it becomes much funnier and more memorable when there are real people involved. Someone will always panic. Someone will always waste the dynamite. Someone will always bet the team’s money at the casino right before a boss fight. These are not bugs, they are the game.

How to Fish launched on Steam on August 20, 2026, from Dazed Games and hit 1 million sales in its first 48 hours. Its Steam page lists online co-op as a featured supported mode alongside single-player.

How to Host a Co-op Session in How to Fish

Setting up a multiplayer session is quick. It uses Steam’s native lobby system, which means no dedicated servers, no account linking, and no third-party launcher required. Here is exactly how to do it.

Step 1 — Launch How to Fish Through Steam

Make sure the game is fully updated before starting. Launch it normally from your Steam library. Running an outdated version can cause session mismatches where friends on the current version cannot join your lobby.

Step 2 — Select Multiplayer From the Main Menu

From the main menu, look for the Multiplayer or Co-Op option. Select it and then choose Host Game to create a new session.

Step 3 — Choose Your Lobby Privacy Setting

When hosting, you can set the lobby to one of three privacy levels:

• Friends Only — Only people on your Steam friends list who are invited can join. This is the best option for playing with a specific group.
• Private / Invite Only — No one can join unless you actively send them an invitation through the Steam Overlay. Ideal if you want full control over who enters.
• Public — Anyone can join your session. This can lead to strangers entering with different gear levels or playstyles — fun if you want unpredictable company, potentially disruptive if you are mid-campaign.

For most groups, Friends Only is the right choice. It keeps the session clean and avoids random players walking in mid-boss-fight.

Step 4 — Load Into the Island and Invite Friends

Once you are loaded in, open the Steam Overlay with Shift + Tab. Find your friends in the Steam Friends List, right-click each one, and select Invite to Lobby. Your friends will receive a Steam notification they can click to join.

Alternatively, if your lobby visibility is set to Friends Only, your friends may be able to see you in the Steam friends list as “In Game” and join directly without a formal invitation by right-clicking your name and selecting Join Game.

Step 5 — Wait for Everyone to Load Before Starting

Once your friends have joined, wait until everyone has fully loaded into the island before moving. Starting to fish or progress while someone is still connecting can cause sync issues. Give the group 30 seconds to get their bearings and confirm their controls before sailing anywhere or initiating a quest.

How to Join a Friend’s Co-op Session

Joining is even easier than hosting. There are two ways to get into a friend’s session.

Method 1 — Accept a Steam Invitation

When the host sends you an invite via the Steam Overlay, a notification will appear in the bottom-right corner of your screen or in the Steam app. Click it and select Accept to join the lobby directly. The game will load you into the host’s current island alongside the rest of the group.

Method 2 — Join Through the Steam Friends List

If you can see a friend playing How to Fish in your Steam friends list and their lobby is set to Friends Only or Public, you can right-click their name and select Join Game without waiting for a formal invitation. This is the fastest way to hop into a session that is already underway.

What Is Shared in Co-op and What Is Not?

Understanding what is shared and what is individual is important, especially early on when money is tight and every coin counts.

What All Players Share

• Island progression — Everyone is on the same island at all times. When the host moves to a new island, all players go with them.
• Quest progress — NPC quests and boss encounters are shared. If one player hands in a boss trophy to an NPC, that step is completed for the whole group.
• Boss fights — All players fight the same boss at the same time. Everyone’s damage counts toward killing it.
• The boat — There is one shared boat. Whoever gets on it drives it. Be careful around players who have not driven the boat before — hitting rocks or running aground at full speed is a recurring co-op disaster.

What Is Individual Per Player

• Gear and weapons — Each player buys and upgrades their own rod, weapons, and equipment from the shop. Your knife upgrades and your loadout do not transfer to teammates.
• Fish in your hands — If you catch something, that creature belongs to you until you sell it. A teammate cannot take fish out of your hands — though a seagull absolutely can.
• Money earned — Coins go to the player who catches and sells the creature. There is no automatic pooling, though you can coordinate who buys what to optimise the group’s spending.

Does How to Fish Have Voice Chat?

No. How to Fish has no built-in voice chat or push-to-talk system. This surprises a lot of players who expect it given how chaotic the multiplayer is. The game connects players through Steam’s lobby system but leaves voice communication entirely up to you.

The practical solution is simple: start a Discord call or Steam Voice call with your group before launching the session. Most regular co-op groups do this automatically. If you are playing with people you do not usually game with, agree on the voice channel before anyone hits Host.

Voice chat matters more in How to Fish than in many other co-op games because so much happens simultaneously. During boss fights, someone needs to call out when the white escape timer is getting low. During seagull attacks, someone needs to warn the player carrying a valuable catch. None of this happens smoothly through text chat while everyone is also trying to shoot fish.

Discord is the most common solution. Steam Voice (accessible through the Steam Overlay) is a built-in alternative that works without any extra app. Either will do the job.

Is There Crossplay in How to Fish?

No. As of the game’s launch, How to Fish is a Windows PC game on Steam only. There is no console version yet, which means crossplay between PC and PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch 2 is not possible — there are no other platforms to cross-play with.

All players in a co-op session must own the game on Steam for PC. If a friend only plays on console, they cannot join your session until a console version is released. Dazed Games has confirmed console ports are planned but has not announced a release date or specific platforms. For the full details on what the developer has said, read our How to Fish console release guide.

Is There Split-Screen or Local Co-op?

No. How to Fish is online co-op only. There is no split-screen mode and no local couch co-op option. All players connect over the internet through Steam. Everyone needs their own copy of the game running on their own machine.

How Many Players Can Play How to Fish Together?

The maximum is 4 players total, including the host. So one host plus up to three friends. The game is balanced around this number. Sessions with fewer players — two or three — also work well. The boss fights and seagull chaos scale naturally because the creatures have the same health pools whether you have two players or four, but extra firepower makes things go faster.

Co-op Tips — How to Play Well Together

A good co-op session in How to Fish does not require military precision. But a few simple habits make everything smoother, faster, and more fun.

Split Roles Loosely

Four people all doing the same thing at the same time is inefficient and chaotic in the wrong way. A natural role split that works well is:

• Fishers (1–2 players) — Focus on casting, reeling, and building up the group’s fish supply for selling.
• Shooter (1 player) — Handles airborne kills and trick shots to maximise the money earned from each catch. Also the first line of defence against seagulls.
• Quest tracker (1 player) — Talks to NPCs, tracks the active quest objectives, and makes sure the boss trophy goes to the right person after a kill.

These roles are not rigid. Players drift between them naturally as situations change. But having at least one person paying attention to quests while others fish prevents the classic co-op problem where the boss is dead, the trophy is in someone’s inventory, and nobody can figure out who is supposed to hand it in.

Pool Money for the Boat Upgrade First

The biggest mistake new co-op groups make is everyone immediately buying the cheapest weapon available rather than pooling coins toward the boat upgrade. The boat engine is a shared resource that benefits everyone — it unlocks access to new islands faster and makes travel between fishing spots much less painful. Buy the boat upgrade as a group priority before everyone splits coins on individual gear. Once the boat is sorted, each player can focus on their own weapon and rod progression.

Assign One Person to Watch for Seagulls

Seagulls will steal your catches regardless of how many players are in the session. With four people all focused on fishing and shooting, it is easy for everyone to have their back turned when a seagull dives in and takes a lobster someone was about to sell. Rotating seagull duty — or simply having the player with the best weapon covering the shoreline — prevents money from literally flying away.

Agree on Gambling Rules Before the Session

The in-game casino is a group decision point disguised as an individual action. If one player bets the team’s combined earnings right before a boss fight, that affects everyone’s ability to buy gear for the encounter. Agree before the session starts on whether gambling is allowed, and if so, when. A simple rule like “casino only after the boat engine is upgraded” prevents the most painful co-op arguments.

Coordinate Boss Trophy Handoffs

Before every boss fight, agree on who is picking up the boss drop after the kill and who is running it back to the NPC. In the chaos of a fight, the trophy can end up in anyone’s inventory. The worst outcome — which happens more often than you would expect — is for a player to accidentally eat the trophy thinking it is food, or sell it at the merchant before the quest handoff is complete. Decide in advance and call it out during the fight.

Do Not Start a Boss Fight Without Everyone Ready

Boss fights in co-op are faster with more players but also more chaotic. Start the encounter only when everyone is on the island, has their gear equipped, and knows the plan. Launching a boss fight while a teammate is mid-purchase at the shop or has disconnected briefly is a reliable way to fail the encounter and have to reset the whole bait sequence.

Common Co-op Problems and How to Fix Them

Friends Cannot Join the Lobby

If someone is getting the “session full” error, check that your lobby has not accidentally filled up. If the lobby is not full and they still cannot join, have everyone restart the game and try hosting a fresh session. Launch-week reports noted that the create-session button occasionally fails to respond — if this happens, restarting the game client is the current workaround while waiting for Dazed Games to patch it.

Session Mismatch or Black Screen on Join

Make sure all players are on the same game version. Steam updates automatically but occasionally a player can be mid-update when another starts a session. Fully close Steam, let it update, and try again. If the problem persists, verify game files through Steam (right-click the game, Properties, Local Files, Verify Integrity) before rejoining.

Controls Not Working After Joining

If a keyboard or controller stops responding after joining a session, press Escape and check the Settings menu to confirm the correct input device is selected. The game sometimes locks the input device at startup, and joining a session mid-flight can cause it to reset. Restarting the game client clears this in most cases. For more detail on input issues, our How to Fish controls guide covers controller and keyboard troubleshooting.

Only 2 or 3 Players Getting Into a 4-Player Session

Some players reported at launch that not everyone in a group could successfully enter the session, with one or two being stuck on a loading screen or dropped. This is a known launch-window issue. Check the official Steam page for the latest patch notes — Dazed Games has confirmed they are actively fixing bugs, and session stability patches are expected.

Can You Play How to Fish Solo?

Yes, fully. The entire campaign including all boss fights, islands, and achievements can be completed solo. That said, some boss fights are harder alone since there are no teammates to split aggro or revive you, and money builds up more slowly without multiple fishers working in parallel.

If you want to go for the Bean achievement — completing the entire game in under one hour — most players recommend attempting it on a solo save rather than a co-op playthrough, since the routing is tighter and you do not have to wait on other players at each stage. Keep your solo save separate from your main co-op progress if you plan to chase that one.

For everything you need before your first session — solo or co-op — the How to Fish Island 1 guide walks you through exactly what to do from the moment you land at the Lighthouse to the moment you earn your boat keys and move on.

Frequently Asked Questions