Minecraft Dungeons II is an adventure you can enjoy solo or in a party of up to four players. And with the Grand Illusioner, Supreme Evoker, and Prime Enchanter all plotting dimension domination, having a few friends beside you certainly sounds reassuring! And whether you prefer to face the challenge as a one-man army or team up with friends, the game makes sure you have plenty of options if you want to join forces with other heroes!

Want to be a couch potato together with a friend while another one joins from a remote device? Maybe you'd like to find some new players to take on soul corrupted mobs with? In Dungeons II, teaming up doesn’t have to mean choosing between playing beside a friend and joining others online. You can do both – and that’s by design! 

“From the start, our motto has been ‘one-click crossplay’, meaning a player can boot up the game for the first time and it just works,” says Stefan Annell, Technical Director on Minecraft Dungeons II. “The idea is that you should be able to play with your friends without any extra steps getting in the way, even if it means they're on another platform.” 

FROM COUCH CO-OP TO MIXED CO-OP

Stefan and team have been hard at work making this motto a reality. Dungeons II can be played both online and offline, with both modes supporting couch co-op (playing together on the same device). And as much as we love the good ol’ couch, couch co-op is more flexible this time around. In the first Minecraft Dungeons, it was offline only, but in Dungeons II, players can take their session online and let other players join the four-player party remotely, turning it into a mixed co-op session. 

“You can even bring your own hero, too,” Stefan explains before I even get the chance to ask him for an invite. “If the platform supports it, you can sign in with your own platform account on a friend's device and carry on with the hero you've been playing with. When you get home, you can pick up from where you left off, with the same hero. We store hero data online in our backend, so your progression isn't tied to one specific device. You just need to sign in with your platform account!” 

What if you want to continue your adventure on a different platform? Threat not! Linking your platform accounts to the same Microsoft account will let you keep playing with the same hero. For example, if you play on a Steam Deck and an Xbox, you can switch between them and continue your progress! 

GET THE PARTY GOING

So, how DO you get everyone into the same party? Well, first you'll have to make sure every participant has their calendar clear! The rest is easy. Players of the first game might recognize the in-game friends list, but what they won’t recognize is the all-new ‘party code’. Stefan elaborates: 

“A party code is an eight-character code made up of letters and numbers, unique to your current party. Your friends enter it in the "join by party code" dialog and join you directly, through the lobby or an ongoing game, regardless of which platform anyone is using.”

In addition to party codes, there's also matchmaking, which allows players to either find others to play with when friends are unavailable, or to fill up any remaining spots in a party.

“One difference from other competitive matchmaking systems is that we don't have to put the whole group together before a game starts. We also use a scoring function that looks at things like core quest progress, region, and power level to find a good match. You can be matched with a session that's already under way and jump straight into the action. That makes it easier to find a good match and should help keep queue times short.” 

SMOOTH TEAMWORK

Getting everyone into the same party is one thing, but supporting their time together is another – which takes some fine-tuning behind the scenes. Seeing how much players enjoyed teaming up in the first Dungeons, Stefan & team wanted to build on that experience with new ways to connect and the infrastructure to support them. 

“In the first Dungeons, the party leader hosted the online session of a game,” he explains. “If their internet connection struggled or they had a weaker hardware, everyone else in the session would feel it. With Dungeons II, we've moved to dedicated servers, and the game also chooses the best server for the party based on each player's ping. That helps give them a more stable online experience across platforms and regions. Keeping online and offline as separate modes also gives us more control over what happens online. It makes it easier for us to prevent cheating, which in turn gives us more options when designing and building the game.” 

Minecraft Dungeons II will feature enough action, loot, and adventure for your entire four-player party to remain excited through your journey into the Sift! But will your teamwork be enough to defeat the illagers and their High Council? For Stefan, the excitement is seeing all the multiplayer parts come together. 

"I'm excited about the whole package: party codes, matchmaking, mixed online couch co-op, crossplay, and progression saved online. Together, they give Dungeons II a solid online experience that makes it easier to play with other people. I can't wait for players to get their hands on it."