Quick answer
Western Rye lists single-player, multiplayer, co-op, and online co-op for up to four players. One launch report describes failed item pickup and remapping in multiplayer, but hosting, save ownership, progression, and invite flow lack repeatable verification.
Current co-op status
Steam currently lists Single-player, Multi-player, Co-op, and Online Co-op. The official description says up to four players can share a frontier, build homesteads near one another, share resources, and fight together. That establishes the supported mode and party size, but it does not document the complete join or persistence workflow.
The current feature categories do not list local split-screen, local co-op, dedicated servers, cross-play, LAN Co-op, or LAN PvP. None should be assumed from the general multiplayer label.
What groups are meant to do
The broader official loop covers survival, building, farming, ranching, gathering, mining, crafting, trade, exploration, and combat. Resource sharing and nearby homesteads are explicitly described, so cooperative settlement play is part of the pitch rather than a genre inference.
Permissions remain unclear. There is no verified matrix for containers, buildings, crops, ranch animals, quest credit, unlocks, item pickup, death, sleep, or friendly fire.
Hosting, joining, and saves
The checked official material does not explain host migration, world ownership, guest character persistence, join-in-progress, password options, region selection, reconnect behavior, or what happens when the host leaves. A sensible first session should test those basics before a group invests in a long-running world.
Record who created the session, how invitations were sent, what each guest carried in and out, and whether world changes persisted. That evidence is more useful than generic networking advice copied from another survival game.
Launch report signals
One dated Steam review reports that item pickup and basic interactions did not work in multiplayer and that remapping failed. It is an isolated player report without a published build number or developer confirmation. This guide treats it as a watch item, not as a universal co-op failure.
No confirmed workaround is available. Re-hosting, testing a fresh world, or restoring default input can help isolate a symptom, but those steps are not presented as a fix.
Internet and LAN wording
The requirements say internet is needed for multiplayer, excluding LAN. The current Steam categories, however, do not list a LAN mode. The safest interpretation is that internet is required for the advertised online workflow and that the requirements sentence alone does not verify a current LAN setup.
LAN behavior will remain unconfirmed until an official instruction or reproducible current-build workflow exists.
What we verify next
The evidence checklist covers party creation, invites, hosting, world and character saves, guest progression, resources, building permissions, quests, death, sleep, latency, reconnects, and input behavior. A separate troubleshooting page remains noindex until a failure can be reproduced with a version-specific remedy.
Sources & method
What this guide is based on
The factual core comes from the current official Steam listing, Nixalon Studios material, checked August 26, 2026. Early Access mechanics can change. Where the source does not publish a value or behavior, this guide says so instead of filling the gap with an estimate.
Open the primary source
