Malignus supports single-player and 2–4 player online or LAN co-op. All players build and manage one shared dungeon, not separate bases.
That is the key design fact. Co-op is not a separate mode with a separate map; it is the same colony with more hands on the controls. The official feature list describes “one shared dungeon” and the press kit confirms both online and LAN play. Single-player works offline; co-op needs a connection.
Co-op facts
Confirmed
- 2–4 players on one shared dungeon.
- Online and LAN co-op are supported in the full game.
- Single-player is available; single-player needs no Internet connection.
- The demo's Steam page lists online co-op and Mossbomb says the demo holds everything in the current game.
- The game launches on Windows PC via Steam; no console version has been announced.
Not announced
- Drop-in/drop-out behavior and mid-session joining.
- Whether every player can pause, change speed or issue build orders.
- Save ownership and whether a co-op save can continue if the host is absent.
- Player permissions, role restrictions or shared-resource rules.
- Difficulty scaling for 2, 3 and 4 players.
- Whether Workshop mods will need to match across players.
One shared dungeon changes the planning
In a single-player colony sim, a bad priority list is a solo problem. In co-op it is a coordination problem. The official duties screen lets you set a priority for every minion across hunting, labor, craft, occult, cruelty and the unlabeled hauling/drudgery/guard columns. If two players edit the same minion or the same storage filter, the dungeon can end up with two plans and one pantry.
The public material does not describe permission levels or simultaneous-edit rules. Until those are known, the safe approach is social rather than mechanical: agree on who owns which system, and keep changes visible.
| Area | What one player can own | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Dig and build | Room layout, mining orders, workshops, storage filters. | Prevents two people carving conflicting corridors and makes hauling routes coherent. |
| Minions and morale | Duties, behavior toggles, beds, food, gear, grumble checks. | The Grumbling screen is a single shared list; someone needs to read it regularly. |
| Defense | Trap corridors, wiring, doors, boss positioning, prisoner handling. | Traps and fighters need to be planned as one kill zone rather than two overlapping ones. |
| Overworld | Scrying, target selection, raid timing, treasure thresholds. | Raids are commanded in real time and the whole dungeon pays for the invasion that follows. |
How to split the work without stepping on each other
The four roles above are a starting point, not a rule set. With two players, combine defense and overworld under one person and keep minions with the builder. With four, the split maps cleanly onto the four columns.
The bigger issue is tempo. A colony sim rewards pausing, reading tooltips and making small adjustments. A co-op session with four people can turn into four people unpausing at once. Agree on a speed policy before the first invasion: who can change speed, when the game pauses, and whether anyone is allowed to spend shared resources without saying so.
A practical co-op rule
Give each player one veto: build layout, minion priorities, trap wiring or raid launch. That person is not the boss; they are the tie-breaker for that system. It prevents the most common co-op colony failure, which is a well-meaning redesign while everyone else is looking at a different screen.
What is not announced
There are no confirmed dedicated servers, matchmaking service, crossplay support, player permissions, host migration or drop-in rules. The official material describes the feature, not the plumbing. We are not going to invent a host/join flow from screenshots.
The same applies to save compatibility. The full game lists online and LAN co-op, but there is no public description of whether a co-op save is tied to the host's Steam account, whether all players need the same mods, or what happens if a player leaves mid-raid.
Before your first session
- Test the demo alone first. Learn the interface, the build categories and the speed controls before adding three people to the screen.
- Agree on a voice channel. The game's co-op communication tools have not been described; external voice is the safe assumption.
- Decide who owns each system. Use the four-area split above or make your own. Write it down.
- Set a pause and speed policy. Decide who can change game speed and when pausing is allowed.
- Do not assume save transfer. Demo saves have no announced path into Early Access, and co-op save ownership is unannounced.
- Check performance together. A busy colony at 3× speed is the stress case, and each player's PC needs to meet the baseline. The spec page has the details.
Sources
Sources for this page
- 01Mossbomb — the studio making Malignus — Mossbomb
Developer site. Confirms the November 13, 2026 Early Access date, $19.99 Early Access price, $29.99 planned 1.0 price, monthly updates, demo status, platforms, co-op and headline features.
- 02Malignus press kit and fact sheet — Mossbomb
Fact sheet, development history, feature list, character and creature art, screenshot captions, and permission for press and content creators to use the kit's media in coverage of Malignus.
- 03Malignus on Steam — Valve / Mossbomb
Store description, Early Access Q&A, tags, supported languages, features, system requirements and the storefront's November 12, 2026 date display.
- 04Malignus Demo on Steam — Valve / Mossbomb
Separate demo app. Confirms the October 19, 2026 demo release, the demo's 'everything in the current game' scope, co-op support and demo system requirements.
Accessed 1 November 2026. Full source log and verification notes: Malignus Wiki sources.