In Warrior Cats: Clans of the Forest, you can interact with other players by battling them, visiting your friends' camps, and helping them with resources. However, the game's online features work a little differently from those in games with traditional co-op campaigns. This guide explains what multiplayer offers, what Skirmish Mode is for, and what to expect if you're thinking of buying the game with a friend.
Can You Play Through Warrior Cats: Clans of the Forest With Friends?
The most important thing to know before buying the game is that the developers have not announced real-time co-op for the story campaign. The main adventure is designed for one player, while online interactions are asynchronous. This means you and your friend don't have to be playing at the same time to use the available online features. It also means you can't explore the same map together or complete story quests as a team.It's worth talking about what you both want from the game before buying it. If you're happy to develop your own cats separately, show each other your camps, and help out with materials, then there's no problem. But if you want to play through the campaign as one party, Clans of the Forest simply isn't built for that. As in many other games, the main story is a separate adventure for each player.Image unavailable
What Can You Do Online With Friends?
The game's official description confirms the following online features:
Visit a friend's camp asynchronously.
Help another player by crafting items for them.
Gift resources and materials they need.
Battle other players asynchronously in Skirmish Mode.
One practical use for this kind of assistance is helping a friend who's running short on materials. It's worth discussing what they need in advance so you don't waste resources on gifts they can't use. However, the ability to send materials doesn't mean you share an inventory or can build a single camp together. Neither feature has been promised in the published description.Image unavailable
How Does Skirmish Mode Work?
Skirmish Mode is a dedicated mode for asynchronous online battles against other players. It's primarily designed for competitive encounters rather than fighting story enemies together. Both participants don't need to be online at the same time. If battling other players' cats is what interests you, this is the mode to look at.Regular combat in Clans of the Forest is turn-based, with battles featuring up to three characters on each side. But keep in mind that this doesn't mean three-player co-op. The number of fighters in a party and the number of people controlling them are two different things. The developers have yet to explain in detail how to choose a specific friend as an opponent, how matchmaking works, or what rewards Skirmish Mode offers.Image unavailable
How to Visit a Friend and Send a Gift
The announced online features let you visit friends' camps and help them with resources, but there isn't a verified step-by-step guide to the menus yet. The game is scheduled for release on October 23, so we can't provide confirmed instructions for setting up a lobby at this point. We'll update this guide when those details become available.
Does the Game Support Cross-Play or Split-Screen Co-op?
Local co-op on one screen, cross-play, and split-screen multiplayer haven't been announced either. The game's store listing only specifies single-player. Connecting a second controller doesn't give you a confirmed way to let a friend control another cat. If you're buying it to play through the story together, this isn't the right option.
Which Mode Should You Choose?
For the story adventure, go with Prophecy Mode, which features four stories about Clan life. Defender Mode is an endurance challenge where you try to survive a single run against powerful enemies. For asynchronous battles against other players, there's Skirmish Mode. Camp visits and gifts are additional features that complement the single-player experience.Image unavailableI'd recommend choosing this game primarily for your own cat, quests, and turn-based battles. Think of helping friends online as an extra feature rather than the main attraction. If your goal is to run through the forest together and experience the story side by side, it makes sense to wait for a separate announcement about full co-op, since none has been made so far. You can find the latest description of the online features on the game's Steam page.
