Hunting monsters with friends has always been a major part of the Monster Hunter experience. While Monster Hunter Outlanders continues the tradition with four-player co-op hunts, unlike the mainline games, multiplayer is limited to certain activities. If you’re wondering what content can be tackled with friends, here’s how co-op and multiplayer work in Monster Hunter Outlanders.
Can You Explore Aesoland With Friends in Monster Hunter Outlanders?
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem you’re able to freely explore Aesoland with friends in Monster Hunter Outlanders. Open-world exploration and story quests are strictly single-player activities. Instead, multiplayer is restricted to specific hunting missions and side activities.
It’s a bit of a departure from Monster Hunter World and Wilds, where players can explore hunting grounds and hunt monsters together outside dedicated quests. Perhaps this was done to make it easier to track down the number of Structures players have placed across the map. Nevertheless, there’s always a possibility that the multiplayer functionality could be expanded in future updates.
Which Quests Can You Play in Co-op?
Despite the restrictions on open-world exploration, Monster Hunter Outlanders still offers several activities that support multiplayer.
Free Hunt
As far as we can tell, Free Hunt is the main way to hunt monsters alongside other players. To access it, open the Gameplay Handbook menu and select the Equipment Supply tab. Instead of tracking down monsters in the field, you can then simply pick which monster you want to hunt.
Free Hunt features seven difficulty levels, with the last one called Extreme; each requires different Power Level requirements and is unlocked as you progress through the story. Before starting a Free Hunt, you can wait for other players to join your squad or go through with a bot. You can browse available Free Hunt quests or gather other players to hunt together through the Squad Up menu as well.
During multiplayer hunts, you and your teammates can also unleash Co-op Skills to create openings against monsters. These skills charge over time, with attacks helping fill the gauge faster. Once activated, a Co-op Skill targets a specific monster part and briefly staggers the monster, allowing other Hunters to follow up. Dealing enough damage to the targeted part within a limited time will knock the monster down, giving an additional window for dealing massive damage.
Guild Clash
After you join a Guild, you can participate in a Guild Clash — a multiplayer hunt with a competitive twist. Instead of just hunting monsters together, your squad competes against other Guilds to see who can take down the same target faster.
Guild Clash opens every Saturday at 20:15 (UTC-4). Guild members must form a four-player squad, which will then be randomly matched against a squad from another Guild. Each Clash session consists of four rounds, with each member allowed to initiate one challenge per round.
Points are awarded based on hunting speed and completion time, with Gold and Silver difficulties offering different point multipliers. The more matches Guild members participate in, the more Cheer Points everyone earns. These provide bonus damage and damage reduction, giving your Guild an extra edge in subsequent hunts.
Guild Carnival
If you’re looking for something other than hunting monsters, Guild Carnival offers a different kind of multiplayer experience. This side mission features a rhythm-based 3v3 competitive minigame where two teams race to correctly input button sequences faster than their opponents.
If you’re not paired up with other Guild members or matchmaking can’t find enough participants, empty slots will be filled with bots. Guild Carnival opens daily at 12:00 and 18:00 (UTC-4), with each session lasting two hours and ten minutes.
How Does the Co-Op Squad System Work?
Aside from multiplayer hunts, Monster Hunter Outlanders also features a Co-Op Squad system found in the Event Center menu. Up to four players can form a squad and work together to complete special Daily Quests. Completing these objectives progresses the seasonal Journey Quest, rewarding members with more Rutacoins, Zenny, other currencies, and exclusive stickers and emotes.
Daily Quests reset at 05:00 (UTC-4), so make sure to finish them before the daily reset. You can also switch between Co-Op Squads up to three times. After reaching that limit, you’ll have to wait two hours before joining another Squad.
Can You Play Monster Hunter Outlanders Solo?
Absolutely. Although you’ll see other players in the Kulune Village hub, most of Monster Hunter Outlanders‘ content can be played solo. That includes currency farming quests, Arena quests, exploring Aesoland, and progressing through the story missions.
When playing alone, you can bring up to three AI-controlled Adventurers. Unlike your Fated Adventurers, they fill different combat roles — Assault, Disruptor, and Support — helping you deal damage, weaken monsters, or keep your party alive. Nevertheless, Monster Hunter Outlanders is made as an online game from the ground up, so an internet connection is still required even when playing solo.
