Co-op, split screen and Remote Play
Primal Dread works in single-player, local co-op and shared split screen, with Remote Play Together and Remote Play on TV supported. Patch 1.2.0.1 fixed a co-op crash when several players took crate rewards at once, plus two co-op shop layout bugs.
Brotato's co-op is not a separate mode with its own content; it is the same run with a second potato on the screen, sharing the wave, the arena and the enemy budget. Primal Dread inherits that entirely, and the DLC's store page lists the same co-op feature set as the base game: single-player, multi-player, co-op, shared/split screen co-op, shared/split screen, Remote Play Together and Remote Play on TV.
That list looks like boilerplate. It is not, because the DLC's two new systems, Evolution and the mecha shop, both have per-player state, and per-player state is exactly where co-op bugs live. Patch 1.2.0.1 fixed three of them.
Shared state, per-player state
| Thing | Shared? | Why it matters in the Jungle |
|---|---|---|
| The wave and its spawns | Yes | Two players split enemy attention, which halves the pressure per player |
| The arena and its hazards | Yes | Oil and acid are on the floor for both of you |
| The camera and screen | Yes, in split screen | In shared screen, both players must stay in frame |
| Materials and the shop | Per player | Each potato buys its own build |
| Evolution path | Per player | One can push Mecha while the other pushes Mutation, at a cost |
| Achievements | Per player | Wins are credited to the character that earned them |
The row that decides most co-op runs is the Evolution one. Two players on different paths means both sets of harder enemies spawn in the same arena, which is why the Evolution overview calls splitting the most common early mistake. In co-op it is twice as expensive.
Three co-op fixes in 1.2.0.1
| Bug | What happened | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Crate reward crash | Several players choosing a crate reward at the same time while playing the Survivor crashed the game | Fixed |
| Mecha parts counter | The counter pushed another player's column off screen in the shop | Moved next to the weapons count |
| Mechanized weapon stats | Stat choices overflowed onto the price and the next player's column | Contained |
All three are shop or reward-screen problems, which tells you where co-op stress lives in this game: not in combat, in the between-wave interface. Two players taking simultaneous actions in a menu built for one is a classic source of state bugs, and the Survivor's crate rewards made it worse because crates produce simultaneous choices.
If you play co-op Survivor, this patch is the reason it works now.
Two-player composition
The Jungle rewards role separation more than the base game, because the enemy set includes both chargers (which need a front line) and shooters (which need to be killed at range).
| Role | What to bring | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Front line | Veteran, or any character built to absorb hits | Charging packs need something to charge into |
| Damage | A weapon-first build with area coverage | Packs arrive as a front, not a queue |
| Economy | Archaeologist, or a character with passive income | One player can generate value without competing for kills |
| Control | Anything that leaves hazards or slows | Oil and acid are the DLC's real damage sources |
The composition that fails is two identical builds. Two single-target players cannot clear a charging pack before it arrives; two area players cannot kill a boss at wave 20. The DLC's wave structure punishes duplication.
Playing on one screen
Shared screen means shared camera, and shared camera means the player who wanders loses the other player's visibility. Three rules:
Agree a direction each wave. The camera follows the group; a player who kites backwards while the other pushes forward splits the screen and blinds both.
Do not both chase the same elite. Overkill on one target is wasted damage in a mode where the other lane is still spawning.
One player owns the zone. If either of you is on Poacher, the hunting area is a shared resource: kills inside it scale that player, kills outside it do not. Decide before the wave. The Poacher page covers the placement logic.
Remote Play and TV
Remote Play Together streams a local co-op session to a remote player. Remote Play on TV lets the game run on a TV-facing device with controllers. Both are listed on the store page for the base game and the DLC.
The practical difference from local co-op is latency: Brotato is a movement game, and a delayed dodge is a death. If you are playing over Remote Play Together, expect the second player to be worse at dodging and build accordingly: more area damage, fewer precision dodges.
What the DLC adds for a second player
Ten new characters, which in co-op means ten new ways to split roles. The four with documented mechanics are the easiest to assign:
- Veteran for the front line.
- Archaeologist for the economy and map movement.
- Poacher for a zone-based damage plan, if you communicate.
- Time Shifter for the panic button, which in co-op also saves the other player.
The other six are undocumented publicly, which in co-op means you find out what they do by playing them. That is a fine way to spend an evening, and a bad way to spend a hard wave.
What to check before your first co-op run
- Both players own the DLC. Content is shared per session, but a player without the DLC cannot use DLC characters or items.
- Both players have mods disabled, per the launch-day warning on the mods page.
- Agree the Evolution paths before wave one, not at wave ten.
- Check the shop after the first wave, because the co-op layout bugs fixed in 1.2.0.1 were all shop-side and worth confirming on your setup.
Checked 2026-11-04 against the 1.2.0.1 build.