In this report
Yes, you can play Far Cry 5 co-op. Two of you, online, across almost the whole campaign once you are both off Dutch’s Island, and it is still some of the dumbest fun I have had in an open world. The catch is the one that quietly ruins a Tuesday. Only the host keeps the story. The guest walks away richer, better armed, and with their own Hope County sitting exactly where they left it.
The fun is the headline, and the host rule is the article. Understand it before you start and the mode is brilliant, while finding it out three hours in means one of you has just donated an evening.
I play most of this game on my own, with a bow, a suppressed rifle, and an outpost I have already cleared twice because I like the way the grass sits at dusk. That is the worth it verdict and the only weapon film, so read the co-op advice knowing I still prefer the county alone. Co-op is the same sandbox with a second idiot in it. A plane, a truck, a cougar, and someone on the other headset deciding now is the moment to throw a grenade. Hope County generates that chaos whether you asked for it or not.
How the two of you actually get into the same county
It is two players, and that is the ceiling rather than a suggestion. You and one mate are the whole squad. If you have a group of three, someone is watching, or you rotate through the host chair. One of you is the host. They load their own campaign save, and their Hope County becomes the world you both play in. The other is the guest, a second gun dropping into that save.
It is drop-in, drop-out, so your mate can join, do a few hours, and leave without anyone reloading. There is no lobby sitting in the main menu, which is why people search for a co-op button that is not there. You invite from the pause menu and they appear. TheGamer walked the same setup years ago: no lobby, no split screen, no crossplay, and co-op locked until you have finished the opening on Dutch’s Island.
That island is the bit that catches people. Both of you need to have cleared the prologue in your own campaign, and until you are both off it the invite does nothing. Your mate buys the game, you ping them immediately, nothing happens, and you spend twenty minutes assuming the servers are broken. They are not. Go and do Dutch’s Island before you blame the internet.
Two more refusals, because they are the questions I still get. There is no local split screen on PC, PlayStation, or Xbox, so you need two copies, two machines and two screens. There is no cross-platform play either, so PC cannot play with PlayStation and PlayStation cannot play with Xbox. Sort the storefront before one of you buys the wrong copy, because Ubisoft is not going to patch that in now, eight years after the county already filled up with planes. Eurogamer also noted, back when Ubisoft was still explaining the mode, that co-op is friends-list only, with no random matchmaking. You are not being dropped in with a stranger who wants to ram a tractor through your stealth plan, unless that stranger is already on your list, which is a different problem and a more personal one. Ubisoft’s own help page on creating a session still describes the invite from inside the game. It is your save, with a plus one, not a separate mode.
Only the host banks the story, and the guest keeps the kit
The catch is the actual article, and everything else is furniture around it. Far Cry 5 runs what GosuNoob called a Dark Souls arrangement, and they were not being cute. The host owns the world. Their save is the one that moves. Ubisoft’s co-op progression rules are blunt about it: story progress saves for the host. The guest can go home to their own campaign and continue where they left off, which is a polite way of saying they get none of the plot you just finished together.
| What happens in co-op | Host keeps it | Guest keeps it |
|---|---|---|
| Story and campaign mission progress | Yes | No |
| Liberated outposts | Yes | No |
| Resistance meter progress | Yes | No |
| Story-related achievements and trophies | Yes | No |
| Money and cash picked up | Yes | Yes |
| Experience and perk points | Yes | Yes |
| Weapons, ammo and gear found | Yes | Yes |
| Crafting materials and inventory | Yes | Yes |
Read that right-hand column again. The guest leaves a five-hour session richer, further up the perk tree, and with their own campaign sitting exactly where they parked it. Every outpost you cleared together, they have to take again. Every story mission, again. GosuNoob put it simply when the game landed: the joining player keeps the money, experience and weapons they scavenge, and retains no mission progress. Plenty of people were not happy, and they still are not, eight years later, because Ubisoft never fixed it. Call that consistency, or a shrug that calcified into a feature.
It is a hangover from how Far Cry has always done co-op, and I do not think it is a good system. TheGamer was honest about the guest getting a rough deal, since only the host really talks to the world. If the guest wanders too far, they get yanked back. Eurogamer mentioned the teleport and the friendly-fire toggle in the same breath, which is useful and also a little insulting if you came to roam rather than to be retrieved like a dog that found a fence. It is completely liveable if you plan around it. Most people who bounce off Far Cry 5 co-op bounced because nobody told them. That is the only reason this page exists in the shape it does.
How I would set the evening up so nobody wastes it
Host with whoever is furthest behind. Hosting is the prize rather than a chore, and the host is the only person banking anything permanent, so the host should be the player who actually wants to finish the story. If you have already rolled credits and your mate is fresh, you guest for them. You lose nothing you care about, because you already have your story, and you still keep every dollar and perk point you pick up along the way. That one decision fixes about ninety percent of the quiet resentment. It is a better patch than anything Ubisoft shipped for the rule itself.
Or swap hosts and run both campaigns, a session in their world and a session in yours. It sounds like double the work, and it is, though you are also not really replaying anything. You are playing the same missions with completely different chaos, and Hope County generates different chaos every time. Nobody who has had a cougar, a truck and a plane arrive in the same thirty seconds thinks of a second run as a chore. I have had that happen solo. With two of you it gets ruder, which is the recommendation hiding inside the inconvenience.
Do not host a completionist run for someone else. If your mate is eighty percent through and you are at zero, and you let them host while you tag along to see it, you will see all of it and own none of it. When you finally start your own campaign you will be replaying content you have already watched. That is the fastest way I know to never finish a game. Guest the side content and host the story. If you only want a laugh on a Tuesday, guest, pick up money and guns, and blow up a silo, since it all comes home with you. Save the story missions for the world you are hosting. That is the only save the plot is willing to remember.
Whether I would still bother, knowing the rule
Yes, easily, and I say that as someone who still prefers this county on his own. Far Cry 5 is already the most enjoyable modern Far Cry for me, grounded and stupid at the same time, and adding a second person to a systems sandbox this loose is exactly what the toy was built for. Two players, a plane, and a bad idea is basically the pitch. It is chaos with competence, which is the same reason I keep coming back to it solo, sneaking through camps in the John Wick film and pretending I meant the plan.
The co-op progression rules are a genuine mark against it. I would rather be honest about that than sell you an evening you end up resenting, because it is a rule rather than a bug you can patch around with optimism. Work with it, host it correctly, and it is one of the better two-player open worlds you can buy for almost nothing in a sale. That is the version of the recommendation I will stand behind.
If you are still deciding whether to pick it up at all, I have written the full verdict in is Far Cry 5 worth it in 2026. If you are torn between the two modern entries, Far Cry 5 vs Far Cry 6 lays out why I still land on 5. For the stealth-minded, Ghost Recon Wildlands vs Far Cry 5 covers which one actually rewards playing slow. If you are just hunting for the next big sandbox to sink into, the full list lives in best open-world games 2026.
Everything else I have on Hope County, every free roam run and every weapon test, is on the Far Cry 5 game hub. The county will still generate a stupid evening. It will only remember the one the host was standing in.
FAQ
Can you play Far Cry 5 co-op?
Yes, you can play Far Cry 5 co-op, two of you, online, across almost the whole campaign once you are both off Dutch's Island, and I play most of Hope County on my own while co-op is still some of the dumbest fun in the game. The thing to understand before you start is that only the host's world actually advances. That catch quietly ruins a Tuesday if nobody mentions it.
How many players can play Far Cry 5 co-op?
Two, and only two, can play Far Cry 5 co-op, you and one friend, and there is no three or four player option, no matter how many mates own the game. If you have a group, you rotate, or someone watches. That is the ceiling, not a suggestion Ubisoft forgot to print on the box.
Does co-op progress carry over in Far Cry 5?
Only the host keeps co-op story progress in Far Cry 5, and Ubisoft's own rules are blunt, because story missions, liberated outposts and resistance progress bank to the host, while the guest keeps money, experience, perk points and any weapons they picked up, then goes home to a campaign sitting exactly where they left it. If they want credit for that outpost, they have to take it again in their own save. I would not call that a good system, though I would call it liveable if you host with the person who actually wants the story.
How do you unlock co-op in Far Cry 5?
You unlock Far Cry 5 co-op by finishing the opening on Dutch's Island in your own campaign, both of you, because until you are both off that prologue the invite does nothing, and you will spend twenty minutes assuming the servers are broken when they are not. Go and do the island, then invite from the pause menu. There is no lobby hiding in the main menu waiting to be found.
Does Far Cry 5 have split screen co-op?
No, Far Cry 5 does not have split screen co-op, because the mode is online only, and there is no local split screen on PC, PlayStation or Xbox, so you both need your own copy, your own machine, and your own screen. If you wanted a sofa night off one disc, this is not that game. I would rather hand you that disappointment before you buy a second controller and nothing else.
Is Far Cry 5 crossplay in co-op?
No, Far Cry 5 co-op is not crossplay, because you and your mate have to be on the same platform, and PC cannot play with PlayStation, while PlayStation cannot play with Xbox. Sort the storefront before one of you buys the wrong copy. Ubisoft is not going to patch that in now, eight years after the county already filled up with planes.
Should the host or the guest be the one who has played more?
Host with the person who is furthest behind, or who cares most about finishing the story, because hosting is the prize and only the host banks progress, while the single biggest co-op mistake I see is letting the person who has already rolled credits host, which means your mate does twelve hours of work for zero story. Guest if you are the one who is done, and you still keep the money and the guns. That is a decent consolation for already knowing how the cult ends.
Sources (5)
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