Big Hops Adds Eight-Player Co-Op on Steam

Big Hops already lets players solve platforming problems in strange, flexible ways, and its new multiplayer update makes those solutions much less predictable. The free Big Hops Together update adds online co-op for up to eight players, turning friends into moving grapple points, emergency lifts, and occasional reasons a simple jump goes completely wrong.

The update launches on Steam on August 9, with an open beta available now through the public Together branch. Luckshot Games has brought the full campaign online rather than building a separate party mode, so groups can follow the story, explore every world, collect upgrades, and continue from an existing single-player save.

Hop's tongue already works as a grappling hook, item grabber, and tool for crossing gaps, but co-op gives it a new target that never stays still. Players can swing from a friend while that person climbs or jumps, creating shortcuts that depend on timing, trust, and whether anyone decides to move at the worst possible moment.

The same freedom applies on the ground, where players can pick up, carry, and throw each other through the level. A teammate can help someone reach a high ledge or drag them out of trouble, but the system also leaves room for theft, bad throws, and deliberate sabotage when a group stops treating the puzzle seriously.

Because Big Hops already rewards improvisation rather than one fixed route, these new interactions feel like a natural extension of its movement. The game earned praise for responsive controls, free climbing, and vegetables that create bounce pads, tightropes, and grapple points. Other players now add another tool without turning the campaign into rigid co-op rooms.

Luckshot Games has kept the complete adventure intact, including story progress, Dark Drip collection, and Trinket unlocks. Groups can begin a fresh run together or load an older offline save, which lets returning players bring friends straight into later areas without replaying the opening hours first.

Turning a single-player platformer into an online game required changes across nearly every system. Movement, menus, cutscenes, saving, scene loading, minecarts, vegetables, and progression all needed to work for several people at once. Development began in April, giving the small team only a few months to rebuild systems that were never designed for shared play.

Bringing the whole journey online gives the update more value than a short collection of side challenges. Each area encourages players to test ideas and find their own route, and shared progress means a group can carry that freedom through the campaign instead of leaving multiplayer behind after a few disconnected rounds.

Steam players can enter the beta by opening the game's properties and selecting the public Together branch. Sessions use Steam invites, while a warp option lets anyone who wanders too far return to the group. That should help once eight frogs spread across the larger desert, mountain, and ocean areas.

PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch are not receiving multiplayer at the same time. Director Chris Wade said the team is focusing on Steam because it is easier to test one version without stretching development across several platforms. No later console date has been announced, so those players are still waiting for an answer.

The open beta now has to prove that the idea works when real groups start breaking it. Eight players can carry objects, split up, trigger events, and change the same space at once, creating problems that controlled testing may miss. August 9 will show whether Big Hops stays smooth when every shortcut becomes a group decision.