While the Pokemon games have inched somewhat closer and closer to giving us the level of multiplayer functionality we've wanted from the series for years now, Temtem made playing with others a core of its design. While not quite an MMO, you will be automatically dropped into a server with dozens of other tamers roaming around the Archipelago. This makes the world feel far more alive and reactive, plus it opens up tons of new opportunities for co-operation.
There's a lot you can do together in Temtem. You can obviously battle it out with just about anyone you want, but the main appeal will certainly be teaming up to play the game in co-op. This will allow you to help, or get some help, with the main story. Of course, there are some limitations and things to know about how it all works. Since there's no real tutorial explaining the systems, we'll train you on how to play co-op in Temtem.
How to find and add friends
You can only team up with friends in Temtem, meaning you will, of course, first need to actually have some friends online to play with. Temtem has its own dedicated friend list and system to manage. Here's how it works.
Step 1: Load up Temtem and open your Main menu.
Step 2: Select the icon of Two people.
Step 3: Select the Friends option.
Step 4: Select Tamer search at the top.
Step 5: You will need to know either your friend's Tamer name or ID number from their profile to search.
Step 6: Once you've found your friend, select the Magnifying glass icon.
Step 7: Select the Plus sign to send them a friend request.
Step 8: Once they have accepted your request, they will appear in your friends list.
How to play co-op
Now that you've got at least one friendly tamer on your list and ready to play with you, here's how to start a co-op session.
Step 1: With you and your friend online, go to the same location. (You don't have to be in the same instance, but you do need to be in the same area regardless for co-op to work.)
Step 2: Open your Main menu and select Interact.
Step 3: Select your friend from the list and hit Co-op.
Step 4: Once they accept your request, you will be in a co-op session!
How does co-op work?
Now, just because you can team up with any friend in Temtem, that doesn't mean that you can somewhat break the game. Co-op sessions scale to the lower level between you and your friend, as well as lock progression only to where the lower-level player is. That means that the higher-level player will only be helping the lower-level player and not making any story progress. You will still earn XP, though.
To somewhat compensate, each co-op player will also only have access to the first three Temtem on their teams. On the other hand, each player can use any items on either their own or their partner's Temtem.
