Co-op and crossplay in AFE2

The biggest story of this launch isn't the xenomorphs — it's that Steam, Epic, PS5 and Xbox all share one co-op matchmaking pool from day one, and squads grew from three marines to four. Here's exactly how it works.

Crossplay from the first minute

Cold Iron confirmed in its co-op showcase that marines join fireteams across Steam, Epic Games Store, Xbox and PS5 starting August 25. No staged rollout, no platform sitting out. That matters more than it sounds: the 2021 original shipped without crossplay and added it later, which split an already modest player base across storefronts during its busiest window. Starting everyone in one pool is the best thing a co-op shooter of this size can do for matchmaking times.

Four marines, not three

• Squad size is 4. The first game was a trio; AFE2 adds a fourth slot and rebalances enemy pressure around a full fireteam.
• One caveat out of the gate: a full squad needs four humans. With three or fewer, AI teammates fill the gaps — and bots were the original's most common complaint.
• Cross-platform friends just work. Friend a PS5 player from Steam and you can squad up directly, no invite code gymnastics.

Hosting and connection model

The devs have confirmed the sessions are peer-to-peer hosted — one player's machine hosts the mission, rather than dedicated servers. That's the same model as the original, and it means host connection quality matters for the other three players. For a PvE horde shooter it's a reasonable trade, but expect the occasional host-migration hiccup if you play a lot of quickplay.

What about the Switch 2 version?

The Switch 2 port arrives Fall 2026. Whether it joins the day-one crossplay pool is unconfirmed — nobody at Cold Iron has said. If it does, great; if not, it's a separate island until they decide. Worth checking before you double-dip on a Switch copy later this year.