Fantasy Life i Online Multiplayer Guide – How To Play Online With Friends, Quest Progression, and Time Limits
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is now available worldwide with both local and online multiplayer support. While a lot of the marketing has been showcasing multiplayer heavily, you don't unlock it immediately. This Fantasy Life i multiplayer guide will cover how to unlock online multiplayer, the different modes, how quest progression works in Fantasy Life i online, and more.
How to unlock multiplayer in Fantasy Life i
Without getting into major spoilers, you unlock online multiplayer in Fantasy Life i during Chapter 3 of the main story. How soon you get to Chapter 3 will depend on whether you're spending time leveling up different lives from the start or just sticking to the main story quests. A friend of mine got to Chapter 3 in about five hours while I got there in 10 hours to give you an example of how free-form the progression is here. The Family Co-op (couch co-op) which I cover below is unlocked within an hour of playing.
How to play with friends online in Fantasy Life i
Once you get to your Guild at Base Camp in or after Chapter 3 of the main story depending on how you are playing, you need to talk to the NPC (Colm) at the back to initiate multiplayer. Initiating multiplayer will save your game and pause any main story quests so keep that in mind. This also applies to local wireless multiplayer on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. The gallery below showcases where you go to unlock this once you've gotten access to the Guild at Base Camp in Chapter 3.
From here, you need to select Recruit Members if you are creating a session or Head Out if you are joining someone else's session. Both have their own set of search parameters you can use to find your friends or have friends find you. Multiplayer supports cross platform play, and I've tested it so far across Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and PS5. Everything has worked flawlessly with no disconnections.
Fantasy Life i local and online multiplayer differences
Local multiplayer, not to be confused with local wireless for Nintendo Switch systems, is called Family Co-op (couch co-op) in Fantasy Life i. This is more like Super Mario Odyssey where the second player doesn't have control of a fully playable character, but takes control of Trip (as a helper). You can't use Family Co-op and online or local wireless multiplayer at the same time. It also supports Steam Remote Play Together.
Local wireless or online multiplayer on the other hand lets you (1-4 players in total) go on exploring, work together to gather, take on bosses, get into dungeons, and more. Note that only the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 versions support local wireless.
Fantasy Life i online multiplayer quest progression – what works and what doesn't
There has been a lot of misinformation about this over the last week because of how Level-5 has been quickly updating the game across some platforms and with how things were when the Digital Deluxe Edition unlocked early. As of today (May 23, 2025) the PlayStation and Steam versions handle this differently compared to the Xbox Series X|S and Switch versions. PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Steam players can view the Quest screen during multiplayer, get quest completion notifications during multiplayer, and correctly progress quests (not main story ones) during multiplayer as of version 1.1.4.
On Xbox Series X|S and Switch, this does not work the same way with no notifications for quests being complete and no way to view the Quest screen during multiplayer. These two versions will have those features as of 1.2.1 which is scheduled to go live around May 29.
Regardless of the platform, you cannot do the main story in co-op with others online or complete any main story quests when online. These are paused when you begin online multiplayer or local wireless multiplayer.
Fantasy Life i multiplayer game modes
There are four types of rooms or lobbies you can set up in Fantasy Life i multiplayer: Island, Explore, Grove, and Any. Island lets you group up with friends in the Past Map to explore areas you've unlocked through the main story like Eternia Village or Faraway Island and more. Explore is a more free-form option that lets you and friends explore the massive open world of Ginormosia, do world events, timed events, take on bosses, and more.
How to unlock the Grove multiplayer game mode in Fantasy Life i
Fantasy Life i has a fourth mode for creating multiplayer sessions Grove mode. This involves Treasure Groves which are randomly generated dungeons with special rewards. I have a dedicated guide on those here. You will need to progress through Chapter 4 before you can unlock this so keep that in mind before clicking on the guide.
Fantasy Life i multiplayer time limits
Fantasy Life i sadly limits your multiplayer sessions to up to 60 minutes before you need to restart said session. The Island mode is limited to 30 minutes, Explore mode to 60 minutes, and Grove mode also to 60 minutes.
If you're planning on getting Fantasy Life i, make sure to check out all our guides here and my article covering the game on Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and ROG Ally here.
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is now available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC (Steam). It releases later for Nintendo Switch 2 as Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time Nintendo Switch 2 Edition.