R.E.P.O. Can You Play with Randoms or Join Random Lobbies
Image Credit: semiwork, R.E.P.O.
If you were hoping to jump into R.E.P.O. with a lobby full of random players, bad news—you can’t. At least, not yet.
Right now, R.E.P.O. only supports playing with friends through a direct invite system via Steam. There’s no public matchmaking, no quick join, and no random horror buddies to scream alongside you… Yet.
The good news is that there are plans for matchmaking, coming soon! Read more about that here.
How Multiplayer Works in R.E.P.O.
You can only play with people on your Steam friends list.
No public lobbies—so if you don’t have friends who own the game, you’ll need to find players through Discord, forums, or sheer social effort.
The host needs a solid internet connection since R.E.P.O. doesn’t have dedicated servers. If your host’s Wi-Fi is held together by hope and bad decisions, expect lag, disconnects, or the entire lobby crashing mid-run.
How to Play R.E.P.O. Online With Others
Read More: R.E.P.O. Matchmaking Explained
If you actually have friends, here’s how to invite them:
Launch R.E.P.O.
Select Host Game (because there’s no “Join Randoms” button).
Accept the warning that reminds you that bad internet = bad time for everyone.
Create a game and enter the lobby.
Click Invite to send Steam invites to your friends.
Wait for them to accept and show up (or don’t and enjoy a solo run full of regret).
Once in the lobby, you can chat, change your character’s color, and prepare for whatever horrors await.
Will R.E.P.O. Ever Get Matchmaking?
The devs have cited a problem with hackers if they allowed random lobbies, but that they are indeed working on getting matchmaking up and running (aka public lobbies). You can read more about the future update here.
Final Blurb
R.E.P.O. is a friends-only multiplayer game for now, meaning you’ll have to organize your own squad instead of jumping into a lobby full of strangers. If you were hoping for a matchmaking system to throw you into the chaos with random players, you’re out of luck—for now.
