Dear Passengers Co Op: Modes, Crew Size, and Role Split

The Steam store page for AppID 4534960 currently lists three player features under "Features": Single-player, Online Co-op, and Family Sharing. That is the most direct official record of how the game treats solo and shared play, and it is the strongest current fact about the multiplayer mode.

The key details of that list are:

• Single-player is supported as its own mode, so a player can run a flight without other humans joining.
• Online Co-op is the multiplayer feature; Steam does not list local or couch co op, so any "local co op" claim should be treated as unconfirmed.
• Family Sharing is a Steam account feature rather than an in-game mode, and it lets a primary owner's library be shared with designated Steam family members on their own devices.

FLEXUS's own description treats the online co op experience as the headline pitch: while one player pilots, the others manage the cabin, serve passengers, and react to in-flight trouble. Online multiplayer is therefore the mode that the Dear Passengers marketing copy is built around, and the Single-player line exists so solo players can still fly the same flight without a crew.

The role split in Dear Passengers is built around the airline crew simulation, not around a generic party of equals. The developer-stated principle is that at least one player flies the plane while the other players handle everything inside the cabin. In practice that means the crew is organised as a pilot plus a cabin crew, with the cabin side doing the work that the pilot cannot reach from the cockpit.

The pilot's job is to fly the aircraft, react to weather and turbulence, and steer the plane through air pockets. The cabin crew's job is to serve food and drinks, calm passengers, secure cargo, and defuse trouble before it cascades into a full emergency. Both sides have to keep the flight running, and the difficulty comes from dividing attention between cockpit demands and cabin chaos at the same time.

This division is the reason third-party media describes the game in the same breath as Overcooked-style co op. The roles are mechanically distinct, so two friends cannot simply play the same way. The crew-roles page covers the pilot and cabin crew breakdown in detail, and the pilot guide and cabin crew guide walk through each side of the flight loop.

The single-player and multiplayer modes are not the same experience, even though they use the same flight and the same systems. Steam supports both, and FLEXUS has framed the game so that one player can still play the full loop.

In solo play, one person runs both the cockpit and the cabin. That means handling turbulence from the pilot seat while also serving passengers, securing cargo, and reacting to in-flight trouble. It is a feasible way to play, but it is not the design's recommended path, because the developer-stated principle is that at least one player flies while others handle the cabin.

In co op, that role split is distributed across real players. The pilot can focus on flying and weather, while one or more cabin crew members handle the passenger and cargo loop. Communication and timing become the actual challenge, and that is the experience the game's pitch is built around.

A short comparison of what changes between the two modes:

• Crew size: solo uses one player; co op uses a pilot plus one or more cabin crew members, with the exact maximum crew size Not announced as of 2026-07-30.
• Role distribution: solo runs both roles from one seat; co op assigns pilot and cabin to different players.
• Difficulty curve: solo punishes divided attention, while co op punishes poor communication between roles.
• Recommended mode: FLEXUS positions co op as the headline way to play, with single-player available for solo runs.

The getting-started page describes the pre-flight choices that apply to either mode, including passenger and cargo selection, and the crew roles page explains the pilot versus cabin crew division in more detail.

• Dear Passengers on Steam (AppID 4534960) - official/store - checked 2026-07-30 - supports the Steam features list (Single-player, Online Co-op, Family Sharing), the pilot-versus-cabin role pitch, and the absence of a published maximum crew size.
• TechTimes: Ukrainian studio's airline co-op Dear Passengers logs 500K Steam wishlists - media/interview - checked 2026-07-30 - supports the co op airline pitch, the physics-based cabin chaos, and the framing of Dear Passengers as a multiplayer title.
• Rosebud: Dear Passengers Multiplayer Explained + Free Co-op Alternative - media/interview - checked 2026-07-30 - supports the "one player flying and the others managing the cabin" role split and the unconfirmed player count.

• Steam AppID 4534960 lists Single-player, Online Co-op, and Family Sharing as the Dear Passengers player features; this is the strongest current-game fact on modes.
• The exact maximum crew size for co op is Not announced as of 2026-07-30; no player count is published on the Steam store page, by FLEXUS, or in the referenced media coverage.
• Local co op and couch co op are not listed by Steam; treat local-coop claims as unconfirmed.
• Crossplay is not listed by Steam and has not been announced by FLEXUS in the sources reviewed; treat crossplay claims as unconfirmed.
• The role split is a developer-stated principle: at least one player flies the plane while others handle the cabin. Skill trees, balance values, and per-role stats are not published.
• Family Sharing is a Steam platform feature, not an in-game mode; the two should not be described interchangeably.