The complete guide · 6 min read
Under a Rock Server Hosting: The Complete Pre-Launch Guide
Under a Rock is still unreleased, but its developer has said more about servers than most studios do this early. This guide covers what the game is, the multiplayer and hosting options Nordic Trolls has promised, what the 2026 tests showed, and how a group can prepare for a shared island without paying for anything that does not exist yet.
By Matthew Griffin, Owner, Gaming DeluxePublished · Updated
In this guide
- What Under a Rock Is
- Peer to Peer or Dedicated: The Official Plan
- What the 2026 Alpha and Playtest Covered
- Building, Blueprints and Taming
- Caves, Oceans and Getting Around
- Preparing a Group for Launch
- Where Gaming Deluxe Stands on Under a Rock
- What to Compare Before You Rent an Under a Rock Server
- Under a Rock Glossary
- Under a Rock Help and Official Links
What Under a Rock Is
Under a Rock is a procedural open-world survival crafting game from Nordic Trolls, a small indie studio that its 2023 FAQ described as five people, built in Unreal Engine 5. Gameforge 4D GmbH publishes it. You play an explorer from the early nineteenth century, stranded in a hidden world that few can travel to or from, where wildlife is oversized, Neanderthals still exist and curses are real.
The island is generated for each playthrough, so no two worlds are the same. Dark caves, underwater areas and a large surface world each hold their own dangers and resources. You craft, build, harvest, farm, fish, explore and fight, and you can choose a quiet life by the ocean or make enemies of the island's natives.
Creatures sit at the heart of it. The store page describes them as cute but lethal: you can fight, tame, breed and ride them, and tamed creatures bring abilities that help while exploring. The dodo, a bird long thought extinct, is back to life here, and the studio even calls its team and community dodos.
Peer to Peer or Dedicated: The Official Plan
Nordic Trolls answered the hosting question in an FAQ posted on Steam in July 2023. Both peer-to-peer play and dedicated servers will be available. For a dedicated server, you can set it up on a computer of your choice or rent one from a game server provider, and games can be private or public.
| Mode | Players | Who hosts |
|---|---|---|
| Single-player | 1, offline possible | Your own game |
| Peer to peer | Up to 10 | One player's game |
| Dedicated server | Up to 10 | Your own computer or a rented server |
| LAN co-op | Listed on Steam | Players on the same network |
The player limit is 10 per world, with PvP optional. Gameforge's own announcement on Xbox Wire in November 2023 repeated the figure: up to 10 players per server. That FAQ is from 2023 and the game is still in development, so treat the details as the plan, not a promise for launch day.
What the 2026 Alpha and Playtest Covered
Testing moved into the open in 2026. In July, Dev Blog #5 described the first stage of a closed alpha with a small group, where testers concentrated on the building system. Community members who had supported the game for years were invited first, with more spots promised in later stages.
On 31 August 2026 a closed Steam playtest opened during the Survival Crafting Fest. Players requested access on the store page and were let in in waves. It covered a larger island and the Tier 1 survival systems: resource harvesting, recipe unlocking, crafting, combat and building. The studio was clear that the playtest version was single-player only. It closed to new participants on 7 September 2026, and Nordic Trolls says more playtests will follow.
For anyone waiting on servers, that last detail matters. Multiplayer, and with it the dedicated server, has not been part of a public test yet, so nobody outside the studio can say how much memory or CPU an Under a Rock server will need.
Building, Blueprints and Taming
Base building comes in two forms. Real-time building places a piece as soon as you have gathered the resources. Ghost building lets you plan ahead in colour-coded outlines without spending anything, and friends can add the missing materials. If any part of your base is destroyed, it turns back into a ghost element, so rebuilding is a matter of collecting the resources again.
Blueprints build on that. You can capture a structure, with or without its decorations, and place it again elsewhere, and the January 2026 dev blog added externally hosted blueprints you can bring into the game without restarting. The studio has said it plans to let players share blueprints between worlds and with friends.
- Taming Box: fill it with a creature's favourite items to attract and tame it; taming time depends on the creature and your Creature Handling skill.
- Tames at base: they produce resources but need upkeep to stay loyal and productive.
- Companions: hatched from eggs, they grow stronger with you and can be ridden into combat.
- Release: a tame can be set free at any time, but it turns wild for good.
Caves, Oceans and Getting Around
Dev Blog #3 in January 2026 showed how far the procedural world has come. Caves gained new modules and types, including Soft Metal, Ant Hive, Bee Hive, Crystal and Mushroom caves, and are now less likely to end after a single room. Creatures can move and fight inside them, and resources can be harvested underground. The ocean was overhauled, and lakes became swimmable on the surface and below.
Getting around is a skill in its own right. Dev Blog #2 covered gliding, grappling and climbing. Gliding and grappling both use stamina, drain fatigue, have a skill to level up, need crafting and repairs, and are affected by the weather, while climbing takes you up rocks, trees and the walls of your own home. Gliding through a storm is possible, but the studio suggests it might not be the best idea.
Preparing a Group for Launch
With no release date, the best preparation costs nothing. These steps help a group of up to 10 hit the ground running.
- Follow Under a Rock on Steam to hear about release dates and the next playtest.
- Agree on group size and whether your island should be private or public.
- Check each player's PC against the Steam minimum: 64-bit Windows 10, an Intel Core i5-6600, 16GB of RAM and an RTX 2060, all subject to change.
- Decide between peer-to-peer play and an always-on dedicated server for players in different time zones.
- Register your interest with us on the contact page if you want a rented server once one exists.
Where Gaming Deluxe Stands on Under a Rock
Under a Rock is the kind of game we host every day: co-op survival crafting with building, taming and a world worth keeping online. Its developer even names renting from a game server provider as one of the ways to play. But the game and its dedicated server are not out, and we will not take orders for a product that does not exist.
When the server is released and we can run it well, this page will turn into a full hosting page with plans and prices. Until then, register your interest: it is free, and it helps us know how many explorers are waiting.
What to Compare Before You Rent an Under a Rock Server
Once Under a Rock servers can be rented, these points are worth weighing between hosts.
- Official dedicated serverMake sure the host runs Nordic Trolls' released server, not a workaround.
- Right size for your groupUp to 10 players is the planned limit; check what the official guidance says each player needs.
- World backupsProcedural islands cannot be regenerated exactly. Regular, restorable backups protect your world.
- Access controlsLook for an easy way to set a password and choose between a private and a public game.
Under a Rock Glossary
- Ghost building
- Planning a base as colour-coded outlines, then filling in the resources later.
- Blueprint
- A saved structure you can place again elsewhere.
- Taming Box
- The station you fill with a creature's favourite items to tame it.
- Companion
- A creature hatched from an egg that grows stronger with you and can be ridden.
- Epics
- Special locations placed across the procedural world, some linked to corruption.
- Peer to peer
- Multiplayer hosted directly from one player's game, without a separate server.
- Dedicated server
- A server that runs on its own computer, so the island stays online without a player hosting it.
- Dodo
- A long-extinct bird brought back in the game, and the name the studio uses for its team and community.
Under a Rock Help and Official Links
The official sources, and how to reach us.
Written with AI assistance and checked by Matthew Griffin against the official Under a Rock Steam page, the studio's Steam FAQ and dev blogs, and Gameforge's announcement on Xbox Wire. Gaming Deluxe does not sell Under a Rock servers at the time of writing.
