Really good game, idk if its a bug or a feature, but when you die you respawn with the same party and if you grab a friend again it gives you an extra.
so you are supposed to have the same party, but I was sure that I had made the checkpoints in places that made it so you can't go back and get the party members again, oops. Did you end up with the two secret party members by the end? (white and black)