Survival & Sandbox News
Update notes, season launches, early-access milestones, and roadmap news for the survival and sandbox games we follow.
Signal Decay Dev Log: Launch, Roadmap, and What We Built
A founders' dev log on Signal Decay. What shipped at launch, why we built it offline-first, where the roadmap goes next. From crash landing to Architects-era endgame.
Hytale Early Access: Everything We Know About the 2026 Release
Hytale finally launches into Early Access on January 13, 2026. Here's a breakdown of the gameplay modes, combat overhaul, and modding capabilities coming day one.
Mistfall Hunter Season 2 Starts November 11, and Your Stash Does Not Come With It
Bellring has dated Season 2: Fires of the Past for November 11, 2026. Everything in your inventory and warehouse settles into Contribution first.
Season 2 Is Dated November 11 and Called Fires of the Past, and It Lands From the Studio's Account Rather Than Its Steam Feed
Bellring's official @MistfallHunter account has posted the Season 2 start date, the season name and the drop-rate change together: "Season 2: Fires of the Past is coming on November 11th, with higher drop rates across all maps", alongside a reminder that Season 1 Contribution converts into Fateweaver Shop tokens. Xbox Dynasty's October 23 report carries the same three facts and credits the developers. The Steam announcement feed for app 3282300 still ends at Developer Update 10 and the October 21 live update, neither of which names a day, which is why we held November 11 off our pages until a studio channel printed it. The reset arrives first: eleven days from now Gyldenblod, Echoes of Fate, Soul Cocoons, Combat Bags, Soulcatch Nets and everything in your inventory and warehouse settle into Contribution, and the token conversion is tiered so the largest stashes are paid at the worst rate. No feature list for Fires of the Past has been published beyond the drop rates.
Rot and Ruin Left the Test Branch on October 20, and It Cut the PC Install From 37 GB to 18 GB
Patch 0.6.0 went live for everyone on 20 October, two weeks after the public test opened, free for owners and Game Pass members, so the Woodpile and its Centipede are not behind an opt-in branch any more. Skritch is the hardest fight in the game and not close: tier 4 where everything else tops out at tier 3, 9,000 health against the story's largest bar of 2,500, and 90 percent flat damage resistance unless you hit the guts. The mercy is the stun economy, a threshold of 100 on a 25 second cooldown, which is cheaper per window than the tier 2 story boss. It also eats the termite larvae in the arena to heal, so clear those first. The same build added Perfect Dodge, which costs no stamina on a clean read, Bismuth gear tiers at the Yoking Press, the Potato Beetle Buggy, base painting, and a move to Unreal Engine 5.7.
Valheim Patch 1.0.21 Fixes Storms Blowing Through Buildings and Cuts Kall Fimbulbringer's Ground Fire in Half
Patch 1.0.21 landed October 28 with a broad balance pass, including snowstorms and ash storms no longer pushing through closed buildings and Kall Fimbulbringer's ground-fire damage over time cut in half. Deep North trees now drop Timberwood Cones that can be planted in most biomes, and five difficulty-locked achievements are now available on any world setting.
Community Update 5 Shipped mod.io Support on October 26, and the New Foggy Friend Pet Spawns from Mutated Peccaries
Community Update 5, The Modding Update, arrived October 26 with an in-game mod browser powered by mod.io and a free standalone Mod Editor on the Epic Games Store. A new IS-0178-I pet nicknamed Foggy Friend can be obtained by mutating Peccaries with certain substances, and the GATEPal map now tracks multiple active quests at once.
Enshrouded Hotfix 1.0.0.3 Restored Missing Early Access Rewards, and Three Crash Bugs That Were Blocking Saves Are Fixed
Hotfix 1.0.0.3 shipped October 21, restoring Early Access backer rewards that went missing after the 1.0 launch and fixing crashes tied to save migration, multiplayer loading, and factory operations. It also cleared up light flickering in large bases and V-Sync stuttering on AMD cards. Two earlier hotfixes on October 15 and 16 had already addressed AMD GPU fog and locked world settings.
Once Human's Isles of Abyss Launched October 21, and Your Base Is Now a Ship That Can Sink
Version 3.1.1 went live October 21, introducing the Isles of Abyss ocean scenario where players build and crew ships, battle Voyager and Calamity Tower threats, and capture Bay Crocodiles. The update also added the SOCR Cosmic Visitor weapon, custom dye support for 23 fashion sets, and a Halloween Wonder Night event running through November 11.
Minecraft 26.4 Snapshot 5 Brings Packed Ice Brick Variants, and an Experimental DirectX Setting Is Now Testable
Snapshot 5 of Java Edition 26.4 arrived October 20, adding packed ice brick block variants to the ice caves content shown at Minecraft Live in September. An experimental DirectX presentation setting also appeared, letting players on compatible hardware test alternate rendering configurations ahead of a future release.
New tier list: every class and all eleven weapon sets ranked on where Bellring's own patches moved them
Mistfall Hunter has no competitive scene and no published pick rates, so our board ranks on the thing it does have: a dense, dated balance record. The Withered Knight's two sets went in opposite directions in a single patch, September 15 cutting Greatsword Execution damage while reducing Sacred Bulwark's cooldown, and the Mercenary earned the line about its burst combo exceeding design expectations. Classes and weapon sets are ranked separately, because in this game the set decides how a Gyldhunter plays.
Valheim Patch 1.0.20 Ties Trophy Drops to Star Level, and a Forge of Potential Exploit Is Gone
Patch 1.0.20 arrived October 15, scaling trophy drop chances to the monster's star level so higher-difficulty kills reward better trophies more reliably. Rare-drop logic also carries over between sessions now, a Forge of Potential exploit was closed, and items wrongly flagged as cheated were corrected.
Enshrouded Leaves Early Access in Two Days, and the Last Month of Reveals Says What Actually Changed
Version 1.0 lands on 15 October on PC and PS5, closing a run of reveals that is worth reading before you load a save. The two substantial ones are Sparkworks, a logic system connecting inputs to outputs, and a mage rework adding nine spells including summons. Keen Games has a highlights video due the Thursday before release, and the studio has spent the final stretch on the kind of work that does not trailer well, including making the game's hardest boss less of a chore. Our Enshrouded wiki is being checked against the 1.0 build as it goes live.
Dragonwilds Is Closing In on 3 Million Players, and Jagex Says There Is "a String of Sagas" Planned
Speaking to Wccftech after 1.0, the Dragonwilds team put the game at "close to three million people" who have played it, counting unique players rather than copies sold and including Game Pass. On what comes after the announced roadmap, the team said there is a string of sagas planned and that Jagex is committed to the game for the long haul, without saying how many years the plan covers. The other number worth noting: around 85% of players at the start of early access were already active RuneScape players, and that split has since levelled out to roughly even, which is the newcomer audience Jagex wanted. The named roadmap so far is Kuldra's Saga in 2026 with the Luminance update, then the two-chapter Blood Crystal Saga in 2027.
New guide: patch 1.0.14 admits diagonal movement on a gamepad was 30% too slow
Valheim's stick input was weighted toward the four cardinal directions and ran diagonals 30% slower, which 1.0.14 fixed alongside a rebuilt keybinding menu, an alternate dodge key, hotbar rebinding past 1 to 8, and a toggle for blocking that is the biggest accessibility change the game has shipped. Our guide collects every control and performance change since launch, including tessellation now being off in the low preset, and lists the five settings worth changing today.
New guide: the 1.0 save conversion stripped your item stands, and only one fix gets the upgrades back
Converting a pre-1.0 world through the new save format dropped the durability, upgrade level and variant from everything on an item or armour stand. Patch 1.0.12 stopped it happening, but the conversion that already ran cannot be undone. Our guide covers the two recovery routes Iron Gate gave, including the one that keeps your progress, plus the false cheater flag, the four patches of terrain fixes, and the 1.0.17 line about chunk splits erasing objects.
Once Human Goes to Sea on October 21, and the Gear Arriving With It Is Built Around One Mechanic
The next update is dated 21 October at 16:00 PT and brings an all-new ocean survival scenario plus an ocean RaidZone map. The dev blog published on the 12th covers what you will fight it with: the SOCR Cosmic Visitor and the Snowline Elite Vest, both designed around Frost Vortex and Ice Spear. The rifle has a chance to generate a Frost Vortex on hit with the first shot after a reload guaranteed to trigger one, and spawns homing ice constructs on vortex generation and on kills. The vest makes each Frost Vortex fire its triggered effects one extra time without generating another, and stacks vortex damage up to five times over five seconds. Read them as one build rather than two drops.
Patch v1.2.4.1 Switches the Audio Changes Back On, and That Is the One Mod Authors Have Been Waiting For
Released 12 October, v1.2.4.1 cleans up what was left over from the previous patch. The headline change is re-enabling audio-related changes that had been disabled and were stopping some mods from working, which Coffee Stain hopes will not break the workarounds modders built in the meantime. The rest is crash fixes aimed at general stability. As with every patch from 1.2 onward it ships to Steam, Epic, Xbox Series S and X and PS5 together.
Dragonwilds Three Weeks After 1.0: The Raid Landed, Saves Broke, and 2027 Is Already Mapped
RuneScape: Dragonwilds left early access on 15 September with a raid, Rune and Dragon gear and a console debut. Then came four patches, a save corruption bug, and a Summit roadmap running through 2027.
Enshrouded's Road to 1.0: Fall 2026 Full Release, Console Launch, and What Comes After
Keen Games has committed to an Autumn 2026 1.0 launch for Enshrouded, arriving alongside the game's first console release. Here is what the road to full release looks like, why the studio is calling 1.0 the starting line, and how the free-updates-plus-paid-expansions plan will shape the game for years.
Palworld's Busy July 30: First Paid DLC and the Official Card Game Land Together
Three weeks after leaving Early Access, Palworld follows up its 1.0 launch with a double drop on July 30, 2026: Pocketpair's first paid DLC and the worldwide release of the Palworld Official Card Game. Here is what is confirmed, what is still under wraps, and how to prepare your save before the content wave hits.
Grounded 2 Roadmap 2026: Rot and Ruin, Winter Is Next
Rot and Ruin is the Fall update, version 0.6.0, with the Woodpile and the Centipede boss. Winter is next and Obsidian has not dated it.
Minecraft's Third 2026 Game Drop Adds the Dappled Forest: Poplar Trees, Wool Furniture, and Abandoned Camps
Mojang revealed the first features of Minecraft's third game drop of 2026 at TwitchCon: an entirely new autumn-toned biome called the dappled forest, built around poplar trees with three leaf colors, a new wood set, cozy wool furniture, and a new abandoned camp structure. Here is everything shown and when you can test it.
V Rising Is Winding Down Major Content, and Stunlock Is Building Something New in the Same World
Stunlock Studios has confirmed there will be no more major expansions for V Rising. The studio is shifting to a new game set in the same world, while keeping V Rising on a diet of balance and bug patches. Here is what the announcement actually means for players, PvP servers, and anyone deciding whether the game is still worth starting in 2026.
Abiotic Factor: Entropic Break DLC: Everything We Know
Abiotic Factor's first paid DLC, Entropic Break, trades the GATE facility for a sun-drenched tropical test site. Here is every confirmed detail: setting, the Fanatics, the Flesh Dimension, underwater exploration, platforms, and the release window.
Subnautica 2 'Adaptive Measures' Update Goes Live July 8: Biomods, Blight, and a Big Quality-of-Life Pass
Subnautica 2's first named Early Access update, Adaptive Measures (EA 1.1), arrives July 8, 2026. It is a quality-of-life patch that reworks Biomods, tunes Blight encounters, improves wreck exploration, and cleans up vehicle docking, the PDA databank, and voicelog priority. Here is everything in the patch and what it signals about the road to co-op.
Silksong's First Expansion 'Sea of Sorrow' Is Coming in 2026: Everything Team Cherry Has Confirmed
Team Cherry confirmed Sea of Sorrow, the first free expansion for Hollow Knight: Silksong, is arriving in 2026. It adds a subterranean ocean region beneath Pharloom with new bosses, tools, and NPCs, and it lands after Patch 5 quietly fixed the game's most-argued-about launch problem. Here is the full breakdown.
Palworld 1.0 Endgame Deep Dive: The World Tree, Sky Islands, PvP, and What Server Clustering Means for Your Community
Palworld 1.0 launches July 10 with 27 pages of patch notes, and the headline is the endgame: the World Tree region, new Sky Islands, a full PvP mode, Genetic Recombination breeding, and Server Clustering that changes how community servers scale. Here is the deep dive on what ships and what it means for group play.
Once Human's Anniversary Version Lands July 10 With a First-Person Mode and Roguelike Survival
Once Human's Anniversary Version arrives July 10, 2026, adding the game's long-promised first-person perspective and a new roguelike survival mode, on top of its ongoing console push to PlayStation and Xbox. Here is what is in the update, how it changes moment-to-moment survival, and where it fits in the 2026 roadmap.
Soulmask After 1.0: The 2026 Roadmap of New Territories, Tougher Bosses, and Tribe Tools
Soulmask left Early Access with the Shifting Sands desert, but the studio is not done. The post-1.0 roadmap promises new territories, deadlier bosses, deeper tribe management, more building, and a wave of quality-of-life fixes for the grindiest parts of the game. Here is what is coming and how to prepare your tribe.
Enshrouded 1.0 Preview: New Areas, Smarter Enemies, and How to Prep for the October Launch
Enshrouded leaves early access on October 15, 2026 on PC and PS5. Beyond the console debut, 1.0 brings new areas, tougher and smarter enemies, a rebuilt onboarding flow, and an expanded Adventure Sharing system. Here is everything the launch adds and how to get your world and server ready.
Valheim 1.0 Confirmed for September 9: The Deep North, a Secret Final Boss, and PS5 and Switch 2 Crossplay
Iron Gate has locked Valheim's 1.0 launch for September 9, 2026. The Deep North closes out the biome map, a deliberately hidden final boss ends the story, and the game arrives on PS5 and Switch 2 with full crossplay. Everything confirmed so far.
Once Human Just Rewrote How You Get Gear: The Season 4 Blueprint and Wish Machine Overhaul Explained
Season 4 quietly reworked the two systems that decide your power in Once Human. Blueprints now unlock directly with Starchrom, the Wish Machine no longer drains it, and Super Anomalies push build variety. Here is what changed and how to spend Starchrom now.
Subnautica 2 Update 1.1: The Collector Leviathan Biome, the Prawn Suit's Return, and What's Next
Subnautica 2's first major early access update, 1.1, adds a brand-new region built around the Collector Leviathan, along with new creatures, resources, and the return of the Prawn Suit vehicle chassis. Here is the full breakdown and how the co-op-focused Update 2 fits into the roadmap.
Once Human 2026 Roadmap: 'The Year of the Monsters,' a New Island Scenario, First-Person Mode, and Console Launch
Starry Studio's 2026 roadmap for Once Human leans hard into new monsters, a fresh island-themed scenario with a deep-sea abyss boss, a full first-person shooter mode, quarterly Raid Zones, an IP crossover, and a PlayStation and Xbox release. Here is everything coming this year.
Rust Common Ground Update Is Live: Apartment Complex, Clan System, and Raid Windows
Facepunch's July 2026 Common Ground update adds the rentable Apartment Complex monument, a full Clan System with its own table and UI, and raid windows that limit base defense to a set daily window. Here is everything that changed.
Windrose Teases Ashlands, Its First Major Biome, With an Interim Patch Coming First
Kraken Express dropped the official Ashlands teaser trailer for Windrose on July 1, 2026. Here is the roadmap: a 40+ building piece and QoL patch first, then the Ashlands biome roughly six months out.
Mistfall Hunter's Open Beta Wraps With the Withered Knight Class and a Hallowgrave Boss Reveal
Mistfall Hunter's June 14 to 22 open beta closed out with the new Withered Knight class, the Hallowgrave map, and the first public look at Mist Lord Salmar. Launch is set for July 29, 2026.
V Rising's Content Era Is Done: What Stunlock's 'Next Era' Means for Your Castle
Stunlock Studios confirmed V Rising's major content arc ended with Invaders of Oakveil. Here is what Dev Update #32 actually changes, the balance patches still shipping through June, and what it means for players starting now.
Soulmask Patch 14 Reworks Combat Animations and Opens the Cross-World Portal
Soulmask's Patch 14 refines weapon animations across seven classes and opens free travel between the Cloud Mist Forest and Shifting Sands maps. A fast follow-up patch landed the next day, continuing Keenor Games' near-weekly cadence since the April 1.0 launch.
Once Human Season 4 'The Riftwalker' Goes Live With Zero-Gravity Combat
Once Human's 2.4.2 update launched Season 4, The Riftwalker Descends, with zero-gravity floating-island combat, a colossal aircraft Deviant boss, and a new Battle Pass. Here is everything that changed, plus the anniversary patch that followed two weeks later.
Grounded 2's 'Into the Abyss' Update and PS5 Launch Arrive Together August 11
Obsidian confirmed at the Xbox Games Showcase that Grounded 2's water-focused Into the Abyss update lands August 11, the same day the survival game debuts in Early Access on PS5. Here is everything in the update and what a year of Early Access has taught the team.
Why Mistfall Hunter Broke Out During Steam Next Fest
Mistfall Hunter's June 2026 demo stood out because it gave extraction fans a sharper hook: Souls-like third-person combat, six classes, three-player squads, and a July 29 launch date.
Mistfall Hunter: Price, Classes, and How a Run Works
Out since July 29, 2026 at $24.99 on PC, PS5, and Xbox. Six classes, three-player squads, and a bell that tells the map you are leaving.
Windrose Hits 2 Million Sales as Pirate Survival Finds Its Early Access Crew
Windrose has become one of 2026's breakout indie survival games, reaching 2 million sales in its first month after a huge Early Access launch.
Enshrouded Update 8 Is the Last Stop Before 1.0, With Combat, Skills, and Adventure Sharing Rebuilt
Keen Games says Forging the Path is Enshrouded's last major update before 1.0. Update 8 adds Adventure Sharing, resets skill trees, expands gear upgrades, and overhauls combat.
Valheim Server Admins Should Prepare Now for the 1.0 Deep North Rush
Valheim 1.0 is bringing the Deep North, PS5, Switch 2, and full crossplay on September 9. Server admins should use the quiet window now to back up worlds, check mods, and plan fresh starts.
Valheim 1.0 Crossplay Explained: PS5 and Switch 2 Join PC and Xbox on September 9
Valheim's 1.0 launch brings PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2 into the same crossplay pool as PC, Linux, Mac, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. Here is what that means for groups and servers.
Valheim's Deep North Test Branch Reworks the Save System Ahead of the 1.0 Launch
A new Valheim public test patch rebuilds how worlds are saved: faster, chunked saves that cut the risk of corrupt files. Here is what changed and what it means for server admins before the September 9 launch.
Palworld 1.0 Lands July 10 with the World Tree, Genetic Recombination, and Server Clustering
Pocketpair dated Palworld's 1.0 launch for July 10 at Summer Game Fest. The World Tree roughly doubles the map, a new breeding system arrives, and dedicated servers finally get clustering. Here is the breakdown.
Rust's 'Built Different' Wipe: New Player Models, the M16A2, and a Unity 6 Jump
Facepunch's June forced wipe rebuilds Rust's player characters from the ground up, upgrades the engine to Unity 6, and adds the burst-fire M16A2 and a Ballistic Armor set. Here is the breakdown.
Satisfactory 1.2 Is Live: Weather, Fluid Trucks, Game Modes, and the Console Launch
Coffee Stain's 1.2 update brings weather back, reworks vehicle automation, unlocks Fluid Trucks at Tier 5, and adds a Game Modes menu. Here is what changed and why it matters for your factory.
Valheim 1.0 Launches September 9 With the Deep North: PS5 & Switch 2 Crossplay Confirmed
Valheim finally has a 1.0 release date. The Deep North biome arrives September 9, 2026, ending five years of early access, plus PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2 with full crossplay.
Valheim's Call to Arms Combat Overhaul: Adrenaline, Perfect Dodge & Bear Armor Explained
Patch 0.221.13 rebuilt Valheim combat ahead of the 1.0 launch. Here's how Adrenaline, the Perfect Dodge Roll, stamina-free Perfect Blocks, and the new Bear armor set change every fight.
Hytale Patch Notes - Update 1: Dinosaurs & More
Full breakdown of Hytale Update 1. New dinosaurs, backpack crafting changes, combat balance, and major QoL improvements.
Palworld is Getting an Official Competitive Trading Card Game This Summer
Pocketpair has announced the 'Palworld Official Card Game' in collaboration with Bushiroad. Releasing worldwide July 30, 2026.
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