Missive XI - Vendors + Tech Test 3 Summary

Tech Test 3 Summary

Hello, Living. First, thank you to everyone who joined us during the Technical Test, and to everyone who has already signed up for the Open Beta. The response has been incredibly valuable. If you haven't already, please consider wishlisting Hunger on Steam. It makes a genuine difference to the project and helps us continue building the community ahead of Early Access.

As we've said throughout the test, this Technical Test was first and foremost about infrastructure. Our primary objective was to stress our backend systems, matchmaking, servers and overall stability under real player load. Thanks to your participation, we've been able to identify, reproduce and resolve a large number of critical issues, and we've come away with a much clearer understanding of where our remaining work lies.

The next major phase of development is balance.

Like any multiplayer game, balance is never something that is solved in a single pass. It evolves as players discover stronger builds, more efficient strategies and unexpected combinations. The scale of this test has given us the data we wanted to begin making specific adjustments.

Alongside this, we're conducting a comprehensive balance pass across the entire Mastery system and every character ability. Some abilities have emerged as defining parts of particular playstyles, while others - particularly abilities designed much earlier in development - have naturally fallen behind as the rest of the game has evolved. Now that we've seen thousands of players interacting with these systems simultaneously, we have a much stronger foundation for making every choice feel meaningful.

We're also undertaking a broader balance pass on melee combat itself. This includes reviewing the performance of every melee weapon, the relationship between light and heavy attacks, weapon damage, attack timings and the overall flow of melee engagements. While we're happy with the foundations of the system, we think there is still plenty of room to make combat feel more deliberate, more readable and more rewarding.

Another area we're looking at is the early player experience. Some of the default behaviours that exist before players begin unlocking Masteries can make the game feel more cumbersome than we'd ultimately like. We don't want to remove the sense of progression or diminish the satisfaction of building a specialised character, but we do think we can narrow the power gap between newer and more developed characters. Our goal is to preserve the depth of character progression while ensuring that early-game players feel capable from the outset, rather than waiting for key Masteries before the game fully opens up.

One point we'd also like to address is how players are evaluating mechanics within Hunger.

At the moment, it's completely understandable that many players judge every ability, item and mechanic through the lens of the Expedition experience, because that's the content currently available. However, Expeditions are only one part of Hunger's long-term design.

During our first year of Early Access, Expeditions will increasingly become the foundation that supports a much broader endgame, including dedicated PvP battlegrounds, challenging PvE Trials and large-scale PvE boss encounters. Many mechanics that may appear niche, situational or even underpowered in today's Expedition-focused gameplay have been designed with these future activities in mind. As those experiences arrive, you'll naturally see different builds, abilities and equipment take on entirely new roles.

This broader vision is something we'll continue keeping in mind as we balance the game. Our goal isn't simply to optimise every mechanic for one mode, but to ensure every system has a meaningful place across the wider RPG.

Steam post imageConcept Art: WIP Battleground

We've also heard your feedback regarding NPC vendors. During the Technical Test, vendor prices were intentionally set with a very high margin because they were originally designed to establish the eventual price ceiling for the player-driven Auction House. Without the Auction House in place yet, however, those prices understandably felt far more punishing than intended. We'll be reducing vendor pricing significantly so that purchasing equipment feels much more reasonable while still preserving the long-term economic foundations we want once player trading arrives.

One balance topic deserves its own mention: lunge. We know it's too strong. We've reduced it repeatedly throughout development and it continues to dominate engagements far more than intended. In its current state it closes distance too reliably and allows too many fights to be decided before meaningful back-and-forth combat has a chance to develop. We'll be making a much larger adjustment, significantly reducing both its range and overall effectiveness so that positioning, timing and sustained decision-making matter far more than landing a single lunge.

Beyond that, there is, of course, plenty of ongoing polish. We've collected a substantial number of bug reports, quality-of-life requests and usability improvements that are already feeding directly into our development plans.

Perhaps the most encouraging outcome of this Technical Test is that the overwhelming majority of discussion has centred around gameplay balance and game systems rather than technical stability. That's exactly where we wanted to arrive. Infrastructure can only truly be tested at scale with real players, and balance can only be refined once thousands of people begin approaching the game in ways no internal team ever could.

We'll continue sharing more updates as we move towards Open Beta. There's still a great deal to improve before Early Access, but every Technical Test leaves us with a clearer picture of what needs to happen next, and we're excited to keep building Hunger alongside all of you. Thank you again for playing, for your feedback, for signing up to the Open Beta, and for wishlisting the game. Your support genuinely helps us build the RPG we've always set out to make.

Missive XI - Vendors

In a world where every bullet, every scrap of cloth, and every heartbeat costs something, there are few who still deal in fairness. These are the Vendors - the traders, merchants, and opportunists who bridge the line between desperation and supply.

The Work of Trade

In Hunger, Vendors represent one of several avenues for acquiring and offloading goods. Each maintains their own specialisation, preferring certain categories of items over others. Their inventories are limited and refresh over time, introducing new selections of wares as the world shifts.

What they offer - and what they take - is dictated by scarcity, demand, and their measure of you. Prices fluctuate with the market’s condition, but your reputation carries weight. Those who trade with consistency, or aid a Vendor through their quests, will find prices easing and stock expanding in kind.

Trust, in Hunger, is a form of currency.

Building Rapport

Each Vendor in the Chateau and beyond has their own reputation ledger, recording every act of loyalty, generosity, or deceit.

Reputation can be earned in several ways - through repeated transactions, by completing quests, or by undertaking tasks and errands on a Vendor’s behalf. Every coin exchanged and every favour granted leaves a mark in their memory.

As that reputation grows, you may gain access to rarer goods, improved prices, and exclusive opportunities. Some Vendors will only reveal their most valuable items to those who have proven their worth - or their usefulness.

Patience, not wealth, opens the better shelves.

Currency and Conversion

All trade in Hunger flows through three coins:

• Copper - the smallest measure of value, used for common trade and daily exchange.

• Silver - the median currency, forged for sturdier hands and rarer goods.

• Gold - the mark of true wealth, carried by few, desired by all.

Each tier converts automatically - 100 Copper equals 1 Silver, and 100 Silver equals 1 Gold. The system is simple, but the value of coin, as always, depends on what the world decides it is worth that day.

The Long Game

A strong network of Vendors is more than a convenience - it is the spine of survival. The weapons you wield, the food you carry, the ammunition you spend - all of it passes through their hands.

Those who build and maintain their relationships early will find themselves better supplied and better informed as the world changes.

In time, some players may choose to dedicate themselves entirely to trade, crafting, and arbitrage - buying, refining, and reselling goods as a means of power. It is a path defined not by violence, but by strategy, foresight, and influence.

We consider this not only valid, but vital. In Hunger, the economy is as much a battlefield as any forest or ruin. Those who understand its rhythm - and its greed - can rise as high through commerce as others do through blood.

The World to Come

In time, trade will extend beyond the individual. After Hunger’s Early Access launch, the economy will broaden - linking players, guilds, and regional markets into a living network of exchange.

What begins as a transaction may become a lifeline. What you sell today may save another tomorrow.

Wishlist Hunger to follow the journey and join our upcoming tests.

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