December Playtests Summary: THANK YOU! 🔥

Hello, Soul Seeker,

In the last weeks we've been conducting new rounds of closed playtests. Here's what YOU ACHIEVED in December alone:

And here's what we achieved THANKS TO YOU :)

Hazards & Danger Level

The environmental hazard systems have been overhauled to prioritize player awareness and gameplay pacing. Both Volcanic Bombs and Earthquakes now feature significantly improved HUD warnings, stronger SFX, and clearer radio callouts to ensure players are never caught off guard, while earthquake durations have been reduced from 420 to 300 seconds for tighter gameplay.

The Fire System has been rebalanced for consistency at high intensities, accompanied by updated hit reactions for Fire Spirits and better telegraphing for mine explosion ranges. To prevent overwhelming scenarios, major hazards like eruptions and earthquakes will no longer overlap, and all traps and mines now scale dynamically with the current Danger Level.

UI & HUD Improvements

The user interface is undergoing a major visual and functional transformation, headlined by an early version of a new Inventory UI that includes an auto-stacking feature. Navigation and objective tracking are now more intuitive thanks to Focus Mode visibility for quest items and new HUD indicators that track the timing of the next eruption or earthquake.

Small but vital quality-of-life additions - such as a cassette icon for the Tape Player, highlight colors for important dialogue choices, and detailed item parameters in popups - ensure that essential information is always readable and accessible during a run.

Graphics & Environment

The game world has seen extensive polish, ranging from the addition of new NPC meshes like the Football Fan and Reverend to significant upgrades in specific locations like the Workshop and Church.

Environmental hazards are now more integrated into the visuals, featuring new lava roof elements, destructible lava objects, and roadblocks that now spawn with distinct VFX. Improvements to asset collisions, water interaction on small props, and fixed explosive prop locations contribute to a more immersive and stable environment across all map runs.

Game Mechanics & Exploration

Gameplay flow has been refined to reward exploration and improve run variety by adding Shrines, secrets, and more possible objective and survivor locations. Combat and movement have been tweaked for better balance, notably reducing the stamina cost of kicking (45 → 35) and increasing the durability of destructible walls.

Additionally, we received direct feedback regarding the extinguishing fire mechanic. We've tested two different approaches, with a strong favour for the more immersive one. Thanks to this, we are now in the process of further balancing the fire extinguishing mechanic and giving the player more ways to put down the fire.

Items & Economy

The item system has been updated to be more forgiving and informative, particularly for early-game progression where Tier 1 items now refund resources upon dismantling. Weapon handling has been addressed through upgrades to the Custom Axe parameters for a better "feel", while general item descriptions have been rewritten for better clarity. These changes, combined with the new parameter popups, allow players to make more informed decisions about their loadout and resource management.

Story, Audio & Performance

Narrative and technical stability have received significant attention. Technical fixes have resolved several progression bugs, while the audio experience is now more stable with fixes for VO, door kicks, and extinguishing sounds. The addition of new characters fleshes out the world, supported by a more robust audio engine that eliminates previous playback performance issues.

And...

Many more ideas that we started to work on & implement. Stay tuned!

• Starward Industries team