Dev Diary // Steam Early Access Wrap-Up and Next Steps

On April 23rd, Into the Radius 2 will leave Early Access on Steam.

The game has spent a little over a year and a half in Early Access. During that time, we released six major updates. Each one was preceded by beta testing, followed by patches and hotfixes.

In this dev diary, we’ll talk about the road to version 1.0. What’s included in the release, what we’re changing right now, and which ideas we’ve decided to move to post-launch.

What’s Included in 1.0

We released four betas and introduced several major changes at once. Some of the additions coming in 1.0 were already shown in these betas. A huge thank to everyone who took part in the recent testing. Leaving Early Access is always one of the most important milestones in a game’s life, and for us this moment matters a lot.

We’ve expanded the set of gear available for night raids. The game now includes four types of night vision devices, as well as a signal flare that ignites when it hits the ground and lights up the area. Alongside that, we added a set of tools that quickly find practical use in the Radius, including in close combat. We also reworked how you interact with canned food, so now you can eat straight from the can with a knife, just like you would in the field. Two new food items were added as well: canned pineapple and canned meat.

The weapon arsenal has also grown. The game now includes the GP-34 underbarrel grenade launcher with VOG-25 grenades, as well as the F-1 hand grenade. And we’re continuing to migrate existing weapons to the modular system: the betas already introduced modular versions of the SKS and VSS Vintorez.

We also expanded the anomaly lineup and added several completely new types. You’ll now encounter anomalies that, on contact, burst into shrapnel, charge up and release an electric discharge, suppress nearby light sources, or attach to the player and then explode, dealing extra damage. Some of them can also trigger especially powerful electrical surges inside their radius, so even familiar areas will require more caution.

The world itself has changed, too. We updated location names to match the lore. Movement between locations was also reworked: instead of a simple interface, players now enter special passages with their own unique gameplay.

Customization has been expanded as well. The game now features a painting system that lets you recolor a wide variety of items, from weapon parts to the Explorer’s Uniform. You can use spray cans with solid colors, or special stencils with camouflage patterns. Post beta the number of colors will be increased.

We also reworked the artifact system. Items that were previously categorized as altered items will now be classified as artifacts in 1.0. Meanwhile, new altered items now appear as ordinary objects with unique visual traits. We made this change because we want artifacts to feel like truly valuable, unusual, memorable finds that are closely tied to the Radius itself. Currently, we feel like this approach is a good fit, because it lets us present artifacts in a new way while also making loot more varied.

Finally, one of the biggest additions in 1.0 are the story, narrative, and characters. Which is a great segue into our next topic…

Changes Based on Beta Feedback

Beta testing wasn’t just important as a way to show new content. It also helped us understand how players perceive the story, characters, and the game’s overall atmosphere.

In the betas, the story carried the player up until the transition to Pechorsk Outskirts,