Steel Seed | Open Beta Patch Now Live + 50% Off Steam Daily Deal

Greetings, survivors, and everyone following the path through the shadows of the underground facility!

We know things have been a little quiet around Steel Seed lately, but behind the scenes, the team has been hard at work preparing the next major update for the game, and we’re finally ready to let you get your hands on it.

Before the update officially goes live, we’d like to invite you to take part in our Open Beta. This is your opportunity to experience upcoming improvements early, explore new gameplay additions, and help us polish the experience together with your feedback.

The upcoming update introduces a wide range of changes and enhancements across the game, including gameplay balancing, combat improvements, updated mechanics, additional environmental details, quality-of-life features, optimization work, and much more. You’ll find the full Change Log below.

We highly encourage everyone to join the Open Beta and share their thoughts with us. Your feedback plays a huge role in helping us refine Steel Seed and deliver the best possible experience for all players. We are especially interested in hearing your impressions regarding the updated localization support and overall gameplay feel.

Also, Steel Seed is currently part of a Steam Daily Deal with a massive 50% discount. If you haven’t picked up the game yet, now is the perfect time to jump in. And if you’re already playing, don’t forget to leave a review on Steam, it really helps support the team and the future of the game.

How to Access the Open Beta

• Open your Steam Library

• Right-click Steel Seed

• Select “Properties” Open the “Betas” tab

• Choose “new_patch_public_beta” from the dropdown menu

Steam will then automatically begin downloading the latest beta version of the update. We can’t wait to see how you approach the new changes, improvements, and gameplay additions. Every piece of feedback helps us push Steel Seed further and shape the future of the game together with the community.

Jump in, explore the facility once more, and let us know what you think. Happy testing — and stay hidden in the darkness.

Change Log:

New Combat Update

• Redesigned the melee combat system

• Added a new Light Attack, increasing the maximum combo chain to five hits

• Expanded combat combinations with the ability to integrate unique Heavy Attacks into Light Attack chains

• Introduced two new strategic attacks to stun or push enemies away

• Replaced the Heavy Combo with a devastating multi-charge Heavy Attack

• Push-back functionality removed from Light Attacks and now limited to charged Heavy Attacks and end-of-combo Heavy Attacks

• Reworked enemy encounters with updated enemy placement and aggressiveness

• Complete rebalance of Zoe’s combat progression

• Enemy aggressiveness now scales according to selected difficulty level

• Implemented Strafe Mode while locking onto enemies

• Added dodge support for Strafe Mode

• Perfect Dodge can now be executed during rolls

• Adjusted enemy health and stun values according to progression

• Enemies now reward different amounts of Glitch depending on game progression

• Enemies now correctly switch to search state if Zoe falls outside the map during combat

• Introduced armored enemy types

Additional Combat & AI Improvements

• Updated NPC task distribution system to reduce downtime between attacks

• Improved attack permission logic for enemies unable to attack

• QTE difficulty now scales with selected difficulty level

• Reduced the number of active QTE button prompts

• Zoe can now knock weakened enemies off ledges using charged Heavy Attacks

• Enemies immediately enter combat if Zoe rushes toward them

• Ranged enemies now attempt to maintain greater distance from Zoe

• Improved retreat pathfinding stability in complex combat scenarios (work in progress)

• Enemies may now counterattack after receiving rapid consecutive hits

• Improved target prioritization toward Zoe over Koby

• Enhanced enemy navigation stability in complex areas

Renewed Skill Tree

• Added Combat Mastery upgrades

• Reworked skill dependencies; unlocking skills now reveals their upgrades

• Removed Damage+ upgrade and replaced it with Combat Mastery 1 & 2 for existing players

• Split Koby Stun into separate Koby Stun and Koby Stun+ upgrades

• Updated several Bullet Up, Ammo Up, Energy Up, and Tool challenges

• Replaced all time-based challenges with UI-assisted counter challenges

• Rebalanced skill costs

Skins

• Introduced free Battlesuits for Zoe and Koby

• Added Blade Skins unlocked through Combat Mastery upgrades

Bug Fixes

• Fixed HDR black rectangle issue affecting Battlesuit previews

• Fixed incorrect language display for Skin names in notifications

• Fixed unnecessary Health Boost unlock notification

• Fixed Logs menu opening before Shamyr completed dialogue

• Fixed rare animation issues with Zoe’s legs after landing

• Fixed Zoe occasionally becoming stuck in flying mode after respawning

• Fixed gliding during Turret stealth kill animations

• Fixed Photo Mode activation during cinematic skipping

• Fixed stun damage not applying in Old Construction Chamber

• Fixed missing bonus damage on certain headshots

• Fixed Koby projectiles missing Turrets despite accurate aim

• Fixed Power Node scripted sequence retriggering multiple times

• Fixed Shield enemy attack interruptions and aggressiveness issues

• Fixed enemy pathfinding recalculation loop near Zoe

• Fixed rare close-range combat crashes

• Fixed rare crashes related to explosive barrels

• Fixed squad assignment conflicts that could lead to crashes

• Improved slow-motion mode stability

• Reduced risk of freezes and crashes after slow motion

• Fixed scene transition issues while slow motion was active

• Removed missing asset loading errors

• Fixed invalid difficulty assignment crash

• Improved synchronization between gamepad and keyboard/mouse controls

Other Improvements

• Added “!” indicators for newly discovered skills, documents, and Battlesuits

• Reworked enemy hit reaction animations

• Improved placement of Zoe’s blade decals

• Enhanced camera guidance during climbing sections

• Replaced gamma tuning image with “S4VI” text

• Light rework in the Oil Refinery Tower

• Added sound feedback for Turret animations

• Minor ending cinematic improvements

• Minor checkpoint fixes

• Minor dress-up fixes and enrichments

• Minor collision fixes

• Minor NavMesh fixes

• Minor cinematic fixes

• Minor text updates