The Forever Winter - February 2026 Update

Hi Scavs! Update 0.9.2.0 is now live.

Update 0.9.2.0

SCAVS!

It's good to see you. We hope you're surviving 2026 thus far!

This latest update to The Forever Winter has a metric ton of improvements, bug fixes, and adjustments.

We have been focusing on some much needed quality of life improvements as well as addressing a ton of pacing issues. We want to thank Wings and Biggie for helping us test many of these changes, and make sure everything is dialed in!

We won’t bury the lead: the economy has received a major overhaul from every measurable aspect. The value of items, the location of items (both in terms of which level and what kinds of containers), the frequency of drop-rates, what vendors sell, WHERE vendors are, etc. All of it measured at least twice and adjusted to focus on the core: looting and survival.

We also have added the ability to allow Scavs to build Bunco a garage with an APC that will convert fast travel costs to cash instead of water and transport drones. Scavs who have unlocked Bunco as a quest giver can find him in the quest menu to get started / learn more. And if you don’t have Bunco offering you quests yet? Get him what he needs and you will be good to go!

On top of all that, we also have a large list of implemented fixes / improvements for all Scavs. See the list below. If something major catches your eye either in the game or on the list, please reach out to Nightmare on the Discord and he will give us the heads up.

The team really appreciates the support you all have given us, and we can't wait to continue making the world of The Forever Winter better and better. When you play, make sure to read the hints in the PSA from Bunco for what's to come, and we can't wait to share the next push.

-Fundog Out!

UPDATE DETAILS

• ECONOMY

  • This update has a HUGE economy pass. Everything from drop rates, container locations, item values, etc. has been touched. The inventory of many of the vendors in the Innards is now adjusted to reflect the escalating war above ground. In addition, the manufacture / crafting tables are expanded to allow a lot more item manufacture, letting Scavs build what they cannot find or buy. The main goals for these changes are:

    • Make the location of specific loot make more sense (i.e. “Need medical items? Look in the med trenches of Elephant Mausoleum!”)

    • Encourage crafting of items (you can now craft every ammo in the game instead of buying it, etc.)

    • Be more rooted in the lore of the Scavs of The Forever Winter

    • Be the first step in an ongoing audit / overhaul of the Economy

  • Key Economy Changes in this Update

    • Loot distribution is rebalanced across all maps.

      • Forever Winter is at its best when it leans into its core fantasy: Scavs tempting fate on increasingly more lethal battlefields in search of ever-greater hauls. As such, loot is now organized into six legible, thematic containers: the Armament Crate, Civil Goods Canister, Military Crate, Provisions Crate, Materials Bin, and Medical Bin. These containers now appear in consistent places in the world that can be learned and mastered. Certain maps and locales yield more of a particular type of loot. Loot is now reorganized into a clearer hierarchy. This is reflected in the drop-rates, which are greatly affected by region tier (A, B, C & D). Scavs that take risks are rewarded.

    • Value, Weight, and Volume of all items has been rebalanced.

      • To meet the goal of increasing the skillful aspects of looting, we made sure that there’s a large spread of different values, weights and sizes of loot (for Scavs to learn and consider). Discerning, careful looters will be rewarded. The weight and volume of loot items now appears in the tool-tips.

      • This extends to the cost of weapons, ammo, medical items and rig equipment. There is now a more obvious delineation in value between powerful and less powerful items. Running higher-end gear now presents a greater challenge: supporting the asymmetrical scavenger fantasy and putting more meat on the bones of the progression.

    • Innards upgrade costs / tuning is rebalanced

      • All Innards upgrade costs are adjusted to improve the pacing / progression and ensure costs are more in line with the material benefit of acquiring the upgrades. Higher-tier upgrades require items that are generally found in further, more challenging maps to reach.

    • Over 30 new crafting recipes!

      • In a game about scavenging, it’s important to have interesting things to do with your loot. Scavs can now craft their own ammunition, medical supplies, food, rig equipment, and more. While some items in the world are now more valuable and scarce, Scavs have more options than ever to procure the things they need. Previous crafting costs have also been rebalanced.

    • We want to stress this is the next step in the economy balance journey, and more changes based on feedback and development will occur in future updates.

• IN-WORLD VENDORS

  • Scavs can now contact and meet vendors in the world via the transmission tower (should they be able to find the correct frequency). These vendors have items for sale that cannot normally be acquired at the vendors in the Innards. Really lucky Scavs might encounter a wandering vendor in the tunnels who sell very precious items…

• THE GARAGE

  • Scavs can now build a garage in the Innards. This will allow alternate fast travel costs (using credits instead of drones and water) for more efficient movement thru the tunnels and regions. See Bunco in the quest giver menu to get started.

• ADDITIONAL FEATURES

  • Europan Transmission Tower Quests:

    • Additional transmission tower frequencies are available to find and interact with: Doctor Morrow, Tunnel Rat, and SGT. Brandt Volmer

  • New weapons:

    • Seven additional weapons are now available to acquire. The in-world vendors are a great source for these firearms if you can find them…

    • These are the last of the current or modern era weapons for now; the next batch of weaponry will be fresh from the frontlines.

    • We are also working on additional attachments based on the Discord contest winning platforms so those should be arriving in a future drop!

  • Personal Quarters Customization:

    • Scavs can now place key items at specific locations in their Personal Quarters to make the innards their own. We will consider additional items to be added to the pool of customization options in future updates

  • Drinking at bar:

    • Scavs can now pay to drink at the bar. Consuming a beverage yields a random buff for the Scav until death or the end of the current game session

  • Man’s Best Friend:

    • Scavs can now either pet the dog in the Innards or feed it specific items. If fed, it will scurry off into the wastes and return after a time with a gift. The more precious the treat for the dog, the better the potential gift…

• TUNING ADJUSTMENTS / IMPROVEMENTS

  • TUNNELS / REGIONS

    • A large audit for placement and spawn cadence of enemy AI in the tunnel levels was done, improving enemy density and mitigating / preventing unintended spawns / reinforcements

    • A complete audit of loot placement in the tunnels was done to make containers appear more randomly and consistently. Tunnel “treasure rooms” remain rich with containers to search

    • The streaming distance in the tunnels has been increased to mitigate / prevent popping in (seeing the environment load in front of you)

    • If you notice any perf implications for these changes, mention them in the Discord so we can track and adjust!

  • AUDIO

    • Many audio elements were improved including (but not limited to) mech audio, Scav melee audio, rig foley, drone sounds, ambient bar audio, bar consumption sounds, dry fire, etc.

  • HUNTER-KILLERS

    • The summon criteria for hunter killers has been adjusted to be more fair and be based on loot value, damage, specific weapon use, and kills

    • The message that Scavs see when Hunter-Killers are summoned has been made more specific to help understand WHY they were summoned

  • MISC

    • Scavs can now mark patrons in the bar for the whole squad

    • For control pad users, the look stick has been adjusted for dead-zone and aim assist to make both initial targeting and holding a target easier. Remember that sensitivity can be adjusted in the options menu

    • The pump-action shotguns have been adjusted to work as intended and hit correctly. The end result is these weapons should feel like they hit harder / are more effective

    • Gunhead has been adjusted to handle weaponry better and point its handheld weaponry more accurately towards the crosshair

    • If Lordoss has been freed from the wall, he will follow the Scavs into the bar when it is visited

    • Text descriptions for points that lead to a tunnel, a region, or extract back to the Innards have been adjusted to be more clear

    • An item’s weight and mass is now displayed in more areas to more easily see its carry burden

    • Scavs will see a special loading screen if entering a tunnel / region using the alternate fast-travel costs from Bunco’s garage

• BUG FIXES

  • QUESTS

    • The following quests have been fixed to function properly

      • Dead Man Walking

      • Payback

      • Insignia Retrieval

      • Cracked Open

      • AA Tech Extraction

      • Science of Stimulants

      • The Icon of Sin quests

      • Mech Wreck

      • And others

  • AI SYSTEMS

    • TANKS

      • Speed clamps and adjustments to look better when tanks are hit with heavy ordinance. There should be less physics transfer bugs

    • MECHS

      • Behavior tree adjustments to mitigate mechs from bunching up when moving to a similar location

      • Mech stomps / proximity to tanks will be much more deadly to tank targets

      • Collision improvements on mech weaponry to prevent other AI from unintentionally being blocked by them

    • CHOPPERS

      • Choppers now have a higher flying altitude to mitigate them getting stuck on lower-level environment objects

    • HIGH VALUE AI

      • High value AI tied to quests have been adjusted so they are more likely to survive the war / be found by players who have an associated quest

    • AI SPAWNING

      • Adjustments were made to general AI spawn systems to mitigate AI spawning in illegal / out of play-bounds areas

  • MISC

    • Spawning of AI dropped containers / weapons has been improved to mitigate the drops spawning at unreachable areas

    • Audio for suppressed pistols has been fixed to play properly

    • Fixed an issue where being defeated by the water thieves in the Innards could cause manufacturer timers to create the wrong item