The Forever Winter - March 2026 Update

Hi Scavs! Update 0.9.3.0 is now live.

Update 0.9.3.0

SCAVS!

Welcome to spring!

This update is brimming with changes and improvements!

First off:

We’re testing some edits to the water, base upgrade, and base invasion systems. The goal of these changes is to polish and refine some of the core systems and make them more in line with the player fantasy. The high level:

1. Keep the sense of tension and danger associated with the world of The Forever Winter

2. Further align with the narrative of the Water Thieves and their goals

3. Expand upon player choice

If the Water Thieves invade, they will present you with a choice: pay their extortion fee (water) or fight. You can now choose to try to defend yourself or pay the thieves to go away. Water Thieves are now attracted to water, not the absence of it.

Here is the details:

• Instead of base invasion being triggered by running out of water, it is now triggered by RNG based on the amount of water and Innards’ upgrades you have.

• Once a base invasion is set to occur,. It no longer triggers from the main menu going into the Innards. It will trigger when you return to the Innards from a region or tunnel (to prevent you from having to deal with a base invasion right from the jump on a new gaming session).

• When the water thieves show up, you will now have a choice: you can choose to attempt to defend your Innards or you can pay their extortion fee (water) to make them leave peacefully.

• There also might be a third option involving Lordoss if you have repaired him and he is walking around on his own power in the Innards…

• As always, base defense is a single-player endeavor. If you defend yourself you will leave your squad if playing with allies. We are exploring different base defence allies (similar to how you can already construct defense turrets) in the future.

• The difficulty of the actual combat (should you choose to defend yourself) is now determined by the amount of water you have stored. More water? The thieves send a larger force.

• If you do choose to defend yourself and lose, the thieves will no longer completely reset the innards. Instead they now:

  • Take all of your water

  • Take a % of your credits (RNG)

  • Take a % of the items in your stash (RNG)

  • Destroy a % of your innards customizations (RNG)

  • Not harm your bar, shooting range, garage, or transmission tower if you have them (but they may sabotage your transport drone used to REACH those areas)

These changes are in response to careful evaluation of community feedback such as responses and suggestions for base invasions. We aim to keep the tension and threat level while also providing more options for the player (and reinforcing the narrative of the mechanic). The hope is that the new system evolves to keep all the tension and danger of a base invasion while giving players agency over how Water Thief arrival can be handled.

If there’s any emergency feedback before the drop, reach out!

In addition to that, this update has a brand new new-user training system (known as a FTUE or F.irst T.ime U.ser E.xperience). This new system guides new players thru the systems and The Forever Winter experience without disconnecting them from the community if they are in a squad with one of the seasoned Scav veterans. Our hope is this is another big step in lowering the barrier to entry for the experience proper without being insulting or too-led-by-the-nose. If you are an expert? Don’t worry. You won’t even notice this is there.

And finally: a large quest arc is present in this update for the later-game. If you have Lordoss free and roaming, if you have Octogirl chilling in the innards, and you have constructed both the Transmission Tower and the Bar, give Lordoss and / or Octogirl a chat to get started. But be warned, some things will never be the same if you see that quest to its conclusion…

Ultimately the goal of this update was to evolve some of the systems we had already implemented, and push them closer to the dream.

IMPORTANT NOTE: we are aware of some very specific pain points that sometimes happen in network play. We are on these items as our top priority:

• Issues with clients sometimes not receiving their prestige benefits

• Issues with clients sometimes not being able to pick up items and / or having blank / incorrect UI information

• Issues with Scavs occasionally getting stuck in looting animations

• Issues with characters dying immediately on load (long loads sometimes trigger a physics bug that smashes you into the ground a 1000km an hour)

Those issues are exacerbated by network packet loss in rough network conditions, so it's harder to identify the trigger because it's not a 100% repro. That said, we’re deep diving it.

Last bit, if you guys dig the game and appreciate the work the team is putting in to make the game better for everyone, leaving a review means the world to us. If there’s a functional issue hit up Nightmare in the discord, he brings it to our attention directly.

-Fundog Out!

Details

• BASE INVASION / WATER THIEF ADJUSTMENTS

  • Changes to how invasions start:

    • Water thief invasion is now determined by your current Innards’ water supply. More water = more attractive to the thieves.

    • Water thieves will demand to take your water supply OR attack if you refuse (the choice is up to you)

    • Lordoss can help if he is ambulatory…

  • Changes to combat intensity for base invasions:

    • The flow is the same if you choose to fight (pick your scav and loadout and go defend your Innards)

    • The intensity of the combat is based on how much water you have. Larger supplies of water will summon larger water thief numbers.

  • Changes to LOSING a base invasion. IF YOU LOSE:

    • You will lose an RNG % of your stash and credits.

    • You will lose all of your water.

    • Many of your Innards upgrades will be destroyed and need to be rebuilt.

    • If you have built anything that requires the lift drone to access (the bar, the transmission tower, etc.) those will be intact, but you will have to repair the lift drone to access them again.

• FIRST TIME USER EXPERIENCE UPDATE

  • New players are guided through the experience using the vendor and quest systems.

  • As they explore the Innards, regions, and tunnels more of the options and features of the game will become unlocked.

  • You will also learn a little more about the vendors and their personalities.

  • Existing players (anyone with any XP) will not see this new experience. It is for new players only.

• MAJOR QUEST ARC FOR LATE-GAME PLAYERS

  • The start of a larger quest arc is present in this update for the later-game.

  • If you have Lordoss free and roaming, if you have Octogirl chilling in the innards, and you have constructed both the Transmission Tower and the Bar, give Lordoss and / or Octogirl a chat to get started.

• ADDITIONAL FEATURES AND FIXES

  • HKs

    • A new Gunship HK can be summoned if you have REALLY been a thorn in the faction’s side

    • HKs can now potentially be summoned when you hack the towers in regions

    • HKs now determine how aggressively they come at you based on key events (like the new major quest arc) have been completed. Be warned: that means that poking the beast will make your life even harder. Don't do it, unless you're prepared. Sneaky players will have an easier time.

  • Economy

    • There is now stronger messaging around loot tiers and container names (and region descriptions)

    • Increased drop chances for Brawler and EOD enemy drops

    • Adjusted and confirmed loot drops for quest based items that were previously very rare (such as OctoGirl’s tools)

    • Price of ammo (specifically 9mm, 12g, 45acp, 545 surplus) reduced by 10%

    • Price of small medication consumables reduced by 10%

  • Audio

    • Modulation improvements for all player-held weaponry

    • Reload audio improvements for pistols and rifles

    • Suppressed weapon SFX adjustments

    • SCMM combat mix adjustments and improvements

    • UI SFX improvements

    • Fixes to Out of Ammo & full rig VO lines playing incorrectly

  • Misc.

    • Your squad will now spawn in your personal quarters if your Innards has it

    • Navmesh improvements in Scrapyard Nexus were made to mitigate AI being unable to follow player

    • Navmesh improvements in Scorched Enclave were made to mitigate AI being unable to follow player

    • A fix for gunhead skinning when jumping & using specific skins was implemented

    • The railgun’s damage against the Stiltwalker has been increased

    • Fixed the Mateo Model J pistol customization screen to prevent it from having missing geo

    • The fog in the base invasion level has been adjusted to look better

    • Multiple issues fixed that caused incorrect spawning of water thieves in the base invasion level (which would make them inaccessible)

    • A few areas of the base invasion level have been adjusted to prevent the player from falling out of the world

    • An issue causing drones to occasionally fly thru the floor / mesh below them has been addressed

    • Collision has been adjusted / fixed for pipes in the tunnels that would block shots but not drones, thus allowing drones to “hide”

    • Fixed issue where player Scavs would inappropriately play the heavy-fall animation when not falling from an extreme height.

    • Fixed multiple locations in the tunnels where the wall geometry was missing, allowing players to exit the playspace.

    • A safety feature has been added to detect and separate AI if they spawn on top of each other (to prevent them from becoming stuck)

    • The signal scrambler grenade’s effect is doubled when the Shaman Scav throws it

    • The At-43 Mass muzzle climb has been reduced, but it is still meant to have high recoil.

    • Multiple quest fixes have been implemented to prevent quests from failing to register task completion.

    • The Exo Stamina Equipment now has deployed legs to better sell its benefits when in use. (this was a polish pass so its visually represented as intended)

    • Fixed issue where exiting tunnels wouldn’t always send the squad to an RNG entry point in the next region. The goal was to make the flow more interesting, and less linear, leading to more chaotic runs. Let's keep an eye on this one.