Greetings Operators, In Dev Update 8, you’ll see some of the things we’ve worked on between September 2025 and February 2026. In the video, Psychoghost starts by analysing our recent trailer and then go over many of the stuff we've worked on recently. The Big Boy prototype animat
Greetings Operators,
In Dev Update 8, you’ll see some of the things we’ve worked on between September 2025 and February 2026.
In the video, Psychoghost starts by analysing our recent trailer and then go over many of the stuff we've worked on recently.
The Big Boy prototype animations: a "tank" AI anomaly
Body parts that will be used in various environments of the game to increase the horror and gore aspect of the game.
Characters renders, showcasing the character customization capabilities.
Stash UI (please share as much feedback as you can on UI/UX)
But that's not all! As we've previously shared with you, we're working on revamping the core game mode of the game. This meant that we needed quite a lot of map restructuration and new Points of Interest on Ground Zero.
5 New Small POI :
1. Hydroelectric Dam
2. Old Radars
3. Warheads Bunker
4. Railway Roundhouse
5. Wood Factory
Big POI Expansion
6. Old Barracks
1 New Big POI :
7. Officer's House
Many map tweaks :
Quarry reshape, lake reshape, road adjustments, river bed adjustments, new swamp area in burnt forest, forest PCG adjustment, various terrain adjustments, and more...
These new POIs and overall map improvements will allow us to add all the new gameplay mechanics we are working on and create on much more dynamic experience overall. While we would like to share more, we prefer to go past the internal validation layer before making anything things public. However, we're pretty confident the changes and additionnal gameplay mechanics we're making are pushing the gamemode to a whole new level!
Greetings Operators, We just released our first Gameplay Trailer at the New Game Plus showcase, watch it here: What we’ve worked on in 2025, the challenges we faced, what we learned along the way, and the direction we’re heading toward in 2026: Over the past few weeks, we’ve run
Greetings Operators, We just released our first Gameplay Trailer at the New Game Plus showcase, watch it here:
What we’ve worked on in 2025, the challenges we faced, what we learned along the way, and the direction we’re heading toward in 2026:
Over the past few weeks, we’ve run several playtests internally and with community members. These sessions taught us a lot, both in terms of bug fixing and gameplay improvements. We want to sincerely thank every player who took the time to test the game and share their feedback. We are incredibly lucky and proud to have been working closely with our community for years now, building a game that aligns not only with our vision, but also with your expectations, in a genre that continues to grow and evolve.
We know waiting for Beautiful Light isn’t easy, and trust us, no one is more impatient than the development team itself. That said, we want to move forward step by step, making sure we’re taking the right decisions. This is exactly why playtests exist: to validate (or challenge) our choices. We’ll come back to this topic in the Maps & Game Modes section.
2025: A Year of Core Systems
For us, 2025 was heavily focused on technical foundations:
Creation of a full backend and matchmaking system
Implementation of persistence systems (stash & inventory)
New PC systems
New audio system (Verticality Audio)
New AI system
Full PDA implementation: compass, health systems, raid information, map, and scanner tab
And more...
We also went through multiple optimization passes to ensure the game remains playable on hardware that matches its generation. And, just as importantly, to avoid building up performance debt that would be difficult to recover from later on. Beautiful Light is a visually ambitious game, but continuous optimization remains a top priority.
Content Progress
Weapons : APS, AS VAL, Remington, SA58, FAMAS, Mosin, SIG553, SCAR-H, F2000, and a melee knife system (light attack / heavy attack / backstab).
Customization : Many new clothing options, including the addition of face paints.
New echoes (environment anomalies)
AI Creatures : Reaver AI has seen significant improvements, even if it required a lot of iteration to find the right balance.
We are currently testing the Sheitan’s gameplay, and several other creatures are already fully modeled and animated like the dogs, the big boy and the spider like creature you've seen in leaks. The dogs will have some kind of wolf pack surrounding attack behavior, the big boy will be a tank charging at you and the spider-like creature will jump at you when you least expect it! What remains is their in-game implementation!
Maps & Game Modes
Regarding maps, the level design of the second map is nearly complete. Our level artists have already created numerous visual kits and begun detailed art passes across many buildings.
For Ground Zero, we plan to improve the map by adding several secondary points of interest. This decision was directly influenced by feedback from our end-of-year playtests.
Over the past months, we’ve identified both the strengths and weaknesses of the game mode planned for this map. Overall, we feel confident about core aspects such as PvP, movement, atmosphere, and immersion. However, over time, we’ve also felt that the current game mode can become too repetitive and somewhat “on rails.” Currently, the game mode goes as followed :
Spawn > search for the laptop > print keycard > go to bunker and enter it > turn on power > do Artifact Core room puzzle > get out of the bunker > go to extraction point and wait for the helicopter.
This loop unfortunately don't give enough freedom to the player with the only variation being where you spawn and where fights could happen. And even then, the paths and timings players had didn't really change the raid.
Because of this, we’ve decided to rework the game mode by introducing new variables to the map:
more meaningful choices during a raid
more locations to explore
and a richer overall experience
This will be a major focus at the start of 2026, and something we’re eager to validate with you through increasingly large-scale playtests.
Looking Ahead
In 2025 alone, we shared more than 80 leaks across Discord and social media. Transparency and sharing are part of Deep Worlds’ DNA.
We’re now approaching 700,000 wishlists. A number we never could have imagined, and one that reinforces our belief that working closely with the community truly matters.
2026 will be a pivotal year for us, with challenges we’ve never faced before as a studio: larger playtests, thousands of players...
We hope to live up to both our ambitions and your expectations.
From everyone at Deep Worlds, thank you for being part of this journey.
We wish you happy holidays, and we’ll see you in the new year!
DEV TIMELINE
Stay updated on the development progress with our dev timeline. >>>
Greetings, Operators, In Dev Update 7, you’ll see some of the things we’ve worked on between May 2025 and September 2025. One of the highlight of our recent work in terms of audio is the creation of an in-house audio system allowing us to support verticality and dynamic reverbera
Greetings, Operators,
In Dev Update 7, you’ll see some of the things we’ve worked on between May 2025 and September 2025.
One of the highlight of our recent work in terms of audio is the creation of an in-house audio system allowing us to support verticality and dynamic reverberation based on room size and material. We now have an interfaces with a custom MetaSound node that imitates sound passing through floors above/below. A new creature SFX designer recently joined us and is now is making our anomalies sounds far more terrifying.
For animations, we’ve fully replaced the placeholder third-person animations (the game isn’t third-person, but other players see 3P animations). These are now much more detailed and better reflect player input. You’ll also see the F2000 animation set, some AS-VAL clips, and the revive-syringe animation.
Psychoghost also showcases the new PVE anomaly model (Big Boy), 30 minutes of character customization sped up to a 2 minute clips, some PvP clips, and more! If you want to see it all in action and hear more details, check out the full video. We’re excited to show you what’s next.
Greetings, Operators, In Dev Update 6, you’ll see some of the things we’ve worked on between January 2025 and May 2025. First up, a lot of you noticed in some precedent leaks a big spider on the walls of our dev test map. This is a new AI monster in the work, a terrifying spider-
Greetings, Operators, In Dev Update 6, you’ll see some of the things we’ve worked on between January 2025 and May 2025.
First up, a lot of you noticed in some precedent leaks a big spider on the walls of our dev test map. This is a new AI monster in the work, a terrifying spider-women-like anomaly that is meant to scare you when you least expect it. She doesn't have a proper name yet but we're still reviewing the suggestions you've made on our on Discord!
On the weapon side, we've been working on integrating several new guns such as the mosing, SKS, APS, MP5 and SG533, and we've made the model for the AS VAL. Our weapon pool is starting to be quite diverse, and gunplay now feels varied enough to offer plenty of ways to approach combat against other players. We still need to implement bolt cycling, shotgun pump action and scopes, that's something we want to do very soon.
We’re also working on a melee system—starting with a knife, which you can see in action with its new animations in the video below. 3D assets of medical items are now done, the animation phase will be next. Some environement reworks on our first map Ground Zero...
But that's not all : If you want to see it all in action and hear more details, check out the full video. We’re excited to show you what’s next.
Greetings, Operators, As 2025 approaches, we want to take this Dev Update #5 as an opportunity to look back at what we achieved together in 2024 and share some insights into our plans for 2025. Spoiler: the community will be even more involved! 600,000 WISHLISTS We recently reach
Greetings, Operators, As 2025 approaches, we want to take this Dev Update #5 as an opportunity to look back at what we achieved together in 2024 and share some insights into our plans for 2025. Spoiler: the community will be even more involved!
600,000 WISHLISTS
We recently reached 600,000 wishlists on Steam, exceeding even our highest objective. Huge thanks to everyone for your support, enthusiasm, and for spreading the word about Beautiful Light!
2024 REWIND
This year, each month has been rich in content and improvements, but we've selected a few highlights for each of them:
January - We kicked off 2024 with the first community playtests of the year, built on what we've made in 2023 and testing performance across more configurations.
February - The first iteration of the Skin Forge was introduced, finally allowing character customization!
March - We developed AtmoStorm, our dynamic weather system that simulates realistic weather conditions based on real sun position data. Ligthing and colors are then handcrafted to create -beautiful- weather scenarios.
April - Major optimization work was done, and we launched the Development Timeline, giving you near real-time insights on our progress.
June - We reworked the movement component system, improving both workflow efficiency and game performance. You can find the open-source code here. Also, we introduced the Boom Ball!
July - The first playable anomaly, The Juggernaut, was implemented!
August - We reached 500,000 wishlists!
September - We compiled the most frequently asked questions into an Extended FAQ, covering various aspects of the game.
October - Our biggest playtest session yet took place, involving over 250 Discord community members, along with a few content creators.
November - Playtests provided valuable insights on balance, bugs, and design improvements.
December - Check out the video below! (oh, and we're now 37k members on Discord !)
2025 will be a community driven and important year for Beautiful Light. We will be conducting the first medium- and large-scale playtests on Steam to test the robustness of our matchmaking system, servers, and backend.
Additionally, we will be working on persistent economy systems, including inventory and stash management. Gear fear basically!
We aim to begin playtesting the second map as soon as possible to validate early gameplay elements for its gameloop. This map will build upon Ground Zero, offering even higher-stakes gameplay. Here, you can bring in a previously extracted artifact to increase its value. It's all or nothing.
Later in the year, likely in Q4, we will also implement the first progression systems for PMCs and anomalies.
We can't wait for you to get your hands on the results of our hard work!
Greetings, Operators, In Dev Update 4, you’ll see some of the things we’ve worked on between July and October. One of the highlights is the introduction of the PDA, the Personal Digital Assistant. This device on the forearm of the player will be the main source of information. Yo
Greetings, Operators, In Dev Update 4, you’ll see some of the things we’ve worked on between July and October.
One of the highlights is the introduction of the PDA, the Personal Digital Assistant. This device on the forearm of the player will be the main source of information. You'll be able to access details related to the game mode, friends, your health status, world events, and navigation around the map. The Sheitan, a new PvE anomaly designed to surprise players, is now in its animation phase and will soon be implemented in the game. We’ve also refined gun animations and introduced point aiming, a middle ground between hipfire and ADS.
The obvious way of bundling up Beautiful Light is probably " Hunt Showdown meets S.T.A.L.K.E.R. ", and whoops, I've already committed to that in the headline. But the first game that came to mind when I chanced on some playtest footage last night was The Town Of Light , LKA's dee
The obvious way of bundling up Beautiful Light is probably "Hunt Showdown meets S.T.A.L.K.E.R.", and whoops, I've already committed to that in the headline. But the first game that came to mind when I chanced on some playtest footage last night was The Town Of Light, LKA's deeply disquieting game about exploring a carefully recreated abandoned asylum.
There's the title overlap, of course - it's always a bit of a provocation when horror games make a point of being well-lit. Beyond that, the two games share an interest in dessicated interiors where chairs huddle disconsolately, where the sun slides through windows whose curtains have rotted away, and the plaster flakes in ways both pretty and macabre. But where The Town Of Light gave you one rambling building's worth of encroaching hallucinations, Beautiful Light gives you a whole wilderness, where the architecture scales from "dreary forgotten school" to "gleaming underground base". It also gives you a lot of guns. Devised by Geneva-based Deep Worlds SA, this is a team extraction shooter where six squads of three gasmasked alpha-bravos compete to retrieve an artifact from a quarantine zone full of deadly anomalies.
Greetings operators. As we work on the next patch that some members of our Discord community and some content creators will be able to test, Psychoghost reviews the latest things we have worked on. In this dev update, you'll discover more about the weapons we plan to include in B
Greetings operators. As we work on the next patch that some members of our Discord community and some content creators will be able to test, Psychoghost reviews the latest things we have worked on. In this dev update, you'll discover more about the weapons we plan to include in Beautiful Light, get an initial look at a playable anomaly, and see enhancements to the game's ambiance, both on sounds and visuals. Additionally, you'll find a dedicated UI for anomalies, a new UI for the mag-check animation, a new grenade system tech explained, and much more. Check out the video below!
Greetings operators. Today, we're excited to update you on our recent work! In this development update, Psychoghost reveals insights about our latest game features, including a new map in the work, a weather system, the random artifact discharge event, the mysterious black squad,
Greetings operators. Today, we're excited to update you on our recent work! In this development update, Psychoghost reveals insights about our latest game features, including a new map in the work, a weather system, the random artifact discharge event, the mysterious black squad, and much more...
FOLLOW OUR DEV TIMELINE IN REAL TIME Transparency has always been a core value for us, serving as a bridge for you to discover the game we're building. With this principle in mind, we're keen to provide you with real-time updates on our progress, offering you a more detailed glim
Transparency has always been a core value for us, serving as a bridge for you to discover the game we're building. With this principle in mind, we're keen to provide you with real-time updates on our progress, offering you a more detailed glimpse into the development of the game.
This timeline is for reference only. The development of the game remains flexible, it can also be modified regularly in order to meet development needs.
This list is not completely exhaustive.
DEV UPDATES PRESENTED BY CONTENT CREATORS
We frequently share sneak peeks and development updates in our Discord and with content creators. Be sure to follow their channels so you don't miss out on any news!
Greetings operators. Today we want to share with you what we have been working on recently and what we will be working on in the coming weeks and months. Dev Update presented by Psychoghost In this dev update, Psychoghost present you the new customization tab, new weapon attachme
Greetings operators. Today we want to share with you what we have been working on recently and what we will be working on in the coming weeks and months.
In this dev update, Psychoghost present you the new customization tab, new weapon attachments and animations, rework of the juggernaut, grenade vfx, exfil points and our early work on the new map.
Previous video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI795yNHLZU In this video : New AI monster, factions, teleportation, chem lights and Mk18 weapon animations.
400 000 wishlists
We have surpassed 400k wishlists! We're really thankful for your solid support every day. Now road to 500k !
2023 rewind
2023 is behind us, and we'd like to do quick rewind of the most important moments of last year.
January - Creation of Deep Worlds / lots of new people joining the project
February - Moving to Geneva
March - Setting up the studio
April - The month that changed everything for us thanks to the videos by Player2 and then Bigfry
May - 50k wishlists / 3k Discord members / Playtests with the first iteration of the gameloop
June - Decision to add AI anomalies to the game / Video from Operator Drewski (2M views) / 100k wishlists / 6k Discord members
July - Playtests / Changing light system to lumen
August - Vacations for some people in the team / Hard work for others / trailer finalized with north studio
September - Reveal of our CGI trailer (more than 2M cumulated views atm) / 150k wishlists / 10k Discord members
October - Huge changes to Ground Zero raid gameloop / Playtests / CC program / 200k wishlists / 12k Discord members
November - Working on big playtest Patch with refined gameloop
December - Playtests dedicated to content creators and many videos published.
Youtube Videos
Stay tuned
Follow us on our socials for more updates and content :
Thank you! Greetings operators, today we want to express a massive thank you for the massive support we are seeing on a daily basis. 200 000 wishlists is a big number, especially for a studio of our size. While we continue working on the game, seeing your support growing stronger
Thank you!
Greetings operators, today we want to express a massive thank you for the massive support we are seeing on a daily basis. 200 000 wishlists is a big number, especially for a studio of our size. While we continue working on the game, seeing your support growing stronger each day is truly motivating.
For the occasion, here is a little gameplay video of the game in its current state (WIP Pre-Alpha)
Wishlists help us getting a sense of how many people are interested in buying the game. We also get interesting data from wishlists, localization data being the most interesting. It helps us know which languages and regions to focus first for language and servers localization (without forgetting smaller regions).
If you're curious, here are the 5 regions where Beautiful Light is most wishlisted.
North America
Western Europe
Asia
Russia, Ukraine, & CIS
Latin America
Playtests
We're hosting test sessions on our Discord to gather valuable player feedback. While everyone can get a chance to get in, please note that we're granting access to a limited number of participants. Selections are made randomly, so stay attentive to our announcements for your chance to apply!
Stay tuned
Follow us on our socials for more updates and content :
Greetings operators, our vision is to build a game with transparency and player feedback. We always wanted to conduct playtests at a very early stage of development with absolutely no NDA. Something that is quite rare in the industry, but we believe is necessary in order to build
Greetings operators, our vision is to build a game with transparency and player feedback. We always wanted to conduct playtests at a very early stage of development with absolutely no NDA. Something that is quite rare in the industry, but we believe is necessary in order to build a great game and a healthy environment between developers and players giving their feedback.
We have just accomplished our first milestone: carrying out our initial playtests. A handful of you had the chance to experience our initial gameplay branches, and I must admit, it was incredibly nerve-racking for us: four years of work subject to validation or invalidation within mere hours.
Our objective was to test two main aspects, the game's feel (shooting, movement, atmosphere, etc.) and the game mode (pacing, balance, etc.). These components form the core of the game. We are thrilled to announce that it's been a resounding success, exceeding our expectations!
In line with our commitment to transparency, we had no NDA, thus you are free to view the replays from various streamers or directly ask players about their experiences.
Players expressed a deep appreciation for the immersive atmosphere of the game, the PvP mechanics, and their fluidity. The PvP combat between PMCs is satisfying, with the TTK seeming just right, and recoil effects well received. The audio design and spatialization met the approval of the players, although we suspect that players may not have had sufficient opportunity to thoroughly test this aspect. Internally, we believe there is room for improvement.
The network code has proven robust, far exceeding our expectations. We managed to support up to 27 players per game (9 teams), and we are confident that we can push this boundary even further.
Nonetheless, we did encounter a couple of issues:
The performance was rather mediocre, especially considering the latest patch, despite the players using high-end PC configurations. We anticipated that some players might experience suboptimal performance due to our use of a game engine (Unreal Engine 5) that is geared for the latest generation of PCs. As a remedy, we plan to hire a specialist in engine optimization to assist us in enhancing the game's performance.
The players naturally resorted to camping, particularly towards the end of the game. Currently, there is no advantage to being the first team to secure the artifact. This tendency emerges at the end of games, but we already have solutions in mind to address this issue. The first team to secure the artifact should have a clear advantage, but they should also become the target for other players, fostering the exciting dynamic that we aim to achieve.
We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the players who participated in the test. It's genuinely a tremendous joy for us, and there's no comparison to the satisfaction of seeing our project well received.
We will be organizing additional playtests (dates to be confirmed). For the time being, we'll continue limiting the playtests to a restricted number of rotating players.
We look forward to the day we can conduct playtests with cloud servers, allowing an unlimited number of players to participate, but we still have a great deal of work ahead of us. As for the game's release, it remains scheduled for early 2024. However, the task ahead is monumental, and it will undoubtedly be a challenging deadline to meet.
Greetings operators, one of the most important values is transparency, so let's answer some questions. ➞ Who are you? We are Deep Worlds, and we're the team behind BL. Originally, two developers started the project about 4 years ago, but since then we've grown and now are 12 peop
Greetings operators, one of the most important values is transparency, so let's answer some questions.
➞ Who are you?
We are Deep Worlds, and we're the team behind BL. Originally, two developers started the project about 4 years ago, but since then we've grown and now are 12 people working on it. Most of our team members are freelancers who've joined us recently to help us achieve our goals. Many of them come from modding communities.
➞ Can I participate in test sessions?
We organize small tests sessions on our discord to get as much feedback as possible on the game and its mechanics. Anyone can get a chance to participate in the test sessions as long as you have the insider role. By having the role, you'll get notified when we will be hosting playtests. We are mainly granting access to the game for a limited amount of people that are quickly available for testing when we need. We are not ready for bigger playtests yet.
➞ In which languages will the game be available?
English
Spanish (Spain)
Spanish (Latin America)
Chinese trad. Taiwan
Chinese simpl.
Italian
Polish
Portuguese (Portugal)
Portuguese (Brazil)
Russian
German
French
Korean
Japanese
Turkish
This list may vary depending on wishlist localization data.
➞ How much will the game cost?
Standard Edition: €39.99* The price will be localized, which means it will vary depending on where you live, to suit different economic situations.
Supporter Edition: €69.99* Contains exclusive skins, guaranteed access to the PTE and other bonuses to be announced at a later date. *Price in France as a reference
➞ When will the game be available?
While we don’t like to talk about a release date because we don’t want to disappoint you by postponing it, we plan to make a playable build available in the form of a demo in mid 2025. We plan to release the open Early Access at the end of 2025.
➞ On which platform will the game be available?
The game will release on PC (Steam). However, if it does well, we're considering releasing it on PS5 and Xbox Series X as well. We don't have any exact dates to share at the moment, but we're excited about the possibility, since consoles make up about 50% of our potential market. It's definitely an attractive prospect for us!
➞ What about Cheaters ?
We are all aware that cheaters are a significant issue in extraction shooters, and we simply cannot promise you that our game will completely solve this problem. However, what we can assure you is that if it becomes a big concern, we will allocate a substantial budget to fighting cheaters, and we won't hesitate to implement radical solutions to solve the problem.
➞ Press kit?
Available here : https://deepworlds.studio/PressKit
If you still have questions, you can join our discord, we will be happy to answer them!
These new POIs and overall map improvements will allow us to add all the new gameplay mechanics we are working on and create on much more dynamic experience overall. While we would like to share more, we prefer to go past the internal validation layer before making anything things public. However, we're pretty confident the changes and additionnal gameplay mechanics we're making are pushing the gamemode to a whole new level!