Poached : Hunt The Hunter

Released: Aug 26, 2023
Platforms
Last updated: 13 Sep 2026, 05:19 GMT

Updates & announcements

20 posts

26 Jul 2026Developer post
Early Access Update V0.9.1
This is the first update of the final 10 updates leading up to the games V1.0 release on 1 February 2027. 1. Inventory Selling A much requested feature - being able to sell inventory items at the shops has now been added to the game! Of course, due to the crumbling economy the sh
This is the first update of the final 10 updates leading up to the games V1.0 release on 1 February 2027.
1. Inventory Selling
A much requested feature - being able to sell inventory items at the shops has now been added to the game! Of course, due to the crumbling economy the shopkeeper is not going to be able to offer you full price, or even half price for your goods. But luckily you are also able to sell certain junk items that have no purpose as well allowing you to make a little extra profit from your hoarding habits.
2. New Flying Mini-Game
A new helicopter flying minigame has been opened up, which can be accessed from the tavern.
If you find a drunk helicopter pilot currently inbetween shifts, he will ask you to help him make a delivery
of essential supplies to assist a nearby vetinary operation. This requires you to fly a helicopter from the rooftop of the tavern to a nearby location within a certain amount of time. You will be required to balance speed and fuel consumption while not crashing. The higher you go, the easier it is to avoid obstacles but the more fuel you use and higher risk of running out. The helicopter will need to be flown to the location before the timer runs out.
3. New Contract Job
A new contract side-quest job can be accessed from a notice board in the tavern, this counts as the same type of side quest job as the marigold/gin job from the previous update you do for the groundskeeper and can not be done simultaneously, accepting one of the other jobs while another is active will cancel the current job.
This job tasks you with thinning out local Warthog populations that are destroying the food and water supply on the reserve causing other animals to be in danger due to overpopulation and undersupply of available resources.
These kind of jobs also aim to teach players that conserving nature is not exclusively about "not killing" animals, but about conservation. Preventing illegal hunting and encouraging legal and responsible hunting. Understanding that not everything is black & white.
4. Environment Improvements
Fixed the last few remaining unrealistically steep cliff terrain around the map.
Plugged up a final possible entrance found to squatter camp backdrop that was not supposed to be accessible.
Added physical holders to shotgun found inside grow room for more environmental realism.
Fixed many trees that had exposed roots and blank undersides.
Fixed some floating rocks.
Added more easter eggs.
4. Gameplay Improvements
Final "Finish Line" flags in ostrich racing now have classic checkered flags to differentiate from all the other flags and denote the end of the race.
Made mission 4 backup countdown start a little bit after the second wave begins for better clarity on the situation.
5. Bug Fixes
Fixed weird collision issues with warthog colliders not always enabling after spawn.
Fixed a cliff group with visible undersides near golden frog collectible zone.
Fixed missing "Loot" pickup highlight on a golden warthog.
Fixed bug that would sometimes cause buffalo to run around in circles while playing the walking animation.
6. New Achievements
2 new Steam achievements have been added for completing the new contract job as well as the new helicopter flight job. This brings the total number of achievements to 94. Only 6 more achievements will be added to the game during the final phases of development bringing the total number of achievements to 100.
Original post
31 May 2026Developer post
Upcoming Price Increase
Hello! As of today, Poached : Hunt The Hunter has been in development for almost 6 years, and has been for sale on Steam for almost 3 years at the low price of roughly $2.99 - and even lower prices for certain countries based on regional pricing. The game currently sits at 2,016
30 May 2026Developer post
Early Access Update V0.9
After many years of slaving over a hot keyboard, the final stretch is finally here. So much has been achieved in the last 5 years and this update is a celebration of that. The last few updates have mostly focused on bug fixes and polishes, and more of that will happen but since t
After many years of slaving over a hot keyboard, the final stretch is finally here. So much has been achieved in the last 5 years and this update is a celebration of that.

The last few updates have mostly focused on bug fixes and polishes, and more of that will happen but since the game is now in a very stable state. This update focuses on general fun and depth.
1. New achievement icons.
All placeholder icons have been replaced with actual images taken directly from the game. It feels more in keeping with what Poached actually is - the store page achievements now reflect the real game rather than standing in for it.
2. New achievements.
In addition to the 76 new achievement icon replacements, I have also added another 16 achievements, bringing the total of achievements to 92. The total amount of achievement the game will have upon launch is 100. This is the maximum amount of achievements an indie game is allowed to have on Steam for some reason, as soon as they allow me to have more - I will add another achievement : "Ranger 101" which will be the 101th achievement for achieving all other 100. The platinum trophy, so to speak.
3. Discoverable locations & wildlife
In conjunction with the new achievements as well as the new logbook below, specific locations and animals can now be "discovered" and logged. There are a total of 20 locations and 33 unique animals across 4 categories to discover in your game.
4. New field guide
You now have access to a field guide/logbook in your inventory. This allows you to do a few things:
Track animals discovered, in 4 categories, including information and facts about them.
Track locations discovered, as well as learn more information about them and log times visited.
Track all sorts of various stats about your gameplay.
Track progress of all new collectibles.
Read helpful tips to help you gain the most out of the Poached experience.
5. New arena mode
After completing the game, a new arcade machine will now appear in the shebeen/pub "Poached : Hunt The Hunter", allowing you to play an interesting indie game with moderately serviceable graphics about hunting poachers in Africa. This serves as a perpetual arena based version of the game that allows you to fight waves within a small outdoor arena.
6. New contract job system
The game now has various new small side quest jobs you can collect from various characters. If you see any character with a "?" exclamation point above their head, speak to them to obtain a job. Some might include simply collecting certain items along your other missions, and others may divert you to an entirely new location. More of these are going to be added in future updates, this update merely establishes the system. More to follow soon, but you can currently find the first job inside the shebeen/pub where the groundskeeper will ask you to help them collect certain items to help create an exotic gin for sale, and share some of the profits with you.
7. New collectibles
New collectibles have been added to the game and hidden around the world, the progress for this can be logged and tracked via the new field guide. There are 5 types of new collectible, each category containing an achievement for collecting all of its type, as well as a global achievement for locating all 32 unique collectibles:
10 Unique Gold Statues
6 Unique Magazines
8 Unique African Masks
5 Unique Rubber Ducks
3 Unique Music Discs
NOTE: Small carved wooden statues and animals do not count as collectibles, as these are inventory items that currently have no use but that you will be able to sell at the shops for money in conjunction with other "junk" items in the upcoming V0.9.1 update.
8. Improved controller support
Controller support has been worked on a bit more, adding the ability to skip dialogue while using the controller as well as other missing actions. General compatibility tweaks for controller experience have also been implemented as well as vehicle improvements for controller based driving.
9. Environment enhancements
Various areas of the reserve have been improved with additional detail and nature added, from internal environmental Easter eggs to just plain flora and fauna as well as landscaping improvements to various parts of the terrain. New trees have been added and additional shrubberies. New points of interest have been added to house some of the new collectibles and add interest to various outskirt locations around the reserve. The new environment details also include some shallow end bodies of water the player can "swim" in on the surface that can be found at the top of rock formations near waterfalls. The terrain textures have also been given a thorough rework with better details and more consistency.
10. Various bug fixes
In conjunction with the major changes above, as per usual a few small other fixes have been bundled into the update. They are as follows:
Fixed issue with tactical poachers not being scanned by binoculars.
Fixed night vision not saving/loading.
Fixed a floating box of rusks in guest lodge.
Fixed weird shadow cast by campfire crafting "ghost".
Fixed issue causing packages to be delivered to shooting range.
Fixed bug causing menu screen to display over loading screen if player presses quick load key while inside the main pause menu.
Fixed issue with "greater good" achievement not firing.
Fixed incorrect lighting for shopkeeper in final level of game.
Fixed bug causing goats hunted progress to save/load but not load progress towards final end stats including "Expert" achievement per level.
Fixed pool ball collision sound always playing on level start when entering shebeen.
Fixed weird occlusion culling errors found when looking out of window from groundskeepers house.
Fixed the "Noise Complaint" achievement triggering at the start of the mission and ruining the surprise, as well as the mobile home despawning during this mission if the player had previously purchased it before locating this mission.
Fixed a rare bug that would cause zebras to be stuck in the "Scared" state while walking with 2X animation speed at regular walking speed if colliding with the player while scared.
Fixed a weird zoom issue that could occur if opening inventory while using binoculars at maximum zoom.
Fixed weird behavior exhibited by running over buffalo with your vehicle.
Fixed issue with hippo attack animation firing too late.
Fixed issue with certain animals running away while playing their eating animations instead of their running animations if your back was turned to them when they started running away.
Fixed bug causing anti-venom to not work if you are at full health.
Fixed rare condition that could cause a player to save their game while dead and stuck in a loop if killed by an elephant.
Fixed issue with smaller animals such as warthogs ignoring vehicle collision.
Fixed a missing stealth zone on a shrub near the mission 1 poacher camp.
Fixed bug causing player to spawn underneath their vehicle when exiting the guest lodge if they used the "Leave" option from the menu instead of exiting via the vehicle interaction.
Various other small bug fixes.
11. Various improvements
As well as various bug fixes, further miscellaneous improvements to the game have been made:
Added "double click to use/equip" function to inventory for quicker access to items alongside the existing right-click context menu.
Improved giraffe texture.
Upgraded appearance of wild boar hunting trophy decorations in guest lodge.
Added crocodiles back to game, found near waterfall after finishing the game.
Added advanced procedural spine animations to crocodiles.
Improved pop-in of certain objects at a distance.
Anti-venom now respawns during post game content.
Improved appearance of ZC75 pistol so it looks more cohesive with other weapons in the game.
Added an additional hippo that can be found in the post game for players who wish to complete their animal logs but never played the bonus hippo mission.
Added proper terrain slope alignment for snakes.
Improved character #4 arm material.
Improved buffalo texture appearance.
Added more hidden easter eggs.
Improved in-game radio save state loading in terms of how the radio progresses when the player is not listening to it.
Numerous internal scripting and performance optimizations.
This marks the start of the V0.9.x development cycle. Which means this is the final stretch towards the game being released. A final release date has also been decided on, 1 February 2027. This allows me enough time to put in the extra polish and requested features, and brings full development to 6 years since its conception in 2020. More to follow on this soon!

- Rob
Original post
01 Apr 2026Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.9.9
V0.8.9.9 This update is what I have been calling the last "boring" update before the V0.9+ stretch to final release. It focuses solely on mopping up the remaining tweaks and bugs on my list - clearing the decks so I can get back to more exciting work: new content, missions, and p
V0.8.9.9
This update is what I have been calling the last "boring" update before the V0.9+ stretch to final release. It focuses solely on mopping up the remaining tweaks and bugs on my list - clearing the decks so I can get back to more exciting work: new content, missions, and pushing toward the finish line. It's a long list, with entries ranging from subtle polish to more substantial fixes, but it's done and out of the way.
Player interaction, vehicles, physics, collisions, and animation

1. Tents that have been set up can now be disassembled to be used again, to do this simply press use to sleep in the tent but hold down use to collect it again, the same as you would to collect ammo vs swap a weapon from a weapon pickup.
2. Crafted items such as tents and campfires now properly align to the ground slopes.
3. Fixed ragdoll issues with specifically enemy drivers that fall out of an exploding vehicle, such as being able to be pushed underneath the ground. The ragdoll is now baked into a static pose when finished animating like all other enemies.
4. Fixed a new issue with reload animations for pistols not being reset properly if player switches weapons during a reload.
5. Fixed B.I.R.D. scout drone camera from making the terrain tiling smaller after having used it in Mission 5.
6. Fixed bug causing player to exit guest lodge if they walked into the hood of the vehicle instead of selecting the exit option via the use key.
7. Fixed issues with swapping camouflage vest for a bullet proof vest not properly swapping the vest types.
8. Fixed an internal null reference error caused by hitting an enemy with your car making the game attempt to show the red "X" hit indicator when it is currently not active due to being in a vehicle.
Enemy A.I., combat behavior, and animation

9. Added a new enemy idle animation, seen in Mission 3 - smoking a cigarettes, blissfully unaware of what's about to hit the fan. Best seen via sniper rifle scope or binoculars as enemy will put their cigarettes away as soon as they are alerted, but a nice touch of detail.
10. Increased enemy variation in the post game mode after defeating the final boss.
11. Fixed some strange behavior exhibited by enemies in the post-game sandbox mode which caused them to run around like headless chickens and/or get stuck at certain locations.
12. Fixed navigation issues with the very final boss fight causing the boss to sometimes walk through trees.
13. Fixed issue causing enemies to walk through the grounded helicopter during interlude #2 during the second half of the mission.
Animals and wildlife

14. Buffalo will now fuck your shit up if you try and get too close to them. Auto save still applies as before whenever you approach a buffalo herd of course, this is necessary.
15. Wild dogs will now actively stalk and kill warthogs instead of being purely background creatures. This will not affect the game in any way, but is simply a part of nature added for realism and immersion.
16. Replaced salamanders with big-toe spotted gecko native to the area for better geographical accuracy.
17. Warthogs are now more skittish and will run away if you get too close to them.
18. Warthogs that are not walking or sleeping now eat grubs and such, instead of just standing around doing nothing.
19. Warthogs & Buffalo now make sounds.
20. Zebras that run into poachers are now more easily scared by their presence and not only just the sound of gunfire.
21. Increased likelihood of encountering warthog or buffalo in the wild.
22. Wild dogs are no longer found near buffalos, and will focus solely on smaller prey.
23. Made elephants and giraffes found near final boss fight run away for this particular event so they don't get in the way of the final battle.
24. Improved flee & obstacle avoidance algorithm for warthogs, buffalo and wild dogs.
25. Improved the variation of Warthog & Buffalo walking/idle/sleeping states.
26. Improved giraffe texture as well as fixed an issue with it's tail not being rendered from both sides.
27. Improved appearance of wild dog/lycaon fur.
28. Frogs & Lizards are no longer invincible to gunfire.
29. Fixed bug causing sleeping warthogs to be invincible from bullet fire.
30. Fixed missing death animations for the chickens found in the chicken truck quest, and the applicable mission failure for killing any of them instead of helping the driver locate them.
31. Fixed an issue with one of the warthog zones from spawning in too late, causing it to pop into view in front of the players eyes.
32. Fixed bug where scared warthog, wild dogs or buffalo running away might disappear into thin air if you follow them far enough.
33. Fixed bug causing wilddogs to make a stampede sound of a large animal when running away.
34. Fixed issue with gazelles and wild dogs not being properly cleaned up when despawning a zone.
35. Fixed an area where buffalos would spawn out of thin air as you approached.
36. Fixed an issue that caused animal optimization in the main camp, that should disable animals to not work correctly when away from camp if you loaded a save game far away from camp.
37. Improved buffalos terrain slope alignment.
38. Fixed issue with Warthogs & Buffalo sometimes disappearing as soon as you turn your back on them.
39. Improved goat upwards slope terrain alignment when fleeing from player.
40. Fixed rare bug that could cause some animals to die from walking into the front of your vehicle while it was stationary.
41. Fixed a goat that was floating in the sky during mission 10 as well as during the chapter 2 sandbox.
42. Fixed bug in Mission 10 that would cause no goats, zebra or rhino to spawn if you loaded your game inside the camp.
Missions, story flow, progression, and achievements

43. Improved various aspects of post-game "Noise Complaint" level.
44. Removed ugly timer bar from Mission 4 when waiting for reinforcements, replaced with periodic notifications instead.
45. At certain times, the groundskeeper will now actually be found inside their domicile.
46. Fixed an invisible shotgun pickup in one of the underground bunkers.
47. Fixed bug that would cause player to return to their old caravan instead of the upgraded mobile home when leaving the vehicle garage if they had purchased the mobile home upgrade.
48. Fixed bug causing poacher leader to respawn if you load your game after killing him in Mission 8 even if you saved your game afterwards.
49. Fixed rare bug in mission 4 where leader could escape at the same time the backup arrives, leading to a frozen no-win condition.
50. Improved final boss fight end sequence visuals and SFX.
51. Fixed some issues with the final boss fight ending causing audio normalization to dip due to audio sounds being way too loud and clipping the games audio output limiter.
52. Fixed some floating and mislabeled pickup items near the main camp during the final boss fight.
53. Fixed some occlusion culling issues in interlude #2 helicopter mission causing some trees to flash in and out of existence based on player camera angle.
54. Fixed Gideon's hat falling off his head weirdly in Interlude #2 and landing on an invisible collider.
55. Improved captured team-mate skin materials in mission 8.
56. Fixed recurring bug causing game to consider player as having won all ostrich races when they have only won 7 out of 8.
57. Fixed issue where tutorial phase 2 task that required hunting 2 goats could be completing by only hunting one.
58. Fixed issue causing you to spawn in your vehicle after exiting the shebeen if you played the hippo bonus mission previously and drove your vehicle in that mission to the hippo location even if you exited it to finish the mission.
59. Fixed issue with hippo mission resetting the day/night cycle clock.
60. Fixed "Economize" achievement for taking down 6 enemies with a single magazine without reloading or switching weapon not working properly.
61. Fixed "Greater Good" achievement for killing an enemy by exploding your vehicle from being triggered by killing a goat with your vehicle.
62. Fixed "Greater Good" achievement also being triggered by killing an enemy with his own vehicle, as it is supposed to only be with your own vehicle.
63. Fixed bug causing the "Expert" achievement to sometimes fire on non-applicable bonus missions which made the achievement guaranteed.
64. Fixed "Nigh Watch" achievement for taking down a squad of poachers at night during a mission from triggering during the bonus camping mission which only takes place at night making the achievement pointless.
65. Achievement for completing mission now triggers immediately after finishing the mission instead of at the start of mission 2 to prevent the achievement for advancing a mission via sleeping to be close to it, as the player might choose to do many other things before advancing to the next story mission.
66. Increased the amount of drones required to be destroyed to obtain the drone destruction achievement in mission 8 from 6 to 10, as it was a little too easy even for inexperienced players since the drones just flew directly at you always in any case.
67. The "All Four One" achievement for trying out all 4 of the characters no longer saves to the player preferences in registry which makes it tied to the computer but rather uses a save file to monitor the achievement so that it is synced to steam cloud save and your game instead.
68. Fixed rare issue that might sometimes cause the obstacle course achievement to not trigger after completing it.
Audio, UI, options, and general systems

69. Collecting an item with cash value that gives you that amount in cash instead of the actual item, such as diamonds or gold will now display the cash value when you collect the item.
70. Added an informative popup inside the caravan to let the player know when an upgrade from caravan to mobile home is available, with instructions on how to purchase it.
71. Danger music no longer plays when non-dangerous animals such as warthogs are stampeding.
72. Danger music no longer plays when player takes damage from falling, fires or cactuses.
73. The game will now show a helpful one-time reminder to players who start a new game if they have not yet played the tutorial, to remind them to play the tutorial first. The reminder will not happen more than once even if a player chooses not to do the tutorial.
74. Fixed an issue that would cause your score card's "Enemies Killed" as well as enemies total stat to reset when you loaded a game, resulting in inaccurate end results if you had saved/loaded in the middle of a level.
75. Improved tutorial tooltips in obstacle course for controls which controls to use whether keyboard or gamepad and also added more tooltips.
76. Neatened the onetime score opt-in gateway popup text.
77. Fixed missing penalty audio for killing Kudu.
78. Fixed issue with notepad text being way too small after completing a mining company-hired enemy wave in chapter 2.
79. Fixed issue that could cause the game to prompt you to use your lantern because it's getting dark when you already have your lantern equipped, if you had equipped your lantern before it got dark.
80. Fixed bug that would cause the enemy counter to sometimes display a negative amount of enemies when loading a game after having defeated all enemies in a level.
Terrain, environment, lighting, and visual polish

81. Added more authentic African decor to the guest lodge for more local realism.
82. Added more detail to the inside of the groundskeepers domicile, found near the outskirts of the map.
83. Added a few more Easter eggs, secrets and funny random things to find.
84. Improved mobile home upgrade interior with some new décor and fridge magnets.
85. Improved visual appearance of crafted campfire model.
86. Improved female main characters eye & eyelash materials.
87. Improved appearance of Anti-Venom 3D model.
88. Improved color of waterfall base water when transitioning from day to night and made waterfall main water double sided so it doesn't go invisible when you go behind it.
89. Fixed weird reflections in post-game cave #3 and worked on general lighting.
90. Improved lantern model glass material.
91. Improved appearance of overturned truck in escaped chicken truck side quest.
92. Neatened grass billboards in various locations across the map.
93. Improved some terrain texture painting near outskirts.
94. Fixed waterfall #1 culling being too extreme causing it to pop into view.
95. Fixed wrong terrain tiling scale in guest lodge map terrain.
96. Fixed weird culling issues with the hat of the ranger stuck in a tree during hippo mission.
97. Fixed a terrain section near the outskirts where an unnaturally steep wall had formed that looked ridiculous.
98. Removed some more instances of giant novelty over-sized grass that just looked terrible.
99. Fixed wrong regional license plate on abandoned visitor vehicle in Zone F.
100. Fixed an optimization volume from popping some cliffs into view in front of the players eyes near the abandoned visitor vehicle in Zone F.
101. Removed some trees that were placed unrealistically on a slope that exposed the underside of their roots in an unaesthetic manner.
102. Tweaked lighting obstacle course level environment lighting.
103. Various small obstacle course scene tweaks.
104. Fixed a few final floating rocks, shrubs or scene inconsistencies found around the map.
105. Fixed various cliff objects with mismatched LOD's that caused the cliff or rock to be in a slightly different position from a distance.
Performance, optimization, and codebase cleanups

106. Numerous other small internal performance, script and project optimizations.
107. Removed many un-used objects that were just sitting invisibly in memory for no good reason.
108. Optimized internal mesh data structures for various scene decorations.
109. Optimised scorpion animator controller memory footprint.
110. Optimized colliders for old soccer balls and bull skulls.
111. Removed some unnecesary meshes from the crafting table for optimization as well as aesthetic purposes.
112. Optimized animation rig for frogs, lizards and scorpions to use less memory and have no transform heirachy bones.
113. Optimized shotgun texture memory footprint, as well as a few other weapon null objects used by the player weapon system.
114. Fixed issues with Kudu not being cleaned up properly from memory when player has left a Kudu zone.
115. Optimised memory & CPU usage of Gazelle & Kudu that are nearby but not yet seen by the player.
116. Fixed an internal error with drones relating to Drone destruction achievements that could cause the Steam manager to be initialized twice.
117. The save game system now clears all previous data from missions that are complete and will not be returned to, saving a tiny bit of disk space but most importantly optimizing the savegame lookup memory used during the games runtime as the campaign progresses.
118. Fixed internal issue causing game to load save data three times on start, which could cause slower startups than neccesary on certain systems.
119. Removed 84 trees/bushes that were underneath cliffs wasting precious resources for no reason.
120. Optimized the animation rig used for the player arms while driving a vehicle in third person, removing all bones not being fully used such as thigh, torso, hips, feet, legs, head etc. 259 unused bones removed, to be precise.
121. Cleaned up grass detail patches beneath cliff faces where they were invisible, improving memory performance by removing unnecessary data that could never be seen. Specifically, 170,502 detail cells were removed programmatically across 6 terrains using raycasting.
With this out of the way, I am very excited to get back to new content. The game's final release is scheduled for the end of the year - which will mark 6 years of active development, with many more years prior to that spent building the core architecture. All told, I have spent over 10 years of my life on this project, alongside a full time day job and many other freelance commitments. I can't wait to see it to the finish line.
Original post
19 Mar 2026Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.9.8
This update focuses mainly on animal related things, plus some other important fixes. Animal Updates: 1. New animal: The Kudu - this majestic creature is one of the most requested animals to be added to the game, so I have finally done so. Kudus are typically solitary, but can al
14 Jan 2026Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.9.7
Third update for 2026! Terrain, environment, lighting, and visual polish 1. Improved quality of extremely small rock textures found on terrain for a more natural and realistic brown with less bright white fatiguing pixels. 2. Improved the appearance of the light that comes off yo
Third update for 2026!
Terrain, environment, lighting, and visual polish

1. Improved quality of extremely small rock textures found on terrain for a more natural and realistic brown with less bright white fatiguing pixels.
2. Improved the appearance of the light that comes off your braai/barbecue, especially at night for a more realistic orange glow.
3. Improved the visual quality of waterfalls.
4. Improved visual quality of debris found fallen from an exploded attack helicopter.
5. Improved visual quality of warehouse textures when up close.
6. Fixed a weird terrain texture seam near the water tower next to the first mission poacher camp.
7. Made bloom even more tamed than previous update, only affecting the very most bright pixels for further realism and less random glowing.
8. Made the entrance to the guest lodge easier to drive into when near the main entrance gate to the lodge via opening up a new section in the nearby fence.
9. Improved the appearance of the litter found near the camp used by the PIKITUP achievement for collecting litter.
10. Improved the appearance of a specific hill near Theta zone next to an elephant.
11. Fixed terrain tiling being the wrong size in the post-game state before & after the final boss fight.
12. Removed some trees that were growing into rocks weirdly at the very far outskirts of the terrain.
13. Fixed weird unnatural popping in of lighting on trees when driving at night with the vehicle front lights on, foliage now fades naturally into light when approached.
14. Fixed missing lantern glass on all breakable lanterns.
15. Fixed broken square fumigation particles when tavern is being fumigated in rare post-game fumigation event.
16. Fixed overly shiney wooden floor in guest lodge.
17. Improved the appearance of the terrain tiling when viewed out the windows from top floors in the guest lodge.
18. Improved visual quality of "Same-Day Delivery" delivery boxes found outside the caravan after ordering items off the internet.
19. Attack drone wing rotors are now animated.
20. Improved poacher leader face & skin material texture.
21. Improved material appearance of Character #3 wrist accessory and skin.
22. Improved material quality of groundskeeper character clothing.
Weapons, combat balance, and weapon visuals

23. Improved accuracy of R1 FAL FN Scope/ADS position.
24. Added more dirt and grime to R1 FAL FN weapon when equipped for a more worn appearance.
25. Improved the appearance quality of R4 weapon pickup as dropped by enemies.
26. Fixed a quicksave/quickload related infinite sniper rifle ammo hack in Mission 3, as well as a logic bug related to collecting ammo from weapons you already own when the current magazine capacity plus the current amount of bullets exceeds the maximum ammo count mysteriously giving the player more ammo than what is inside the weapon on the ground.
27. Changed sniper rifle magazine size to hold 5 high capacity rounds at a time instead of 10 for more realism.
28. Fixed a pickup/drop related infinite RPG ammo hack in Mission 6, 7 and wherever RPG's are sold.
29. Melee weapons no longer make bullet decals when you strike objects. (lol)
30. Added proper high quality procedural recoil animations to General Gideon's firing mechanic when he is returning fire in the Mission 1 camping interlude ambush.
31. Made more blood when killing an enemy poacher in his vehicle before he gets out for a better indication that you have done so.
32. Added some more ammunition pickups to the very final boss fight back at your camp in the rare off-chance that you do run out of ammo. (Also to show the player that nowhere is safe, and even running all the way back to camp cannot save you - you will be followed.)
33. Fixed issue with RPG not saving if it was actually equipped when you saved.
34. Adjusted tranquilizer dart weapon textures & material for the 700th time, this time with a cool new Camo skin.
35. Improved R1 FAL FN on-screen position when sprinting.
36. Made the rare ZC75 pistol do more damage than it's counterparts.
37. Increased shotgun damage by 40%, although it is still only effective at close ranges due to it's high spread rate.
38. Fixed an extremely rare issue with some enemy weapons playing a silenced SMG gunshot sound when firing even though their weapons were not silenced.
39. Made enemy "Rate Of Fire" realistic and more akin to your own rate of fire when using the same weapons, especially for audio purposes. Balanced damage to match in a way that is fair.
Player interaction, vehicles, physics, collisions, and animation

40. Fixed issue allowing you to walk through your braai/barbeque.
41. Fixed issue allowing you to walk through drone control station found in poacher leader hideout during mission 8.
42. Made collision detection with goats more accurate when driving in your vehicle.
43. Fixed an issue allowing you to fly under the terrain with a B.I.R.D. scout drone if less than 3 meters away from the drone deployment location.
44. Prevented enemies from being able to walk through the ruins of exploded helicopter.
45. Made pitched tents have a double sided material so that if you pitch it on the edge of a cliff in such a way that you can see inside it from the bottom, you can't see through the underside of the mesh face.
46. Fixed issue with player being able to make camera bob around weirdly when using the movement buttons while static sitting in the helicopter.
47. Fixed "Unarmed/Pick Up Objects" weapon slot 0 sometimes detecting the player itself when moving really fast and briefly showing the hand icon.
48. Added a sound effect when destroying foliage with your vehicle by driving over them.
49. Improved the density of "Fern" type foliage explosions when destroying them with your vehicle.
50. Improved Foot IK of Poacher Leader in Mission 4/5 when stationary and removed the ridiculous bag that was placed on his hip to hide the fact that his hip was intersecting with his coat, which is now fixed by the new IK pass.
51. Fixed an issue that allowed the player to walk through one of the boundary colliders by waterfall zone #3 that prevented the player from walking under water into negative space.
52. Fixed a "doom hole" near waterfall zone #2 that the player could fall down and get permanently stuck in.
53. Adjusted the player’s interaction/pickup distance from an unrealistic 6 meter “psychic force” range to a more realistic 1-metre range required to interact with or pick up objects.
Enemy A.I., stealth, combat behavior, and tracking

54. Fixed a logarithmic audio curve issue that made it sometimes possible to hear enemies talking even when you were miles away from them, and made enemy idle chatter 3D sound propagation more realistic with custom volume curves.
55. Increased the amount of some idle banter from poachers, and made idle banter clearer - allowing you to better hear all the hard work recorded by the voice actors.
56. Some small various enemy A.I. improvements in regards to enemies who are hunting the player from start I.E. not from patrol/alert states, as well as some other general enemy navigation improvements.
57. Enemies now try less to take cover in as foolish a manner as before that leaves them extremely vulnerable to attack, in previous versions when searching for a player if they saw the player they would run to a cover spot which was often far away leaving them open to being shot. They now have a higher chance of first begin to attack the player while strafing or walking backwards and only then consider cover if it's available.
58. Fixed a bug that could cause enemies to sometimes forget which bush you were hiding in, even after seeing you kill one of their buddies and then hide in that same bush.
59. When hiding inside a bush, but your hidden status has been blown the on screen indicator will now state "[VISIBLE]" instead of remaining as "[HIDDEN]" so that you know the enemies can still see you and know where you are.
60. Enemies tagged with binoculars for tracking now use icons more in line with the games color pallet instead of standard default generic red.
61. Fixed some strange enemy behavior that in Mission 7 which could cause Mercenary type enemies (the ones with metal bullet proof armor) to freeze in mid combat situations when trying to take cover caused by no cover points marked in this specific mission.
Missions, interludes, story flow, progression, and achievements

62. Improved animation realism of the poacher found carving up his kill in Mission 2, which is seen very well when using binoculars so that he is closer and his knife is actually touching/carving the animal, allowing the player to feel a sense of how bad things really are and add a sense of realism to the games antagonists. Also optimized the animation blend state tree for this character.
63. Fixed helicopter pilot legs intersecting geometry of helicopter in Mission Interlude #2.
64. Bonus missions for General Gideon are now accessed via the walkie talkie inside your caravan instead of the giant radio tower inside your camp after missions.
65. Improved the loading screen info text when loading the helicopter dehorning mission interlude #2.
66. Camping mission interlude now clamps day/night cycle during the dialogue scenes.
67. Improved death pose for poacher leader in Mission 8 and fixed an issue causing him to not bleed.
68. Fixed a weird delay that sometimes occurred in the Mission 1 interlude ambush after the commander tells you he hears an ambush approaching, as well as some other general balances for this particular mission interlude.
69. Fixed a very rare issue that could lead to player switching to radio with an empty hand if changing to the notepad in the middle of a briefing during the first few seconds of a mission under certain conditions.
70. Some essential environmental story telling changes in the later parts of the game that I don't want to talk about due to spoilers, but making a note of it anyways. If you know, you'll know.
71. Fixed a slight intro cut off from the Mission 1/Wave 1 poacher conversation when they raid your camp.
72. Fixed general Gideon's hand intersecting with walkie talkie inside helicopter mission Interlude #2, and some other small visual polishes during this mission.
73. Fixed a small pacing issue in Mission 7 with a drone warning being issued via the top left-hand corner info popup before the radio transmission comes in.
74. Fixed issue causing some new enemies in Mission one and 1 in Mission 4 to respawn after loading if they had been killed, if the entire wave had not yet been killed I.E. not saving like the other enemies.
75. Enemy vehicle in Mission 4 now also saves it's position and status to the save game file and won't respawn with each load if you decide to save/load in the middle of the mission.
76. Added further tutorial information about the rhino dehorning process as well as instructions on what to do inside the helicopter during the Dehorning Mission Interlude #2
77. Fixed a logic issue where the player would get an achievement for a perfect mission in Mission 7 essentially by default because there are no animals to protect or game to hunt.
78. Fixed an issue with map bounds being too close to one of the side quests, specifically the overturned chicken truck requiring assistance finding all the drunk drivers chickens and the player going delirious when walking out of bounds looking for them.
79. Fixed radio message audio being cut off too early when loading the General Gideon interlude mission #2, after accepting the mission. Also added missing subtitles for this transmission.
80. Fixed issue causing ostrich trophy to not appear when player has won all 8 ostrich races.
81. Made attack drone radio transmission and warning in Mission 7 appear sooner.
82. Fixed bug causing home computer to not work properly in the new mobile home if the player chooses to upgrade it.
83. Price of mobile home upgrade has been dropped from R100,000 to R50,000 while stocks last!!!
84. Improved the interior lighting of the mobile home upgrade, as well as the computer screen for the personal computer upgrade.
85. Fixed issue with chicken truck side quest mission zone spawning in not soon enough and popping in front of your eyes out of nowhere.
86. Fixed an issue where returning from Ostrich Races or the shooting range would send players back to the old caravan instead of the upgraded mobile home, if the new home had been unlocked.
87. Fixed bug causing the achievement for winning all 8 ostrich races to be achieved after only winning 7 races.
88. Fixed bug allowing inventory screen to be brought up during Ostrich Race soundtrack.
89. Removed an accidentally submitted #1 test score by me for Ostrich Racing for 01:28 that was impossible to beat, since the the final course can not be beaten in less than 3 minutes.
90. Brand new ostrich racing music from Poached official Soundtrack Artist Senkhane Montsitsi.
Audio, UI, options, and general systems

91. Message warning you to turn on your lantern when exiting your inventory in the dark without doing so now appears 1 hour earlier as it should already be getting dark then.
92. Routed enemy gunfire through the game internal compressor/limiter/audio mixer DSP chain to prevent gunshot sounds from become painfully loud through headphones or speakers when many enemies are firing at once close to the player.
93. Fixed boombox radio not being able to be turned on again once it was turned off.
94. Balanced some audio where one specific enemy type was louder than the others.
95. Adjusted audio of squeaky tap without water in campsite to be less painful on the ears.
96. "Submit Score" option no longer resets back to true when resetting main options for security and privacy purposes. Whatever you choose here will always be your setting unless you clear game settings in the registry or move to a new computer.
97. Fixed U.I. issue with volume sliders minimum value not going all the way to 0 visually like the other sliders, even though their values did.
98. Weapon wheel now changes the label from "Sniper Rifle" to "Tranquilizer Rifle" when the dart gun is equipped in weapon slot #6.
99. Crosshair and other unnecessary U.I. elements will now be hidden while a main NPC such as General Gideon/General Van Jaarsveld is talking to you during an ingame cutscene such as the obstacle course of one of the General Gideon interlude missions.
100. Fixed issue of resetting advanced graphics options selecting the wrong default antialiasing.
101. Fixed issue with "Reset All Advanced Graphics Options" not resetting some values to their defaults correctly.
102. Fixed issue with main options page reset to defaults option not resetting "Scope Strength" and "Mouse Smoothing Options"
103. Added a graphics option to turn on/off weather changes & rain.
104. Optimized the raycasting algorithm used to detect pickups and interactive items for improved performance.
105. Fixed some targets and items in shooting range that did not make the metal ping confirmation sound when shot.
106. Fixed a raycasting issue that could cause some smaller items to explode when shot with a rocket launcher before the rocket actually hits the item.
Performance, optimization, and codebase cleanups

107. Removed some unused leg animation libraries for a cleaner code base.
108. Removed some unused mesh faces from player GPS radio for optimization purposes.
109. Optimized foliage destruction system internal initialization mechanics to only instance new terrain datasets when needed, for optimization purposes.
110. Optimized the internal usage of strings used for labelling mission objectives, subtitles and other complex data structures so that all labels are not actually compiled into the build.
111. Fixed a null reference error caused by dragging your vehicle in unarmed mode, and then dragging another normal item causing the button to stick and not drop the object when you let go of the mouse.
112. Numerous other small internal script optimizations and codebase cleanups.
113. Re-balanced sprint stamina per character to make the vehicle and 2x sprint boost hiking boots purchase have more purpose again.
Happy hunting and stuff. See you next week for the next update!
- Rob [Ingozi Games]
A massive thank you to the soundtrack artists, bands and voice acting team for all their hard work - as well as the players and testers that help make this possible. If you enjoy the game and want to see it keep progressing, please consider joining the Discord using the links below. All feedback is incredibly valuable!!!
NOTE: With this update the free demo has also been updated, so all changes below apart from those pertaining to levels not included in the demo, as well as all updates since 21 Apr, 2025 can also be experienced by those who have not yet bought the game or currently own the demo. I have also added 3 basic Steam Achievements to the demo as well for completing the tutorial, completing the bonus mission and for completing the demo itself.
Original post
08 Jan 2026Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.9.6
The second update for 2026! I won't bore you with the blah blah this time, so lets get straight to it: 1. Driving into bushes with your vehicle now destroys them. 2. Enemies can now fire their weapons while crouched. 3. Made weapon wheel & weapon wheel info text more legible
05 Jan 2026Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.9.5
This is the first update of 2026! It's not the most massive update, but I am currently favoring regular updates every few days as opposed to only one big update per month. The game is leaving Early Access at the end of this year and I have approximately 100+ updates needed to be
31 Dec 2025Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.9.4
This is officially the last update for 2025, and the fifth update for December. I'm happy to say sales and activity have been picking up lately these holidays, so I hope you've all been enjoying the updates and to all the new players - I hope you've been enjoying the game! AI, Co
This is officially the last update for 2025, and the fifth update for December. I'm happy to say sales and activity have been picking up lately these holidays, so I hope you've all been enjoying the updates and to all the new players - I hope you've been enjoying the game!
AI, Combat & Difficulty

Improved enemy aim interaction with foliage: bushes now partially obscure enemy aim even when in front of you (not only when you’re inside them), while bullets can still pass through foliage.
Balanced enemy rate-of-fire on certain enemies that were firing too frequently due to framerate.
Various enemy cover-finding algorithm tweaks.
Increased poacher pursuit speed.
Fixed cover-finding breaking when a previously-used cover object was destroyed.
Improved enemy coordination: better at communicating your position, and better at resetting back to patrol when they lose you or give up searching.
Slightly increased enemy count in Chapter 2 (prior to the ending where only 5 enemies spawn per new day).
Enemies now respond to the tranquilizer rifle like the sniper rifle: after seeing an ally downed and detecting ranged play, they adapt to engage from farther away instead of running into the open.
Enemies now actively avoid standing directly next to fallen teammates to prevent tactical exploits (and reduce unnatural body pileups).
Weapons & Player Equipment

Standard shotgun is now more powerful, but with increased shot spread.
Improved Silenced SMG on-screen position when equipped.
Improved appearance of R4 weapon textures/materials.
Improved appearance of R1 / FAL FN weapon textures/materials.
Animations & Ragdolls

Added 4 more unique enemy death animations (10 total, selected randomly on death).
Improved quality of enemy death animation → ragdoll transition.
Removed all unused death animations from enemy animation state machines (memory optimization).
Fixed wobbly enemy walking caused by foot IK being enabled when it didn’t need to be.
Stealth & Foliage Systems

Optimized stealth foliage trigger collision matrix.
Fixed stealth bug where the “Hidden” label could appear in foliage while not crouched (caused by driving through stealth foliage zones and exiting a vehicle).
Balanced leaf-rustling audio while moving through bushes (less loud).
World, Lighting, Weather & Time

Increased day/night cycle length.
Fixed time not progressing correctly when sleeping for one hour.
Improved weather manager: storm wind now interpolates more gradually, and returns to normal once rain stops.
Increased moonlight brightness for better night visibility without lantern/flashlight.
Made daylight ever so slightly brighter for a more vivid aesthetic.
Greatly increased cloud resolution for higher quality sky visuals.
Improved appearance of water at the base of waterfalls.
Environment, Textures & Visual Polish

Increased terrain ground texture resolution by more than double via tiling (no texture memory/performance impact). Improved terrain distance-blending to reduce distant tiling and better blend into the horizon.
Added extremely high quality detail to rock textures (especially up close).
Improved destroyed helicopter model textures/materials.
Improved Diesel Generator texture mapping and other scratched metal objects.
Improved ostrich detail normal maps when up close / when used as a vehicle.
Improved poacher leader outfit materials.
Added general polish to shebeen/tavern interior.
Adjusted gameplay/polish in the nighttime camping interlude.
Added general environment polish to helicopter/dehorning interlude #2.
Removed ugly giant grass meshes from Mission 3 poacher camp and a few other locations.
Removed duplicate overlapping foliage items leftover from previous builds, and removed redundant ones.
Decreased likelihood of camera clipping through objects when moving up close.
Added a stronger drop-shadow to subtitles for improved legibility.
Missions, Navmesh & Level Fixes

Fixed navmesh issue in Mission 5 that could cause enemies to walk through warehouse models.
Bullets can now pass through fences; also fixed enemies spawning behind a fence they couldn’t get past in Mission 3.
Fixed navmesh issue allowing enemies to walk through the drone charging station in Mission 3.
Fixed issue allowing the player to walk through drone charging station meshes.
Fixed bug allowing you to walk through your vehicle during tutorial phase 2.
Fixed terrain optimization volume near Mission 3 that caused low quality tree LODs to show too soon near the Mission 3 Wave 1 poacher camp.
Fixed culling issue with the groundskeeper model in the tutorial (phase 2) that could make her head disappear when the player got too close.
Audio & Narrative Presentation

Further improved audibility of conversations between poachers while they raid your camp.
Stealth/Aggression tutorial radio transmission now triggers sooner when approaching the first poacher camp via the road (vs climbing the hill and approaching from the side).
Other

Various other improvements (including thing I don't want to mention due to spoilers), plus general optimizations and internal fixes.
Scorpions are no longer invincible.
I'll be back in 2026 very soon for more updates, and that will be soon - very VERY soon.
As always, thanks for playing and Happy Hunting!
- Rob [Ingozi Games]
Original post
23 Dec 2025Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.9.3
Very happy to announce my fourth update for December, as collectively the changes from all updates now equals over 100+ crucial game fixes. The game is a lot more polished now, more fun, more challenging and more engaging - with still so much more left to do and so much more to c
Very happy to announce my fourth update for December, as collectively the changes from all updates now equals over 100+ crucial game fixes. The game is a lot more polished now, more fun, more challenging and more engaging - with still so much more left to do and so much more to come. Thank you to everybody involved in helping test, and to all new players who have recently purchased - welcome!! I look forward to hearing more from you soon.

New "Ranger Vision" mode which allows you to track animals and poachers, by making their footprints visible to you. Engage this mode by selecting it from the weapon wheel. This mechanic will continue to be expanded upon, and potentially lead to missions that will require the player to track and hunt down poachers instead of just be led to them with a waypoint. For now, you can just use the mechanic for help tracking animals or enemies during battle and also just to preview the mechanics unique aesthetic.
The RPG launcher, which is only used in very few select parts of the game is no longer a stored weapon but used only while carried. The weapon wheel slot that previously was wasted on this weapon is now used for the ranger vision. Switching to a different weapon while holding the RPG will now cause the weapon to be dropped, but you can still pick it up again where you dropped it if you need it, and retain all rockets/ammo you had for it.
Bullet Proof vests can now be purchased from the shop.
Weapon wheel now has text that tells you the name of the selected weapon/item/ability.
Developed a new shader for the obstacle course commanders face that looks good at all angles and doesn't wash out when the sun shine directly on his face.
Improved Gideon/Van Jaarsveld eye shader reflection properties.
Added some general visual polish & miscellaneous fixes to the obstacle course tutorial mission.
Improved quality of "Leaf Rustling" audio that plays when you move through bushes.
New artwork for the "Arsehole Lager" beer item found throughout the world.
Made all Crafting "Ghost" visualizers for placing items in the world such as tents, campfires or growing herbs much more visible.
Fixed issue that caused the sound alert radius made by sniper rifles to get exponentially louder with each shot without a threshold limit.
Added a "Clothing/Gear" section on the left hand side of the inventory to show equipped wearables and other static items and to aesthetically balance the new right hand side "hotkeys" slots. This will be expanded on in future when new gear and features are added.
Fixed more situations where messing around with your weapons too much in your camp would cause poachers to leave their camps and meet you at home before you had a chance to make it to the mission objective.
Balanced some weapon and weapon ammo availabilities in the game for a more fair challenge.
Improved on-screen appearance of equipped shotgun weapon when un-zoomed.
Fixed some terrain seams where the grass between 2 adjoined terrains was visibly different on the seams, making the seam between the 2 terrain tiles noticeably different. Located near Mission 10 start and a few other locations, now normalized across the entire map.
Adjusted distance waypoint calculation for a better sense of virtual game world scale.
Fixed an issue that could cause Zebras and Gazelle to run scared while playing the walking animation instead of the running animation.
Fixed a rare issue with tactical poachers firing from cover that could be blocked by approaching them from a very specific angle that caused them to rotate back and forth in a blind spot.
Improved quality of weapon muzzle smoke, especially during night-time.
Weapon muzzle flashes are now more realistic, subtle and less cartoonish - covering less of the screen and relying more on light effects than over the top particles, and allowing tracers and impact effects to be more visible.
Fixed bug causing enemies in Chapter 2 to get stuck while moving, resulting in them moving in increments of half a meter at a time, also made the enemies move to you quicker to make the engagement feel less like a fetch quest and more like base defense.
Fixed a short flicker in blood spawning where the blood sometimes showed briefly as a full patch for 1 frame before leaking out of the bodies into the ground.
Slightly adjusted R1/FAL weapon on-screen position for better appearance.
Weapons dropped by enemies now have more realistic colliders and physics as well as less likely to penetrate other items when falling. Enemies will also hold on to their weapons for a bit longer and then drop them as they fall more realistically instead of them just exploding out of the enemies hands as they die.
Various other small bug fixes and internal optimizations.
Happy holidays to all! And see you soon with the next update V0.9.4 shortly after Xmas.
- Rob/Twelv (Ingozi Games)
Original post
20 Dec 2025Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.9.2
This update comes out only a few days after the previous update, but I'm in a good rhythm at the moment so the next update after this will most likely also be out in just a few days! I am mostly covering A.I. improvements, fixes and polish. But looking at adding some new content
This update comes out only a few days after the previous update, but I'm in a good rhythm at the moment so the next update after this will most likely also be out in just a few days! I am mostly covering A.I. improvements, fixes and polish. But looking at adding some new content soon too.

Balanced "Easy" difficulty setting to be easier, as new game features such as strafing have made the game much harder. Easy mode now affects enemy aim accuracy as well as damage.
Fixed animal culling issue in main camp that could cause animals to disappear/appear in front of your eyes when entering/exiting the main camp.
Waypoint to guest lodge is now always visible when using your vehicle in all missions.
The sound of a bullet hitting a surface can now alert enemies, as opposed to only the sound of gun itself firing.
Improved consistency of enemy strafing and obstacle avoidance across enemy instances.
Improved enemy rotation when taking corners and made their movement look less like soccer players.
Added some better vocal EQ & compression to some voice acting clips in "A Thorny Issue" bonus mission.
Improved lighting & shadows inside helicopter in "A Thorny Issue" bonus mission.
Gave Gideon a new hat variation for the second bonus mission.
Added a warning for both bonus missions with Gideon, that warn you about going too far from the mission zone before you reach the failure distance threshold.
Gideon's hat now falls off when he falls down for added animation realism.
Bonus mission now fails if the enemy vehicle runs him over while he is K.O.
Gideon now frowns noticeably if you point the tranquilizer at him.
Improved tranquilizer rifle weapon texture.
Fixed missing info panel text in helicopter bonus mission.
Fixed issue with enemy vehicle being able to kill you even when moving at a slow speed or stationary.
Optimized Alert Management code that was making more calls than necessary.
Added an enemy vehicle to Mission 4 where the poachers try to rescue the leader to establish the enemy vehicles as a game mechanic and not just a once-off feature in a single bonus mission.
Balanced prices of items in the tavern to reflect the global world prices in game.
Fixed enemy vehicle collisions causing instant death even with invincibility cheats or powerups enabled. Damage is also now proportional to speed as opposed to instant kill.
Guest lodge is now closed during Mission 7, 8 & 10 due to emergency lockdown reasons, based on the events of the story at that time.
Fixed enemy vehicle driver head rotating like an owl when looking at player from drivers seat.
Optimized path finding algorithm for enemies that "rush" the player to prevent lock-conditions that might freeze enemies, and also improve the multi-threading of the pathfinding.
Fixed issue that would allow players to skip the second part of the tutorial directly into the main game without playing the third part.
Some new radio stations should also be added soon, so that you'll have multiple different stations to switch between instead of only 2. Some other surprises coming this December which I will reveal soon. As always, please keep those bug reports coming and happy holidays to you all!
Original post
17 Dec 2025Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.9.1
This update adds a new stealth system, that makes every single piece of foliage in the entire map an active object the player can hide inside, as opposed to being merely decorative. Alongside the update are many other features based on user feedback. Thank you so much to those wh
This update adds a new stealth system, that makes every single piece of foliage in the entire map an active object the player can hide inside, as opposed to being merely decorative. Alongside the update are many other features based on user feedback. Thank you so much to those who keep submitting feedback to me via Discord or Steam, your contributions are invaluable and keep the updates rolling. If you don't wish to join the discord or post on the Steam forums, please post your feedback as a reply to this post or just email me directly at [email protected] - I read absolutely every single piece of feedback and am always dedicated to improving the game wherever possible.

Foliage now makes a leaf rustling sound when you move through bushes.
Foliage now obscures enemy aim when you are standing inside bushes.
Foliage now makes you "Hidden", with an on-screen indicator, when you crouch inside bushes. Enemies may not spot you while you’re hidden, but once they know you’re in a bush, they’ll still fire into it but with even lower accuracy than if you were standing in a bush. Killing an enemy while hiding in a bush will blow that cover spot for other enemies allowing them to know which bush you are in, but it won't make it easier for them to aim.
Increased the radius at which goats will run away from the player due to proximity awareness.
Made conversation heard by poachers talking amongst themselves more audible when approaching the raided camp in Mission 1, Wave 2.
Fixed issues with animals not reacting quickly enough to gunfire in Mission 1, due to a conditional awareness trigger intended for enemies.
Sneaky poacher firing from the bushes in Mission 1, Wave 2 now only appears in Hard Mode.
Fixed an additional issue that could cause an enemy from Mission 1, Wave 1 to meet you at your camp before you've triggered the first stealth tutorial.
New achievement for killing an enemy without them noticing while hidden inside foliage.
Fixed some ragdoll issues with certain enemies that were using unscaled time for ragdoll computation.
Chapter 1 end screen now reads as "2 Weeks Later" to explain certain events better.
Antialiasing settings have been simplified, and "Soft" is now the default setting as I find it looks best. But feel free to change back to "Sharp" or "Off" if you prefer. The "Overkill" setting has been removed as it's pointless.
Crafting table now is located at the same location in every mission instead of spawning in different locations.
Optimized NavMesh Data storage for all sub-scenes and terrain streaming zones.
Fixed some NavMesh issues allowing enemies to walk through certain structures in the outskirts of the map.
Rebaked all NavMesh and Occlusion Culling data for all missions to reflect optimizations and navigation for all latest changes.
I'll be putting out a series of 10 smaller updates like this one every few days this December, leading up to V0.9 by the start of the new year. Thanks for playing, and speak soon!
Original post
15 Dec 2025Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.9
Major Additions New bonus mission playable via the radio tower after Mission 2 (plays in 2 parts), including a new realistic (and educational) objective that involves using a helicopter to tranquilize a rhino in order to safely and humanely remove the horn, preventing poachers fr
Major Additions
New bonus mission playable via the radio tower after Mission 2 (plays in 2 parts), including a new realistic (and educational) objective that involves using a helicopter to tranquilize a rhino in order to safely and humanely remove the horn, preventing poachers from killing them. This is done in real life as the horns grow back and poachers only want the horn, killing the entire animal for just a few bucks. More information on this real life process can be found here: https://www.savetherhino.org/thorny-issues/de-horning/
New enemy Vehicle A.I. module: poachers can now enter the area with their own trucks - complete with A.I. driving, pathfinding and reversing. This can be found in the new mission. An enemy vehicle will first attempt to run you over; if they cannot do that the driver will get out and try to kill you the old fashioned way (with guns).
New "Cutscene" module that allows for seperate cinematic events to occur in-game without moving to a new scene or requiring any loading screens. (Seen in the middle of the new mission)
Achievements
New achievements for completing the bonus mission as well as destroying an enemy vehicle in that mission.
New achievement added for fully upgrading your vehicle. (Previously we only had one for upgrading your tires)
Inventory & Controls
When playing with a keyboard, new "HotKeys" slots are now available in the inventory that allow the player to assign any inventory item to special slots that can then be consumed/activated via the corresponding hotkeys without having to go into the inventory.
This can also be used for toggle-based items such as lantern/flashlight/night vision etc for easy access.
There are 2 slots that can be used with the "-" and "+" keys on the keyboard without opening the inventory, once assigned.
Slots stay assigned, so if you have for example first-aid kits assigned, and you run out - the hotkey will still work for that item as soon as you aqcuire more.
Any feedback on this new system is most welcome.
I am also looking at making the hotkey buttons bindable once I've cleaned up the menu U.I. a little more.
Made first-aid kits unable to be used when health is already at maximum to prevent accidental wasteage. Food items can still be consumed past full health though.
Enemy A.I. & Combat Behavior
Made enemy A.I. strafe while firing for more engaging combat.
Fixed a rare issue with certain tactical enemy A.I. awareness that could cause them to sometimes see you through terrain.
Made some enemy ragdoll improvements.
Fixed an issue where a single poacher in the Mission 1 camp ambush would patrol out to the first camp where the level started.
Made "Carver" enemies that are found carving up animals actually use a knife, and then switch to weapon when alerted, instead of cutting up the animal using their gun.
Improved Quality of "Carver" enemy carving animation.
Improved the rotation of tactical enemies. (The ones that slide to and stay in a specific location and crouch/fire from cover)
Fixed issue with some enemies getting stuck.
Increased minimum distance between enemies firing at player.
Missions, Sidequests & Progression
Fixed issue in Mission 1 which would cause the poacher camp to come to you prematurely if player is messing around with their guns in the camp, or just from the ranger approaching before the player is in the correct range.
Fixed issue in Mission 2 wave one where the radio transmission refers to 8 enemies but there are clearly only 7.
Fixed some internal null reference exception errors relating to waypoint targeting in Mission 2.
Fixed issue with bonus mission waypoint pointing to the wrong place IF a bonus mission is available after mission 3. This would only currently be caused by the player ignoring the bonus mission after the main mission in Mission 1 or 2, thus forwarding it to the third mission but was still possible.
Added notification for completing Chicken Truck sidequest, as previously this relied on the notification produced by the Steam Achievement that you get for completing it which does not allow you to know you have completed it when playing in a subsequent playthrough since you can only get the achievement once unless you manually reset your steam achievements.
Fixed some floating meshes in Mission 9 underground tunnel.
Wildlife & Animals
Improved hippopotamus movement animation and behaviour.
Fixed dead zebra in poacher camp one dissapearing before the player gets there due to an optimization bug.
Fixed an issue causing some goats to run with their face aligned to the ground.
Weapons
Fixed right hand position on Tranquiliser Rifle on-screen view.
Balanced Silenced SMG weapon fire sound to be more silent.
Fixed a misaligned firing bolt on the silenced SMG.
Fixed "Old Faithful" shotgun pickup status not saving in missions, as in it reappearing after loading a game even if the player already collected it from the shed. It will still respawn after missions for ammo harvesting though.
Made 2 of the ex-military commander poachers found in Mission 2 Wave 1 look more distinct from each other.
Vehicle Systems
Fixed bug causing vehicle front axel to dissapear when the player moves up really close while crouching.
Fixed issue with engine upgrades actually making the car engine worse.
Fixed vehicle issue that caused reversing to sometimes go faster than accelleration with no way to stop.
Fixed an issue that could cause your car to be frozen until you get out and then in again if you load a save game with your player already inside the vehicle.
Environment, Visuals & Effects
Improved visibility when using the "Lions Heart" powerup at night. (And in general)
Improved appearance & visibility of rain, as well as rain collision splashes.
Fixed bug that would cause rain to continue permanently.
Improved quality of fire when your vehicle is on fire, to produce a thick black smoke only instead of comical looking fire particles.
Blood pools left by enemies now fade in ultra-realistically instead of the cheap scaling effect that was previously used.
Audio
Balanced music radio station volume better.
Added a slight pitch randomization on audio sound effects when consuming inventory items such as food to make it sound less repetitive when using multiple items in succession.
Made "Cash" collection sound more balanced, softer, less annoying.
Another update will be out within the next week!
Original post
06 Oct 2025Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.8.9
NOTE: The next major update after this one (V0.9) - is one of the biggest updates planned this year, with over 100+ changes, so please stay tuned for that, there will also be some supplementary V0.8.9.x updates prior to that, in the meantime: New enemy “D.N.A.” system The game us
09 Sep 2025Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.8.8
AI & Combat Behavior Fixed an issue that caused wandering enemies to get stuck during patrol routes. General improvements to enemy A.I. responsiveness and pathing. Optimized internal patrol algorithms for better CPU efficiency. Enemies now react more realistically to sniper k
AI & Combat Behavior
Fixed an issue that caused wandering enemies to get stuck during patrol routes.
General improvements to enemy A.I. responsiveness and pathing.
Optimized internal patrol algorithms for better CPU efficiency.
Enemies now react more realistically to sniper kills—no longer charging toward the shooter but instead taking cover and laying suppressive fire to avoid the same fate.
Environment & World Polish
Improved grass color consistency and terrain transitions across various biomes.
Reduced terrain grass texture memory usage for better performance.
Improved some Outskirts areas.
Improved some underground cave areas.
Sun shafts now only appear during the day—no more rays beaming down from stars or the moon.
Fixed an issue where duck ragdolls would disappear or behave erratically at screen edges.
Implemented optimized duck ragdoll cleanup to reduce memory overhead.
Tutorial
Fixed a progression-blocking bug in the tutorial's second section.
Made the second tutorial section skippable to improve replayability and pacing.
Polished several tutorial tooltips for clarity and consistency.
Weapons
Fixed the on-screen scale of the sniper rifle to better match perspective and feel.
Improved on-screen visuals of the shotgun for a more powerful and grounded presence.
Ostrich Racing
Ostrich race no longer shows the score/race selection menu the first time you visit in a new game. It now unlocks naturally after the first race like it did in earlier builds.
Fixed issues that could prevent ostrich race courses from unlocking.
Restarting or starting a new game now resets the ostrich race tournament, making it fully replayable per character/save.
Mission Updates
Enhanced environmental and structural detail in Mission 1.
Added additional optimization modules to Mission 1 to improve framerate and stability.
Core Gameplay & Systems
Fixed a rare but critical bug where dragging the vehicle with the unarmed slot while entering could cause it to freeze and stop turning. Extremely difficult to reproduce or trace, but confirmed fixed by all alpha testers.
Improved some post-game elements (details redacted to avoid spoilers).
Quality of Life
New achievements added for reading (or at least skimming) all inbox emails at your caravan.
Improved audio balancing across radio stations.
Fixed some various internal null reference errors.
Cleaned up and refactored various code modules for improved stability and maintainability.
It's also now been 2 years since the game first launched into early access, so that means it's only 1 more year until the final launch! I will still continue supporting the game after the launch, but the content will be final by August 26 2026.
More updates to follow!!!!!!
As always - thank you for playing.
Happy hunting.
-Rob
Original post
06 Jul 2025Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.8.7
This update includes some new content for players who have completed the game in the post-game sandbox mode as well as general game improvements. Gameplay: Braai meat now shows the ° degree symbol when showing the temperature of each side of the meat, so that it is less confusing
This update includes some new content for players who have completed the game in the post-game sandbox mode as well as general game improvements.
Gameplay:
Braai meat now shows the ° degree symbol when showing the temperature of each side of the meat, so that it is less confusing as to what those numbers are.
Added more Easter eggs to discover. (And polished some existing ones)
Standard Shotgun has been nerfed, as it was far too good at headshots from a distance and I didn't want to just make shotgun shells more expensive as shotguns are fun up close.
Improved headshot hit detection against tactical enemies that are cover-locked & crouching.
Bug Fixes:
Fixed a new issue causing the possibility to get stuck in options menu if accessed from the main pre-game menu.
Fixed new issue causing the vehicle camera to not rotate when first entering the vehicle.
Fixed an issue that could break cause the vehicle to go into a weird "Tokyo-Drift" mode.
Fixed issue causing the matches requirement for lighting a braai to not be implemented, meaning you could even throw your matches away via drop in the inventory and still light a fire afterwards. Lighting the fire now also consumes the inventory item, so to light a new fire matches must be purchased from the store. This was originally the intended behavior but some issues were preventing this from happening.
Graphics:
Improved driving at night appearance and reduced tree shadow flickering.
Improved dirt/grass texture blending in tutorial/shooting range terrains.
SSR now enabled by default on all new installations.
Optimizations:
Optimized internal scripting used for distance waypoint markers.
Tutorial:
Made it easier to hear commander from a distance.
Changed song found on collectible secret radio so it's not the same as the one found in the shooting range.
Neatened some scene geometry/set dressing.
Prevented camera animation from playing if player attempts to run during the sections where running is disabled.
Added additional control based tooltips.
Fixed issue that caused player to instantly die if the vehicle is destroyed during the tutorial.
PC is no longer accessible from the tutorial, as this over-complicates things.
Shooting Range:
Removed a useless rocket pickup, as the RPG is not available in the shooting range.
Added missing colliders and physics to the empty fuel cannisters.
Fixed an issue with some of the shotgun shells falling through a table.
Optimized internal scene memory usage.
Fixed a Grenade pickup that was mislabeled as "GRENADE (1)"
Warehouse:
Improved detail of certain tech.
Flashlight pickup can no longer be found here, only in the caves. I wanted it more hidden for maximum reward, the lantern is fine for most lighting situations.
Removed placeholder tapes, will re-enable them as audio logs are added so as to create a clear distinction that all tapes are audio tapes.
Fixed some objects, such as pieces of paper that had rigidbody components but shouldn't.
Fixed some missing colliders.
Simplified some of the scene geometry.
Improved warehouse outer material texture quality.
Chapter 2:
New mission content. Just follow the "?" waypoint after completing the final boss fight.
Destroy all 14 pieces of mining equipment after the main game!
New hidden cave.
New secret cryptid lore! The legendary Grootslang.
Optimized the rendering of mining equipment and hydraulic excavators to use world streaming like everything else in the game.
Noise complaint mission will now have the mining equipment if it has not yet been destroyed.
New cave environment.
New Achievements:
Destroy all mining equipment after the main game.
Locate the cave of the Grootslang.
Other Changes/Additions:
Improved enemy angular response time damping.
Some small improvements to enemy reflexes.
Some other small A.I. improvements.
Added some better blending on one of the terrain optimization volumes.
Improved enemy patrol walking animation stability.
Added a slider to control the amount of mouse smoothing.
I have approximately 10 more updates planned for this year with new content and missions as well as some other requested mechanics such as weapon customization and other game modes. Next year the game content will continue being updated up until its final release out of Early Access in August 26 2026, after which the game will continue being updated and fixed for an additional year, although at that time all content will be finalized.
Original post
03 Jun 2025Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.8.6
Gameplay: Added a new timer for Mission 4, when waiting for backup so that the waiting section of the mission will always end after 2 minutes so as not to frustrate the player. (Since the player cannot leave this location until backup arrives.) It is now easier to pull your bakki
Gameplay:
Added a new timer for Mission 4, when waiting for backup so that the waiting section of the mission will always end after 2 minutes so as not to frustrate the player. (Since the player cannot leave this location until backup arrives.)
It is now easier to pull your bakkie out of the mud/trees/rocks etc when stuck.
Added a few additional helpful tooltips to the tutorial levels.
Brought back the "Carver" enemy. A poacher that can be found in the act of carving up a large animal, while not actually that threatening due to the delay they require to get their weapon - they do pose as some kind of threat and also add to the atmosphere. They had been removed while working on the new animation system but they are back now, in limited quantities.
Bullet Proof vests now won't be carried over to the camping bonus interlude mission as it defeats the purpose.
In Mission 8, there was a radio transmission warning about rewired drones AFTER the game U.I. warns the player. This has now been synchronized.
Bug Fixes:
Fixed a new issue causing an exploit that made the player invincible when driving a vehicle.
Fixed a recurring bug that caused Mission 4 to be incompletable for some players.
Fixed missing bullet "whiz" sounds from 90% of poachers.
Fixed issue causing Warehouse Interior level to have flashlight on by default even if the player does not yet own the flashlight.
Fixed missing advanced spine animations from the rhinos in the tutorial.
Fixed issue causing some enemies in Chapter 2 to not bleed.
Fixed issue causing animals to sometimes be found running around the reserve at full speed but while using a slow walking animation.
Fixed new issue that caused enemy weapons covered in blood (only on 'Extreme' violence setting) to play a weird animation on the blood when covering a players arms.
Fixed an enemy that would freeze upon death, that was only found in Mission 1 when playing on 'Hard'
Fixed an issue that would cause stampeding animals found outside the main reserve to be able to stampede into another animal of the same species who is currently dormant and get stuck.
Fixed some missing waypoints introduced in previous updates.
Fixed bug that made it possible to exit your vehicle in mid air, leaving it frozen suspended above the ground.
Fixed some invisible walls in Mission 5 that the B.I.R.D. scout would keep crashing into.
Graphics:
Fixed a rare yet specific 1 frame visual glitch when entering the vehicle which would occur only after getting into the vehicle , and then switching to third person mode, then exiting the vehicle and re-entering the vehicle again.
Fixed small issue with '?' waypoint showing small corner pixels at night in the alpha edges of the image square.
Fixed missing blood decals from rhino ragdolls, a new issue that was introduced in a recent update.
Increased realistic placement reaction of some rhino ragdolls.
Fixed some ragdoll issues causing zebra ragdolls to disappear when on the edge of the screen.
Improved stormy weather wind transition.
Fixed a few issues with General Van Jaarsveld' eyelid texture when blinking in the obstacle course.
Improved goat & zebra animation transition from walking to running.
Other Additions & Improvements:
Added subtitles back to introduction speech to match new audio.
Scorpions are no longer invincible.
Added missing button highlight in graphics and advanced graphics menus for the "back" buttons for each menu respectively.
Systematically fixed all missing references of all types in all 30+ game scenes.
Optimizations:
Optimized nature ambience SFX sample rate memory footprint.
Limited the amount of bullet decals enemies can make.
Optimized the culling of certain permanent blood decal fixtures in the map, such as larger decals used as set pieces in poacher camps. (As opposed to dynamically created decals made with bullets)
Optimized camping interlude code.
Removed some unused enemies from various scenes that were still stored in memory.
Removed some unused coverpoint placeholders.
Improved the usage of inner reserve animal culling to disable the more intelligent animals when the player is away from home.
Original post
01 Jun 2025Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.8.5
Gameplay: Shotgun now keeps the aiming reticle when performing A.D.S. since it doesn't function the same as a classic scope aim, allowing for much more accurate usage of the shotgun. Larger animals such as Rhinos that are hanging out closer to the main reserve will now attempt to
Gameplay:
Shotgun now keeps the aiming reticle when performing A.D.S. since it doesn't function the same as a classic scope aim, allowing for much more accurate usage of the shotgun.
Larger animals such as Rhinos that are hanging out closer to the main reserve will now attempt to avoid the poachers if they get too close by relocating. This doesn't guarantee their safety in all situations, but can avoid a few mishaps and keeps things cleaner in terms of general gameplay.
Graphics:
Improved tranquilizer dart rifle texture.
Added advanced spine rotation animation to stampeding hippo.
Fixed some grass in Hippo Mission with too low LOD threshold and thus were popping into existence too easily.
Fixed foot IK clipping issue with General Gideon when sitting on camping chair during Mission 1/2 bonus interlude camping mission.
Fixed "Lions Heart" powerup from making screen almost impossible to see anything, an issue introduced in V0.8.8.2 when switching over to linear color space.
Fixed a minor graphical issue causing waterfalls to cast shadows in a really weird way.
Fixed issue causing zebras to disappear when slightly off screen and if player is very close.
Improved appearance of main weapon scope lens when viewed from hip-fire mode.
Improved appearance of the rare Combat Shotgun weapon.
Fixed weird appearance of bulldozer window glass, as seen in Chapter 2.
Bug Fixes:
Fixed rhino ragdoll issues in introduction scene/speech.
Fixed bug causing introduction speech to not automatically go to the next scene without player intervention when completed.
Fixed a new bug introduced in V0.8.8.2 that was causing 3 of the enemies in the hippo bonus mission to just stand still after being either killed or tranquilized.
Fixed issue causing silenced tranquilizer rifles to play the louder sniper rifle audio.
Fixed issue in hippo bonus mission causing hippo to run on the spot.
Cardboard boxes outside tavern are no longer un-destroyable.
Fixed issue where exploding your vehicle could sometimes reset your radio entirely, have replaced for a randomization (in the event of this situation) to help players discover more songs than they normally would hear in a single play session.
Fixed a NavMesh issue causing some enemies to walk through building in Mission 5.
Other Additions & Improvements:
Changed Steam store page screenshots to match the latest game version.
Improved hippo movement animation when circling a tree.
Improved audio quality of ranger stuck in tree during hippo mission.
Edited mission objective in hippo mission to be clearer about what the poachers are actually looking for, in this case not horns - but tusks.
Added an automatic checkpoint in hippo mission in case player is killed by a hippo so they don't have to start from the beginning of the level again.
Added cover points to enemy ambush in Hippo bonus mission.
Increased hippo stampede accuracy.
Added a new radio mission message for Hippo Mission Part 3.
More audio balancing on enemy voices.
Added more variation to nature ambience.
Optimizations
Optimized hippo scene memory footprint.
Tavern location on map is now also streamed into memory when near like other locations to maximize performance when fighting inside the main reserve or anywhere other than near the tavern.
Moved all remaining waterfall zones into the world streaming system, the entire world outside the main reserve is now essentially steamed in from memory when needed to lower the memory load on slower/older devices.
Some minor scene optimizations in general, related to animal locations during missions.
Original post
22 May 2025Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.8.4
A standard routine update featuring various fixes, improvements and quality of life adjustments. I'll be back again in a few weeks with another content based update (focusing largely on Chapter 2 this time), in the meantime the current update change notes are as follows: Fixed so
A standard routine update featuring various fixes, improvements and quality of life adjustments. I'll be back again in a few weeks with another content based update (focusing largely on Chapter 2 this time), in the meantime the current update change notes are as follows:

Fixed some navmesh issues near gazelle herd that caused animals and in some cases enemies to walk through a few of the rocks or huts.
Improved shotgun appearance as well as fixed a one sided normal causing a see through face by the loader grip.
Fixed an issue with water at a certain waterfall cycling between specular color maps while standing in-between 2 separate waterfall zones used for asynchronous level zone streaming.
Fixed bug with gazelles that would sometimes cause their movement and animations speeds to not be synced.
Fixed some cactuses in Delta Zone that were missing their impact damage, and some with missing colliders.
Increased amount of enemies in Mission 3 to balance out O.P. new rifle.
Rebaked all navmeshes for each level, adding special optimizations based on which areas enemies will be in that part of the game.
Improved shotgun aiming A.D.S. appearance, while also removing the traditional scope type A.D.S. for the shotgun weapon as it does not fit the model in the same way an actual scope weapon does. This also means that the shotgun, unlike other weapons - will retain the reticle while holding down the aim button.
Some more removal of trees growing in places that makes no sense.
Fixed some missing colliders on tires in various zones.
Patched up a hole in a fence that lead to a dead area.
Removed some trees that were intersecting giant rocks, some of them almost entirely engulfed by the rocks.
Removed some more invisible trees growing entirely obscured, rendered yet never seen.
Smaller animals such as wild dogs and warthogs will now remove their colliders when killed in the wild.
Fixed issue with some areas being locked out for the game demo, but also being locked in the main game - such as PC, Ostrich Racing, Garage, Shebeen, Caves.
Fixed a few LOD culling distances on some items that were far too extreme, causing for example a rock to noticeably pop into view in the distance as you are walking.
Improved rhino stampede animation when rotating and taking corners/turning.
Some small memory optimizations.
Fixed issue with testing cheat code "day length in minutes" erroneously showing in vehicle garage regardless of code status.
Increased the price of sniper rifle ammo purchased from the camp shop as a game balance.
Fixed issue causing meat to stop cooking entirely on all sides once only one side becomes burnt, based on a timeout that now leaves meat left on the fire to burn entirely.
Completing a bonus interlude such as the camping interlude mission now awards a decent amount of XP/score.
Improved lighting in caravan to not obscure in-game computer screen.
Optimized shooting range memory footprint and file size.
Metal targets in the shooting range now make a realistic target sound when shot.
Fixed visual water plane intersection glitch by fishing pond.
Improved RPG weapon material appearance.
Some visual improvements to the Mission 6 warehouse interior back walls which previously were mostly rendering as plain black patches.
Fixed navmesh issues in Mission 7 that would cause enemies to walk into rocks near the warehouse.
Added some more Easter eggs, but I obviously won't be elaborating further on that.
Fixed a (recent) bug that could cause some enraged rhino to stampede in a frozen state and thus run on the spot in an endless loop.
Fixed incorrect screen space ambient occlusion in shebeen that was causing characters to have a perceived glow outline.
Improved groundskeeper NPC character clothing and hair material.
The groundskeeper no longer wears sunglasses inside, but will when appropriate.
Groundskeeper is now appropriately labelled in the U.I. so you know exactly who I am referring to.
Improved the visual quality of the 'Fumigation' shebeen random event.
While it may seem like just another background NPC, the groundskeeper actually notices everything that happens on the reserve—and even has its own fully developed A.I. system that hasn’t been activated yet. More missions involving this character will be added once the voice acting is complete and we reach that stage of development. This character plays a much larger role in Chapter 2 and beyond, and expanding their story is a key part of the release roadmap—including new missions and narrative content, even for players who have already finished the main game.
And just a quick reminder—the game is still in development until August 26, 2026, so if you have any suggestions or feedback, there's still plenty of time to share them!

Thanks again to everyone who's provided feedback so far. I've nearly hit 2,000 copies sold—a modest milestone, but a meaningful one for a solo developer like myself, and for the talented voice actors helping bring this world to life. Your support means the world to us, and I’m genuinely thrilled that so many of you are enjoying the game as much as I’ve enjoyed making it.
And of course, a huge thank you to everyone who’s purchased the game. I hope you’ve been enjoying the updates, and I’ll keep them coming.
Speak soon.
- Rob/Twelv (Ingozi Games)
Original post
11 May 2025Developer post
Early Access Update V0.8.8.3
Early Access Update V0.8.8.3 Simple update fixing various user reported bugs & more. I am currently busy with a much larger technical update that adds proper spinal and leg animations to wildlife as well as general improved animal behavior, but it's taking a lot longer than e
Early Access Update V0.8.8.3
Simple update fixing various user reported bugs & more.
I am currently busy with a much larger technical update that adds proper spinal and leg animations to wildlife as well as general improved animal behavior, but it's taking a lot longer than expected so I wanted to knock out a few quick necessary polishes so everybody knows I'm still alive and working hard!
A lot of progress has been made in the game in areas over the last few months that I wanted to explore, so much to the delight (or the chagrin, depending) of achievement hunters and gaming enthusiasts alike, I have added a huge heap of new achievements that include new challenges and ways to play the game never thought before, while also helping the player discover more hidden gems and secrets held within.
- On the subject of achievements, we now have a total of 68 - the plan is by final game launch to have 101 total achievements of which 100 will be regular achievements and the final achievement is awarded as a platinum trophy for achieving the other 100.
There are a few other small changes as usual, although the main focus of this update is the achievements and increasing gameplay time and quality of life through that.
The new achievements are as follows:

A Distant Cry - Take down an enemy tagged with binoculars.
Sangoma - Finish the game without first aid kits using only traditional healing.
Crowd Control - Destroy more than 5 drones in Mission 8.
Bootcamp - Complete the obstacle course.
Careful With Those Onions - Complete the bonus camping interlude mission.
Camping Enthusiast - Camp for 7 consecutive days in-game.
Untitled Game Achievement - Rescue a man from a horrible goose.
Herbology - Plant some herbs in your base.
Abundance - Harvest 20 medicinal plants.
Iron Liver - Drink more than 2 liters of hard liquor in a single sitting.
Quick Sticks - Take down more than 5 enemies within under 10 seconds.
Head Hunter - Land 10 consecutive headshots in a row.
Up Close - Finish a mission using only melee weapons.
Rampage - Take down 5 enemies while under the influence of the "Lions Heart" powerup.
Nightwatch - Take down an entire poacher squad at night without using a lantern or flashlight.
Crouching Zebra, Hidden Rhino - Take down an entire poacher squad while crouched.
Economize - Take down more than 6 enemies in a single magazine without reloading your weapon.
Trooper - Complete a mission without healing.
Untouchable - Complete any mission without taking a single hit.
Branch Manager - Collect more than 5 wooden statues in a single playthrough.
The change notes for the update are as follows:

20 new achievements.
Improved colliders of weapons dropped from enemies to prevent them from getting stuck inside rocks and other hilarious situations.
When it starts raining, the wind will now gradually increase instead of instantly appearing (which previously made the trees transition to windy animated states in a terrible way).
Changed sunrays to be a part of the default graphics settings. (Now that they have been made much more subtle in the previous update)
Improved culling and optimization system for animals in the main reserve vs poachers outside the reserve based on player location for increased performance while travelling.
Further ragdoll improvements and optimizations.
A few notes that were patched a few weeks ago after the V0.8.8.2 update but were not included in any change notes, so I'll add them here for historical purposes:
V0.8.8.2.1

Updated demo to latest version.
Fixed weird goat ragdoll issue that only occurred during the tutorial.
Fixed wrong scope texture on hip-fire main weapon view (main rifle default loadout carbine weapon).
Redesigned skin and eyes shader system for obstacle course commanding general entirely from scratch to handle direct sunlight better without getting washed out.
Reconfigured lighting for obstacle course to light the NPC better.
Fixed a few missing asset references in the asynchronous streaming load zones.
Fixed a an issue where leaving the tutorial from the obstacle course would take you into a game instead of exiting back to the main menu.
Apologies for not adding anything too exciting to this update, but I just needed to get these out of the way so that I could focus on more interesting stuff for V0.8.8.4
Lastly, I have done a substantial update of the demo. (For those who do not own the game)
I have updated the demo to the latest version, and added some new content, and I have also removed some content.
The content was not removed from the demo in any way to give less to players of the demo, but was done to increase the value of the product for users who do buy the game. It can be less rewarding if you buy the game but you've already explored the whole map. So I have now closed off certain features and locations during the demo. Players will no longer be able to enter the shebeen or go ostrich racing during the demo, and other limitations - but as a consolation I have added some new content to the demo that wasn't there before. So now after finishing Mission 1, Demo users will be able to play the camping interlude bonus mission (added in V0.8.8.2) from the radio tower in the main camp after completing the first mission. So if you don't own the game, but you do own the demo - you can play again for some new content, as well as experience all the latest improvements. And as always, the demo is fully shareware and contains no DRM so you can even copy it out of steam and share with friends on a USB I don't mind!
Thanks again for playing, and I will be back again once the new animal spine animation system for V0.8.8.4 is ready!
- Rob/Twelv [Ingozi Games]
Original post

Updates & announcements

1. Inventory Selling

2. New Flying Mini-Game

3. New Contract Job

4. Environment Improvements

4. Gameplay Improvements

5. Bug Fixes

6. New Achievements

1. New achievement icons.

2. New achievements.

3. Discoverable locations & wildlife

4. New field guide

5. New arena mode

6. New contract job system

7. New collectibles

8. Improved controller support

9. Environment enhancements

10. Various bug fixes

11. Various improvements

Player interaction, vehicles, physics, collisions, and animation

Enemy A.I., combat behavior, and animation

Animals and wildlife

Missions, story flow, progression, and achievements

Audio, UI, options, and general systems

Terrain, environment, lighting, and visual polish

Performance, optimization, and codebase cleanups

Animal Updates:

Graphics Updates:

Other Updates:

Terrain, environment, lighting, and visual polish

Weapons, combat balance, and weapon visuals

Player interaction, vehicles, physics, collisions, and animation

Enemy A.I., stealth, combat behavior, and tracking

Missions, interludes, story flow, progression, and achievements

Audio, UI, options, and general systems

Performance, optimization, and codebase cleanups

Early Access Update V0.8.8.3