Wayward Shadows Release Date

24 Jun 2026Developer post

Inventory & Character Sheet Update

Inventory & Character Sheet Update The character window has been a little bit of an eye sore for the longest time. You use it quite a lot during your run, since it has all the info of your hunters, vehicle and equipment. And as a developer you get used to the way it looks and

30 Jan 2026Developer post

Keyboard Shortcuts And Some Other Detours

Keyboard Shortcuts And Some Other Detours A lot has happened and Wayward Shadows is coming together nicely. Sure, it still feels like a release date is decades away and everything moves at glacial speed, but progress is happening. I actually wanted to post some more cool new scre

07 Nov 2025Developer post

Monster Party

Just because Halloween is over doesn’t mean we’re done talking monsters! Over the last two weeks the entire supernatural roster of Wayward Shadows has been under the knife. We’ve redrawn, retuned, and rebalanced every ugly creature that might try to kill your hunters. The forces

Just because Halloween is over doesn’t mean we’re done talking monsters!

Over the last two weeks the entire supernatural roster of Wayward Shadows has been under the knife. We’ve redrawn, retuned, and rebalanced every ugly creature that might try to kill your hunters. The forces of evil have never looked (or fought) better.

Monster balancing in Wayward Shadows comes down to three simple pillars:

Visuals
Combat
Story & Clues

Visuals

Getting the visuals right is exactly what you’d expect: make the monster look good and, above all, scary.

In combat we use 2.5D rendering—hand-drawn 2D sprites that move across a 3D battle map. Is that as cool as having fully animated 3D monsters? Not quite, but as an indie team we can tell you: it's way more affordable ːsteamhappyː

Take a look at these three supernatural creatures you might run into at your local graveyard.

Combat Balancing

Each monster has a ton of values used during combat to make the fight unique and engaging. Besides the straightforward things such as hit points, movement and turn initiative, each monster also has unique vulnerabilities and resistances. Some monsters will be more vulnerable to fire or holy damage, while others will be almost immune to it. Knowing what monster is vulnerable against which weapon type or element will make your hunter’s life a lot easier.

We put a lot of time into building tools that allow us to easily tweak and rebalance all combat values since we expect to do a ton of adjustments, even after release.

Story and Clues

Before your hunters can fight a monster, they first have to hunt it down and find it. This is where the story bits and clues come in. Each monster leaves certain clues behind that can help to identify it. Once your hunters enter a new town, they have to go looking for evidence, interview witnesses and sort out what clues are important and which ones aren’t.

The best tool for this is the hunter journal which helps to track the found clues.

There is still a lot of work to do for us before all the monsters are combat ready, balanced and looking nice but the last weeks have really moved things forward.

I hope you liked this little post-Halloween monster update. Thank you for following the development of Wayward Shadows and stay tuned for more!

Original post

15 Aug 2025Developer post

Modding & Tools

Modding & Tools So here is the good news: The editor and modding tools for the Wayward Shadows are coming along great and we have made great progress in the last couple of weeks. The bad news: Surprising no one, we have realized that providing a fully fleshed out modding kit

Modding & Tools

So here is the good news: The editor and modding tools for the Wayward Shadows are coming along great and we have made great progress in the last couple of weeks.

The bad news: Surprising no one, we have realized that providing a fully fleshed out modding kit is an enormous amount of work and that it probably won’t be available in the release version right away.

That being said, the goal is to at least provide basic ability to mod the game and then expand upon that post-release.

So, what is the goal for the ‘moddability’ of Wayward Shadows then? In a perfect world I’d like players to be able to mod:

Hunters
Vehicles
Monsters
Equipment
Battle Maps
Events

Naturally some things are more complicated and require more work than others. While changing a hunter’s or monster’s health, name or textures is relatively easy, things like creating new maps or events is quite tricky. I think we’ll be able to provide tools that will let you create your own hunters and vehicles or tweak any stats of the existing hunters.

I’ll try and provide more info on the progress of those individual items in future updates. Now let’s talk about the more difficult things.

Battle Maps

The turn-based combat is a big part of Wayward Shadows and having a good number of fun battle maps to play on is quite important. Creating those takes time, and so far, the process to create new maps has been painfully slow and we have come to the conclusion that we will need a proper map editor that allows us to set up good looking fun maps comfortably and quickly.

This is why most work time this summer has been going into creating a new map editor. Progress has been great, but we are far from finished.

Terrain Painting

Painting the terrain has been one of the main pain points when it comes to how we have been building maps. We decided to do a complete rewrite of the terrain shader and painting system. This resulted in a really nice and easy to use system which makes it actually fun to create new maps and paint terrain.

The benefit of all the code refactoring and rewrites is that we now have a system that is fast and easy to use and can be accessed by modders through the modding kit. Still a ton of work left but if things work out this will allow you to edit any battle map in the game or create new ones.

An additional benefit is that the final maps will now be much smaller in size, resulting in fast download times and less storage space used.

Hex Map Editing

So far, editing of the hex grid of a battle map has been extremely painful and error prone as well. Turns out that typing in all the coordinates manually and then updating the whole map isn't super convenient...

With the new tools it is now super quick and easy to adjust the hex map of a battle map.

Take a look here:

Environment and Enemies

The ability to place enemies, environment objects and other decorations is up next. In the next couple of weeks, we should have that working as well and we can move on to actually setting up behaviors and simple game logic in the editor. This all works already if set up manually in C# but not in a way that a modder could access easily. So hopefully things keep on going well and we can start testing those tools soon.

Tradeoffs

Naturally working on one area in the game takes time away from others. It is always a tradeoff and in the last couple weeks the actual gameplay or art hasn’t gotten much love. Better modding tools are great but they do come at the cost of slower progress in other areas and a possible delayed release date.

That being said, things are looking great. As always, thank you so much for reading this and following the development of Wayward Shadows!

Original post

18 Apr 2025Developer post

Tooltips Everywhere!

Tooltips I just got done with a huge tooltip pass and there are a ton of UI elements that now have tooltips. Most screens and windows have gotten a lot of attention and do a better job at providing important information now. When I watched people playtest the game, I noticed cert

05 Mar 2025Developer post

Motels, Pawn Shops, and a Little Side Hustle

Making Towns in Wayward Shadows Feel Alive Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been pouring a ton of work into the towns of Wayward Shadows, and I’m excited to share the latest updates. Motels and pawn shops are now (almost) fully functional, and there are brand-new ways to scrap

Making Towns in Wayward Shadows Feel Alive

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been pouring a ton of work into the towns of Wayward Shadows, and I’m excited to share the latest updates. Motels and pawn shops are now (almost) fully functional, and there are brand-new ways to scrape together some cash on the side. Here’s a rundown of what’s new and improved.

Pawn Shops: Gear Up for the Hunt

If you want any hope of taking down a werewolf or vampire, you’ll need the right tools for the job. Every town in Wayward Shadows now has a pawn shop stocked with a rotating selection of weapons and armor. The big news? It actually works now. I’ve overhauled the inventory generation algorithm, and it’s a lot better now. What you’ll find on offer in the shops now depends on factors like the difficulty of your current case, how many days you’ve survived in your run, and a few other things.

Plus, I’ve added improved tooltips, clearer feedback when buying or selling, and a bunch of polish to make the experience smoother. Your next monster-slaying upgrade is waiting—assuming you’ve got the cash.

Motels: Rest Up or Burn Out

The energy/rest system has also gotten a major tune-up. I’ve rebalanced energy regeneration during sleep, and it feels way better now. Fork over some cash to rent a room, and can sleep to get rid of those “Tired” or “Exhausted” debuffs. That’s right—along with the motel overhaul, I’ve introduced new debuffs that hit your hunters when you push them too long without a break. The hunter's energy level is now an important stat to keep your eye on.

Hustles: High Risk, High Reward

What’s a hustle, you ask?
Monster hunting doesn’t exactly pay the bills, so sometimes you’ve got to get creative to keep the cash flowing. That’s where “Hustles” come in—special actions you can take at certain locations to score some quick cash. These are high-risk, high-reward moves, though. Cheat at the pool table, hack an ATM, or swipe a tip jar, and you might walk away richer… or you might attract the wrong kind of attention and get your butt handed to you if you’re caught.

It’s all about weighing the odds. You can play it safe, or roll the dice to stay cash flow positive.

Bringing Towns to Life

With pawn shops, motels, and hustles now in the mix—alongside all the other locations you can explore—towns in Wayward Shadows feel so much more dynamic. They’re not just a backdrop for your cases anymore; they’re living, breathing hubs where every choice matters. Whether you’re bartering for a new blade, catching some sleep, or risking it all on a shady gig, there’s always something to do.

As always, thanks for reading and following along with the development of Wayward Shadows. I’m hammering away at a playable demo as fast as I can, but it’s not quite ready yet. Stick with me—I can’t wait for you to dive in and explore the game for yourself!

Original post

31 Dec 2024Developer post

Better World Map, Bigger Misadventures

The world map in Wayward Shadows just got a whole lot better. (Yes, I know it’s technically just a map of the United States, but we’ve been calling it the world map forever. Americentrism much?) This isn’t just a new coat of paint—though it looks much better than before — we’ve a

The world map in Wayward Shadows just got a whole lot better. (Yes, I know it’s technically just a map of the United States, but we’ve been calling it the world map forever. Americentrism much?)

This isn’t just a new coat of paint—though it looks much better than before — we’ve also added tons of fresh gameplay features to make exploring the map more fun and strategic. Here’s what’s new:

New background art for better readability
Improved rendering on high resolution screens
New travel line: See exactly where you’re headed and how you’re getting there.
Smoother vehicle pathfinding: Goodbye, awkward straight lines.
Reworked fuel mechanics: Manage your gas—or end up stranded.
Lots of new location and event types to discover on the map

All new world map art

New travel line visualization

The biggest addition besides the background art is an all new travel line that shows you where you are going and was path you are taking. Before it wasn't really clear what your driving path would look like and how long it takes you to get to your destination. With the new travel line it is much easier to see where you are going.

New pathfinding

We implemented a new, smoother pathfinding system when driving around on the map with your hunters. Before you could only go in straight line from A to B. Now your vehicle will move smoothly along a nicely animated path. It looks better, feels better, and makes getting around the map way more satisfying.

Tons of new gameplay

We also added a ton of new gameplay to the world map. Without giving too much away, you’ll now stumble upon rare locations and unexpected events—like the FBI chasing you down for all those shady break-ins. (What? Did you think stealing cash all the time had no consequences?)
Plus, gas management just got real. Run out of fuel, and you’ll find yourself stuck on the side of the road. Vehicles also have reworked stats, giving you more meaningful choices when building your hunting team.

Lots of choices in the vehicle selection screen now

Happy new 2025!

As usual Wayward Shadows is way behind schedule and far from completion but 2024 has been a great year nonetheless. I hope you all stick around for the great new stuff we have planned for 2025! As always, thank you for reading this and taking the time to keep up to date with development of Wayward Shadows!

Have a happy new year and a great 2025!

Original post

31 Aug 2024Developer post

Combat UI Updates

The combat UI is getting better Hello hunters! Combat in Wayward Shadows is a huge part of the gameplay. No case is truly solved until the monster is put down for good. I want the combat to feel as smooth as possible and having a great and easy to use UI is a big part of that. Ov

11 Feb 2024Developer post

Feature Spring Cleaning

Feature Spring Cleaning It has been a while since the last update, but a lot of things happened! Feature and code cleanup, rework of some of the older game systems and other un-sexy stuff. You won’t really notice much difference just looking at the game, but things are much more

Feature Spring Cleaning

It has been a while since the last update, but a lot of things happened! Feature and code cleanup, rework of some of the older game systems and other un-sexy stuff.
You won’t really notice much difference just looking at the game, but things are much more stable and fluid now. There are some things though which are quite visible, such as an overhaul of the case stories:

Case Stories

We really wanted the cases to feel more like the episode of a TV show having a better arc. This is why most cases are now divided into three chapters, each with individual challenges.
While the first chapter of a case might focus on identifying the victim and the cause of death, the second chapter might focus on how to find and kill a specific monster, and so on.
There have also been a lot of improvements to the case solving UI itself: There are now new highlights on the drag and drop slots, more UI feedback, new tooltips, etc. All this makes it a bit easier to keep an overview of the case story.

As you can see in the above screenshot, a case story now has three chapters, each new one unlocked when the previous one has been solved. This allows us to craft better stories without overloading the player right away.

Localization

Localization is a big topic for us since we want to translate the game to as many languages as we can, and having a robust localization system is quite important. Wayward Shadows is very text heavy, and we are trying to manage text in such a way that we can easily update and maintain everything. We worked a lot on the localization code in the last couple weeks and now have a good system in place to set up and localize game strings. Not much to see or show though, since it all happens in the code.

Steam Page Face Lift

And last but not least, the Steam page has gotten a little face lift with new gameplay screenshots, updated text, etc. There is still no proper gameplay trailer at the moment, but I am hoping we’ll have that ready soon.
Stay tuned! 2024 is going to have a lot of great progress and much more cool stuff to show.

Original post

01 Dec 2023Developer post

Battle, Buffs, and Throwables

Battle, Buffs, and Throwables I am still quite a bit away from putting together a decent trailer showcasing the gameplay in one nice clip but there has been a ton of progress over the last weeks. The turn-based battle mode in particular got a lot of upgrades. I got the buffs/debu

11 Sep 2023Developer post

Small Town Living

Small Town Living The mysterious cases you will solve in Wayward Shadows take place in small towns all over the US. Each town is different, with a unique layout, buildings and environments. Each town you enter will have lots of buildings and locations to discover. As the case dev

22 May 2023Developer post

Can You Solve The Case?

More than fighting Monster hunting is more than just fighting and killing dangerous monsters. Gathering clues and interviewing witnesses is a big part of solving cases. Knowing what monster you face in battle and what strengths and weaknesses it has is going to be vital for your

More than fighting

Monster hunting is more than just fighting and killing dangerous monsters. Gathering clues and interviewing witnesses is a big part of solving cases. Knowing what monster you face in battle and what strengths and weaknesses it has is going to be vital for your survival. While the turn-based battles in Wayward shadows are a lot of fun, the cases leading up to them are quite important too.
You don't want to be unprepared and bring a wooden stake to a Werewolf fight!

Your most important tool for solving a case is your journal. This is where you keep all the clues and information for the monsters that you found. Check out the work-in-progress screenshot of the hunter journal.

Procedurally generated mysteries

Each case you solve in Wayward Shadows is different. Not only will you be hunting different monsters, but the way to identifying and finding a dangerous monster requires a lot of detective work. Not wo cases are the same and each time you enter a new town to help out the people there, a new case is being generated with different challenges, clues and storylines.
Even after hours and hours of fighting evil, each case will feel new and fresh.

Finding clues

New clues can be obtained by talking to witnesses and convincing them to share information with you.
Once you meet a new character in the game you have the option to talk to them and get them to tell you more.

Check out the work-in-progress screenshot of the dialog interface above. Here the hunters just found an important witness hanging out a the local bar.
The bottom of the location window shows a list of 'Location Action' buttons which allow you to interact with locations and people. What actions are available depends on the location, the people there, your hunting team and a lot of different things.

We are still working on the character conversations and interactions and hopefully have a bit more to show soon! There are a couple of pretty cool skill-check based mechanics that we can't wait to show.
Stay tuned!

Original post

13 Mar 2023Developer post

Items and Equipment

Items and Equipment A big part of the fun of going on a new journey in Wayward Shadows is to find and manage equipment, weapons and armor to help you in your fight against the forces of evil. New items can be found in certain locations while you are working a case or, if you are

17 Aug 2022Developer post

How to build a hunting team

How to build a hunting team It’s dangerous to go alone! Better bring a partner when you go monster hunting. At the start of every new run in Wayward Shadows you’ll first have to build your hunting team. That means picking two hunters and a vehicle to travel with. Once you have ma

How to build a hunting team

It’s dangerous to go alone! Better bring a partner when you go monster hunting.
At the start of every new run in Wayward Shadows you’ll first have to build your hunting team. That means picking two hunters and a vehicle to travel with. Once you have made your choice and started your run, this is it. You can not change your hunters or vehicle once you are on the road.

Pick Your Hunters

There are 9 different hunters to choose from, all with different stats, skills and starting equipment. This allows for a lot of different team combinations to support your favorite playstyle.
Not all hunters will be available right from the start though and you have to unlock them by completing various challenging achievements.
Each hunter starts with one unique skill and one weapon. You can of course find better equipment and even learn new skills later, but this is what you start with.

(The team selection screen)

Pick Your Vehicle

Every hunting team needs transportation. Which of the six available vehicles you pick for your run determines how fast you will get to your next case, how much you can transport and how comfortable the ride is.
All those values play a role and depending on your playstyle you want to choose the right vehicle for your hunters. Just like hunters, most vehicles also need to be unlocked by completing achievements. And to make it more personal you can even name your vehicle!

Each Run is Different

All the different combinations of hunters and vehicles make every run unique and challenging. A big part of the fun is figuring out what combos work best and in what way to level them.
Once you start solving cases and killing monsters you’ll get to level up your hunters and improve their equipment. Dual-wielding baseball bats? Extra bottles of holy water? It is up to you to build the best hunting team.

(Jing and Bronco are on the road!)

I’ll try and post more info on character stats, equipment and how the leveling works in future updates.

If you like what you see, and would like to support the game please consider adding it to your wishlist. Each wishlist addition goes a long way!
Thank you and have fun!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1605680

Original post

Updates & announcements

Inventory & Character Sheet Update

Skill Trees

Keyboard Shortcuts And Some Other Detours

Boring But Important

More Input Support

Visuals

Combat Balancing

Story and Clues

Modding & Tools

Battle Maps

Terrain Painting

Hex Map Editing

Environment and Enemies

Tradeoffs

Tooltips

Tooltip Setting

Nested Tooltips

Making Towns in Wayward Shadows Feel Alive

Pawn Shops: Gear Up for the Hunt

Motels: Rest Up or Burn Out

Hustles: High Risk, High Reward

Bringing Towns to Life

New travel line visualization

New pathfinding

Tons of new gameplay

Happy new 2025!

The combat UI is getting better

Swapping items in combat

More UI improvements are coming

New Gameplay Trailer

Feature Spring Cleaning

Case Stories

Localization

Steam Page Face Lift

Battle, Buffs, and Throwables

Damage Dice

Small Town Living

Look and Feel

More than fighting

Procedurally generated mysteries

Finding clues

Items and Equipment

Limited Capacity

Equipment Generation

How to build a hunting team

Pick Your Hunters

Pick Your Vehicle

Each Run is Different