Cleared Hot

Not Knowing Corporation · MicroProse Software

Released: Nov 20, 2025
Platforms
Last updated: 13 Sep 2026, 12:33 GMT

Updates & announcements

20 posts

18 Aug 2026Developer post
Helicopter Poll Results, Sale Before Price Increase
Your winners, after 790 votes: The MH-53 Pave Low and the KA-52 Alligator. The MH-53 Pave Low. We're going to need a bigger helipad. The KA-52 Alligator. Looking deadly. Final Results Thankfully it still fits in the hangar... kinda Our champion of the MH-53 Pave Low reappeared in
24 Jul 2026Developer post
Flares, Geothermal Craters, and a Helicopter Poll
Dearest pilots, join me again for a fireside chat about attack helicopters. Things at Cleared Hot HQ are going quite well. The jungle campaign is reaching a crescendo as we race through the final few missions of Chapter 2. Then begins the gauntlet of balancing, building a boss fi
Dearest pilots, join me again for a fireside chat about attack helicopters.
Things at Cleared Hot HQ are going quite well. The jungle campaign is reaching a crescendo as we race through the final few missions of Chapter 2. Then begins the gauntlet of balancing, building a boss fight, QA testing, playtesting, and preparing to ship a major update. More on this later.
Introducing Flares!
Travis has been hard at work in his hangar, crafting some new counter-measures. These will distract any heat based missiles that are flying at you.
Sticking with our physics-pillar, the flares are actual objects that shoot out of the helicopter and are detected by incoming missiles.
In the game, the heat-seeking missiles work by looking for a heat source in the game- basically a value we put on vehicles. The flares have a higher heat value, so if the missiles see a flare, they will pick that as their target.
When the heat gets too hot... add some more heat?
Note the missile chasing the flares in all of these screenshots :)
This means the flares are extremely helpful, but you're not invincible. They're more like 95% effective. Which I think adds a bit of excitement to the game.
If you pop the flares early, you're almost guaranteed to not be hit. But beware, if you release them late, the missiles do actually chase the flares, and will still impact near the flares and explode.
Utility Slot
Adding the flares required thinking through what else we could equip in this method. This gave birth to the utility slot.
Each helicopter will have 1 slot that you can equip a variety of devices to. In addition, these devices can be picked up mid-mission by picking up a special utility crate.
There is only room for 1 device, so if you had a device equipped and you pick up a new one, the old one will drop to the ground. This means you have to think about which crates you'll need when, and strategize about when to use them.

Here are some ideas that I'm considering:
Chaff (counter-measure for radar based enemies)
Smoke grenades (smoke screen that you can hide in and fire through)
Air Strike (call in a one time air strike on a location that you mark with a laser)
Got ideas for other Utility Slot devices you want? Post them in the comments.
Chapter 2 Teasers
Here are some images from the missions we've been working on lately.
A geothermal power plant, located in a volcanic crater lake.
A data center in a remote crater... ripe for pillaging
In one mission, you attack an enemy training camp. As you fly up, the NPCs scatter and try to get into the vehicles to shoot back at you.
You can kill them as ground troops... or let them reach the vehicles and fight armor instead.
Take out the soldiers before they can get into the vehicles!
NPC Patrols
Our brave NPCs have discovered how to walk... in circles. We can now have boats, ground vehicles, or ground troops patrol around an area. This will add more dynamic sections to the missions.
Price Increase (in ~1 month)
As we mentioned in our release devlog, we will be raising the price of the game through early access.
Current owners are not affected by this change, and get Chapters 2 and 3 for free
As per our early access roadmap, chapters 2 and 3, plus other features are included for anyone who buys the game in early access. So don't worry, if you got in early, you just get everything for a lower price in the end.
The new price will be $17.99 and it will go into effect in about a month. I will post another devlog with a notice a few days before it increases.
We priced the game lower on release so that early players would get the game for a fair price. We are raising the price to reflect the additional content coming in Chapter 2.
This is the last chance to buy the game at it's EA release pricing. I suspect most of you reading this already own the game, so don't worry, you're good to go. Chapters 2 and 3 will just be a free update.
Chapter 2 Release Window
I'm happy to announce that Chapter 2 will be releasing this fall. We will announce more information as we get closer to release.
I know people are ready to get their hands on Chapter 2, we are doing our best to build it quickly. There is a lot of planning, prototyping, art, coding, dialog, story, voice over, and testing work to be done. I'm really happy with where it's at, and I can't wait to get all of your thoughts and feedback.
Helicopter Wishlist - Vote in Discord
After posting this I will kick off a poll in our discord, to see which helicopters people want to see in Cleared Hot.
The CH-53 Pave Low was a last minute call up, thanks to this discord user:
Join the Discord to vote: discord.com/invite/XmMTqEjpQg
Thank You
Y'all have been with me for a long time now! I have been working on this idea in some way shape or form since late 2020 or 2021... and you guys have written some really awesome comments in that time. It feels special to work on a creative project that people care about.
So, thank you! We are getting into a special time now, with Chapter 2 coming up. The game is finding its footing more and more and we are adding some exciting things to the game.
- Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team
Want these in your inbox?
I write one of these about once a month. Sign up at clearedhotgame.com/email-list
Original post
09 Jun 2026Developer post
The Red Butt
Welcome loyal players and wishlisters, the ones who make it all possible! Cmon in and let's talk Jungle. BTR-80 Soviet Era Armored Personnel Carrier In our initial jungle devlog, some of you suggested this behemoth! Here it is in it's retro Soviet glory. We also made a slight mod
Welcome loyal players and wishlisters, the ones who make it all possible! Cmon in and let's talk Jungle.
BTR-80
Soviet Era Armored Personnel Carrier
In our initial jungle devlog, some of you suggested this behemoth! Here it is in it's retro Soviet glory. We also made a slight modification to add some anti-aircraft missiles to the rear, to make it's attack a bit more spicy.
It also carries 10 NPCs that can disembark when it reaches a destination or when its health drops below 25%.
Weak Point System
Aka The Red Butt
We have added a weak point to the back of the BTR unit, that rewards you for landing direct or near-direct hits. This adds more depth to the combat, and rewards you for landing direct or near-direct hits on the rear of the BTR.
Death to the Circle Strafe Meta
I have hated that a lot of action games have basically one movement pattern that can be repeated over and over for any situation: the circle strafe. Just hold down the shoot button and move in circles.
BTR-80 Weak Point
We decided to experiment by putting a weak point on the back of the BTR-80 enemy. We're experimenting with 2 approaches to showing this to the player: a red pulsing area on the rear, and a large red exhaust port that's actually part of the BTR. Which do you prefer?
When you hit the weak point, you do 2x the damage. The unit is armored and has a lot of health, so this is crucial to taking it down.
Known affectionately in our discord as "the red butt"
Another variation we're experimenting with- a red exhaust port.
What Counts As a Hit
In order to do damage to the weak point, hit it with a gun or missile in that small area. The guns and missiles have 2 zones of damage: one is a very small zone that counts as a direct hit, the other is full splash damage that is reduced with distance. Splash damage does not count on the weak point- it has to be hit more closely.
Hitmarker Adjustment
In order to show the player where they're hitting, we updated the UI hitmarker to show a different color for the 3 types of hits: hit on an unarmored unit, hit on armor, and weak point hit.
Audio Feedback
We're still playing with this, but we've created new sounds that alert the player to what they're hitting. The armor hit is more of a ricochet / metal impact sound, and weak point hit is distinctly different.
I Want Your Feedback
What's your first impression of this new damage model? What other ways do you want to see more depth in the combat? This will first be released with Chapter 2 and we will iterate it with your feedback through all of early access.
Jungle Mission Teasers
We are knee-deep in the Chapter 2 campaign at this point, and it is really coming together. I don't to give away any spoilers so I'll just post some generic teaser screenshots below.
Your future home-base. Still a work in progress.
Coastal real estate, open-air hangar, bring your own helicopters
Defending against a beachhead attack
Dusk in the jungle
The Huey feels right at home here...
Poll: Your Top 3 Missions and Why
Respond in the comments: What were your top 3 missions and why did you like them? This will help us prioritize as we build out the rest of Chapter 2 and plan Chapter 3.
Mission Names
Heyday Mayday (nostalgic first mission)
An Odd Tool for Odd Jobs (doing tasks for Tommy to get the littlebird)
Scrapyard Scrap (kill enemies with the rope, defend Tommy's junkyard)
A Crude Rescue (oil field mission, destroy fuel buildings and rescue hostages)
A West Texas Road Trip (first convoy mission)
Into the Canyon (canyon / jet escape)
Tail Risk (destroy the bases, capture helipads)
The Long Way Home (Second convoy mission)
Battle of Big Rocks (defend your local town, tank intro)
Data Harvesting (radar turrets, steal servers, jet appearance)
No Such Thing as a Free Launch (attack the spaceport)
Crawler Mauler (final boss fight against Klein, prevent rocket from launching)
If you want to discuss this in more detail, join our discord: discord.com/invite/XmMTqEjpQg
Thank You!
As always, thanks for making this game possible. We really appreciate all your feedback and support. The jungle is coming along and I think you're going to love it.
-Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team
Original post
17 Apr 2026Developer post
Into the Jungle
Pilots! Oh do I have an update for you. Let's get right into it. First, feast your eyes on this lush jungle scene. We've picked up production on chapter 2 and it is feeling great. Is that a rock or are you happy to see me We are working on a jungle mission that will involve destr
Pilots! Oh do I have an update for you. Let's get right into it. First, feast your eyes on this lush jungle scene. We've picked up production on chapter 2 and it is feeling great.
Is that a rock or are you happy to see me
We are working on a jungle mission that will involve destroying some key enemy locations along the coast, and liberating some weapons caches.
The mission has a mix of bases with helipads that allow you to repair your helicopter once you capture the base. This creates a nice hub and spoke gameplay where you capture a base and then can return to it for support.
The mission also features a new enemy type to contend with...
Kamikaze Drones
In Travis' own words: "I hate these little f($)ers". They are persistent, quick, and dangerous.
These drones pursue their target and then go into a high speed attack phase. They attack both air and ground targets. If you have friendly NPCs in the area, you'll have to defend them.
Drone Control Room
There is one twist: the drones are being controlled by operators in a drone control room. The drones will continuously spawn until you find and destroy the control room and kill the operators. We are hiding them around the map, so you'll have to track the drones back to the source.
Once you find them (and oh does it feel good to kill the operators) the drones fall out of the sky.

These fill a nice gameplay niche- they are threatening to both the player and the allied ground forces. In a few missions you'll be protecting your allies from drone attacks. The drones are especially deadly against ground troops.
Well, thank you for ... wait a second... I almost forgot...
"The Modding Initiative"
Ok I'm going to say it... we are adding mod support!
We are now writing our mission logic in Lua script, which means that modders will be able to modify all future missions, and eventually create their own.
We don't yet have a delivery date for any of this, but we want to share info and take suggestions as we build it. If you're interested in helping us develop and test our mod support, fill out this Google Survey.
Short Term
Tweaking mission logic - objectives, spawning times, locations, etc
Changing unit configurations - for both enemy and friendly units
Long Term
Visual editor to place units in an existing terrain
Support for placing any prop in the game
Packs of pre-made bases to use and modify
Steam Workshop support
What's NOT Included
Being able to modify the terrain is not included, for technical and license reasons. We will provide all the terrain files from existing missions, and some placeholder ones, for you to use.
No way to make mission logic without writing Lua code- this is more technical, and we can't support a full "super mario maker" style editor.
Chapter 1 missions- those were created in Unity and at this time we aren't going to re-write them in Lua.
Explain Like I'm 5
The mission logic used to be inside Unity (our game engine), not accessible to players.
Now the mission logic lives in Lua code, in a folder on your computer.
Anyone can modify the code, either for themselves or to publish as a mod for others.
Lua Scripting
We use the MoonSharp C# interpreter to embed Lua into the game. In Unity, scene objects get referenced by IDs. So you can write a script in Lua that references the things in the game / mission.
Each mission is defined by a .lua file that has a list of reactions. Reactions are pretty much what they sound like- a reaction to something that has happened. The flow is like this: Something happens -> if some condition is true -> do these other actions.
The "something" is an event, like a unit died, a zone was entered, the mission started, etc. These are hooked in Unity/C# and we pass the events to Lua. The actions are what you do in response - spawn units, complete an objective, play dialog complete the mission, etc.
An Example
Below is a simplified snippet of how our Survival mission works. Things will change through development but this should give you an idea of how you define counters, objectives, and handle reactions.
Thank You!
I've been having a ton of fun working on the game lately. Cooking up new content and adding modding support has been really exciting.
Join the Discord if you're not there already; we'll be sharing more jungle development soon. https://discord.com/invite/XmMTqEjpQg
Sometimes you almost get too close to your own game to see all the possibilities, so I'm stoked to open things up to you guys to make your own changes.
Thanks for helping us get this far, and for your continued support! Y'all make it all possible.
- Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team
Original post
19 Mar 2026GamingOnLinux
The nostalgic helicopter shooter Cleared Hot gets Linux support with a performance update
Cleared Hot is an excellent nostalgic helicopter shooter, and the latest release brings Native Linux support to improve performance on Steam Deck. Read the full article here:
17 Mar 2026Developer post
Chapter 1B Update Is Live !
Pilots! Our Chapter 1B update is live on Steam. It was a major performance update to the game, and we had to touch a lot of systems to make it happen. This needed to happen before the game expanded much more, and I'm really glad we can build chapter 2 on this improved foundation.
Watch on YouTube
Pilots! Our Chapter 1B update is live on Steam.
It was a major performance update to the game, and we had to touch a lot of systems to make it happen. This needed to happen before the game expanded much more, and I'm really glad we can build chapter 2 on this improved foundation.
Features
Performance Overhaul
This was our main focus. We greatly improved performance on all platforms, and especially on Steam Deck.
Steam Deck FPS increased by 30%, and hits 90 fps in low action areas.
Stutters are greatly reduced. The ones that remain are from spawning units and we will improve this over time.
More settings. You can set anti-aliasing, ambient occlusion, and render scale. This lets you get the performance / quality experience you want.
Arcade Mode
We've added a new section in the home base for arcade missions. Our goal for this was to add replayable content and have a place for experimental missions.
Survival Mode - Defend a building against waves of enemies
Skee Ball - Use your rope to roll the ball up the ramp and into the holes
Skeet Shooting - Shoot barrels mid-air
Cooping Mechanism - A timed chicken rescue
Mini Golf - Golf, but with missiles
Uno Reverse - Destroy turrets by redirecting their own missiles
Glass Cannon - Use walls for cover and destroy 3 challenging turrets
Steam Daily Deal
We are one of today's Steam daily deals! So everyone logging into Steam will get a popup showing the game. As someone who was around when Steam was first released... this feels pretty crazy :)
We will be raising the price before Chapter 2, so now's the best time to grab it. Tell your friends! If you've already purchased the game, you get this update, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 for free as part of our early access process.
This update was a foundational update to make sure the game runs smoothly before adding content. We are investing into the game's future- I hope that feels good to our early access supporters. Now, back to work on Chapter 2!
Thanks for all of your support, it means a lot.
- Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team
Original post
03 Mar 2026GamingOnLinux
Excellent helicopter combat game Cleared Hot is getting a "Native Steam Deck build"
Cleared Hot is a truly fun helicopter combat game made in the spirit of Desert Strike and Jungle Strike - with a big update due this month. Read the full article here:
25 Feb 2026Developer post
Chapter1B - Release Date Announcement
Hello Fearless Pilots, I have a rare thing to present to you: an update release date: Chapter1B Drops on March 17th! Video Devlog If you prefer to digest you devlogs in video format, check out the below! Let me know what else you would like to see in these, I'm curious to try thi
Hello Fearless Pilots, I have a rare thing to present to you: an update release date: Chapter1B Drops on March 17th!
Video Devlog
If you prefer to digest you devlogs in video format, check out the below!
Watch on YouTube
Let me know what else you would like to see in these, I'm curious to try this new format. I'm new to YouTube but I want to share our dev progress- leave a comment, a like or subscribe if you want to help out.
Chapter1B Features
Performance Improvements
This was our main focus of the last few months.
Steam Deck fps increased 30%, and hits 90 fps in low action areas.
Stuttering is greatly improved. The ones that remain are from spawning units and we will improve this over time.
More settings are exposed now. You can set anti-aliasing, ambient occlusion, and render scale. This let's you get the performance / quality experience you want.
This includes adding the new water system! So the game should look better and run faster. The team really cooked on this one.
These updates have allowed us to render some more dense jungle scenes without sacrificing performance, and we are set up really well for the jungle campaign now.
Here's a summary of all the improvements that were made
Native Steam Deck build - unlocked the 90 fps potential
Optimized Destruction System
Updated Unit Navigation - uses ECS for faster calculations, avoided some recalculations.
Bullet decals are being pooled
Unity 6.3 Update
Major vegetation stutters fixed (we pre-load them)
Major improvement from enabling depth priming, removing SMAA
More anti-aliasing options offered (FXAA, SMAA, TAA, None)
Ambient Occlusion is a setting that can be disabled for more performance
Exposed a render scale setting
Improved Unit system- more efficient update loop, and LOD priority system
Arcade Missions
We've added a new section in the home base for arcade missions. Our goal for this was to add replayable content and have a place for experimental missions.
I want this section to be a place where we can experiment with missions that wouldn't fit in the campaign. It should allow us to create more content and to try out more community ideas in a flexible way.
We've only added a handful of missions so far, but this section will evolve a lot. Most of our focus needs to be on Chapter 2, but having this section allows us to add little bits of content over time as we go. This way you're not waiting forever without having something new to play.
AND, now I can make the super duper hard challenge missions that I couldn't put in the main campaign :)
Here's our current list of Arcade missions. These may change before launch.
Survival Mode
Mini Golf (with missiles...)
Skee Ball
Skeet Shooting
Roping Missile Challenge
Radar Turret Challenge
These missions are all pretty short and light, but this is just the start- we want you to help us expand this section over time.
Redirecting Missiles w the Rope
Ok so I know this isn't a top priority, but I've been waiting months to work on this again. Basically, this was possible before but not super rewarding because it didnt't work w all the missiles and when it did work, they didnt do much damage.

Now the missile's can be more reliably redirected back to the turret (or npc...) that fired them, and they will do 3x the normal damage if you pull it off.
New Water System
The new water system has been added to all the chapter 1 missions in the game!
Recently we built a system that detects when any object is entering the water and creates a splash effect. Throwing props into the water is decidedly more fun now.

This prevents us from having to do custom work for the 384593 props in the game.
Roadmap
Edit- I forgot to mention that there are 2 parts of Chapter1B on the roadmap that we have postponed until later: The helicopter customization and a new playable helicopter.
We did this in the interest of getting this update out quickly while starting production on Chapter 2. Our main priority is getting you the main campaign content as fast as we can.
We will release these features as a later date, in parallel with our work on Chapter 2. I am hoping this works better to keep the updates coming more frequently.
Chapter 2 Production Sneak Peak
We've been working on the first mission of Chapter 2 as a way to experiment with our new process and see how the water missions work.
A new hazard has entered the chat
Thank You
Thanks for following along! Mark your calendars for March 17th, and come hop in the discord to celebrate the launch with us: https://discord.com/invite/XmMTqEjpQg
- Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team
Original post
31 Jan 2026Developer post
Jungle Preview
Hello Pilots! Join me on this Saturday morning as I share what we've been up to since the holidays! New Jungle preview, new water, boats, and performance updates. Let's go... Jungle Preview Our revised jungle theme is coming together. We've been doing a ton of work finding the ri
Hello Pilots! Join me on this Saturday morning as I share what we've been up to since the holidays! New Jungle preview, new water, boats, and performance updates. Let's go...
Jungle Preview
Our revised jungle theme is coming together.
We've been doing a ton of work finding the right style for the jungle that won't melt your GPU. We're not quite done optimizing but we're getting closer. The overall vibe is coming together and I'm pretty excited about it.
The jungle will play differently than Texas, and we're exploring how those elements play into mission types. Expect to be ambushed by units hiding in the trees, fend off naval attacks, and escort your allies through dangerous extraction missions.
Water 2.0
For those of you that have been following the game for a while, you know that we started with a more low-poly style. As that evolved into our current style, the water got left behind in low-poly mode.
Thankfully Texas doesn't have a ton of water :D But now that we're headed to the jungle, it was time to make the water feel like... water.
I explored several different approaches, including some package systems, some basic shaders, and doing something with Unity's shader graph.
I ended up picking this shader that is pretty lightweight - it is meant to even run on mobile devices, so performance is quite good. We get some better looking water, and it actually moves. It should add a lot to the missions we can do in the jungle.
Buoyancy
This was incredibly fun to work on- I love the physics stuff. I tried several different implementations of the physics behavior and ended up with one that feels pretty satisfying to me.
I tried a couple different calculations for the buoyancy. A few considerations were:
Has to run fast- performance over realism
Simple to implement and tune for different types of vehicles (or NPCs!)
Has to match the actual wave action of the water
I ended up picking a solution where each object has various float points that get force added to them depending on how much they are submerged, with some damping.
Left: Linear calculation without damping, Right: square root based depth calculation, with damping
The buoyancy system is using Unity Jobs to run the calculations in parallel. So we should see a nice benefit from being able to actually do something with your multiple CPU cores.
Boat Driving
The boats can now drive as well! The physics model here is pretty simple- tuned for action and a bit of chaos.
This is just a start- we have a bunch of water units we'll be implementing for Chapter 2.

Yes, the NPCs are just fine with a bit of underwater time.
Performance Side Quest
We spent a good chunk of January exploring how to improve performance in the game.
Steam Deck
We found a big improvement by making some small changes and building for Linux. This should improve everyone's Steam Deck performance and allow us to render more trees in the jungle. This will release with Chapter 1B.
Unit System
We made a handful of small improvements to how units work in the game.
Previously all the units (NPCs, vehicles, etc) were using the same Unity driven FixedUpdate call. We updated that to use our own update call, which is a bit better.
We now assign a priority to units based on their proximity to the player, and update further units less often.
We ignore allies when searching for targets.
Destruction System
We found a small gain here by delaying some physics calculations to when a piece is falling off- not when something first breaks. This just reduces the amount of physics rigidbodies being calculated.
Also if you haven't played w the slider for Active Debris Limit- this will improve your CPU performance in destruction heavy scenes. It was part of a previous update but important to mention.

A* Navigation
We've updated the system that the NPCs and vehicles use for pathfinding, and switched to a system that uses Unity's ECS system for greater parallelization. We also added optimizations on navmesh calculation for static objects.
Pooling
Decals for bullet holes were not being pooled previously. This should be a small improvement to every mission.
Unity 6.3 Update
We've updated to Unity 6.3, which is their latest long term support version. We didn't notice any major improvements from this but it allows us to update a bunch of other packages which should help.
Shadow Map
We found a couple small ways to reduce the amount of extra shadows being rendered, that were outside the game view. We still have some work to do here, but we reached the level of what's helpful without rebuilding major Unity render features.
PITCH YOUR JUNGLE IDEAS NOW

What type of water-going enemies?
What missions come to mind when you think jungle?
Other childhood game memories you want to relive :D
Thanks for following along- We're so thrilled to get the opportunity to make this game. All thanks to you.
- Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team
Original post
18 Dec 2025Developer post
Chapter1a Update
Pilots! We are happy to announce that Chapter1a has been released. We fit in as much as we could before the holidays, we hope you enjoy it! Comanche The new helicopter, the RAH-66 Comanche is in the game! It is extremely agile but takes damage quickly. Give it a play and let us k
Pilots! We are happy to announce that Chapter1a has been released. We fit in as much as we could before the holidays, we hope you enjoy it!
Comanche
The new helicopter, the RAH-66 Comanche is in the game! It is extremely agile but takes damage quickly. Give it a play and let us know what you think.
New Test Flight Area
We took your feedback on wanting some more things to test, and made the test flight area into a sandbox. There are now buttons / switches you can interact with to spawn enemies,
How To Access Test Flight
To enter the test flight mode, go into the hangar and then click "TEST FLIGHT" on the right side panel.
Survival Mode
This area has a handful of small mini-game modes that we are exploring. In survival mode you defend a building from waves of enemies, with health and ammo dropped in between waves. You get a cash reward for reaching the half way point and for completing the stage.
Defense Simulation
This just sends waves of enemies straight at a target. The enemies don't progress and there is no ending.
Standoff Range
Spawns both friendly and enemy NPCs and sends them into a battle.
Other Areas
There are a lot of other areas for you to play with.
Demolition Playground
Physics Playground
Standoff Range
Shooting Range
Vehicle Range
Turret Range
Radar Turret Range
We are hoping this area can be a place to experiment! We'd love your feedback on all this- what do you want to see more of?
New Options
Screen Shake
You can now adjust how much screen shake is applied (in game options)
No Blood / Gore / BBQ Meat
You can now disable blood and gore. The NPCs will no longer explode into various cuts of meat after being killed by rotors or certain weapons.
Active Debris Limit
Added a slider for the maximum number of physics debris pieces that can be active at a time. Lowering this will help performance in certain CPU bound situations, or really destruction heavy levels.
UI FPS Limit
We've added an option to limit your FPS while in the game UI, to prevent melting any graphics cards unnecesarily :)
Cloud Save
We also added cloud save. So you can keep synced between your various devices. Keep in mind that with the current implementation, the game syncs on quit. So if you want to swap devices, quit out of your current session before switching.
Steam Deck Verified
Cleared Hot is now Steam Deck verified, woohoo! This update came through last week but we didn't announce it publicly.
Various Fixes
Improved: Boss music logic so it fits better with the different phases
Improved: Sfx on collision performance for props
Imprived: Collision damage performance for destructible props
Fixed: camera starting sometimes in strange positions
Fixed: bug where you could change to different UIs in the homebase when selecting helo ending up with a broken ui
Fixed: updated a few props to use the proper collider
Fixed: Configured the rope pickup in some props so they work better when they spawn rotated
Fixed: Mouse was hidden when using "Quit to menu" option while in a mission
Fixed: Warehouse destruction model fixed so the broken parts don't kill units inside
Fixed: Hind passenger stat now match the actual number of passengers supported ingame
Thank You + Happy Holidays
This last month has been a bit of a blur. Thanks to everyone who supported us on our launch.
We really wanted to get you this update before the holidays, to keep the momentum and show we're committed to our early access schedule. I'm really happy that we're able to send a small amount of new content for you to play over the holiday break.
I think we are all ready to take a break to relax and be with family now :D So happy holidays! Come celebrate with us on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/XmMTqEjpQg
Thanks everyone!
-Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team
Original post
06 Dec 2025Developer post
Week 2 Update
Hi Everyone, I just wanted to say thank you again and give a recap of our first 2 weeks since launching Cleared Hot. I mean it when I say: the launch went better than any of us even dreamed of . Thank you all for the reviews. It was really a wild ride after we clicked the big gre
Hi Everyone, I just wanted to say thank you again and give a recap of our first 2 weeks since launching Cleared Hot. I mean it when I say: the launch went better than any of us even dreamed of.
Thank you all for the reviews.
It was really a wild ride after we clicked the big green "RELEASE MY GAME" button. All of our long time fans hit Steam right away on launch, which catapulted is into the good graces of the Steam algorithm.
This traffic coincided with the Steam Black Friday sale. To our surprise we ended up in the top 5 of the New and Trending list for the sale. This really amplified the traffic.
More Stats
Steam Impressions: 18,720,000
Steam Page Visits: 993,641
Wishlists Outstanding: 237,111
Wishlists Added in 2 weeks: 121,170
Reviews: 2,062 at 97% positive
We Stay Hotfixin'
We've pushed 3 updates to the game since launch. We might make another 1 really small hotfix, but otherwise we are now focusing on our next update: Chapter 1a.
View game page View game page View game page
Your Feedback (We're Listening)
We looked through all of your reviews, steam community posts, and in-game survey responses to help us prioritize next steps.
What You Liked
Nostalgia
Fun Gameplay / Combat Loop
Good Controls (KB/M & Controller)
Great Music & Sound Design
Physics & Rope Mechanic
Voice Acting Quality
Helicopter Variety
Good Value
Steam Deck Compatible
What You Want Us To Improve
More Content / Replayable Content
UI/UX Confusion & Clarity
Camera & Visibility Issues
Performance Issues (Mission 10, Jets)
Physics/Pickup Finicky
Weapons Balance
Difficulty Spikes & Balance
Controls Learning Curve
Helicopter Balance
NPCs Damaged On Exit Helo
More Options: Graphics + Other
No Cloud Saves
More Depth
Feature Requests
Things you requested that we are considering / working on:
More Missions & Content (Ch 2-3)
Rebindable Controls (WASD/Arrows)
More Weapon Variety & Personality
Helicopter-Relative Controls Option (it's in the game, need to make it more clear)
More Difficulty Options / Presets
More Helicopters (Ka-50, Comanche)
Replayable Content
We don't have a fixed plan or schedule for these two things, but we are interested in doing them:
Mod Support / Workshop
Endless / Skirmish Mode
Also a good amount of you asked about co-op, and we don't really have a plan for this. Maybe maybe maaaaybe we will explore it later but it we really have to think it through and it's a major thing.
These are only the top level categories, so if you don't see your exact request, keep in mind it is probably included into one of the more general topics.
Next Update: Chapter 1a
Our goal is to deliver this update before the holidays. This depends on how it goes but this is our goal.
Chapter1a includes
Critical bug fixes and stability improvements (we've fixed some of these already)
Expanded test flight area (more stuff to shoot, more on this soon)
Comanche helo added (in-progress)
Early balance adjustments (helo and weapons)
We've already kicked off work on this. Look for more info here in a couple weeks.
Team Appreciation
Using the same discord screenshot from the demo since we all have gray hair now. Jk, just me :D
Just want to give the team a shout out. I'm the guy who posts here, but behind me is a truly incredible team of diverse talents. I feel super lucky to get to work with everyone on a daily basis.
Not pictured: our wonderful music composer, Catbaux, and our amazing publishing team at Microprose. Catbaux composed entirely new music for the release, and helped us integrate it into the missions through the chaos. Microprose helped us a ton through development, and then spread the word going into launch.
Everyone came together under a really tight timeline to ship the game. So, a personal thank you to the team.
Test Branch
For those of you who want to play our updates early and help us test, we will start sharing a steam beta password on Steam.
Join our email list to get access to these early updates: https://www.clearedhotgame.com/email-list
This branch will be somewhere between our playtester build and our final release. It does not replace our small group of playtesters, but allows us to get a bit more user testing before we call the updates done.
Thank You!
I couldn't be happier with how things have gone, really. Five years ago I was wondering if I could start a new career in game dev, with no idea, and no experience. Every year I would tell friends: "the game will definitely be out next year", only to repeat that the following year.
Because of you I don't have to get a real job :D That was really my highest goal. All of the comments from people are really motivating.
Thank you all for going on this journey with us! There's a lot more to come.
-Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team
Original post
04 Dec 2025Developer post
Hotfix: v0.2.5#17788
Hotfix: v0.2.5#17788 Keep the feedback coming everyone. This is a small update to fix some common issues. Our focus will now move to the Chapter 1a update. Fixed: all helos loadout stats. Fixed: end of mission screen navigation issue when using quit button from pause menu. Balanc
Hotfix: v0.2.5#17788
Keep the feedback coming everyone. This is a small update to fix some common issues. Our focus will now move to the Chapter 1a update.
Fixed: all helos loadout stats.
Fixed: end of mission screen navigation issue when using quit button from pause menu.
Balance: hydra and hellfire missiles.
Localization: hold ctrl to land is now localized.
Fixed: press escape while loading was starting the game with the pause menu open and game running.
Fixed: blackhawk cargo stats.
Changed: improvements in ui scale support
Changed: increased font sizes in homebase to improve Steam Deck legibility.
Fixed: ps4 and ps5 controller icons.
Changed: reordered upgrades to show light and heavy missiles ordered.
Fixed: "The Battle of Big Rocks" misison now continues when picking up special weapon crate without using the rope.
Fixed: "A West Texas Road Trip" bridge can't be destroyed out of order now so the mission and exchanges run normally.
Changed: removed some unused instructions and added the next weapon/previous weapon in pause menu.
Fixed: localization in homebase for some languages.
Fixed: looped sounds playing after quitting mission to the abandoned screen.
Known Issue: Quitting mid mission will hide the mouse cursor until you get back to the home base.
We are working on a fix, for now, here are some temporary solutions:
You can alt-tab to unhide the cursor
Use arrow keys and enter key
Use the mouse, it's invisible but mousing over the buttons will make them highlight. The buttons are still clickable.
Original post
27 Nov 2025GamingOnLinux
Cleared Hot is everything you could want in a modern twin-stick helicopter shooter
Cleared Hot just entered Early Access from developer Not Knowing Corporation and MicroProse Software, and it's simply pure joy to blast through it. Read the full article here:
26 Nov 2025Developer post
Sit back, Relax, and Blow Shit Up Award
Dearest players + wishlisters! THANK YOU. Holy moly what a launch week. First, if you would be so kind, please nominate us for the "Sit Back and Relax Award" category in the Steam Awards . Or whatever other categories you want. If you feel like it. Link Here. Thanks. Okay, on to
Dearest players + wishlisters! THANK YOU. Holy moly what a launch week.
First, if you would be so kind, please nominate us for the "Sit Back and Relax Award" category in the Steam Awards. Or whatever other categories you want. If you feel like it. Link Here.
Thanks. Okay, on to the launch stuff.
Launch Recap
The night before the launch I set 2 alarms to make sure I didn't sleep past our 5am launch. I slept about 2 hours before I started waking up thinking I'd missed it.
So I just got up, and we prepared for the release. At about 4:52am we pressed the scary green "Release Now" button.
The 3 of us who were awake at the time made peace with our god/s and RELEASED IT.
To our amazement, pretty much everything went well. You guys turned up in droves to buy + review the game, our Discord blew up, the Reddit post made it to the top of r/gaming...
I think the thing we're most proud of is the review score. At the time I'm writing this, we're at 98% positive with 1,141 reviews, after 6 days. Whaa?! That's so crazy.
Updates + Next Steps
I'm proud to say we've already shipped 2 updates. These fixed a variety of bugs and improved performance on mission 10.
Already Fixed
Hotfix 1 and Hotfix 2 fixed the below issues.
Fix: Improved performance in Mission 10: Data Harvesting.
Fix: Improved performance of jet enemy on all missions
Fix: When rescuing or delivering people made them invulnerable to prevent accidental deaths when dropping them
Fix: Tweaked volume and frequency of scientist barks
Fix: Fixed how instructions were shown for controls that have positive and negative axis (ex: altitude control)
Fix: Made chickens a priority target for the rope
Fix: Fixed ally npcs entering the van and breaking the objectives (Data Harvesting)
Fix: Fixed dialog overlap in dialog when killing humvee (Tail Risk)
Fix: Fixed music in The Battle of Big Rocks
Fix: Added explicit drop zone in The Long Way Home
Fix: Fixed some texts that were using a font without support for localization
Fix: Fixed main fonts using fallback for cyrilic characters
Fix: Added code to prevent issues when the options or savegame can't be loaded
Fix: Fixed gas tank from "An Odd Tool for Odd Jobs" that was not blowing up when using the Easy of Custom difficulty options to lower Ally damage.
We are hard at work addressing all of your feedback, so keep it coming.
Near Term Fixes
Below is a list of some of the things we are planning to address in the near future.
Changes to get the Steam Deck certification
Cloud save
Various logic issues in missions
Convoy mission bridge fix (no spoilers lol)
Some issues with rescuing NPCs
Issue w missile crate in "Holding Out For a Hero" mission
Instructions for the "come-back shield"
Instructions for switching missiles
Better feedback when you try to shoot missiles but are out of ammo
Various small weapon / helo price + stat tweaks
Minigun overheat changes
force a cool down, don't penalize player from clicking when weapon is overheated
Small performance improvements (bigger ones coming later)
Various bug fixes
Chapter 1a
We aim to ship Chapter 1a before Christmas. This includes:
Bug fixes
Expanded test flight area
Comanche helo added
Balance adjustments
Thank You.
Thanks to all of you for making this a dream come true for us. We were joking the day after about how it felt like a dream- what if we woke up the next day and hadn't launched yet :) But really, it has been better than we even thought possible.
I feel very motivated by all the momentum, and the team is pretty excited to show you what we can do for the next updates, and remaining chapters of the game.
Keep leaving us feedback on Discord: https://discord.gg/XmMTqEjpQg
Join our email list to get more detailed updates: https://www.clearedhotgame.com/email-list
Vote us for "Sit Back and Relax Award" on the Steam Awards: https://store.steampowered.com/steamawards/nominations/2025
Thank you!
- Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team
Original post
22 Nov 2025Developer post
Hotfix: v0.2.4#17671
Hotfix: v0.2.4#17671 Thanks for your feedback. We fixed the most pressing things we could manage to fix in a day. Enjoy! Fix: Improved performance in Mission 10: Data Harvesting. Fix: Improved performance of jet enemy on all missions Fix: When rescuing or delivering people made t
Hotfix: v0.2.4#17671
Thanks for your feedback. We fixed the most pressing things we could manage to fix in a day. Enjoy!
Fix: Improved performance in Mission 10: Data Harvesting.
Fix: Improved performance of jet enemy on all missions
Fix: When rescuing or delivering people made them invulnerable to prevent accidental deaths when dropping them
Fix: Tweaked volume and frequency of scientist barks
Fix: Fixed how instructions were shown for controls that have positive and negative axis (ex: altitude control)
Fix: Made chickens a priority target for the rope
Fix: Fixed ally npcs entering the van and breaking the objectives (Data Harvesting)
Fix: Fixed dialog overlap in dialog when killing humvee (Tail Risk)
Fix: Fixed music in The Battle of Big Rocks
Fix: Added explicit drop zone in The Long Way Home
Original post
20 Nov 2025Developer post
v0.2.3#17592 Hotfix
Hello Players! Thank you for all your feedback! We just pushed a quick fix for the below issues. Fix: Fixed some texts that were using a font without support for localization Fix: Fixed main fonts using fallback for cyrilic characters Fix: Added code to prevent issues when the op
Hello Players! Thank you for all your feedback! We just pushed a quick fix for the below issues.
Fix: Fixed some texts that were using a font without support for localization
Fix: Fixed main fonts using fallback for cyrilic characters
Fix: Added code to prevent issues when the options or savegame can't be loaded
Fix: Fixed gas tank from "An Odd Tool for Odd Jobs" that was not blowing up when using the Easy of Custom difficulty options to lower Ally damage.
Carry on, pilots. It's great to have you in the game, finally !
- Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot rapid response dev team (Ariel and Ruben :D )
Original post
20 Nov 2025Developer post
Cleared Hot Early Access Is Live !!!
WE ARE LIVE Brave Wishlisters, our time has come !!! Cleared Hot is available for purchase on Steam . Wow. it is just barely sinking in for me. Go and enjoy this nostalgic experience we have crafted for you ! Ways You Can Help Buy and review the game! Early reviews help us a ton.
Watch on YouTube
WE ARE LIVE
Brave Wishlisters, our time has come !!! Cleared Hot is available for purchase on Steam. Wow. it is just barely sinking in for me.
Go and enjoy this nostalgic experience we have crafted for you !
Ways You Can Help
Buy and review the game! Early reviews help us a ton.
Share it with your friends
Come celebrate on discord with us :)
Thanks.
Five years ago I was struggling with a career I wasn’t enjoying. I wanted to explore game dev again- a childhood dream I had left behind- but didn’t know if it would work out.
I started learning Unity, and ended up spending a lot of time inside during 2020, making games out of cubes and programmer art. I got up the courage to try to make a helicopter fly. I made a prototype called “Kinda Air Support” where you did humorous tasks with a helicopter.
One day my childhood Desert Strike memories got ahold of me and I thought “what would this game be like with guns and missiles?”.
It turns out, it was pretty damn fun. Then it took 4 more years to finish it. (and there is more to come!)
So now, as the game launches, I want to say thank you. Thank you for making this game happen. I hope you enjoy it !!

- Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team
Original post
17 Nov 2025Developer post
Early Access Roadmap + Price
Brave wishlisters, your day of glory is near! The team is busy slaying the dragon of "releasing a game". As a global team we are starting to merge into a single time zone, which is not good. But, we are almost done. And we're in the phase of, everything is f*$(ing awesome and it'
Brave wishlisters, your day of glory is near!
The team is busy slaying the dragon of "releasing a game". As a global team we are starting to merge into a single time zone, which is not good. But, we are almost done. And we're in the phase of, everything is f*$(ing awesome and it's actually motivating again.
I am typing this devlog with my remaining 3 brain cells, on a Sunday after the team made an intense push to finish chapter 1 of the game. I think you're all going to be pretty excited and I can't wait to see your reactions.
Enough beating around the bush, we're here to talk DOLLARS AND CENTS. And roadmaps.
Click to full-screen the image.
Roadmap Notes
We are breaking up the full campaign into 3 chapters, that we will release through early access. These will be held in different biomes.
Each chapter builds on the previous chapter, and it is one continuous story driven campaign. We hope to add side missions as we go as well.
We will release an update after the EA launch, called Chapter 1a: "Too Close For Missiles". This update is aimed at being a quick response to the feedback we get right at launch.
Comanche helicopter added
Bug fixes and stability improvements
Balance adjustments
Expanded test flight area (where you can test helos outside of missions)
Afterwards, we'll work on Chapter 1B: "Close Air Support" update, where we will add side missions to the game. Following this one, we will be releasing chapters 2,3, and then ultimately the 1.0 launch.
Overall we want to incorporate your feedback through our development, and make this an interesting journey for you to join us on. You guys have already been an amazing community, making suggestions and giving us feedback. I want that continue in EA. It should be a fun process.
$14.99
First things first: Cleared Hot will release at the low low price of $14.99 with a 10% launch discount, bringing that to 13 big ones and change. As stated on our Steam page, we plan to increase the price as we ship new content and features. So get it now while the gettins' good.
We will be adding a lot, so any of our early access players will get a lot for this price. For those of you who have been begging me to "shup up and take my money", Thursday is your chance :D
Final Days!
Thanks everyone for following along here! If I wasn't so busy and stressed, I might enjoy this moment :D But instead, I'll enjoy it on Thursday. Remember that we launch this Thursday, Nov 20th, 5am PST.
Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/XmMTqEjpQg
Join our Email List: https://www.clearedhotgame.com/email-list
Tell your favorite YouTubers / Streamers about the game
And of course, add it to your wishlist on Steam!
Feels kinda crazy, I've spent the last 5 years crafting this fun experience for you all. This team came together and all contributed their unique strengths into this one game.
Thanks for making it possible for me to not have a real job. And to create other not-real-jobs for other people! I've enjoyed it and hope you do too.
Thanks,
-Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team
Original post
30 Oct 2025Developer post
Early Access Release Date Announcement !
Dearest Wishlisters, the time is finally here for me to share some news! Cleared Hot will be released into Steam Early Access on November 20th, 5am PST ! Release Date Trailer I am equal parts excited and terrified :D But I can't wait to let you guys see what we've been working on
Dearest Wishlisters, the time is finally here for me to share some news!
Cleared Hot will be released into Steam Early Access on November 20th, 5am PST !
Release Date Trailer
Watch on YouTube
I am equal parts excited and terrified :D But I can't wait to let you guys see what we've been working on, and start the next chapter of the game.
Early Access
We chose to do Early Access for 2 reasons:
Letting the community guide the direction of the game
Give us the option to build more content as we go
Without early access, we would be much more limited on the scope of what we can do. You guys have been really great at providing feedback, and I want that to continue as we expand the campaign.
For now, we are launching with the first "chapter" of the campaign, which takes place in Texas. We are planning to do 2 additional chapters during early access, as well as expanding with side / contract missions.
We will be posting an early access roadmap before launch, which will give some more info on what you can expect.
Spot The New Helos
We went on a helicopter spree and modeled + implemented 3 more helicopters since last devlog! They all have slightly different stats, movement, and loadout options.
Mi-24 "Hind"
"A Hind-D? Colonel, what's a Russian Gunship doing here?"
Bell 222 - "Sky Wolf"
A slightly modified version of the Bell 222, that has some extra guns and missiles :)
UH-1 Huey
"Git some"
Upgrades + Loadouts
Cleared Hot now has a loadout and upgrade system! I can't wait for you to try this and help us plan how to extend it.
In the loadout view, you select your helicopter, and equip it with guns and missiles. In the future we will expand this with other utilities.
In the workshop, you can buy and upgrade weapons. These are classified into Light vs Heavy guns and missiles. Each helo has corresponding slots.
This is just a starting point- we want to include your feedback in the future of the upgrade system.
How To Help
These last 21 days (who's counting?) are going to be super important for our launch. I'd really appreciate any help on sharing the game and just building the hype. We would've never made it this far without you guys, I really appreciate it.
Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/XmMTqEjpQg
Join our Email List: https://www.clearedhotgame.com/email-list
Retweet: https://x.com/colin_k/status/1983881573125456344
Tell your favorite YouTubers / Streamers about the game
And of course, add it to your wishlist on Steam
Thank you all for the support this whole time. I have been living this strange life making a video game for 5 years now. It's really hard to believe in 21 days the game will be out. Which reminds me... I should get back to work :D
Thanks everyone, we're almost there !!
- Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team
Original post
04 Oct 2025Developer post
The Chinook Lives
Dearest wishlisters, join me on this Saturday morning and feast your eyes on this big beautiful helicopter... THE CHINOOK! We had to improve our rotor wash FX just for this occasion. Will the Chinook break the game? Will it fit in the hangar? Shhh... it's all taken care of. (I th

Updates & announcements

Your winners, after 790 votes: The MH-53 Pave Low and the KA-52 Alligator.

Final Results

The KA-52 "Alligator"

Reminder: The Comanche is Already In The Game :)

Idea: Unique Helicopter Functions

Last Chance Sale Then Price Increase

Thank You

Introducing Flares!

Utility Slot

Chapter 2 Teasers

NPC Patrols

Price Increase (in ~1 month)

Current owners are not affected by this change, and get Chapters 2 and 3 for free

Chapter 2 Release Window

Helicopter Wishlist - Vote in Discord

Join the Discord to vote: discord.com/invite/XmMTqEjpQg

Thank You

BTR-80

Soviet Era Armored Personnel Carrier

Weak Point System

Aka The Red Butt

Death to the Circle Strafe Meta

BTR-80 Weak Point

What Counts As a Hit

Hitmarker Adjustment

Audio Feedback

I Want Your Feedback

Jungle Mission Teasers

Poll: Your Top 3 Missions and Why

Mission Names

Thank You!

Kamikaze Drones

Drone Control Room

"The Modding Initiative"

Short Term

Long Term

What's NOT Included

Explain Like I'm 5

Lua Scripting

An Example

Thank You!

Features

Performance Overhaul

Arcade Mode

Steam Daily Deal

Video Devlog

Chapter1B Features

Performance Improvements

Arcade Missions

Redirecting Missiles w the Rope

New Water System

Roadmap

Chapter 2 Production Sneak Peak

Thank You

Jungle Preview

Water 2.0

Buoyancy

Boat Driving

Performance Side Quest

Steam Deck

Unit System

Destruction System

A* Navigation

Pooling

Unity 6.3 Update

Shadow Map

PITCH YOUR JUNGLE IDEAS NOW

Comanche

New Test Flight Area

How To Access Test Flight

Survival Mode

Defense Simulation

Standoff Range

Other Areas

New Options

Screen Shake

No Blood / Gore / BBQ Meat

Active Debris Limit

UI FPS Limit