Estranged: The Departure

Released: May 22, 2020
Platforms: WindowsmacOSLinux
Last updated: 04 Sep 2026, 11:08 GMT

Updates & announcements

20 posts

23 Feb 2026Developer post
Arctic Cold Next Fest Demo Available Now
The next instalment in the Estranged series, Arctic Cold, is taking part in Steam Next Fest! You can download the limited time demo from the Arctic Cold Store page right now. The demo showcases the first set of levels in Estranged: Arctic Cold, and is available until April 2026 .
16 Aug 2025Developer post
Estranged Auto HDR Update
Update 1.5.51 is now available for Estranged: The Departure, which provides support for the "Auto HDR" feature of Windows 11, and other minor fixes. Auto HDR Update Here's a preview using YouTube's HDR support (you will need a browser and display with HDR support to see the expan
Update 1.5.51 is now available for Estranged: The Departure, which provides support for the "Auto HDR" feature of Windows 11, and other minor fixes.
Auto HDR Update
Here's a preview using YouTube's HDR support (you will need a browser and display with HDR support to see the expanded color range and brightness).
Watch on YouTube
HDR could be supported natively in the future, but for now this approach does provide good HDR results without the need to re-work assets, levels and post-processing.
Enabling Auto HDR
If you have an HDR display, auto HDR can be enabled in the Windows 11 "Graphics settings" menu:
Windows 11 requires that the game is in exclusive fullscreen mode to enable Auto HDR. Enable exclusive fullscreen via the in-game Options -> Screen menu:
The HDR intensity can be controlled via game bar, with the Windows key + G, then heading to "Settings", "More settings", and "Gaming features" menu:
For the technical details as to why this feature didn't work before: Estranged: The Departure was previously using an HDR back-buffer, but only rendering into the SDR color range.
This wasn't a problem for the GPU, but it did make Windows 11 believe The Departure was already rendering in HDR. Estranged: The Departure now runs with an SDR back-buffer, which enables Windows to detect that it can use Auto HDR.
Other Changes
Other changes in this update:
Added the flyspeed cheat, which controls the noclip speed (used in conjunction with a gamepad to capture the video at the top of this post)
Improvements to the soundscape in Wentworth, including adding a soundscape to cover the gate control area (a bug caused the existing outdoor soundscape to end without looping - something you notice if you spend a while there capturing video 👀)
Steam branding has been tweaked the better reflect the title of the game, since while the older cave branding was quite visually striking, it didn't really reflect what the game was about.
Thank you for playing Estranged!
Alan
Original post
04 Jan 2025Developer post
Early January Update: Extras Menu Tweak
A minor patch update is now available for Estranged: The Departure on Windows and Linux. Changes in this build: Tweaks to the Extras menu to link to the Official Estranged Wiki Happy 2025, and thank you for playing Estranged!
A minor patch update is now available for Estranged: The Departure on Windows and Linux. Changes in this build:

Tweaks to the Extras menu to link to the Official Estranged Wiki
Happy 2025, and thank you for playing Estranged!
Original post
13 Oct 2024Developer post
October Update: Quality of Life Changes, Official Estranged Wiki
A version update for The Departure is now live on Steam for Windows 32-bit, Windows 64-bit and Linux (version 1.5.50), including advanced graphics options, a Ukrainian translation, and quality of life fixes. Advanced Graphics Options Estranged now offers the following Advanced Gr
A version update for The Departure is now live on Steam for Windows 32-bit, Windows 64-bit and Linux (version 1.5.50), including advanced graphics options, a Ukrainian translation, and quality of life fixes.
Advanced Graphics Options
Estranged now offers the following Advanced Graphics options under Options > Graphics > Advanced:

Enable Highest Model Detail - Turn off distance-based level of detail transitions for models
Enable Highest Shadow Detail - Don't scale dynamic shadow quality with distance
Enable Super Sampling - Render at 2x resolution
These options are designed to future-proof the game for future hardware (and as a result will not perform well on the current recommended hardware specifications).
Other Quality of Life Changes
Several quality of life changes are now available, including:

Supply crate tweaks so that if no resources are needed, nothing is spawned - see thread
Save/load fixes in the prelude & epilogue sections
Ukrainian translations contributed by the community
Official Estranged Wiki
There is now an official Estranged wiki available at wiki.iamestranged.com which contains all lore to date sourced from in-game materials (with some bonus extra information). Some notable pages to get started with:

Arque Corporation is a multi-national corporation responsible for Deep Sea Operations, Logistics and Chemical Research according to its website, with significant presence on the Island in the form of multiple research facilities.
The Fisherman is the main protagonist and playable character in the Estranged game series.
Infected are enemies in Estranged: Act I and Estranged: The Departure. They are humans, presumed to be previous inhabitants of the Island.
One of the motivations for compiling such a wiki was to help the development of Arctic Cold, since as you can tell by the size of the wiki there is now a lot to the Estranged universe to keep track of.
The original idea and inspiration for a wiki came from the existing Fandom Wiki (I based the structure of the official wiki on this one). The official wiki is not open to contribution, but if you see something that is missing or not quite right, please let me know and I'll fix it.
Finally, if you're interested in a peek behind the scenes of the in-game update news feed The Departure had while it was in development, I recently posted a writeup: Update News Presentation Markup for Games.
That's it for now - I hope you enjoy this update, and find the wiki interesting!
Alan
Original post
14 Aug 2024Developer post
Early August Update: Localization Updates
A patch version update for The Departure is now live on Steam for Windows 32-bit, Windows 64-bit and Linux (version 1.5.49), including localization updates contributed by the community for the following languages: French Latvian Russian Chinese (Simplified) Thank you to the trans
A patch version update for The Departure is now live on Steam for Windows 32-bit, Windows 64-bit and Linux (version 1.5.49), including localization updates contributed by the community for the following languages:

French
Latvian
Russian
Chinese (Simplified)
Thank you to the translators who contributed updates to the translation repository, and thank you for playing Estranged!
Alan
Further Updates

Title of this news post changed to be consistent with prior news posts
Follow-up update pushed live containing the updated localization caches
Clarified that the update is for Windows and Linux - macOS remains on version 1.5.47 due to challenges related to Apple's notarization requirements
Original post
16 Jan 2024Developer post
10 Year Anniversary of Estranged
10 years ago today , Estranged: Act I was released. Since then, there have been well over a million unique players , with nearly 7k reviews and the title sits with a Steam rating of 93% . "Natural Reserve" by Er0de from the Act I Steam Community Thank you to everyone that support
26 Nov 2022Developer post
Scammer Warning
There have been reports of users impersonating me on Steam and Discord, which sometimes involves a phishing attack (a fake Steam support thread directing users to contact "Alan Edwardes Official" on Discord). This is not me - here's some tips for spotting a scammer: I will not co
There have been reports of users impersonating me on Steam and Discord, which sometimes involves a phishing attack (a fake Steam support thread directing users to contact "Alan Edwardes Official" on Discord).
This is not me - here's some tips for spotting a scammer:

I will not communicate with you via Direct Messages on any platform
I am alanedwardes (previously Alan Edwardes#3608) on Discord, and only communicate via discord.gg/estranged and the Steam forums for the Estranged games
If you are added by a Discord profile with my name, it is an impersonator, and the account should be reported to Discord Trust and Safety via https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
If you are added by a Steam profile with my name, it is an impersonator, and the account should be reported to Steam Support via https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/4D07-D139-587C-2080
I do not work for Valve (Steam), and will never ask for account passwords, or money (I will not send a direct message to you in the first place)
Here's a short message from Alan Edwardes (Liam Jones ???), explaining the situation:
Watch on YouTube
Stay safe!
Alan
Original post
08 Sep 2021Developer post
Early September Update: New Cheats, Translation Updates
An update with cheats and translation updates is now available for Windows, macOS and Linux! A player screenshot from Discord user Badbadalex1#5096 New Cheats The following new cheats (requested on the forums) are available to spawn Arque guards with, equipped with various weapon
An update with cheats and translation updates is now available for Windows, macOS and Linux!
A player screenshot from Discord user Badbadalex1#5096
New Cheats
The following new cheats (requested on the forums) are available to spawn Arque guards with, equipped with various weapons:
spawn guard - Pistol
spawn guard rifle - Assault rifle
spawn guard shotgun - Shotgun (AI don't use this, just one scripted scene)
spawn guard rat - Rat Tracing technology
spawn guard laser - Assault rifle with high-powered laser
Language Updates
The following languages have also received updates from the translation community:
Czech
German
Persian
Finnish
Portuguese
Slovak
Turkish
Vietnamese
I'm always around on the forums, or on discord.gg/estranged if you'd like to report bugs, or provide feedback.
Thank you for playing Estranged!
Alan
Original post
31 May 2021Developer post
Early June Update: Tweaked Intro Sequence and Bug Fixes
I'm going to pretend it's already June as I released a late may update - an update is now live on Steam for Windows, macOS and Linux, including an improved intro sequence and fixes! New Wake Sequence I recently published a blog post about creating motion-captured camera sequences
30 May 2021Developer post
End of May Update: Dynamic Global Illumination Tech Demo
There's a new Steam beta branch called gi-tech-demo , which is a version of Estranged: The Departure with only some of the levels included to showcase dynamic global illumination in Unreal Engine 5. The Prelude level (Chapter 1 from the menu) has been adapted to allow you to cont
24 Mar 2021Developer post
Late March Update: Bug Fixes and Improvements
A build is now available for Windows, macOS and Linux containing improvements and bug fixes. Bug Fixes and Improvements The following changes are included in this build (1.5.42): Disables async loading thread since testing on other platforms revealed some instability Improves the
A build is now available for Windows, macOS and Linux containing improvements and bug fixes.
Bug Fixes and Improvements
The following changes are included in this build (1.5.42):

Disables async loading thread since testing on other platforms revealed some instability
Improves the slider UI element when adjusted via the keyboard and gamepad
Adds a loading spinner to show while menus load
Adds quick menu transition animation
Adjusts stream-loading point in sp07 and removes vent grate (the first sewer)
Allows the stream-loading spinner to be visible at the same time as the "LOADING" banner on slower machines
If you haven't joined already, you may be interested in the Estranged Discord server.
As ever, thank you for playing Estranged!
Alan
Original post
22 Dec 2020Developer post
Holiday 2020 Update: Blizzard Short
A new build is live on Steam for Windows, macOS and Linux including a brand new short level! There is a new short level available in Estranged, called Blizzard. It's a short, story-driven adventure, and is a free and permanent update for the game. The Blizzard short was made for
30 Oct 2020Developer post
Halloween 2020 Update: Waterfront Short
A new build is live on Steam for Windows, macOS and Linux including a brand new short level! There is a new short level available in Estranged, called Waterfront. It's a short, story-driven adventure, and is a free and permanent update for the game. The Waterfront short was made
04 Oct 2020Developer post
Early October Update: Level Improvements and General Fixes
An update is now live on Steam for Windows, macOS and Linux containing level improvements, and general fixes. Level Improvements The jumping puzzle in the Arque car park now doesn't require you to run and jump across at the same time, to make it easier to make it across with a ga
An update is now live on Steam for Windows, macOS and Linux containing level improvements, and general fixes.
Level Improvements
The jumping puzzle in the Arque car park now doesn't require you to run and jump across at the same time, to make it easier to make it across with a gamepad.
Levels which used tesellated water now instead use a high poly mesh, since this is more performant on low end machines. You can find out more about the technique in the development blog video below:
Watch on YouTube
General Changes
This build also includes a bunch of other fixes to improve the overal gameplay experience:

Removes use of tessellation in the map Dock and map Ocean levels
Removes the jumping puzzle from the Arque basement car park
Playing with a gamepad now results in more damage dealt to enemies
Improves non-volumetric fog in map Crash for low end devices
Updates translations for all targets with latest tweaks and fixes
Improves stream-loading for slower devices: audio is no longer muted
Adds dedicated "licenses" menu in Extras menu section
Fixes back controller/keyboard button not working on the Arcade menu
Fixes the keyboard/controller being able to select disabled menu items
Changes the translation for "Use Steam Language" to "Use System Language"
Thank you for playing Estranged! The Discord community is around at https://discord.gg/estranged if you want to join!
Alan
Original post
13 Sep 2020Developer post
September Update: New Game Title
An update is now live for Windows, macOS and Linux featuring a new title for the game! New Game Title I'm excited to announce that Estranged: Act II is now Estranged: The Departure ! This change is primarily to let players new to the Estranged series at a glance that it's not nec
An update is now live for Windows, macOS and Linux featuring a new title for the game!
New Game Title
Watch on YouTube
I'm excited to announce that Estranged: Act II is now Estranged: The Departure! This change is primarily to let players new to the Estranged series at a glance that it's not necessary to play Act I first.
There's no change to the content of the game other than a new startup screen. There are no plans to change the title of Estranged: Act I at this time.
Other changes in this build:

Adds support for gamepad rumble, with option to turn it off
Fixes scrolling longer menus with gamepad/keyboard
I'd like to give a special thank you to those that have been following the game since development began. If you'd like to join the Discord conversation: discord.gg/estranged
Note: There are quite a few things to update which can take some time to propagate. If you still see the old name after this post is an hour old (and after restarting your Steam client), please let me know.
Thanks,
Alan
Original post
03 Jul 2020Developer post
Early July Update: Fixes and Improvements
An update is now live on Steam for Windows, macOS and Linux! This update includes some stability improvements and new cheats. Prelude Improvements You can now get out of the ocean more easily in the Prelude if you jump in from the dock! New Cheats There are new cheats available:
An update is now live on Steam for Windows, macOS and Linux! This update includes some stability improvements and new cheats.
Prelude Improvements
You can now get out of the ocean more easily in the Prelude if you jump in from the dock!
New Cheats
There are new cheats available:

dropweapon - useful for dropping your current weapon if you want to take a screenshot, and can't take advantage of Nvidia Ansel
loadall - allows you to stream in all levels in the current world at once to see what they're like together (interesting when used with noclip). This cheat works in TheFall and TheBase.
Development Screenshots
I have been posting development screenshots to the #dev-screenshots channel on discord.gg/estranged - here's a rollup:
As ever - thank you for playing Estranged! If you run into any bugs or want to keep up with development, head over to https://discord.gg/estranged
Alan
Original post
08 Jun 2020Developer post
Early June Update: Crash Fix
An update is now live for Windows, macOS and Linux containing a crash fix! This update overhauls the load game logic in Estranged: Act II to increase its reliability. This is in response to crash reports submitted by players, where in some circumstances a certain type of saved ga
31 May 2020Developer post
End of May Update: Localization Updates, Fixes, New Short Level
An update is now live on Steam for Windows, Linux and macOS, including a new short level, localisation updates and other bug fixes. NEW SHORT LEVEL There's a new short concept level available to play using the cheat map Short01 on the Extras menu. This is something I have been wo
An update is now live on Steam for Windows, Linux and macOS, including a new short level, localisation updates and other bug fixes.
NEW SHORT LEVEL
There's a new short concept level available to play using the cheat map Short01 on the Extras menu.
This is something I have been working on in the past week - it takes place in the Estranged universe, but isn't directly related to the plot of Act II. It is a bit of an art test, and uses all dynamic lighting.
Please note that it is not intended to hit the same performance target as the singleplayer campaign, so you may notice it running at a lower frame-rate.
LOCALIZATION UPDATES
The following localisations received updates in this build: Portuguese (Portugal), German, Vietnamese, Slovak, Latvian.
FIXES
The following bugs have been fixed in this build:

Allows audio volume sliders to be set to 0%, instead of 10% minimum
Pressing the Interact button (default E) when looking at the lifeboat now moves the player into the driver's position (previously you had to look at the motor)
I'm always looking to fix bugs and improve the game, so if you see anything you'd like fixing let me know on the forums, or at https://discord.gg/estranged.
Thank you for playing!
Alan
Original post
22 May 2020Developer post
Released from Early Access
Estranged: Act II is now released from Early Access for Windows, macOS and Linux! As with my last post , I would like to thank everyone that has been a part of this project. I hope that you have had as much fun playing as I have had developing it over the past 6 years. I mentione
17 May 2020Developer post
Leaving Early Access
I'm excited to announce that Act II will be releasing on the 22nd of May 2020! It has taken around 6 years of spare-time work to get to this point, with just over 3 years of that in Early Access. There have been 80 content updates to the game in total across the 3 platforms suppo

Estranged: The Departure

Updates & announcements

Arctic Cold Next Fest Demo Available Now

Demo Trailer

After Next Fest

Estranged Auto HDR Update

Auto HDR Update

Enabling Auto HDR

Other Changes

Early January Update: Extras Menu Tweak

October Update: Quality of Life Changes, Official Estranged Wiki

Advanced Graphics Options

Other Quality of Life Changes

Official Estranged Wiki

Early August Update: Localization Updates

10 Year Anniversary of Estranged

Scammer Warning

Early September Update: New Cheats, Translation Updates

Early June Update: Tweaked Intro Sequence and Bug Fixes

End of May Update: Dynamic Global Illumination Tech Demo

Late March Update: Bug Fixes and Improvements

Holiday 2020 Update: Blizzard Short

Halloween 2020 Update: Waterfront Short

Early October Update: Level Improvements and General Fixes

Level Improvements

General Changes

September Update: New Game Title

New Game Title

Early July Update: Fixes and Improvements

Prelude Improvements

New Cheats

Development Screenshots

Early June Update: Crash Fix

End of May Update: Localization Updates, Fixes, New Short Level

NEW SHORT LEVEL

LOCALIZATION UPDATES

FIXES

Released from Early Access

Leaving Early Access