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What's Changed Since Launch - Free to Play Wipe!

What's Changed Since Launch - Free to Play Wipe!

Thank you very much for checking out the Free to Play wipe of Renown!

This document has been designed so that it becomes more detailed as it goes on.

If you only read the New Feature Breakdown, you'll get a good overview of our work.

If you want more detail, the next section has our work in depth by category.

If you want the specifics of what we've been up to, the article finishes with all of our Patch Notes since the Early Access launch, combined in one place.

Since launching into Early Access, we've been shipping updates continuously across every corner of the game.

Let's get started with a full breakdown of what we've worked on, grouped by area:

Major Advances and New Feature Breakdown

  • 2-Week Wipe Cycle - An ongoing process of optimisation and system replacement, with the goal of extending wipe times for as long as we possibly can.

  • Basic Combat Training Tutorial - Introduces new players to the Slasher genre. Teaches the core concepts and provides a low-pressure learning environment.

  • Treasure System - High-value items to be found. Reduces the amount of clicking needed to farm materials.

  • Discord Watchmen - Receive warnings from Discord when your base is being raided. Warnings occur after the first broken base piece to prevent malicious use.

  • Ferryman Transport System - Temporary fast travel until Horses are added. Pay a small gold price and move to locations around the edge of the map.

  • Sewer Event - A subterranean adventure under Brimdurn.

  • Mine Event - The Mines have been Unsealed. Multiple critical locations to give Silver farming a bit more risk/reward.

  • Swamp Biome - A marshy location designed to cater to smaller bases. Test bed process for future Biomes, building up to our next map.

  • Key & Door System - 3 tiers of locked doors throughout the map requiring keys to enter; keys found in crates, barrels, and on NPCs. Keys are Bronze, Silver and Gold.

  • Faction System - Select or change factions at any time; actions in the world affect faction favour; faction shops added to each town.

  • Title System - Earn and display titles; titles are now persistent across sessions, with the highest-ranked auto-selected. New titles added: Seeker, Proven, Trialled.

  • Crossbow - Added as a new high-tier ranged weapon. Obtainable only from Gold-tier locked rooms.

  • New Downed System - No longer instant death at 0 HP. Now players are knocked down and can be lootable.

  • Combat Hit Reacts - Entire system redone. New camera shake and blood particle effects. Characters getting hit now visually show this far better.

  • Player Ticketing System - New system allows us to directly see critical info when crashes occur.

  • Research Menu Refresh Button - Fixes the launch issues around research.

  • Better Error Handling on the Main Menu - Players now see a clear reason for lost connections.

  • Overhauled Fire Arrow System - Raid defence improvement with new visuals.

  • Bear Trap, Spike Trap, Crossbow Trap, and Reset Kits - All added. Trap limits per banner tier introduced.

  • Bear NPC - Now wanders the map. Don't get too close or you're in for a big surprise.

Detailed Breakdown

This section gets more into the detailed breakdown of our work since the launch:

Balance

  • Plant Fiber spawn rate doubled

  • Ground Stone now respawns at the same rate as trees

  • Gold Coins from lootables increased to an average of 10 (was a flat 5)

  • Research costs reduced across T2 & T3 weapons, Sapper's Axe, Petard, and Steel Tools

  • Banner and Bench upgrades now cost Silver instead of Gold

  • Some T2 and T3 weapons now have a small Silver cost

  • Iron Cook recipe changed to 1:1 (was 2:1)

  • Treasure drop rate reduced; sell price increased

  • Smithy Hammer and Tailor Kit drop rates increased

  • External wall costs increased and health increased

  • Raiding made cheaper overall

  • Progression pace slightly reduced

  • Silver scattered across the map reduced - mines are now the primary source of Silver

  • Zweihander, Maul, and Crossbow are now exclusive to Gold tier locked rooms

Combat

Core Mechanics

  • Falchion damage buffed to match other T2 weapons

  • Missed swing stamina cost standardised to 10 across all weapons

  • Swing hit detection changed to box-based to reduce phasing issues

  • Improved input queuing for Parry and Release

  • Fixed ground hits incorrectly costing Stamina after already hitting a player

  • Character hitboxes updated to more accurately reflect armoured players

  • Parry turn speed relaxed for a more forgiving feel

  • Weapon timings rebalanced across the board for consistency

  • Option to disable melee attack input queuing added

  • Fixed being able to crouch while staggered

  • Fixed being able to parry with a tool

  • Chip damage removed

  • Held Block added

  • Perfect Parry added

  • Kicks and Bashes added

  • Flourish animations added for all weapons; durations tuned per weapon type

  • Fist combat remade from the ground up

  • New combat VFX added throughout

Stamina & Parry Tuning

  • Morph stamina cost now scales incrementally with each use - up to a maximum of 8

  • Feint attack delay increased to 1.0s; feint stamina cost removed entirely

  • Out-of-stamina stagger now triggers at 0.9 stamina

  • Parry stamina cost changed to a flat 5, regardless of whether it connects

  • Parry-into-parry still has no stamina cost

  • Successful parry window expanded significantly

  • Late Parry Forgiveness added - parrying within 1s of being hit allows parry-into-parry until returning to idle

  • Fixed Parry into Riposte into Parry and Parry into Parry lockout bugs

  • You can now Feint to Parry out of a Riposte Morph

Bash & Kick

  • Bash range increased (8 → 16), horizontal range increased (32 → 64)

  • Bash cooldown after sprinting reduced from 1.5s to 0.3s

  • Bash turn speed and Kick turn speed both increased for more responsive feel

  • Bash stamina and distance values tuned; can no longer immediately run after bashing

  • Stagger duration increased from 1.5s to 2.5s

Ranged Combat

  • Ranged combat entirely remade - Quiver requirement removed; new arrow damage system introduced

  • All bows normalised to the same fire rate and accuracy; fire rate increased across the board with improved animation blending

  • Arrow damage and armour penetration tiered by ammo type: Primitive → Broadhead → Bodkin → Bolt

  • Anti-Burst mechanic introduced for arrows: damage is rate-limited to 35 per 3 seconds per target, preventing group focus-fire instakills while keeping individual archery strong

  • Arrows now deal direct damage to shields; higher tier ammo deals significantly more shield damage

  • Pavise Shield health reduced from 750 to 650

  • Bolts cannot be crafted - loot-only, found in Gold and Silver locked rooms

  • Shortbow and Warbow draw timing fixed for consistency

  • Fixed shield animations using incorrect strike morphs

  • Fixed Katzbalger having incorrect strike-to-strike morphs

Traps

  • Bear Trap, Spike Trap, Crossbow Trap, and Reset Kits all added

  • Trap limits per banner tier introduced - Crossbow/Spike: 5–20 traps; Bear: 5–10 traps, scaling with tier

  • Spike Traps and walls no longer block each other's placement

  • Spike Traps can now be destroyed by Sapper's Axe (120 HP, 10 damage per hit)

  • Crossbow Trap arrows no longer stack into a single inventory slot

  • Crossbow Trap no longer allows enemy interaction

  • Traps now use the default inventory system

Building

  • Wood and Plaster structures can now be destroyed at any time using a Building Mallet

  • Fixed upgrading a building causing it to regain its destruction timer

  • Fixed Spiral Plaster Staircase crashing clients

  • Fixed Gatehouse decay issue

  • Fixed inability to upgrade external wall stairs

  • Fixed floor blocking wall placement

  • Fixed all trap placements blocking walls and vice versa

  • Fixed the autoplace lock option

  • Fixed upgrade costs not displaying properly on optimised buildings

  • Owners are now properly hidden in the building health menu where appropriate

  • Key creation for keylocks removed

  • Optimised buildings now cull at 500m

Raiding & Siege

  • Trebuchet added as a new siege weapon

  • Trebuchet minimum range reduced to 100m; max range 300m

  • Catapult max range extended from 55m to 85m

  • Adding/removing trebuchet weight now previews boulder travel distance and strength

  • Players now take fall damage when riding siege vehicles

  • Trebuchet frame can no longer be upgraded

  • Petards can now be placed 2 seconds after another explodes (was 20 seconds)

  • Fixed Sapper's Axe not dealing full damage to Portcullis

  • Fixed Petard no-build zone remaining after explosion

  • Fixed Portcullis taking incorrect damage from siege weapons

  • Fixed catapult exploit - players can no longer exit while inside a build zone

  • Fixed auto-attacking on exiting a Catapult

  • Building pieces can no longer be picked up during a raid

  • Fixed being able to pick up objects while being sieged

  • Fixed dying or being downed on a siege engine locking the player in place

Map & World

  • Swamp biome added

  • Mine's visuals improved; resource nodes now drop gemstones; nodes spawn in fixed predictable locations

  • Duelling area improved

  • Fixed sewer terrain and killzone overlap at Brimdurn

  • Fixed animal spawns to match map icons

  • Fixed several stuck spots throughout the world

  • Fixed walkable beach ground being too low in some areas

  • Fixed moss on the riverbed showing the wrong colour

  • Fixed tree impostors and floating foliage spots

  • Fixed floating loot on the map

  • Fixed AI pathing issues across the world

NPCs & AI

  • NPC pathfinding improved - especially around doors and stairs

  • Fighter NPCs now alert nearby NPCs when attacked

  • Town NPCs flee and call Fighter NPCs when attacked

  • New town NPCs added across settlements

  • AI now correctly locks on to players

  • NPCs now stand closer to players when attacking

  • Fixed NPC loot tables

  • Fixed Bots not being able to attack

  • Touched up stairways so NPCs can navigate them properly

Performance & Graphics

  • New graphics presets: Low, Medium, High, Epic

  • Mipmap overhaul to reduce VRAM usage

  • Map Hierarchical Level of Detail (HLOD) improvements

  • Foliage optimisation pass

  • Mesh culling improvements

  • Mesh LOD tuning at various distances

  • Upscaling improvements

  • Improved object streaming

  • New lighting pass across the world

  • Framerate stability significantly improved - all GPUs should see smoother frametimes when turning or idling

  • Save file performance improvements - player saves load faster after the first load

  • Updated graphics settings with clearer, more helpful descriptions

Servers & Community Hosting

  • Server reboot interval increased to 2 hours

  • All game modes now have an uncapped tick rate

  • AFK kick timer set to 10 minutes

  • Ping limiter removed

  • Server name added to the queue display

  • Wilderness respawn cooldown reduced from 30s to 3s

  • RCON improvements: better performance metrics, side scrolling, byte size limits, rolling save limit

  • Fixed RCON admin adding not taking effect until the next reboot

  • Fixed MaxPing cap (now uses int, supporting values above 255)

  • Server Browser UI overhauled and reorganised

  • Wipe scheduling configs added: bUseOfficialWipeSchedule and WipeSchedulerInterval

  • Time Until Wipe element added to the UI

  • New Wipe Scheduler System deployed

  • Reboot messages made more prominent and accurate

  • Fixed Map Rotation bugging out on GameMode servers

  • South American servers have been brought back online

Exploit Fixes

  • Safe Zone exploit patched

  • Dupe exploit patched

  • Catapult raiding exploit patched

  • Selling animal hide and fat to Vendors removed

  • Catapult exit exploit patched - players can no longer exit or look into buildings from vehicles

General Fixes & QoL

  • Weapon racks now replicate weapons correctly

  • Voice chat issues fixed, including Voiceloop on VOIP

  • Lampposts fixed

  • Crosshair no longer reacts to the player in third person

  • Treasure chests in POIs now have proper names

  • Rename Building menu cleaned up

  • Additional save validation added

  • Sleeper checks improved

  • Player name changing from the settings menu removed

  • Research bugs fixed; research no longer bugs out in various edge cases

  • Tutorial text improved and updated

  • Triggering siege mode on your own base fixed

  • Crate items now go directly into inventory

  • Player reporting fixed

  • Recipe sharing fixed

  • Banner cloth physics fixed

  • Fixed accidentally starting attacks after closing menus

  • EAC authorisation improved - fewer erroneous kicks - with a new logging tool for identifying crashes

  • Updated localisation

Full Patch Notes - Early Access to Free to Play

The following section is a combination of all our patch notes, starting from our first post, Early Access Launch patch, on the 27th of September 2025, to the 18th of March 2026.

Patch Notes Alpha 3.0.1

Options

  • Streamer mode now toggles the Kill Feed off

Features

  • Added Player Ticketing menu where you can ask for support from devs directly

  • Added better error handling on the main menu so players know why they lost connection

  • Added a Wipe Time Indicator to the compass

Balance

  • Rebalanced some tools

  • Doubled the spawn rate of Plant Fibers

  • Changed ground stone to respawn at the same rate as trees

  • Gold Coins from lootables increased from 5 to 5-15 (AVG 10)

  • Reduced Research Costs of T2 & T3 Weapons

  • Reduced Research Costs of Sappers Axe and Petard

  • Reduced Research Costs of Steel Tools

  • Banner Upgrades now cost silver

  • Bench Upgrades now cost silver

  • Some T2 and T3 Weapons now have a small silver cost

  • Iron Cook Recipe reduced to 1 to 1 (was 2 to 1)

Combat

  • Fixed a movement bug

  • Buffed Falchion Damage so its in line with other t2 weapons

  • Missed swing Stamina cost for all weapons is now 10

  • Fixed a bug with Parry into Riposte into Parry

  • Fixed a bug with Parry into Parry lockout

  • Fixed Parry into Parry mechanics

  • You can now Feint to Parry out of a Riposte Morph

  • Changed swing hit detection to use a box to reduce the amount of swing phases

  • Added better inputting queuing for Parry and Release

  • Fixed ground hits costing Stamina when you've already hit a player

Building

  • Fixed upgrading a building causing it to regain its destruction timer

  • Owners are properly hidden in the building health menu where appropriate

  • Fixed spiral plaster staircase crashing people

  • Fixed an issue with the autoplacelock option

  • Fixed an issue with upgrade costs not being displayed properly on Optimized buildings

Raiding

  • Fixed being able to pick up certain objects while being sieged

  • Petards can now be placed 2 seconds after another blows up (was 20s)

Exploits

  • Fixed Safe Zone Exploit

  • Fixed Dupe Exploit

  • Removed selling animal hide and fat to the Vendors

Map Fixes

  • Fixed animal spawns to match icons on the map

  • Fixed some holes you can get stuck in

  • Fixed walkable beach ground being too low in some areas

  • Fixed moss on the riverbed being the wrong color

  • Fixed some tree imposters

  • Fixed some floating foliage spots

  • Fixed some floating loot on the map

NPCs

  • Fixed an issue with Bots not being able to attack

  • Fixed NPC Loot

  • Changed AI pathfinding so they stand closer to the player when attacking

  • Touched up some stairways so NPCs can navigate them

Servers/Community Hosting

  • Player cap to 100

  • Server Reboot time upped to 2 hours

  • Fixed IdleTimeOutTime, its now in the gamemode configs

  • Made the rebooting message more obvious

  • Fixed MaxPing using a byte, now it uses an int and can be set to values higher than 255

  • Fixed an issue where Map Rotations would bug out on GameMode servers

  • Fixed adding admin via RCON not taking effect till next boot

General Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with Weapon racks not replicating their weapons accurately

  • Fixed an issue voice chat

  • Fixed Lampposts

  • Fixed the crosshair reacting to the player in 3rd person

  • Gave the Treasure chests in POIs a proper name

  • Cleaned up the Rename Building menu

  • Added additional Save validation

  • Added some checks for Sleepers

  • Removed the ability to change your name from the settings menu

  • Fixed some instances of research bugging out

  • Improved the text in the tutorial

  • Fixed triggering siege mode on your own base

  • Fixed being able to parry with a tool

  • Updated localization

  • Updated the tutorial

  • Fixed an issue with the server browser

  • Fixed Portcullis taking wrong damage amounts from siege weapon

  • Fixed an issue with Petards

  • Fixed an issue where Gateways would decay sometimes

Patch Notes Alpha 3.1.5

Optimization/Performance

  • Save File Performance Improvements

  • Player saves are now accessed faster after the first load

Features

  • Player names are now handled by the steam profile name

  • Title System First Implementation

  • Treasure System First Implementation

Combat

  • Fixed losing stamina from ground hitting after hitting a valid target

  • Added box hit tracers for melee swings to reduce phasing

  • Fixed shield animations using strike morphs

  • Changed character hitboxes to be more accurate to players wearing armor

  • Relaxed parry turn speed

  • Rebalanced many weapon timings for consistency

  • Altered Arrow Damage

  • Added a setting to disable melee attack input queuing

  • Fixed being allowed to crouch while staggered

  • Fixed Katzbalger having strike to strike morphs

Building

  • Fixed an issue with gatehouses decaying

  • Removed the ability to make keys for keylocks

  • Interacting with Crafting benches now opens the crafting menu correctly

  • Optimized buildings now cull at 500m

  • Fixed not being able to upgrade external wall stairs

Raiding

  • Fixed sappers axe not dealing full damage to portcullis

  • Fixed Petard no build zone dropped on explode

  • Prevent picking up building pieces during a raid

NPCs

  • AI should now lock on to players correctly

Servers/Community Hosting

  • Servers Reduced to Main Survival and 2x Survival Per Region

  • 3x Changed to 2x

  • South American Servers Back Online

  • Wipe pushed back to 6pm Local

  • Reboot message in survival says it will reboot instead of shut down

  • Fixed adding admins via RCON not taking immediate effect

  • Ingame RCON side scrolling

  • RCON Improvements for better performance metrics

  • All gamemodes now have their tick uncapped

  • AFK kick timer is now 10 mins

  • Added server name to the server queue and resized the menu elements

  • Added a byte size limit on RCON replies

  • Added a rollingsavelimit cvar

  • Doubled RCON maxuptime

General Fixes

  • Fixed a bug with Voiceloop on VOIP

  • Crate items go directly into inventory

  • Fixed player reporting

  • Fixed a crash with wooden spiral stair cases

  • Recipe Sharing Fixes

  • Fixed Banner Cloth Physics

  • Fixed accidentally starting attacks after closing menus

Patch Notes Alpha 3.1.6

Features

  • Added Research Menu Refresh Button (temporary research disappearing fix)

Balance

  • Treasure drop rate decreased heavily

  • Treasure sell price increased

  • Smithy Hammers and Tailor Kits drop rates increased

  • Balanced External Costs (Increased) and Health (Increased)

Exploits

  • Fixed Catapult Raiding Exploit

Servers/Community Hosting

  • Server Browser UI Improvements

  • Fixed LastWipeTime Incorrect Value

  • Added Config bUseOfficialWipeSchedule

  • Added Config WipeSchedulerInterval

  • Added Time Until Wipe Info element

  • Fixed Issue for Wipe Date info element

  • Reduced Wilderness Respawn Cooldown to 3s was 30s

General Fixes

  • Fixed auto attacking on exiting Catapult

  • Fixed Claymore blood mask

  • Fixed Blacksmith Bench floating slightly

Patch Notes Alpha 3.1.8

Main Features

  • Added Sewer Event

  • New Camera Shake and Blood particles

  • Added Hit Reacts

  • 2 Week Wipes

  • Ferryman Transport System

  • Swamp Added

  • Flourish for All Weapons

  • New Downed System and Animations

  • Added Beartrap, Spiketrap, Crossbow Trap, Reset Kits

  • New Lighting and Optimization Pass

  • EAC Authorization Editing (Less getting kicked) and Logging Tool (Identifying crashes and kicks)

Balance

  • Treasure Changes, Drop Rate Decreased

  • Smithy Hammers and Tailor Kits increased

  • Raiding Cheaper

  • Progression Slightly Slower

Combat

  • Removed chip damage

  • Held Block

  • Perfect Parry

  • Kicks and Bashes

  • New VFX Added

  • Entirely Remade Ranged Combat

  • Removed Need for Quiver

  • New Arrow DMG System

  • Simplified Differences between weapons

  • Fist Combat Remade

Building

  • Can Now Destroy Wood and Plaster at any point using a building mallet.

Raiding

  • Trebuchet Added

  • Dummy Boulder Added

  • VFX and SFX Updates

  • Fixed Boulder Destruction Collision Issue

Exploits

  • You can no longer exit a catapult when within the bounds of a buildpart

Map Fixes

  • Mines Sealed Until Mine Event Completion

  • Fixed Stuck Spots Winterhold

Servers/Community Hosting

  • Re-Organized Server Browser

  • Removed Ping Limiter

  • Added a new field for time until next wipe

  • Wipe Time Should Show Correctly

  • New Wipe Scheduler System

General Fixes

  • Many many fixes

Patch Notes Alpha 3.1.7.1

Small Combat Balance Changes

  • Buffed Bash range 8 -> 16

  • Buffed Bash horizontal range 32 -> 64

  • Buffed Bash Cooldown after sprinting 1.5s -> 0.3ms

  • Buffed stagger duration 1.5ms -> 2.5ms

  • Buffed successful parry and held parry into parry window from 0.6ms -> 2s

Added late Parry forgiveness:

If you parry within 1s of being hit you can parry into parry until reaching idle state or windup

Developer Notes: Bash is almost unusable, this should make it a little more enticing against aggressive opponents. The parry changes aren't really buffs, they just make parrying a lot less clunky.

Patch Notes Alpha 3.1.8.1

Performance Changes

  • Map Hierarchical Level Of Detail improvements

  • Foliage Optimization

  • Mesh culling

  • Mesh Level of Detail changes when close up and further away

  • Upscaling improvements

  • Updated setting options

  • Updated setting descriptions to better help players understand what the settings will change.

  • Framerate stability

Developer Notes: There is still more work to do for those with weaker GPU's. But no matter the GPU everyone should notice much more stable framerates when turning or idling.

Patch Notes Alpha 3.1.8.2 BETA

Combat Changes

  • Kick turn speed increased: 3 -> 5.25

Bash

  • BashTurn speed increased: 3 -> 5.25

  • Can no longer bash and then immediately run

  • Stamina cost on miss: 0 -> 3

  • Stamina gain on hit: 10 -> 3

  • Stamina drain: 5 -> 0

  • Bash distance reduced: 16 -> 12

Animation Adjustments to Flourish

  • 1H weapons: 3.0 -> 1.5

  • Longsword: 3.0 -> 2.5

  • Greataxe: 3.0 -> 2.5

  • Polearms: 3.0 (unchanged)

Traps

  • Crossbow traps no longer return all arrows into a single inventory slot

Spike Trap

  • Spike traps and walls no longer block each other

  • Can now be destroyed by Sapper's Axe

  • HP set to 120 (12 hits)

  • Trap damage from Sapper's Axe: 10 per hit

Banner Trap Limits By Tier - Crossbow and Spike Traps

  • Tier 1: 5

  • Tier 2: 10

  • Tier 3: 15

  • Tier 4: 20

Bear Traps

  • Tier 1: 5

  • Tier 2: 6

  • Tier 3: 8

  • Tier 4: 10

General

  • New bear spawn locations

Patch Notes Alpha 3.1.9.3 Part 1 - Gameplay & Combat Changes

Combat Updates

  • Morph stamina cost: 0 → now increments by 2 up to 8 (0, 2, 4, 6, 8)

  • Feint attack delay: 0.65 → 1.0

  • Feint stamina cost: 10 → 0

  • Out of stamina stagger: now triggers at 0.9 stamina and under

  • Parry stamina cost: 6 stamina on connect → 5 stamina whether it connects or not (Parry into parry still has no stamina cost)

Developer Notes: The goal with the stamina changes are to put more agency into attacking. Defense is really strong right now and we wanted to balance it out a little more.

Bows

  • Fixed inconsistent draw timing on Shortbow & Warbow - all bows now have the same fire rate and accuracy

  • Added Crossbow

  • Quivers removed from the game

Developer Notes: All bows keep equal fire rate & accuracy for simplicity amid changes (differ only in projectile speed - prioritize accordingly); Crossbow is the heavy hitter that will almost fully crack shields later.

Weapons

  • Zweihander now only obtainable in Gold tier locked rooms

  • Maul now only obtainable in Gold tier locked rooms

  • Crossbow now only obtainable in Gold tier locked rooms

Siege Engines

  • Trebuchet minimum range: 150m → 100m

  • Trebuchet max range: 300m (unchanged)

  • Catapult minimum range: 45m (unchanged)

  • Catapult max range: 55m → 85m

  • Adding/removing weight now shows strength & boulder travel distance

  • Players now take fall damage when on vehicles

  • Trebuchet frame can no longer be upgraded

  • Fixed bug where dying/downed on siege engine locked player in forever

Traps

  • Crossbow trap no longer allows enemy interaction

  • Traps now use the default inventory system

Tutorial

  • Basic training combat tutorial released

Developer Notes: We plan to add more complex combat tutorials in the future, but this should be enough to get beginners started.

Patch Notes Alpha 3.1.9.3 Part 2 - World, Systems, Visuals & QoL

Survival Map Bug Fixes & Changes

  • Fixed sewers poking through ground at Brimdurn

  • Fixed sewer killzone overlapping Brimdurn

  • Fixed some AI pathing issues

  • Fixed broken NPC loadouts

  • Improved dueling area

  • Silver scattered around the map has been reduced

Factions

  • You can now select/change factions at any time

  • Fighter NPCs will now alert other NPCs when attacked

  • Actions in the world now affect your faction favor

  • Faction shop added to each town

Developer Notes: The faction system is still a WIP and there is a lot we will be rushing to add to the system. More on this later.

NPCs

  • NPC navigation improved (especially doors and stairs)

  • New town NPCs added

  • Town NPCs now run when attacked and call fighter NPCs for help

Developer Notes: The town NPC's also have a lot still being added such as wandering the world (not just in towns), woodcutting, mining etc.

Key & Door System

  • Added 3 tiers of locked doors in various map locations (require keys)

  • Keys found in crates, barrels, and NPCs (very low drop rate)

  • Locked rooms contain increasingly valuable loot

  • Special Secured locked rooms which are gauranteed to contain loot with special conditions

Developer Notes: Again, we want to expand much more on this in the following month with things like plagued areas, restricted areas, and other places that can't be entered through regular means.

Mines

  • Visually improved

  • Resource nodes now have a chance to drop gemstones

  • Mines can be farmed/controlled

  • Nodes spawn more predictably and in fixed locations

  • Significantly more silver (now primary way to get silver)

Building

  • Fixed bug where floor blocked wall placement

  • Fixed all trap placements blocking walls (and vice versa)

Graphics & Performance

  • New graphics presets: Performance, Low, Medium, High, Epic

  • Mipmap overhaul to reduce VRAM usage

  • Improved object streaming

Titles

  • Titles are now persistent

  • If no title selected → highest ranking title auto-selected (Pressing "remove title" stops this behavior)

  • New titles: Seeker, Proven, Trialed

Steam Achievements

  • New Trial By Fire Steam achievement added (plan to add many more achievements over time)

Patch Notes Alpha 3.1.9.4 - Archery and Shields Update

The Big Picture: Archery is being shifted from an early-game niche to a viable mid-to-late game option. By introducing a new "Anti-Burst" mechanic (for arrows only), we can buff fire rates and armor penetration without allowing groups to "one-shot" players through focus fire.

Ammo Scaling

  • Bolt (T3): 35 Base Damage | 0.625 Armor Pen (5 hits to kill T3)

  • Bodkin Arrow (T2): 25 Base Damage | 0.46 Armor Pen (10 hits to kill T3)

  • Broadhead Arrow (T1): 25 Base Damage | 0.3 Armor Pen (16 hits to kill T3)

  • Primitive Arrow (T0): 25 Base Damage | 0.0 Armor Pen (205 hits to kill T3)

Shield Damage (New)

  • Bolt (T3): 200 Damage

  • Bodkin (T2): 100 Damage

  • Broadhead (T1): 75 Damage

  • Primitive (T0): 35 Damage

  • Pavese Shield: Health reduced from 750 to 650

Mechanics and Loot

  • Arrow Damage Cap: Damage is now rate-limited to 35 damage per 3 seconds (continuous regeneration). This matches the reload time of a Crossbow, preventing instant-death from coordinated groups while allowing for faster individual firing.

  • Fire Rate: Increased across all bows with improved animation blending for a more responsive feel.

  • Gold Rooms: Now have a chance to spawn Crossbows (includes 20-40 Bolts).

  • Silver Doors: Now have a chance to spawn 20-40 Bolts. Note: For now bolts cannot be crafted; they are high-tier loot only.

Developer Notes: Right now, archery is in a weird place where it's really strong at T0 but becomes irrelevant fast. Part of the reason for this was our concern about players running in groups and wreaking havoc with ranged focus-fire. Melee slashers are a very unique concept with a huge learning curve. And while we're happy with the state of combat, we believe a second option should always be possible for those who want to pick up the game and do well quickly.

With the new Anti-Burst mechanic, we can effectively limit overall group damage to match the output of a single player. This allows us to make the bow and arrow a truly viable option throughout the game, while still keeping it slightly weaker than melee overall, no matter the amount of arrows hitting the same player.

Patch Notes Alpha 3.1.9.6

Combat & Gameplay

  • Crossbow trap: removed 2× damage modifier

  • Fixed numerous bow and arrow issues related to accuracy and damage

  • Stamina no longer affects bow and arrow dispersion

  • Reworked bow and arrow crosshair UI to better represent dispersion

AI & NPC Behavior

  • Some NPCs will now always aggro players regardless of faction

  • Added Aggressive behavior to all outsider NPCs (not yet applied to secured doors)

Developer Notes: Some NPC's do still represent factions but we're placed and designed to make certain area's dangerous and provide loot. The faction system implementation has caused all Human NPC's around the world to be safe to walk by which isn't what we intended, so now these specific NPC's will aggro anyone and can be killed without hurting your faction score.

Factions & World Interaction

  • Pillaging and stealing are now recognized by the faction system

  • Added on-screen indicators for faction updates

UI & UX Improvements

  • Chat messages now highlight when someone @mentions you (disabled in streamer mode)

  • Fixed a bug where titles would not clear properly

  • Improved Seeker title visual effect

  • Reworked inventory scene capture

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed broken textures on houses in Brimdurn

  • Removed building optimizer causing multiple visual building bugs

Graphics & Settings

  • Added new graphical settings options

Developer Notes: We have the technology! Graphics and performance should be at an all time high when utilizing our graphical preset buttons. Unfortunately though, this means all of your current graphical settings will be reset once more to what the game determines what's best for your PC.

Patch Notes Alpha 3.1.9.7

Combat

  • Players can now parry using tools

  • Increased weapon turn cap by ~30-40% compared to Early Access

Developer Notes: Oh melee... We've given you so much love and attention that we feel we can trust you just a little bit more not to cause grief... (On top of melee tutorial, bows, shields, bugfixes, etc.) we fill this won't hurt beginners as much as it did in early access.

Archery Changes

  • Holding a bow reduces movement speed by 10%

  • Drawing a bow reduces movement speed by an additional 20% (30% total)

  • Switching to the bow costs 10 stamina (yes every time)

  • Arrow stamina cost increased: 5 → 15

  • Arrow damage bucket adjusted: 25 damage per 3 seconds → 25 damage per 4 seconds

Developer Notes: We're really happy with how the bow feels right now. What we're not happy with is how strong it becomes when multiple players use bows against a single target. So, we're aiming (no pun intended) to push players into making a choice: commit to the bow, or commit to melee. Right now, you can fire arrows at little cost, potentially deal damage, then safely switch to melee without losing anything. That's not ideal. These stamina changes are designed to heavily punish players trying to benefit from both the offensive power of the bow and the safety of melee at the same time. The movement slow is simply there to reduce how effectively players can kite with a bow.

Shield Changes

  • Shields can now block arrows while held blocking (if facing the projectile)

  • Barrel lids T0 shield added (T0 primitive shield)

Developer Notes: Shields were meant to be the counter to a solid archer but currently it feels unreliable due to the different hotboxes of each shield. Now at the cost of stamina, you can gaurantee your safety if you hold up your shield against the arrow.

Factions

  • Fixed an issue where faction points would sometimes not update correctly

  • Added a faction shop to each town

Patch Notes Alpha 3.1.9.8

Combat & Balance

  • Decreased bow stamina cost per shot: 15 -> 9

  • Fire arrows now deal bonus damage to siege equipment

  • Fire arrows now apply damage over time to siege equipment — up to 150 damage over 5 seconds (30 DPS)

  • Siege equipment can now catch fire

Developer Notes: Fire arrows are making a comeback and function as they used to. Shoot them at catapults and trebuchets to do good damage from afar — if you shoot enough in a short period of time the equipment will catch fire to deal more damage over time.Server & Systems

  • Server reboot interval increased: Every 2 hours -> Every 5 hours

  • Idle timeout increased: 5 minutes -> 30 minutes

  • Added Discord integration to notify players when their base is under siege (experimental)

Developer Notes: Nobody likes being offline raided, but nobody likes being told they can't do what they want to do either. We're introducing @Renown Watchman to help you watch over your base while you sleep and alert you here on Discord straight to your direct messages when it detects your base is being raided. This is a very experimental and new feature that is very early in development and should not be relied on for complete base security. We hope that this will create a more engaging experience and will tightly monitor how it effects the game. To use it make sure you can receive DMs from the bot, and then type /Register to get started.Misc

  • Removed auto-sprint

Developer Notes: This is bittersweet — we love auto-sprint and it was a hard decision to make, but ultimately we've decided it's best to remove this feature. Auto-sprint is too good not to use for combat, but not polished enough to make it the default option for beginners, and because beginners don't know about it they are immediately at a disadvantage. There are other reasons too, but this is our biggest issue. We want to reimplement it as soon as possible as the default.


That's everything we've shipped since the Early Access launch. Thank you for being part of the Renown community - we're genuinely really excited for this next chapter. As always, the best place to share feedback, report bugs, or just talk about the game is our Discord and the Steam forums.

- The Renown Team