Hello everyone, it has been a long time - I'm back. It has been a full five months since I announced that development had resumed, and I'm sorry for the wait!
Over these five months I have been pushing development forward at full speed. With the help of AI-assisted development, I have managed to get a great deal done this time around. Here is everything that is new.
This update is currently on a public test branch
This is a large update, so we are putting it on a public test branch first to gather a round of real play feedback. Anyone can join - no access code and no sign-up required.
The default branch stays as it is for now. Once this round of testing settles, we will merge the update over.
How to switch to the test branch:
- Open Steam, right-click Pathless Woods in your Library and choose "Properties"
- Select "Betas" in the list on the left
- In the "Beta Participation" dropdown, choose opentest
- Close the window. Steam will start downloading the update automatically. Once it finishes, the game will show an
[opentest]tag next to its name.
How to switch back:
Open the same "Betas" page and choose "None" in the dropdown.
Please note: saves created on the test branch cannot be loaded on the default branch. If you plan to switch back and forth, back up your save folder first (there is an "Open save folder" entry on the save screen).
Reporting Problems
If you run into any problems, crashes, or anything that just feels off during testing, please let us know:
- In-game: submit directly through the feedback screen in the game
- Discord: https://discord.gg/BnaGFCW2yh
- Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
- QQ groups (for players in China): 917467262 / 599596989
IMPORTANT: This update requires a new save
This update restructures how the world is laid out. Terrain, regions and resource distribution are all generated from scratch.
Existing saves will NOT be playable after the update. Please wrap up your current playthrough before updating.
If you would like to keep a memento of your old world, open the save screen before updating and copy down the world seed.
This is the largest update Pathless Woods has ever received. The single sprawling map has been divided into several distinct realms, and we have added Lord-class Bosses, a full river system, ranged weapons with attachments, an item star-rating system, and much more. Visuals have been rebuilt across the board, and both performance and multiplayer stability are substantially better.
World Restructure: one big map, now several realms
The world used to be one continuous map, running unbroken from your spawn point all the way to the deep snowfields. That created two problems. Exploration had no sense of progression - you could wander somewhere far beyond your means without ever realising it. And because the entire map had to stay loaded at all times, it carried a heavy performance cost.
So we split it up:
- The single large map is now divided into several independent realms, each with its own fully realised terrain, climate, vegetation, resources and wildlife - plains and woodland, snow-capped mountains, marshland, black forest. Two hidden realms also exist, and require a specific key to enter.
- Each realm has its own power bracket. You now progress along a clear path from gentler lands into harsher ones, instead of wandering a single map with no sense of where you should be.
- Only the realm you are currently in gets loaded. This is one of the main reasons the game runs better this patch - memory use is way down, and both loading and traversal are noticeably faster.
- This structure also lays the groundwork for adding brand-new realms over time. Future realms can be added without rebuilding the whole world, and without invalidating your existing save.
- Gateways: travel between realms through Gateways. Companions following you will travel with you.
- Opening a realm: defeat the Gatekeeper Boss that guards the way, claim its skull, and offer it at the altar to unlock the next realm.
- A new realm selection panel lists every realm you have unlocked, so you can choose your destination at any time.
- When a quest objective lies in another realm, the waypoint now points you to the Gateway in your current realm instead of leaving you going in circles.
- Weather, regional challenge events, fog of war, map markers and respawn points all operate independently in each realm.
Lord-class Bosses
- 12 new Lord-class Bosses in three categories: Gatekeeper Bosses that guard the way into new realms, Bosses that hold the keys to the hidden realms, and challenge Bosses scattered across the world.
- 8 Lord-class Bosses now have unique appearances, instantly distinguishable from ordinary creatures.
- Gatekeeper Bosses scale across four difficulty tiers as you advance through the realms.
- The Rabbit King digs burrows to summon allies. Every Boss has its own attack rhythm, stats and loot table.
- Boss skulls are now proper models carved from the creature itself, replacing the old placeholder.
- Boss fights have their own combat music.
Terrain and Rivers
- Terrain generation has been completely rebuilt. Ridgelines now run in coherent directions, slopes carry eroded gullies, and the overall relief reads far closer to real landscape.
- Real river systems: streams gather at the headwaters, tributaries feed into the main channel, and the water runs through valleys, lakes and waterfalls - genuinely flowing downstream.
- Riverbanks are no longer clean lines. Pools and shallows alternate, banks are ragged, and bends have a gentle inner shore against a steep outer bluff.
- Natural bodies of water are protected: a river will not dry up because you dammed it upstream, and riverbeds cannot be filled in.
- Resource and camp placement now actively avoids river channels - no more trees and crates spawning midstream.
- Filling in a natural pool removes the whole pool and drops a River Lord's Pearl. Refine it into an Abyss Pearl and you can create a new pool elsewhere.
- Ground colour now supports layered colour patches, so a single terrain type can show much richer variation.
Drinking Water
- River water is drinkable, but there is a price. Drinking it raw causes vomiting or diarrhoea, draining satiety and lowering your nutrition cap.
- To drink safely, boil it in a pot, or run it through a water purifier or still. Inventory and cookware UI now clearly distinguish raw river water from boiled water.
- A prompt appears the first time you approach a river, so you do not have to learn this the hard way.
- River currents now push players who are swimming.
- Water simulation has been rebuilt. Water level, evaporation, waterfalls and flow speed have all been re-tuned.
Ranged Weapons and Attachments
- Bows, crossbows and slingshots are now fully implemented - 9 ranged weapons in total, each with its own look and role.
- Attachment system: quivers, counterweights, rapid-fire counterweights, sights and enchanted charms. Four slot types to mix and match, changing fire rate, ammo capacity, lock-on range and bonus effects.
- A wide range of ammunition: stone shot, vine snare shot, scattershot, cloudpiercer arrows, and bombs that blast real craters and reshape terrain.
- Several new skills that fire once lock-on is complete: Double Report, Splitshot, Rout and Ensnare.
- Arrows now travel on real ballistic arcs and are affected by gravity.
- Drawing a bow while sprinting now brings you to a stop first, instead of leaving you drawn but unable to fire.
Item Star Ratings
- A new item quality system: two copies of the same item can differ in quality, and the star rating affects its stats and the strength of its effects.
- Higher-star materials unlock advanced recipes - better ingredients, better results.
- Grilled food, camp auto-production, materials from containers and combat loot all roll for quality.
- Creatures have grades too. Wild creatures roll a random grade that affects their stats, their size, and the star rating of what they drop.
- Star badges now appear in the inventory, on the cursor, and across all item interfaces.
Controller Support (First Pass)
This update introduces controller support. The game can now be played start to finish on a controller:
- Movement, combat, reticle aiming and tool use are all fully supported.
- Build mode is fully controller-enabled: the four radial menus for style, length, position and angle, plus demolition and free-camera toggling.
- All four radial menus now share a consistent "hold to open, tap to cycle" scheme.
- Button prompts update dynamically to match the device in your hands, with PlayStation controller glyphs included.
- PlayStation controllers support gyro-assisted aiming: use the right stick for broad aim and wrist motion for fine adjustment.
- Fixed PlayStation and Switch controllers not being detected at all.
Please note that this is the first pass at controller support, focused on in-game play. Controller navigation in some menus is still being refined, and we will continue filling that in over the coming updates.
Multiplayer and Servers
- Dedicated server: available for Windows and Linux, suitable for running around the clock. Bilingual (Chinese/English) instructions and a config template ship with it.
- One-click self-hosting: if you would rather not deploy anything, you can start a server directly from the game's main screen.
- Server management panel: online player list with individual ping, in-game time and day count, server status, kick player, remote save and server shutdown - all through a proper interface.
- "Keep server running and quit" is supported, so the host can leave while the server stays up for everyone else.
- Admin password authorisation and permission tiers prevent unauthorised server operations.
- The framerate display now also shows network throughput per second.
Steam Cloud Saves
- World saves now support Steam Cloud sync: upload a chosen save manually, and it downloads automatically on launch.
- The save list marks which saves have already been synced to the cloud.
- Added an "Open save folder" entry for easy manual backups.
Companions and Camps
- Aura traits: every NPC has individual traits, visible before you recruit them, affecting them while following you, while stationed at camp, and on their own performance.
- Job tutorial dialogue: NPCs of each profession will explain through dialogue how they are meant to be used.
- Companions can now swim, and can cross bridges you have built.
- Lumberjacks and miners will fetch their own tools when they lack them.
- Double beds are supported, letting you assign two NPCs to rest at once.
- Lumber yards and quarries now show current and maximum worker counts on their labels.
- Camp alarm: if any NPC in camp is attacked, nearby companions will come to help.
- Patrol and follow formations rebuilt: squads march in formation, surround their target in combat, and enter combat as a group when one member engages.
- Dismissed NPCs return to their spawn point and leave the world after three days.
Survival and Building
- Refrigeration: the Niter Ice Pot (building version) and the Toad Ice Chest are now available, with a unified interface, adaptive grid sizing and custom naming.
- Category recipes: save a recipe by ingredient category and reuse it later with any ingredient of the same type.
- Cooking preview: see the rough flavour and property profile of a dish before you commit it to the pot.
- Quick select: the ingredient picker now supports category tabs and paging, and lets you choose a quantity before taking.
- Offerings and tribute: the Earth God offering box accepts fruit only and shows a wish bubble as you approach. The Ya'er tribute box has a chance to drop Ya'er-exclusive items once enough points are accumulated.
- Myriad Pot (relocation): drag-select to highlight and absorb objects in place, switch the selection area between circle and square, and watch absorbed objects fly in.
- Building: switch to free camera while building and place roofs directly. Style, stretch and material each get their own radial menu, with the current angle displayed.
- Better search: crafting and building now share a single search box, with pinyin search supported.
- Tech tree interface: zoom with the scroll wheel centred on the cursor, and hover a node for a description popup.
- Ground tools: shovelling and hoeing show a dashed area outline, support batch work, and scale their area with tool tier.
- Terrain modification is now blocked in snowfields, marshes, black forest, and within the bounds of Ya'er camps you have not yet cleared.
- Camp boundaries are shown merged, and can be previewed while building.
Creatures and Combat
- Wild creatures actually forage now. They eat according to their own diet, and throwing food on the ground will genuinely lure them in.
- Body-size growth system: size differences are now expressed through bone proportions, so creatures scale far more naturally.
- Creatures pitch forward and back to match the slope they are standing on.
- Every stage of a combo re-aims at the target, so you no longer swing at air.
- Combat pacing adjusted: an attack round now lands several hits instead of one before backing off, and idle intervals scale with creature size.
- Target health bars stay visible while you have a target locked.
- Grey Wolves and Thunder Wolves have unique effects on all four of their attack animations.
- Catchable insects now glimmer, making them easier to spot.
- Added animal droppings.
Visuals
- New stylised sky: sun, halo, two layers of drifting cloud, stars and moon, driven by a realistic solar arc across the day/night cycle.
- Volumetric fog: dawn and dusk mist is tinted by sunlight, torches and campfires light the fog around them, and shafts of light break through gaps in the clouds. Each region has its own fog colour theme.
- Improved ambient occlusion: contact points between objects and the ground now have natural shading, giving the image noticeably more depth.
- Rebuilt water: caustics, intersection foam where objects meet the surface, swell along the shoreline, and clearly readable flow direction.
- Grass completely rebuilt: every grass type remade, denser and better layered, with distinct colours per biome. When the camera drops close to the ground, grass in front of you shortens itself so it no longer blocks your view.
- Ground mesh rebuilt for smoother near-to-far transitions, with no more stretching on distant terrain.
- Bloom and overall colour grading recalibrated for clearer contrast.
- High-resolution UI icons: 18 attribute icons and the item category icons have all been redrawn at higher resolution.
- Reticle camera rebuilt: distance, field of view and framing are configured independently, giving a more sensible view while aiming, and the health bar no longer sits over the reticle.
Performance and Stability
- Memory use is significantly lower. Realms you are not in are loaded on demand, and model and texture assets have been trimmed throughout. Long play sessions are more stable and far less likely to run into memory trouble.
- Smaller install size.
- Noticeably less stutter: water simulation cost is down to a fifth of what it was, removing the regular half-second hitch, and the frame spikes when crossing region borders or loading large numbers of objects have been flattened out.
- Much shorter waits: creating a world, loading a save and travelling between realms are all considerably faster.
- Lower multiplayer overhead: object synchronisation has been reworked, substantially reducing network load when many objects are on screen.
- A large amount of background computation now runs in parallel, easing the load on the main thread.
Bug Fixes
Multiplayer
- Fixed disconnects during character selection, joining getting stuck at 69.9%, and connections reliably dropping partway through loading.
- Fixed joining players seeing ghost buildings and objects that never disappeared.
- Fixed thrown items having no arc and dropping straight down for joining players.
- Fixed attack power falling back to unarmed after swapping weapons, and the swapped-out weapon still showing as equipped on both sides with no model change.
- Fixed joining players having no carry pose when holding small items, demolition not responding, and the inventory flashing empty after sorting.
Saves
- Fixed a potential crash when quitting the game.
- Fixed losing your inventory and hotbar when entering a game a second time without restarting.
- Closed several paths that could corrupt a save; data no longer scrambles mid-save.
- Fixed items being lost when using quick-stash into a nearly full container.
- Fixed equipment state getting scrambled after sorting the inventory.
Creatures and NPCs
- Fixed numerous cases of creatures standing still and doing nothing.
- Fixed small animals getting stuck while fleeing, freezing when cornered, and running into deep water.
- Fixed creatures getting stuck on the way home, walking straight across riverbeds, and being unable to cross player-built bridges.
- Fixed NPCs walking sideways ("crab walk").
- Fixed creatures being unable to move because no walkable surface existed beneath them for long stretches.
- Fixed standoff-type creatures failing to retaliate when hit, and swinging at air from out of range.
- Fixed farmers watering and fertilising empty plots, NPCs not going to bed at night, and recruited NPCs standing idle.
World and Objects
- Fixed a leftover object ghost remaining after harvesting, and the same object appearing twice.
- Fixed items placed into containers or equipment slots being spat back onto the ground.
- Fixed reused items breaking - projectiles not exploding, pottery not shattering, feeding not registering.
- Fixed old and new crops overlapping when a crop advances a growth stage.
- Fixed ground-aligned objects on slopes being flattened when switching detail levels.
- Fixed shovels and hoes being completely unusable outside the starting realm.
Other
- Fixed the mouse wheel being entirely dead right after entering the game, and only recovering after alt-tabbing out and back.
- Fixed equipment, weapons and hair losing their shading in the release build.
- Fixed resolution and fullscreen settings not persisting.
- Fixed attacks passing straight through allies and Earth God statues, and attack snapping locking onto targets that could not be hit.
- Fixed health bars not refilling completely, damage-over-time effects not showing their source, and death causes displaying as a raw ID string.
- Fixed dialogue still showing "My name is ???" after asking for a name.
- Fixed the profanity filter not working.
- Fixed several crashes and cursor issues on macOS.
Other Improvements
- Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English and Japanese text has been brought fully up to date.
- Key prompts in tutorials and the manual now show your actual current bindings.
- Manual content is organised per platform, with the PC content fully restored.
- New main and side story content: the Peach Grove questline, Gatekeeper Boss quest chains, a multi-stage cooking commission, and more.
- The save screen lets you click a world seed to copy it.
- The inventory window now shrinks to fit its slot count instead of leaving a large empty area.
- Custom names on crates and refrigerators hide automatically when obscured by a building.
Thank you to everyone who has come this far with Pathless Woods.