The Solarpunk Beta Playtest is now live for all Kickstarter Backers and everyone who participated in the Singleplayer Playtest!
This phase opens the game up to a much wider audience and introduces Multiplayer alongside Singleplayer.
Building on previous playtests, the Beta introduces a more polished experience with various tweaks and improvements based on community feedback. It’s a good moment to jump in, test things out, and help us move closer to release.
👉 To join, update your Steam playtest build (Kickstarter backers only) and restart Steam. You’ll then have access to the latest playtest version.
⚡ Haven’t redeemed your Steam key yet? Look for the Backerkit email in your inbox and don’t forget to check your spam folder. If you can’t find the email anymore, you can recover your key here:
https://solarpunk.backerkit.com/
🔗 Full news & details for all Kickstarter backer:
🌿 What’s new since the Alpha?
In the meantime, we definitely didn’t sleep on development! We’ve been working hard to improve and expand Solarpunk. Some of the highlights include:
Death is less punishing. You now only lose 15 percent hunger and thirst, no double penalty
Ping system added. You can mark locations for other players. Shortcut G
Chests now support sorting and quick stacking
Animal AI completely rewritten. Animals react to their environment, move correctly, avoid each other, and find food and water more reliably
Optional simplified flight mode. Wind no longer affects the airship
Transport Drone reworked and available earlier. Starts with one slot, can be upgraded later. Only flies when there is something to pick up and free inventory space
Automatic Drills no longer produce stone as a byproduct. Stone can now be mined at dedicated drill spots in the world
Automatic Fisher has a new role and is mainly used to collect algae for advanced crafting
New world option to share Research Table unlocks across all players
Signs are available much earlier so you can label your base from the start
Weather system reworked and more consistent in multiplayer. Rain collectors now fill even if you skip rainy nights by sleeping
Improved Airship Dock. When powered, you can target it with your airship and activate a boost to reach distant locations faster
Recycler replaced by a Post Box. Send items to the merchant to receive tickets for the vending machine.
Sheep are now attracted by corn, not wheat
Gamepad controls greatly improved and expanded
Manual Switch now unlocks together with the Weather Station, enabling simple logic setups
Automatic water and food troughs added.
Torch can now be crafted via Quick Craft
More plants added to the world for gathering.
Known Issues
Automatic Food Trough currently generates food from energy. This will be changed in an upcoming update to use an inventory instead
Completing all merchant trades leaves one extra blueprint. This is reserved for a future update
Drones cannot transport items with durability, such as tools
💪 What’s Next?
With the Beta now live, we’re entering the final stretch. After this testing phase, the next major step is the full release.
We’re currently thinking about opening the Beta to more players.
Would you like to jump in together with friends? Tell us in the comments! We’d love to hear your thoughts.
P.S.: If this looks familiar, you probably caught it briefly yesterday. Oops 😅
☕ Cozy & Family Friendly Games Newsletter
We can’t wait to hear your thoughts and to shape Solarpunk together. 💚 With love and gratitude, The Solarpunk Team 🌱