Salutations, Wayfarers!
This is it! We have reached the FINAL major update before Early Access launch on August 18, 2026!
There’s a lot packed into the Calm Before the Storm Update, with improvements across the interface, crafting, exploration, combat, visuals, performance, and a whole cargo hold of bug fixes.
Alongside the changes ready for testing, we’re sharing an early look at several larger systems still in development. These previews aren’t final, and details may shift as we test, tune, and gather your feedback.
User Interface Updates
Updated Chat Box
We're styling the chat box with our new UI look. It will also have changed functionality:
ESC no longer maximizes/minimizes.
The chat box will no longer auto-resize. If you’d like to minimize / maximize the chat box, you can press Ctrl-Shift-M. This is remappable in the options.
The Minimized version of the chat box will show tabs and the input bar. The Maximized state will show tabs, log, and the input bar.
Tabs will shrink as more pile up. You’ll be able to cycle through the tabs using arrows.
You can use Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-Shift-Tab to cycle tabs.
Tabs will have a little green dot to indicate new content.
Input will lose focus when you use Enter. Input will not lose focus when you use Shift-Enter.
If you click into the input bar, it will not lose focus when you hit Enter; you will have to hit ESC or click outside it.
Player Menu Updates
The Player Menu is updated to match the game's new UI style.
Drag and drop now works to drag items out of the equipment slots into empty space in the backpack (finally).
Skill Window Revamp
The Skills window is returning to a paginated layout, with each skill tree on its own page.
The left side list of professions will now group according to category (e.g., Pistol is listed indented under Combat, etc).
Options Screen Improvements
Every slider on the Options screen is being updated with a direct-entry field and a reset button.
New Loading Screen
Rotating Stars Reach lore and universe facts are expanding from the queue screen to loading screens.
The loading screen is receiving a visual refresh and will indicate when you are waiting in a queue.
Grapple and Shield Battery Meters
Grapple and shield utility slots will display battery meters on the toolbar, matching the battery feedback already used by tools.
Planet Welcome Message
The welcome message shown when arriving on a planet has received a coat of polish.
Improved Map
With more surveying capabilities on the way, we’ve added some QoL features to the in game map
There is now a label for your current location, a clearer gravemarker icon, and markers for the Landing Zone (aka the portal) and GovBots.
Your homestead boundaries and any zoning lots you have permission to manage show up on the map.
Any current missions you have and any public events going on should also show on the map. Basically, the rule is that if you can see the waypoint in the world, you can see it on the map.
The map colors have been tweaked to be less saturated and more realistic.
Planetary data now shows on the left side of the screen.
Key Redemption
Entitlement keys can be redeemed from the Options screen, including Kickstarter rewards and other entitlements.This is in preparation for sending out keys soon.
Utility Slot Cooldown Meters
The HUD toolbar will show cooldown time on equipped utility-slot items using a meter similar to tool battery meters.
HUD Visual Refresh
Refreshed HUD status icons and popup styling. Hints have been moved to the right to reduce overlaps.
Fixed mission-status scaling and collection notifications overlapping chat.
First-time user screens now use the Servitor font.
Toolbelt Cooldown Readouts
Special-ability icons now dim during cooldown and show the number of seconds until they are ready.
Toolbelt cooldowns stay synchronized with the reticle display.
New Death Screen
Polished the death screen presentation.
The first-time death tutorial now waits briefly before appearing, giving you a moment to understand what just happened.
Better Waypoint Guidance
Off-screen waypoints now display arrows pointing toward their location.
Chat Bubble Fonts
Normal chat bubbles now use the game's standard font, while emotes and narration use the comic-book-style font from the animatic intro.
New accessibility settings let you turn chat bubbles off and adjust their font size.
Context Menu and Floating Text Accessibility
Added scaling options for the context menu, hover prompt, and floating text.
Floating text now fades out over time.
More HUD Improvements
Updated the HUD to respond to the new scaling and frame options.
Fixed overlaps between HUD windows.
Crafting Updates
Crafting Recipe Book
Players will have a limited active-recipe inventory that expands with advancement, while the larger recipe pool requires choices about which recipes to keep active.
Skill boxes grant only some of the recipes they unlock. Recipes form collectible sets, can be found as loot, and can be bought, sold, and traded, but cannot be banked.
Recipe mastery tracks first-time crafting progress, while the recipe display is intended to show discovered, mastered, and currently held recipes.
Crafting Window Redesign
The crafting window is being redesigned to reduce mouse use, read more logically, and make room for expanded steps such as experimentation.
Crafting formulas are being revisited for balance, loot integration, and a wider range of stats; many crafting forms are expected to gain multiple station types and station-specific recipes.
Ingredient status modifiers may carry through crafting into final items, such as fire resistance or enhanced regeneration.
Timed Processing Stations
Some crafting processes continue on a real-time timer after experimentation, including fermenting and selected cooking, medicine, and industrial steps; other recipes can be collected immediately.
More advanced delayed-processing stations can support multiple items processing at once.
Cooking and Food Enhancements
The enhanced cooking design supports recipe variants based on broad ingredient types and can carry ingredient status effects into finished food.
A Stomach system is designed to provide long-term stat buffs while full based on foods eaten, while a meal system combines individual dishes into efficient meals.
Multiple cooking-technique stations are planned, with garnishes and seasonings affecting experimentation.
Pharmacology Is Taking Shape
We’re laying the groundwork for Pharmacology, bringing together herbal ingredients, sourced chemicals, natural remedies, crafted components, and finished medicines.
Medicines are being designed for fast, in-the-moment changes to stats and effects. Food will provide slower, longer-lasting buffs, while entertainment will support wound recovery—giving each profession a clear role.
The first Pharmacology items may arrive with placeholder art so we can get them into crafting tests sooner and begin tuning the system with your feedback.
Dynamic Adventures With Crafting Stations
Every crafting profession now has a clear place to begin. Every Wayfarer can learn to build simple stations, learn useful starter recipes, and upgrade their workshops as they advance.
But that's not all! Each station tier will unlock new groups of recipes and capabilities, while profession-specific stations give every crafting path its own tools and progression.
Public stations in starter towns will cover the basics, but full profession progression is intended for the workshops Wayfarers build on player planets. This will provide an additional progressive dimension to crafting gameplay.
Material Composition Now Shapes Crafting
Crafted items now inherit status effects and special properties from their components, making each material choice part of the final build.
Matching effects stack up to a cap, while opposing effects weaken or cancel one another. The crafting interface shows these effects on both ingredients and finished results, so you can see exactly what you’re building toward.
Plus, fully optimized gear can roughly double the strength of its character stat effects, with those effects also influencing systems such as weather resistance and movement! With these changes, you’ll feel stronger than ever!
New Frontiers in Fashion and Design
Your next outfit begins out in the cosmos! Tailoring is growing into a complete crafting path for clothing and wearable gear, taking you from gathering raw resources to processing materials, creating components, and equipping the finished pieces.
As you progress, you’ll unlock new recipes, crafting stations, item qualities, buffs, and specialties such as Armoring, giving Tailoring a clear identity and a progression path of its own.
We’re putting recipes, equippable gear, and stat effects into your hands first so you can help us test the balance. Some clothing may arrive before its final avatar art is ready, but you’ll still be able to craft it, equip it, and see what it can do.
Loot Updates
Loot Generation and Distribution
A new tiered loot-generation system is in. This makes item quality easier to identify and helps us maintain better balance.
This loot will consist mainly of various sorts of crafting components, along with the occasional consumables, as well as rare finished items or unusually high-quality raw resources.
Loot can be discovered through combat and exploration! This includes defeating creatures, Makers, and lairs, discovering points of interest, locked boxes, buried caches, and even tree roots. Additionally, any claimed loot will never repopulate; instead the discovery of loot on new planets is intended to provide an exciting and ever renewed frontier.
Gameplay & World Updates
Sitting on Furniture
Added the first sitting animations for furniture.
Basic controller support
This is not a full pass on controller support (in particular, no menu support just yet for navigating the UI) but we have implemented a first cut with:
basic support for movement and buttons
analog stick support
HUD refreshing from last device so that displayed keymappings update on the fly
It does NOT have remapping yet, but you can use Steam remapping for it.
Combat Updates
Core Weapon Balance Foundations
A game-wide weapon balance pass is establishing baselines for rate of fire, optimal minimum and maximum ranges, multishot capabilities, and other core weapon behavior.
These baselines will support later balancing of advanced abilities and creature difficulty.
New Aim Controller
Improved the alignment of tools and their beams while aiming.
The new aim controller should also improve performance and visuals.
Graphical Updates
Clothing Visual Fixes
Clothing assets received a culling pass to reduce avatar parts poking through other clothing pieces.
Animated Terrain Flows
Improved moving-terrain visuals so surface textures better convey terrain sliding and flowing.
Performance Updates
Significant Terrain Optimization
A major terrain optimization is being tested to improve both rendering speed and server performance.
Mesh, Gas, and Instancing Improvements
Improved CPU-bound client and rendering performance with mesh clustering and instancing.
Added major performance optimizations for gases and liquids.
Client Performance Improvements
Significantly improved client performance by optimizing collision handling.
Bug Fixes
Mission Completion Waypoint: Mission-completion waypoints will use a coin icon instead of appearing blank. Mission icons in the corner tracker will display correctly.
Character Deletion Flow: Deleting a character will now follow the intended flow instead of sending players through an incorrect sequence.
Rejected Character Names: When the name filter rejects a character name, the game will show the reason for the rejection.
Login Location: A fix is being tested for cases where players log into a planet far from the location they expected.
Reviving Players: A pending fix addresses a reticle-interaction bug that can prevent players from reviving other players. It also targets an empty context menu that can appear and become stuck after left-clicking another player.
Bunny-Hopping Movement: Matched moving-jump speed to standard running speed, so bunny hopping is no longer the fastest way to travel.
Known Issues
Existing furniture may need to be picked up and placed again before the Sit interaction becomes available.
Furniture that supports sitting may temporarily lack normal collision.
Many of the new craftables will not yet have art hooked up; they will appear as text icons in the interim.
See you among the stars, Wayfarers!