Hello!
I'm happy to announce that this update is now live.
This update contains the first major milestone from the roadmap and focuses on improving the onboarding experience for new players.
Since the Early Access release, the most common feedback has been related to onboarding, progression flow, navigation, and the amount of time it takes to unlock the game's core mechanics. This update is my first major pass on those areas.
The goal was not to remove the story, lore, or progression, but to make the early game clearer, smoother, and easier to follow. A large portion of the starting area, quest flow, progression pacing, and onboarding experience has been reworked.
This is not necessarily the final version of the onboarding experience. I'd love to hear your feedback after you've had a chance to play it so I can continue refining it before considering the first phase of the roadmap complete.
Important: Savegame Migration
Version 0.6.0 introduces a new savegame version.
Existing saves will be migrated automatically and preserve:
Player level and stats
Inventory and equipment
Perks
Houses and everything stored inside them
Because the onboarding, quests, beast progression, and world state have changed significantly, those systems will be reset during migration.
Starting a new save is still highly recommended, as it is the best way to experience the redesigned onboarding flow from the beginning.
Note: Migrated houses may temporarily overlap with parts of the new starting town when first unlocked. If this happens, simply place the house onto the beast and the visual issue will be resolved.
If you'd rather continue your current playthrough, you can switch to the Legacy version 0.5 (via Game Versions & Betas Steam setting) and keep playing the previous version. You can always move to Version 0.6 later.
TL;DR
Major onboarding rework.
New starting town closer to the spawn location.
Faster access to core mechanics.
Clearer and more linear quest progression.
Beast progression integrated into the onboarding flow.
New town fast-travel waypoints.
Improved crime and stealing system.
Save migration support and additional save protections.
Special thanks to everyone in Discord and the Steam Community who helped test, report bugs, and provide feedback. This update was heavily influenced by your suggestions and reports.
Changelog
Onboarding & Progression
Reworked the early-game quest flow to create a clearer and easier-to-follow introduction while preserving the game's lore and story.
Replaced the original starting town with a new town much closer to the spawn point and reorganized early-game NPCs and objectives.
Moved some caves and several quest locations to better support progression.
Reduced unnecessary travel and early-game friction.
Internal testing suggests the core gameplay systems can now be unlocked in roughly 60–90 minutes, although actual times will vary depending on playstyle.
The beast now evolves through the quest progression, providing better guidance and pacing.
Added discoverable player fast-travel waypoints to towns.
Added an early-game way to refine logs into planks and rocks into stones through the carpenter's refiner.
Reduced the stone crafting requirement from 3 rocks to 2 rocks.
Beast Progression Changes
Added a beast upgrade that allows teleporting directly to the platform and removed the former item-based version of this ability.
The beast waypoint teleport upgrade now includes the functionality that previously required a separate player-only teleport upgrade.
Updated beast perk dependencies to accommodate the updated perk tree.
Beast perk points now start being awarded from Level 2 instead of Level 10.
Crime & Stealing Improvements
NPC villagers now attempt to reach the nearest guard when reporting crimes.
Players now have time to hide, escape, or stop a report before guards are alerted.
Guards immediately react when they witness crimes directly.
NPC villagers only report assaults after receiving a second attack, reducing accidental punishments.
NPC villagers reporting crimes can be stopped before reaching a guard.
Reduced NPC villagers health by roughly 30%.
Reduced Guards level from +15 to +5 of current player level, to make it easier to fight with them.
Stability & Miscellaneous
Added automatic save metadata backups and additional save recovery protections.
Added save migration support for future updates when possible.
Fixed an uncommon loading-screen crash.
Fixed terrain texture blending issues.
Fixed the portal leading to Wavecrest.
Fixed a campfire collision issue affecting projectiles.