Hello fellow survivors,
Thank you for joining the first playtest and sharing your feedback. Your enthusiasm blew us away! Thanks to you, we now have a clear understanding of what works and what doesn’t.
The biggest takeaway? You love the world - the tension, eerie beauty, and co-op chaos. That gives us the confidence to keep pushing forward.
You said the early game feels too punishing. MISERY is supposed to be tough, and survival is supposed to be earned, but the start shouldn’t be THAT crushing. We’re tuning the difficulty curve, making it smoother in the beginning while keeping the deeper zones brutal. Enemy camping at the gate will be fixed, loot balance is in progress. But remember, not every fight is worth it: if you meet knife-wielding bandits in the woods while unarmed - that’s bad, just like IRL!
We’re already working on requested quality-of-life features: FoV slider, head wobble toggle, improved movement, clearer inventory, better item use, and even a compass!
This playtest was capped at 10 days to focus on foundational elements, early mechanics and atmosphere. The full game will go far beyond that: many more locations, enemies, loot, and smarter AI with unique behavior. Maewing is already building these systems.
Dynamic anomalies, day/night cycle, and weather systems are also in the works to make every run fresh and unique.
Bug reports are noted. Most weren’t critical, but a few annoying ones are already fixed. Optimization and stability improvements continue.
We’re revisiting the day/night cycle. You’ll be able to explore the Zone at night, with extra risk, of course. Days will be slightly longer, but time pressure and decision-making under stress remain key to the MISERY experience.
However, we know playstyles vary, and we make MISERY enjoyable for our players. Some of you love the challenge and chaos, others want to just chill with friends and explore. That’s why we’re adding two modes: Survival (hard) and Adventure (more forgiving), plus an optional Hardcore mode with permadeath.
Lobby management is being improved. Private lobbies are coming, and we’re working on better seamless cross-region support.
Localization is planned for many languages, check the Steam page for the planned languages list. Want to help with translation? Join our Discord and reach out.
This playtest ends Sunday. Wishlist now and join us in the next test in September. Current testers are in for all future waves.
Thanks for playing, streaming, sharing, and spreading the word. You keep us going. We’re a very small, enthusiastic team and hardcore gamers ourselves, and we are building something weird and special here, so every bit of attention helps.
Full release: October 23.
Love you,
Dev.
PS. Do not forget to wishlist!