Hi, all.
PATCH NOTES BELOW
Wow. What a twenty four hours it has been since launch. I want to start by saying that I have read all of your supportive comments. They are incredibly kind. When I say they mean more than you know, I truly mean it. Your words have helped me and the four of us get through what has been a very rough launch.
If you missed our last announcement and want to read it, you can find it here.
But there is also a voice in my head that needs to be honest with you. Your kindness means the world to us, but it does not erase the fact that the technical problems at launch were on us. Those issues were our responsibility, and we accept that fully. Not everything that happened was within our control, but the parts that were, we own completely.
So while I am grateful for your support, I also do not want it to distract from the fact that we still have lessons to learn. This moment has been a real character building experience for all of us as a team. And I know this might sound strange, but I actually would not change what has happened. This whole experience has taught us so much about ourselves, and you do not truly fail if you learn from it. I know that sounds cliché, maybe even a little cringe, but it is just me wearing my heart on my sleeve. I would not change how the launch went, because it showed us where we need to grow. And growing also means being honest about where we stand.
I know there are solo developers and even smaller teams who launch multiplayer games with far fewer issues. I admire those developers. But the truth is, as developers and as human beings, we do not always get it right, even when we give it everything we have. And I want to show you that we are humans behind the screen. We are not robots. So here is a picture of me and my best friend, Teddy.
We work hard, we try our best, and we feel everything you say, both the good and the bad. And I think it is important to remember that every game you play is made by real people. We laugh, we stress, we celebrate, and we make mistakes. But we love making games because creating something that entertains you brings us joy. That is the heart of it. That is why we do what we do. I fully understand the frustration and the disappointment. I respect the negative reviews that explain what went wrong and help us improve. But there are also comments that just... cut deep.... One review said they hope we never work on another project again, and there's many more like that. Reading something like that honestly hurts. It does not take away from the fact that the launch had problems. It only reminds me how easy it is to forget that there are human beings on both sides of the screen.
But yeah, setbacks do not define us. What we choose after them does. So, what have we learned?
I have been reading all your comments, feedback, and suggestions. In the first twenty four hours we have already shipped several hotfixes and our first major update. You can read the full list below. I also want to make something clear. Many issues you experienced were not things we saw during our testing (truthfully). We tested so much. We played through the game again and again, and nothing major stood out to us. But after sitting down together and talking as friends and as a team, we can now see what we could have done differently. Let's get into it.
Seeing the game through your eyes
We should have tested the game with more people. With over three hundred thousand wishlists, our community was already huge. Instead of keeping the testing mostly between the five of us and a few friends and family, we should have brought you in. A private test. A public demo. Anything that let more of you try the game early. We relied too much on our own eyes and not enough on yours. That is something we will change. I am truly sorry for that. When thousands of you jumped in at launch, the game was suddenly being played in so many different ways. Different computers. Different settings. Different setups we never had access to. All these real world situations revealed problems that our small testing circle never saw. Seeing that happen made it very clear how important it is to test with a wider group in the future.
Understanding your experience, not just our own
Another thing we learned is that just because something makes sense to us, it does not mean it makes sense to you. We have been making games for ten years, but we are still learning every single day. We are all a work in progress, and sometimes you miss things that only become obvious once thousands of people are experiencing the game for the first time. We understand the engine. We see all the moving parts. We know the rules of the game because we built them. But that can become a trap. We assumed certain things would be clear right away. The rules of classic mode or cursed mode made perfect sense to us, but looking at it now, I can completely see why they were confusing. We should have asked ourselves how the game feels to someone seeing it for the very first time, not how it feels to us as the people who have been living inside it. I am sorry for that too.
We are continuing to work on improving the game and fixing bugs. Over the next few weeks I will be personally reading all reviews and helping anyone who needs it. And I know it might not look like much from the outside, but the microphone calibration and voice detection systems are incredibly complex. Finding the right balance, testing it, tweaking it, and making sure it works across different setups takes a lot of time. These are not simple switches we can flip. But we are working on it every single day.
PATCH NOTESMAJOR CHANGES
MIC & VOICE CHAT SETUP:
- Added a mandatory calibration that must be completed at least once before play is allowed.
- Fixed the calibration screen not appearing at startup.
- Fixed mic calibration issues occurring in the in-game pause menu.
- Fixed a crash related to VOIP debug messages and certain Steam usernames.
- Adjusted in-game VOIP volume so players are no longer too quiet.
- Added voice boost settings for improved clarity and audibility between players.
- Added a vignette effect when speaking over the limit before the game starts.
- Improved mic calibration mode for better voice recognition and smoother onboarding.
- Improved balance for in-game voice detection for more consistent recognition, based on community feedback.
GAMEPLAY
- Fixed audio ducking while in the menu not working.
- Fixed crash bug related to player deaths or during level change.
- Quality-of-life audio improvements in the main menu, in-game, and during transitions.
- Adjusted -dx11 compatibility launch option that will help some users with crashes or driver issues.
- Fixed being stuck in tutorial mode after the first round in a tutorial session.
- Fixed repeated respawning in the Watchtower.
- Fixed hunter effigy showing “Press E” after being picked up.
- Fixed in-game CamVOIP FX attenuation so directional audio now works correctly.
- Reduced Watchtower trigger volume to prevent accidental activation.
- Updated rules screen with clearer gameplay guidance, including avoiding traps and hunters; it now appears at least once per session.
Right, that's it for tonight. I hope you will stick with us. And if you left a negative review because of the launch issues, I hope you might give us another chance. The game is already in a much stronger place than it was on day one, and we are not stopping. And if you are enjoying the game, sharing your experience in a review helps us more than you know. We appreciate every constructive voice.
Thank you. - Digital Cybercherries | Joe