The first Major announcement of 2026 is here. We’ve been working very hard since the start of the year to overhaul the existing world generation, as well as improving and adding countless features.
Before we get into what we’ve been up to in the development of Pastures New. We’ve taken the decision to disable the current demo, only in the short term, don’t worry it will be back. This is due to the current demo being very outdated and having very few players. However we are still looking for members of our community to be active demo testers. So if this interests you please head to the discord
https://discord.com/invite/rtxSZwkCJH and follow the steps there.
World Overhaul
We’ve completely rebuilt the world generation system from the ground up. This means new biomes, more interesting terrain, and a more diverse world for you to explore. Our new system has also made it possible to expand the world even further in the future, meaning more biomes, more variety, and more progression as development continues.
We’ve introduced a range of new biomes, each designed to feel unique and alive. These aren’t just visual changes, every biome brings its own:
New resources to discover and gather
Unique challenges to overcome
Reasons to explore beyond your comfort zone
Custom weather effects
Biomes now dynamically affect players based on localised temperatures, creating more varied survival conditions, from brutal desert sandstorms, to sunny flower meadows, to arctic tundra. In addition, as seasonal temperatures adjust, the biomes will also adapt depending on those localised temperatures, meaning higher-altitude areas will become colder and more hostile earlier in the year, than those warmer biomes. This doesn’t just make the world feel more alive and varied throughout the seasons, it also adds an element of strategy to exploring. Do you dare to go out in autumn, when the snows start to fall on higher ground, or do you go exploring during those warmer months, when conditions are more predictable. The choice and risk will be completely up to you.
We also took this opportunity to fix some of the performance issues that we knew about with our foliage. Our old trees were eating up an unnecessary amount of performance due to shadows, so we’ve fully rebuilt them to perform well even on low-spec rigs. This has allowed us to extend the distance of high quality shadows, so the world looks and feels better than before, while performing better.
Landscape Material
With the new world overhaul comes a new landscape material. This has allowed us to introduce new custom material textures to improve the visuals of our new biomes.
Interesting Locations
During our world revamp we’ve added the ability to spawn Interesting Locations ‘IL’ throughout the world. These as the name gives away will be interesting points found during your travels throughout the world. From unique landscape features such as a small hill with a big oak placed upon it in the middle of meadow, to a desert outpost with an oasis around it. These IL will allow us to place more carefully handcrafted areas within the procedural world. You’ll be seeing more of these as we add and increase the system's abilities, and add new interesting locations for you to explore in the future updates.
Survival Debuffs
To add to the survival challenge we’ve also added some new debuffs, these include the new “wet debuff”, which affects players when outside in the rain, don’t worry you’ll be able to wear waterproofs at a later date to counter this. Additionally we’ve expanded the hunger system, so players will now need to eat more consistently or risk starvation but don’t worry, your character isn’t too picky.
NPCs
Inline with our player characters our NPCs will too be making use of metahumans. We’ve recently completely revamped our wandering trader with a new body, clothes and even facial animations as we make our NPCs feel more alive.
What's to come
Looking ahead, the central village and outposts will become our next major milestone. The village will have an array of NPCs, with upgradeable buildings to provide new resources, and even quests at a later stage. This will open up multiple types of playstyles, allowing players to either invest deeply in village growth and its rewards or embrace a more nomadic path. Below is a sneak peak at an house that will be appearing in the village.
Exploration will also be a key area of our future development. Outposts will be introduced as key points of discovery, offering exclusive items and skills that can’t be found elsewhere. From quiet fishing settlements to sprawling stable complexes, each location will be shaped by its biome, making every journey feel distinct and rewarding.
Thanks for your time. Any questions or feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Alex & Jon