Hey, this is Joe, the creative director of JOIN US.
We made a social post last Christmas.
There were cult people dancing with Santa hats. In the end we wrote "Coming 2026. Because The Apocalypse Doesn't Push Its Release Date". We thought it was a good line. Not hilarious, but a solid 6/10.
And that was the plan.
Exceeeept...
...we're going to push the release date of JOIN US to MARCH 2027.
But it's for a good reason!
The March release will cover PC, XBOX, PlayStation, and additional handheld devices. It will be a full release of the game with all the polish and player comforts that you'd expect with that milestone.
Our Fall launch would have been Beta or Early Access, and it would have likely come with the typical challenges of that experience.
Also, if you think about it, moving the date of the Apocalypse is VERY cult.
So, at least we're on brand.
The apocalypse definitely is coming and it has lots of particle effects.
ːsteamthumbsupː For our small team, a BIG UPSIDE of the new release date was getting to ensure that we make JOIN US the best it can be, while reaching the widest possible audience.
ːsteamthumbsdownː Our only real CONCERN was that we might bum players out. And we really like you guys! Except for you, Brad. You know exactly who you are and what you did.
A brief history of JOIN US. I started noodling on this game in 2021. The team grew between 2022 and 2024 and we all worked for free. In 2024 we got funding and this got to become our real job and since then the game has been a central point in our lives... and it's been great. Like, really great. Having a community of players who share our sense of humor makes it even better. So we want this game to be awesome. Not just creatively, but also technically. Because the tech matters.
An old still of the game. Apparently running in Unreal 4 on a Mac from the look of it.
Not to get deep in the weeds, but the console porting process comes down to optimization and by focusing on a multiplatform launch we're going to push the technical polish and stability of the game further than it would have ever gone if we stayed in the PC ecosystem.
A pretty picture of a cult guy shooting a chopper. No context or relevancy to this blog.
A few PC/Steam highlights that become possible on the new timeline:
ːsteamthumbsupː OPTIMIZATION
PSO Precaching, significance management, better LODs, improved SteamDeck support! We will be updating our minimum specs to include more systems (especially when it comes to memory/RAM)
ːsteamthumbsupː BETTER NETWORKING
Optimizing our network transport layer, better replication prioritization, more host settings
ːsteamthumbsupː MODDING AT LAUNCH
Having full mod support at launch becomes a true possibility (we're still investigating pipelines, so we’ll let you know more when we have proper answers)
ːsteamthumbsupː PLATFORM FEATURES
Cloud saving, full controller support for gameplay and UI
The game will still include animal riding, flamethrowers, and dancing. Only now there will be more fps.
And if you're part of the PC community, we're going to have playtests. There’s been a lot to figure out logistically (honestly, more than we expected) and since this is our first time publishing, we'd like to make as few mistakes as possible (for example, that Christmas video...) For clarity, playtests will be closed and they're going to start small -- but we will communicate when that is up and running. OR you can just wait until March and get the game in its ideal form. Until DLC and then there will be an ideal’er form.
There's some cool new features going in (like more wardrobe options) but those were always going to be there and aren't being snuck in because of the date move. So we'll cover those on the next blog.
Thank you for your interest in our crazy game. It's come a long way and that's only possible because so many people apparently have a secret desire to be a doomsday cult leader. Which is weird. But also cool.
So, thank you.
PS. Questions? Comments? Complaints? Our team is happy to talk it out in the discussions or Discord or you can just make fun of us on our Christmas post comments. We won't hide the post because a) we're not cowards and b) we sometimes don't remember how to get past our own 2FA.