Howdy, Pioneers,
Let's get straight to the headline.
Playtests are coming.
Yes, actual playtests. We know a lot of you folks have been waiting to hear those words, and we're very excited to finally say them.
By the end of this month, we plan to open playtest registration here on Steam, followed by several rounds of testing, and our Discord community will be the first place to hear how it will all work, when it begins, and when you can throw your hat into the ring.
This is a big moment for us. We're itching to get more of you into the world of Red Rust Pioneers, but we also want to be very honest about what kind of build this is.
A playtest build isn't a polished demo. It isn't the finished Early Access experience. It's a working development build, with rough edges, unfinished bits, strange bugs, awkward moments, and the occasional chance that the wilderness wins in ways we didn't intend.
In other words, this is a job for the hardy types.
We're looking for players willing to head into the buggy wilderness, test systems, break things, share feedback, and help us make Red Rust Pioneers stronger before we put a proper demo in front of the world.
Overlook Lake: Boots in the Dirt
The first place playtesters will get their boots dirty is Overlook Lake.
Overlook Lake sits just before Red Rust Valley, and for us it's become both the opening test area and the heart of our current demo work. This is where new systems arrive first. It's where we test performance, polish the feel of the world, and make sure the early flow of the game gives players a proper taste of frontier life.
Over the past month, the team has been putting a lot of work into making Overlook Lake feel better, run better, and look more alive.
We've upgraded the water system, so the lake now has more depth, movement, and atmosphere. We've also brought tree animation into the main development branch, which makes a huge difference to the feeling of the landscape. When the wind moves through the trees, the world stops feeling static and comes to life.
There have also been a heap of smaller changes. Lighting tweaks, environmental polish, performance work, bug fixes, quest flow improvements, interface fixes, crafting changes, and all the little bits of development work that don't always make for flashy screenshots, but make the game feel better every time you play it.
This is the unglamorous part of game development, but it's also the part where promising features start becoming a real game.
Not Next Fest, Not Yet
Today marks the start of Steam Next Fest, and we'd be lying if we said it didn't sting a little to not be taking part.
For a long time, June Next Fest was the milestone we were aiming at. The whole team has been pushing incredibly hard to get the game into shape, and over the past few months we've made big progress across the board.
A couple of weeks ago, though, we sat down together and made the call every developer dreads.
Was the game ready for something as visible as Next Fest?
The honest answer was no.
The core systems are coming together. The world is starting to feel like a place you can live in. The cabins, crafting, quests, survival loops, characters, water, wildlife, and frontier atmosphere are all moving in the right direction. But there are still too many bugs, too many unfinished corners, and a few critical systems that need more work before we can confidently call this a polished public demo.
We respect your time too much to put something in front of you that we knew wasn't ready.
That doesn't mean we're stepping back. It means we're taking the right next step.
Instead of throwing Red Rust Pioneers into the spotlight too early, we're moving into structured playtesting. Smaller groups first, more feedback, faster fixes, and a clearer path towards a build we're proud of and an Early Access release later this year.
Good luck to all the teams taking part in Next Fest this week. We'll be cheering them on from the sidelines while we keep getting our own frontier ready.
Ol' Red Comes to Overlook Lake
Some of you may remember Red, our campfire storyteller from the Halloween update.
Well, Ol' Red has now made his way into the main development branch.
Red is a mountain man, trapper, teller of tall tales, and, right now, a man in need of help. He's set up camp by Overlook Lake, but things haven't gone quite to plan. He's in a bad way, and any passing pioneer with a bit of grit and kindness might be able to get him back on his feet.
This is Red's first proper appearance in the playable game, and he gives us a chance to start bringing more character, story, and personality into the early experience.
Red Rust Pioneers isn't just about surviving in the wilderness. It's about the people you meet there, their stories, and the way your actions help shape the frontier around you.
Red is the first taste of that in Overlook Lake, and we're looking forward to seeing how playtesters respond to him.
Building Your Pioneer
Last month, we showed you some of the work we've been doing on our new MetaHuman character pipeline.
This month, that work has taken a big step forward.
Our internal test build now includes a working character creator, and players can customise their own pioneer, then step into the game using that character.
That's a big milestone for us.
We're only showing partial screenshots for now because the character creator interface is still very much in progress. The system works, but visually it's not where we want it to be yet. Some of the screens are still rough. Some of the layout is temporary. Some of it is, to use the technical term, a little shonky.
But the important thing is that the system is now running in the game.
You can choose a face, pick hair, set skin tone, choose your starting outfit, and start turning a blank character into your own pioneer. There's still more to do, especially around presentation and polish, but the foundations are now in place.
For a cooperative survival game, this matters. When you and your friends step into the world together, we want you to feel like a group of actual pioneers, not four identical placeholders wearing hats.
The character creator is a big part of making that happen.
The Current Focus: Bugs, Polish and Playability
Right now, a lot of our development effort is focused on the less glamorous, absolutely essential work of bug fixing and polish.
That means improving stability. Tightening core systems. Making crafting clearer. Making quests more reliable. Smoothing out the flow of the early game. Fixing interface issues. Chasing down edge cases. Improving performance. Making sure the build can stand up to real players doing the unpredictable things real players always do.
This is exactly why playtesting matters.
We can test internally. We can run through our own checklists. We can break the game in the ways we expect it to break. But nothing replaces putting a build into the hands of players who haven't spent months staring at the same systems.
You'll find things we miss.
You'll try things we didn't expect.
You'll help us see what's confusing, what's exciting, what needs work, and what already feels right.
That feedback is how we get from a development build to something we're proud to share more widely.
A Little Music on the Wind
Here's a fun one. If you've watched the trailer on our Steam page, you've already heard a piece of our new music without knowing it. The background to that trailer is built on our game's theme, and it's been hiding in plain sight since last month.
This week, we'll be sharing the full theme song over on Discord, so you can hear it properly, the way it's meant to be heard.
And that's still only part of the story. Last month we mentioned a very special recording session, and there's a bigger piece of music news we're not quite ready to share yet. The theme song this week is the first taste. There's more to come, and we think it'll be worth the wait.
What's Coming Next
Right now, the team's focus is clear: bug fixing, polish, playability, and getting Red Rust Pioneers into the best possible shape for the road ahead.
We know it's disappointing not to see us in Next Fest today. Believe us, we feel that too. But we'd rather make the right call now than ask you to judge the game on a build we didn't truly believe was ready.
Red Rust Pioneers is getting closer.
The frontier is starting to feel alive.
And soon, some of you are going to be able to step into it for the first time.
Join the Discord, Hear About Playtests First
If you want to be among the first to hear more about upcoming playtests, come and join our Discord community.
That's where we talk most directly with players, share work in progress, ask questions, run polls, and listen to what you want from Red Rust Pioneers. Our Discord community has already helped shape the game in real ways, and as we move into playtesting, that connection becomes even more important.
So come join us by the campfire.
And if you've already wishlisted Red Rust Pioneers, thank you. Stay with us. Every wishlist helps more players discover the game, and we're working hard to make sure the wait is worth it.
View game pageSee you on the frontier.
Rusty, and the rest of the Dev Team
P.S. Don't forget to boil your tea!