The wait is over! Decimation has officially launched into Early Access. Thank you for following the journey through the demo, and welcome to everyone jumping in for the first time. This post covers what's in today's launch, what's changed since the demo, and what's coming next.
What's in the Early Access version
Decimation's EA release features the first 2 acts of the game's planned 4-act story campaign.
Each act contains 4 hand-crafted levels, each set in a distinct location.
That means 8 full levels are playable right now.
Each act also includes its own Endless Challenge Mode - A self-contained, replayable test of how far you can push your build once the story missions are cleared, with its own reward track. This mode is much more difficult than the campaign missions, and it’s meant to challenge the most hardcore TD aficionado.
To be upfront: yes, this is about 50% of the total planned story and level content. But Act 1 and Act 2 were designed as self-contained narrative arcs. Each one resolves its own part of the story before leading into the next. You're not getting half of an unfinished story; you're getting two complete chapters, with more to come.
Below are screenshots of the 8 levels available in EA right now, spanning the first 2 acts of the game:
Current State of the game vs. the Demo
The demo was last updated on May 1st 2026. Since then, on top of all the new levels, enemies, and story content above, Early Access brings a long list of quality-of-life updates, optimizations, balance passes, and new systems:
New Systems and Content
New Enemy Resistance versus Turret Damage Type system to increase strategic depth and the importance of choosing effective equipment loadouts against specific enemies. You can now view enemy resistance information by clicking on any enemy in the battlefield. Relevant details are displayed on the [General Info Panel] of the Battle UI:
Turrets and Heroes now have associated damage types. You can see the what damage type a turret has when selecting what to build, or by clicking on an existing turret. The information will be shown on the [General Info Panel] of the Battle UI as well:
New Research System - This system implements the use of Refined Catenium earned through campaign mission performance to upgrade the effectiveness of Circuit Effects in battle. This also means that the demo version of Circuit Effects are now considered overpowered compared to EA and will feel more streamlined/balanced in Early Access
New enemy types both in Act 1 and especially in Act 2: Scarabs, Armored Beetles, Infiltrators and a new boss - Each with their own resistances, special abilities and attack patterns. The new enemy types were added to enhance the ARPG feel and to provide added dimension to gameplay
New enemy tunneling/teleport mechanic - Certain enemies now travel underground/offscreen and re-emerge elsewhere on the map, forcing you to rethink turret coverage and targeting
A new escort mission type to change things up from the traditional defense of a fixed structure
Balance Pass Across Every Level
Rebalanced wave composition and difficulty curves across all 8 levels based on extensive playtesting
Tuned enemy stats for smoother difficulty scaling (Ogre and Ogre Elite defense/HP, Swarmer Drone Elite damage, Boss Spectre HP)
Reworked reward and research economy for better long-term progression
Retuned enemy spawn timing and warning frequency to reduce confusing overlap during intense moments
Stability & Save Data
Fixed issues where completed waves, item rewards, and hero skill points weren't saving correctly
Fixed a credits exploit where continuous-damage weapons could award far more currency than intended
Fixed results-screen desyncs in Endless Mode where the displayed outcome didn't match what was actually saved
General turret UI reliability fixes
Visual & Audio Polish
Fixed multiple VFX issues tied to elevated terrain (Orbital Strike, Disruptor explosions, targeting decals)
Fixed enemy fade/transparency glitches during tunnel entry and exit
Synced turret audio to its actual fire-rate stat and added pitch variance to firing sounds
Expanded in-game enemy intel entries for more information about enemy strengths/weaknesses
Accessibility & Display
Full ultrawide monitor support (21:9) - UI now scales predictably and anchors correctly instead of stretching or misaligning, addressing feedback from the demo
Early Access Roadmap
Targeted on or before Q4 2026 — Act 3
4 new levels continuing the campaign story in a new biome/environment
The game's 3rd hero, with new mechanics that differ from the first two heroes
New enemy units and a new boss
Unique Module system - Using the dialogue system to unlock new unique modules not obtainable through other means
A new Endless Challenge Mode for the act
An update to hero skill progression
Targeted on or before Q2 2027 — Act 4
4 new levels concluding the campaign story in a new biome/environment
New enemy units and the game's final boss
A new Endless Challenge Mode for the act
Hard and Nightmare difficulty modes for every level in the game
Steam Achievements
Expected time in Early Access: approximately 7–10 months from today's release.
Getting the game ready for this EA launch took around 26 months, spent building all of the core systems, and testing which additional systems worked for the game and which didn't. With most core systems now complete, and based on my past pace building levels and content, I'm estimating 3–4 months per remaining act (Act 3 and Act 4), plus another 1–2 months for additional difficulty modes and final polish.
Pricing
The reason for the current pricing is two-fold: First, it’s to reward early supporters of the game. Secondly, I believe that the current price also fairly reflects the amount of content available in Early Access.
The Early Access price will increase as new content is added, specifically, with the release of each new Act. The full 1.0 release will be priced to reflect the complete experience. If you're planning to pick up the game at any point, now is the cheapest it will be.
As of today’s release, Decimation has a 10% launch discount running through August 27th/28th, 2026 (depending on your timezone).
How You Can Shape Development
Decimation is a solo-developed game, and I want to build it with the community, not just for it. Player feedback will heavily influence future changes to balance, features, and content.
You can:
Vote on or suggest changes to tower balance, hero abilities, battle effects, or equipment modules
Suggest quality-of-life updates via Discord polls or the Steam Community forum
Flag anything that feels too weak, too strong, or unfair — I'll adjust it
Share your difficulty and pacing experience to help refine level design
Where to reach me: the game's Steam Community Hub or the official Discord.
My commitment: I read every community post, review, and message. As a solo dev, I balance responding to feedback with actually building the game. Critical bugs get priority, and I respond to questions and suggestions as time allows. Thanks in advance for your patience during heads-down development periods.
What's most useful to hear about:
"This tower/hero/battle effect/module feels too weak/strong"
Difficulty and pacing experiences
What content you want to see next
Any bugs or issues you run into
Missing features you'd like to see
But seriously, I’d love to hear about anything that you feel you want to talk about for the game.
Known Issues & Rough Edges
Being upfront about what still needs work:
Inventory & Workshop UX - upgrading modules that are already equipped on turrets is more inconvenient than it should be right now. I'm working on making this smoother, along with a module filter by set-effect type.
Performance options - I'm working on graphics quality settings to help the game run better on older machines. This is in testing but didn't make it into today's initial release.
Localization
Right now, Decimation is English only. Localization is expensive, and since the game is narratively driven with a lot of dialogue, I want to be deliberate about which languages are worth investing in rather than rushing it.
If there's a specific language you'd like to see supported, let me know on the Steam Community page. I'll be tracking requests closely.
Thank You
To everyone who played the demo and took the time to share feedback. Be it on the Steam Community page, the game’s Discord, Facebook, Reddit, and everywhere else the game is discussed. To everyone who made a video or streamed the game on Twitch or YouTube, a huge heartfelt thank you. There are too many of you to name individually, but you know who you are. Decimation would not be what it is today without you.
Try It, Support It, Tell Me About It
If you're on the fence, try the free demo first and see if Decimation is for you before buying. Its available here:
If you're ready to jump in, the launch discount is live now. And whether you love it or have notes, I'd genuinely appreciate hearing from you. Through the Steam Community Hub, Discord, or an honest review.
Thanks so much for being here for the launch! Let's build this one together!
