Wilderdark

Changes 1

• – To celebrate the game's launch, we are offering a 20% launch discount live from 10th to 17th November.

Something dangerous is lurking in the wilderness 4

• – Wilderdark is a survival horror exploration game set on an island overrun by a mysterious ectoparasite that seems to corrupt all the flora and fauna it comes into contact with. Sent by an organisation seeking immortality, you must document the ecosystem, collect samples and uncover the fate of vanished expeditions, including one led by your parents.
• – Will you survive or become another victim of the mysterious parasite?
• – Keep your eyes peeled on the Team Junkfish socials for more details about a special Steam livestream where you'll have the opportunity to watch and chat along with some of the team playing the game.
• – If you have any questions, or want to chat with other Wilderdark fans, please come join us in Discord. Stay safe researchers!

This update responds to player feedback from our early build April demo. It strengthens the intended gameplay loop, reduces opportunities to skip core content, improves navigation, and presents a more controlled slice of the full game for Steam Next Fest. 1

Steam Next Fest Gameplay Limits 3

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  A one-hour time limit has been implemented.

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  Limited to initial forest level

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  Save and continue functionality is disabled.

Tutorial / Onboarding 4

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  Introduced a tutorial to help new players learn the core gameplay mechanics and tools.

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  Added an opening narrative sequence to establish the game's story and protagonist.

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  Improved onboarding for key tools, including the camera, detector, and PDA, with clear HUD hints.

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  Enhanced environmental feedback so player actions are communicated more clearly (e.g. camera flash interacting with tendrils).

Mission Clarity 3

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  Revised mission objectives and descriptions to make them clearer and easier for new players to understand.

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  Updated objective wording to avoid revealing information the player character would not yet know.

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  Improved communication of new and completed missions through clearer HUD elements and notifications.

Navigation 4

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  The map is made more intuitive and accessible so players can better understand where to go and how to progress.

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  Added map markers for some resource dispensers and key points of interest to improve navigation and help players locate mission-related objectives more easily.

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  Enhanced environmental set dressing by increasing foliage variety and refining the ambience across different zones for players to differentiate the areas.

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  Improved environmental lighting and visual contrast to better highlight key areas and guide players through darker environments.

Scanning & Highlight System 3

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  Darkened and refined the highlight shader to provide consistent visual feedback for scannable objects.

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  Ensured the highlight remains visible for objects that can be scanned, as well as those that have already been scanned, giving players a persistent point of reference.

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  Standardised the distance at which highlights appear and disappear for consistent behaviour throughout the game, without breaking immersion.

Visual Updates 2

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  Polished dinosaur animations, herd movement, and overall AI behaviours to create a more believable and engaging experience.

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  Improved dinosaur skin variants to increase visual variety and readability across different environments.

Critical bug fixing: Many critical bugs fixed!Resolved numerous dinosaur AI issues, including:Gameplay balancing, such as increasing dinosaur movement speeds to make chases feel more threatening.Preventing dinosaurs from getting stuck in water or buried in the terrain.Fixing pathfinding, clipping, and navigation issues.Developer Notes: The entire Team has been hard at work on bug fixing!Balance Changes 8

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  Completed a balancing pass on resource respawn times to ensure players experience a smoother and more consistent gameplay pace.

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  Descriptions for resources have been updated. Focus was to ensure the description was easy to understand.

• – Performance and stability improvements: The build targets the performance and stability concerns identified in the April demo
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  Optimisation efforts were carried out across the project to improve overall performance and stability:

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  Reduced dinosaur pathfinding performance spikes, resulting in approximately a 10% reduction in CPU spikes.

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  Optimised player arm animations to improve runtime performance.

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  Reviewed and optimised obstacle draw calls across the project by identifying high-cost systems and assets, applying targeted fixes, and validating performance improvements through testing.

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  Identified opportunities for larger-scale optimisation, such as using static shadows and baking PCGs where dynamic behaviour is unnecessary, to further improve performance across all levels.

🐛 Known Issues 1

Environment 8

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  Volcano ambience does not return after death.

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  Players can access certain underwater tunnels in the Swamp without diving gear.

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  Underwater ambience is missing in certain areas of the Swamp level.

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  An ambience dead spot exists within the Central Hub.

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  Poison clumps have unintended collision around the obstacle course section.

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  The tent in the Volcano area appears to be floating.

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  The Gasturanthus Extinctus plant retains its highlight after being scanned.

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  Player movement is impaired by rock collisions when climbing in the Swamp.

Dinosaurs 10

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  Some dinosaurs appear to slide rather than walk.

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  Triceratops can get stuck within the vines at the top of the river.

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  Velociraptors can get stuck within the vines on trees in the Forest.

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  The wrong icon appears for the Triceratops allergy within the codex.

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  The T-Rex can get stuck within the environment.

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  Ixalerpeton idle animations are not playing.

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  Pteranodons can appear awkwardly perched or stuck in mid-air.

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  Triceratops can run into walls when being chased.

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  The Triceratops scanning highlight can disappear when the dinosaur moves too far away.

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  The T-Rex cannot move freely within the Swamp level.

Inventory 1

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  Pressing 'A' on a gamepad does not send an item across to storage.

UI / Gameplay 12

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  Occasional spelling and grammar mistakes appear within the codex.

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  The 'Add Combine Hint' is missing the 'CTRL' key element.

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  The "Equipment Check" objective condition can be completed by taking a photo of a vine.

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  Collecting all key pieces does not always complete the "Repair the Broken" mission.

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  Players cannot access the recipe list when using a controller.

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  The 'Don't Get Stung' Mission Complete notification appears each time the player reloads the game.

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  Photos taken with the flash on at close range may appear completely white in the PDA Codex.

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  Players cannot scroll completely to the bottom of PDA Codex entries when using a controller.

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  Pressing CTRL + LMB to save an image within the terminal can occasionally fail.

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  The camera flash is exceptionally bright when players are at infection level 2 or 3.

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  The infection level indicator increases before the player's death and respawn sequence is complete.

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  The player cannot crouch in shallow water and immediately stands back up.

Miscellaneous 12

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  Some audio may be delayed within the caves.

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  Water footstep audio does not trigger when the player walks through shallow water.

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  Gamepad controls are inconsistent within the PDA menu.

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  Equipped tools can clip through environmental mesh.

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  Ambience audio volume can fluctuate rapidly when the player enters hiding areas in the Forest.

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  The player exhibits the swimming animation in shallow water.

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  Notes are not sorted in the correct order within the PDA.

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  The camera snaps upwards when the player is revived after taking too much damage.

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  The camera jitters when the player enters the inventory.

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  New items are automatically equipped after the currently equipped item is used or thrown.

• – We're continuing to work on fixes and improvements as we move towards launch. Thanks to everyone who has played the demo, shared feedback, and helped us identify these issues. Your feedback has been incredibly helpful in making Wilderdark a better experience, and we appreciate your patience as we continue polishing the game!
• – Team Junkfish