We know many of you have become used to receiving monthly updates throughout the Early Access journey of Way of the Hunter 2. Bringing new content, features, and improvements to the game has been an exciting part of this development process, and we truly appreciate the enthusiasm and support you have shown with every update. This Hunter Log is less of a full recap and more of a look at where things stand right now, and where we're headed next.
Where We Are
Way of the Hunter 2 has grown a lot since launching into Early Access. We recently welcomed the Kilimaya Reserve with Update #2, opening up a new map to explore and hunt. Since then, we've kept building with new animals, new missions, new gear including the ZEISS optics lineup or Bergara B14 HMR rifle, and a list of improvements shaped directly by your feedback with every update.
Multiplayer also took its first real step out into the world. It's currently live on the Experimental branch, and it just received its first update, Patch 0.3.1, bringing a batch of fixes for issues players ran into during this early co-op testing phase, but also a bunch of fixes for the default version of the game. It's still early days for multiplayer, but we're glad to have players testing it alongside us and telling us what needs to work.
Where We're Headed
Our original Early Access plan was to keep releasing new content and features on a monthly cadence. About two weeks ago, we took a step back, and after careful consideration, decided to pause adding new things for now to fully focus on improving and fixing what's already in the game. We believe this will improve your experience sooner, and help us deliver more solid updates going forward.
Screenshots by: Rattoplay (Steam), timberthechicken (Steam), umbhaki (Discord), cronenberg (Steam), 12k Withdrawal (Discord), ..ivory.. (Discord)
The major content planned for this phase is already well underway, and the new content promised in our recent roadmap is coming and will be delivered before the full 1.0 release. But before we add more on top, we want to make sure everything already in the game is as stable, polished, and enjoyable as it can be.
For the next stretch, that means prioritizing bug fixing, tweaking, and optimization. This isn't a slowdown, it's us listening to what you've told us matters most right now, the stability and quality. We're going through Redmine reports and community feedback closely, and we're hunting down bucks and bugs, both big and small. So, if you've spotted something buggy in the field, don't let it get away, and report it to us via this link, details on how to report a bug and attach your saved files can be found here.
Tell Us What You Think
Alongside all of this, we've launched a new community survey, and we want to hear from everyone, newcomers, passionate hunters, longtime fans, or anyone who's picked up Way of the Hunter 2 during Early Access. It's available in all in-game languages, so just visit the link below and choose yours. The more opinions we gather, the better we can plan what comes next. We're committed to reading through every response, and your feedback will help shape the future of the game.
What This Means Going Forward
Once this foundation is stronger, we'll keep moving ahead with the new content and features already planned on our roadmap. Multiplayer will keep evolving on the Experimental branch as we work toward bringing it to the main game. And through it all, your reports and feedback will keep shaping the priorities we set.
From the Community
Some great shots have been coming out of the community lately, warthogs, crocs, and buffalo out on Kilimaya's savanna, golden hour shots from New Laurentia, and a few quiet, misty mornings in the Canadian wilderness too.
Screenshots by: ablaotyT (Discord), DDMercury (Discord), Gateiro (Discord), SergioRBB10 (Discord), NeXus Flako (Discord)
A big thanks to everyone sharing their hunts with us, on Discord or social media. Keep tagging us, we like featuring them when we can.
From our Community Spotlights, a few cool moments worth pointing back to, for example Sightless playing through our first major update and showing off the new gear (thermal clip-on, suppressors, thermal monocular) along with the new Photo Mode: watch here. HUNT exploring the game early on at his own pace: watch here. Or RonMcTube reading through an entire patch notes list live on stream, calling it the longest one he's read out in 17 years of making videos: watch here.
Screenshots by: Booney (Discord), Vitae (Discord), saltychives (Discord), rightnleft (Discord), Gandalf (Steam)
We've also been posting Dev Diaries on our YT channel: @ninerocksgames, the latest one covers trophy and antler generation with our Gameplay Engineer Stanislav, how the new genetics system procedurally builds every set of antlers, so no two trophies turn out quite the same: watch here. We haven't put out a new one in a bit, since our focus has shifted toward getting your feedback front and center right now, but more Dev Diaries are still coming.
Thank you for being part of this journey with us. Way of the Hunter 2 is still early in its story, and we're glad to be building it together with a community that cares this much. You can check it out on Steam , currently in Early Access, or wishlist it on consoles via the PlayStation Store or Microsoft Store.
Happy hunting!
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