Hello inmates, We hope you had a wonderful holiday season! Were back at the studio in full force and intend on making 2019 a huge year for Darwin Project! Were kicking it off by putting together an enormous patch that will require a bit more time to release, but that will take a lot of the feedback youve been sending us and channel it into improvements for our biggest Technical Playtest yet. Weve said that we wont launch Darwin Project out of Early Access until all its systems meet our quality standards for fun factor, balancing, and polish. And when we talked about the road to release, we identified several improvements we want to make before going into full launch. While weve had to tweak that roadmap from July 2018, lots of the important additions we highlighted did make it into the game: The Tile Mapping System, three brand new Tiles, Duo Mode stats and leaderboards, the Playground (Training Room), Daily Rehab Program (Quest System), and tons of cosmetics and optimization. Beyond what was planned in the roadmap, weve also surprised players with our first-ever Battle Pass: The Death and Life of Roger D. Glanton, groundbreaking spectator interaction features on Twitch, controller support on Steam, bears, the Show Director Soundboard, new Private Match options, and more. As we sat down to nail down what else is coming to Darwin Project in the short-term, we found ourselves wanting to address key areas that we and the Darwin Project community feel strongly about, but that would require more work than what our current monthly development cycles allow for. Chief among those is getting melee combat to a spot where its as clear and comfortable as it can be. Were currently experimenting with various timing tweaks, developing clear and dedicated animations to reintroduce the upward and downward Axe swings, prototyping new visual effects on the trajectory to better help players identify exactly where Axe swings are going, and more. Well be tackling the Axe, as well as other improvements that require a longer development time, mercilessly throughout January and most of February. This means that Darwin Project will not receive a content update this month. It also means that the next patch is going to be absolutely massive, and that your feedback on the work-in-progress version will be more important than ever! Please stay tuned for the exact dates of the Technical Playtest(s) on Steam. If youve been answering our surveys saying youre dissatisfied with the Axe, wed love for you to let us know whether it feels better for you in a Technical Playtest! Well still be holding a devstream on Tuesday, January 15 from 11 AM EST to 12 PM EST. Tune in on our official Twitch channel as usual as we look back at the greatest moments in 2018, answer your questions, and do a bit of Darwin trivia with some members of the team! We know youre excited to find out what else is coming for Darwin Project and when. Well have more details to share as soon as we get a preliminary feel for some of the ideas were considering. These ideas wouldnt have been possible without your help, so do keep sending in your feedback! - The Scavengers Team