Wayward players, it’s time to answer the call of the beacon! The highly anticipated update is finally here and promises to guide you to new horizons and adventures.
After our last major release being the largest update to date, we thought we would scale back this time around and offer another pretty beefy update, but without such a long wait between the releases. Our last one was 280 days between the major releases, but this one clocks in at 218 days instead. We hope to keep this pace up in the future, and hopefully even faster; we always seem to get carried away.
Some stand-out features from this release include:
Added the concept of “ports” and lighthouses for mass island-to-island transfer and faster travel.
Added wooden bookcases that can hold books for added benefits.
Added tamed creature commands that unlock new behaviors as skill increases and creatures are tamed multiple times.
Added a new magical golem creature, crafted out of various and sometimes rare resources.
Creatures now have a combat strength and danger level, shown in their tooltip.
Added cages for picking up creatures for easy travel (and possibly shipment) of tamed creatures.
Added various rare gems for unique recipes and trading value.
Weapons and armor can now have a variable range of bonus damage and base defense based on their quality. Creatures have been rebalanced with this in mind.
You can preview some of these changes in the below video:
This release has been pretty content or feature-heavy compared to previous updates, but there are still plenty of performance and quality-of-life updates sprinkled in as well. Check them all out below:
The time has come once again. The development branch has been updated with the yet-to-be-named pre-release version of the “next” major update. This means you can play (and test out) all the new upcoming features and improvements. Take it for a spin if you feel like living on the bleeding edge.
We have shared a few videos on some of the new features so far, including:
Some other notable features include:
Added tamed creature commands that unlock new behaviors as skill increases and creatures are tamed multiple times.
Added various rare gems for unique recipes and trading value.
Added a new magical golem creature, crafted out of various and sometimes rare resources.
Weapons and armor can now have a variable range of bonus damage and base defense based on their quality. Creatures have been rebalanced with this in mind.
But if you really want to see all of what’s going on so far, you can check the in-game changelog or view our Trello for a more technical breakdown: https://trello.com/b/PWX1Hpjn/wayward-todo – Look in the “Beta 2.13 “Next”” column.
As always, we would encourage you to back up your saves before trying this development branch of the game. By default, you can find your backups and save folders in the main Wayward directory. You can also export saves and global save data in-game if needed.
Hope you are enjoying/enjoyed your holidays! Here’s what will likely be the last update/minor patch in this series as we have already begun to work extensively on the next major update.
Onwards and wayward into the next year! Stay tuned for more news!
Bonus Tip: If you are ever unsure about what exactly each action tier does on a tool, for example, “Mining III”, you can inspect the item (by default, using Shift+Right Click when hovering an item), and hover over each of the actions and tiers to get information on what this affects.
Bonus Promo: Dr. Incompetent recently put together a playthrough of Wayward on their channel including a beginner’s guide:
We have a minor update ready tonight to start off this weekend. This release primarily focuses on bug fixes and smaller UI/UX improvements. Review the changelog below for more details!
Bonus Promo: Thank you to those who recently left a review for Wayward. This helps us reach more potential players and supporters! If you have a few minutes, please leave a review and rate any reviews you find helpful!
Bonus Tip: Wells do not require an underground/cave lake to function (although this is definitely preferred). You can place them in many locations and receive fresh water over time. You can even place multiple of them to get more fresh water quicker. Use a rope to “Test Depth” on wells to tell if you have adequate water coming into the well.
New
Redesigned the attack tooltip, adding in damage types, range attack info, and fixing misc issues.
Added a tooltip delay option.
Improvements
Indecipherable and completed tattered maps now appear in the inventory with different graphics. (Thanks TheBlackHand!)
Completed tattered maps that are part of a different island will no longer be called “indecipherable.” (Thanks Setbu!)
Clicking on the “also bound to” icon in the bindings menu now filters to the specific input rather than the bindables also bound to that input, and the filter now updates as you rebind them, allowing you to more easily fix incompatibilities.
Tweaked some actions to be discovered by default like starting/stoking fire and butcher and removed eat/drink/rename.
Reduced splash screen time.
You can now choose to only show tooltips if you’re holding the “show more information” binding.
Dual Wielding now has a reputation impact and can increase strength. (Thanks Kalako!)
Cleaned up the UX around configuring the craft action in the action bar. (Thanks 柯箴之!)
Drawing maps now has more delay to prevent performance issues and accidentally redrawing the same terrain. (Thanks 柯箴之!)
The player now uses their right hand for their main hand but can be toggled with a new gameplay setting.
Improved the “Item Qualities” help article. (Thanks 柯箴之!)
Stored item insulation is now referred to as that in item tooltips.
Balance
Equippable containers (like backpacks) now have equipped insulation values.
Skeletons are now resistant to fire instead of vulnerable to it.
You can no longer see merchant stats in complete detail.
Bug Fixes
Fixed drop/move actions not getting discovered. (Thanks Kalako!)
Fixed items not receiving the proper red decayed/damaged when picking them up. (Thanks 柯箴之!)
Fixed interrupts sometimes continuously opening when in multiplayer games.
Fixed errors related to scarecrows. (Thanks Jon!)
Fixed the inventory remaining greyed out after using an action slot while hovering over an item that gets destroyed or dropped. (Thanks 柯箴之!)
Fixed the rename interrupt not closing after first opening it with an action slot set to “Rename” via a hotkey, then using “Rename” again via the action menu.
Fixed context menus eating inputs for a short time due to animations.
Fixed items refined down to have 0/0 durability displaying with an extremely long durability bar. (Thanks Dirty Protagonist!)
Fixed the “Inspect in Dialog” hint showing when there are no inspections visible on a tile and the “Always Show More Information” option is enabled.
Fixed the news menu not correctly removing changelogs from news posts in favour of redirecting to the changelog menu.
Fixed the message for pouring water on plants never saying when the plant is fully healed. (Thanks 柯箴之!)
Fixed milestones with lists of discoveries not showing that you can inspect them for more information. (Thanks 柯箴之!)
Fixed action slots staying highlighted after pressing it and quickly moving your cursor off of it. (Thanks 柯箴之!)
Fixed some issues when preferring a lens over other fire-starting devices. (Thanks Ratha Wynter!)
Fixed the game displaying “you can now combat the tides” and unlocking the islands dialog upon collecting a minecart. (Thanks 柯箴之!)
Fixed coconut container of purified fresh water spilling into medicinal puddles.
Fixed copy action slot bind not always working.
Fixed incorrect temperatures being used for item decay/melting when inside containers.
Fixed a rare action-related multiplayer desync.
Fixed the possibility of temperature not properly updating after a fire decays.
Fixed temperature status effects being delayed in multiplayer & real-time mode games.
Fixed errors when changing languages while in-game. (Thanks 柯箴之!)
Fixed not all quest requirements being visible in the quest dialog. (Thanks 柯箴之!)
Fixed multiple tile quality issues including a case where the quality of a tile would get removed if other tiles were placed on top of it.
Fixed indecipherable tattered maps not appearing with “indecipherable” in their name after travelling.
Fixed niter not having any worth. (Thanks ChiriVulpes!)
Fixed “Warn When Breaking Items” not working when dismantling through action menus.
Fixed errors showing when hovering status effect icons in the Inspect dialog when inspecting the player. (Thanks 柯箴之!)
Lists of items now only display a single item icon for the last listed quality. (Thanks Kalako!)
Fixed occasional pathing issues for walk to tile & tamed creatures.
Fixed some spacing issues with the input clear button and with the gap between some expandable sections.
Fixed not being able to correctly search for input sequences and inputs with modifiers in the bindings menu.
Fixed an error when inspecting an NPC or the player in a dialog. (Thanks Laura!)
Fixed action submenus appearing as undiscovered with no way to be discovered.
Fixed unknown/broken items (for example ones added by removed mods) causing errors.
Fixed actions in item inspections not showing as discovered. (Thanks 柯箴之!)
Fixed issues when enabling/disabling the same mod installed via Steam Workshop and locally. (Thanks 柯箴之!)
All places where you could add items to containers now renders the full list of items and supports the clear items action, a bulk durability editor, etc.
Invulnerable mode now only prevents death, rather than preventing all damage and creatures from attacking you.
Hot off the heels of our largest major update to date, here’s our largest minor update to date! In this one we smoothed out some problem areas we have discovered with the action slot system – making it more streamlined, but just as powerful. This update also rebalances how clay and metals work, allowing metallurgic endeavors to be easier and more possible on the coastal island biome (or the starting island).
Another exciting piece of news is that Wayward is now considered “Playable” on the Steam Deck. There are a few issues Valve and us have been working on behind the scenes to get a better experience for the game, including some things in this update. It’s not 100%, but it’s just as the status implies, “playable”.
Stay tuned for more! It’s likely we will be moving on to the next major update after this release with possible bug-fix-only minor patches in the future as new issues arise.
Bonus Promo: Evan of RetroMMO recently had me on “RetroChat”, regarding Wayward. Check out the edited VOD here if you are wanting to learn about some Wayward development lore:
Bonus Tip: You can automatically use actions in your action bar when moving, similar to the old feature where you could enable automatic gathering; however, this can be done with any action including things like dismantling, firing a bow, taming, and more! This feature is unlocked after discovering (and using) 20 actions. Simply hover over an action slot and hit “Left Alt” (by default), or configure the slot and check “Use When Moving”.
Welcome to Wayward’s largest update to date! Here are just a few standout features from this release:
Actions menus have been moved to the new UI, allowing for a unique, unchanging binding for each action. Tooltips are now shown describing most actions.
Added minecarts and tracks, speeding up travel and moving items on land.
Configuration of action slots is now contained within a drawer of all actions with extra options about how the slot is used and restocked.
Added the “wetlands”, a new island type with unique terrain, creatures, plants, and items.
Doors now automatically open and close as you enter/exit them and no longer take a turn, but can be “propped” open for creature passage.
The equipment dialog has been moved to the new UI. Equipment now is only used for stats and other on-equip effects, and will not be used for mining, gathering, harvesting, etc.
Take a look at some of these features in our preview video if you haven’t seen it already:
We have made some huge steps in terms of modernizing our UI with this release and there are only a few systems left before we can start on proper keyboard-only and controller support.
The usability of actions has received a huge bump in accessibility, fixing many long-standing issues shared by the community, especially in multiplayer games.
No major update can be without its fair share of content, and this has it in spades. Nearly 100 items were added, new milestones (including a very game-changing one), a new island biome, new creatures, new plants, and more!
An extra special thanks to all the testers this time around that helped us squash a lot of the bugs during the development period. You can see their names scattered through this changelog on our public Trello board. On with the giganto-list:
It’s happening! We are “ready-ish” to begin testing the in-development build of Wayward. Many of you have probably already noticed your game updating if you were subscribed to the development branch on Steam. We are still working on a lot of stuff and all the features are not yet finalized, but we do have a name at least! The votes are in, this major release will be called “Wheels & Wetlands”.
But if you really want to see all of what’s going on so far, you can check the in-game changelog or view our Trello for a more technical breakdown: https://trello.com/b/PWX1Hpjn/wayward-todo
Here Be Dragons Drakes
As always, we would encourage you to back up your saves before trying this development branch of the game. By default, you can find your backups and save folders in the main Wayward directory. You can also export saves and global save data in-game if needed.
We are well underway with the next major release of Wayward, codenamed “Next”. More on that naming a bit further down. As always, these newsletters are for keeping players up to date with what we are working on and while a few of these previews have been shared on social media, there are a few new reveals as well below.
Minecarts
Travel in style (and speed) with minecarts. They work to increase your carrying capacity and traveling speed on land. The carts themself also work as a mobile form of storage (which now also apply to boats by the way).
Action Bar Improvements
Previously known as “quickslots”, the action bar has got a complete overhaul, building on top of the action quickslotting concept we did in the last major release. Some of the changes include:
You can now change the number of action slots per your needs, up to 50 slots.
Configuration of action slots is now contained within a single, searchable, filterable drawer of actions with extra options about how the slot is used and restocked.
Each action now has a unique icon when set to an action slot.
We’ll have more information and previews on this coming soon!
Wetlands
Explore this brand-new island type filled with unique land formations, creatures, items, plants, and more.
Action Improvements
Building on top of all the work done with the action bar, the action/item menus have been completely redone to feature a new look and new functionality. Each action now has a unique bind and can be customized. No longer will action binds jump all over the place based on the context or item type. This is a huge usability win and will further our progress towards a new unified UI.
Volcanic Upgrade
The volcanic islands are getting a big upgrade in the form of a new resource type: basalt. This hardened igneous rock is an upgrade over normal rock (now named granite) and sandstone.
Crafting Success/Efficacy Tooltips
Minmaxers will rejoice at these new inclusions to the crafting tooltips.
Crafting success and quality chances are now presented in the crafting tooltip after having at least 30% and 60% skill, respectively.
Crafting efficacy is now shown in the crafting item tooltip when over 60% in the recipe’s skill.
New Custom Game Options
We are adding three of the most commonly requested custom game options: always spawning creatures and item durability/decay multipliers, allowing much finer control over the difficulty in the game.
Storage Improvements
Going along with the minecarts, and previously hinted at, storage, in general, has got a big reduction in the tedium factor, especially for those that like to keep organized. As mentioned, boats now act as a container and can store items. Not only that, but can be picked up into your inventory along with all containers in the game (like chests) even with items in it. They act exactly like bags or backpacks and can be interacted with and organized in the same way.
Boats can now be used as storage containers.
Boats can now be placed or built on top of water.
Boats now have varying levels of speed that allow you to move faster.
Boats will now have a defense bonus when inside them but can be damaged in combat.
Chests can now be opened and used while in your inventory.
Unlocked chests can now be picked up while they have items in them.
Added an option to drop automatically into containers instead of the ground.
Featured Mods
Check out these awesome recent mods from the community:
Colors Everywhere
Colors Everywhere give you the ability to paint and dye structures (like walls/fences/gates), chests, and armor. Some of the pigments and dye creations use existing items while others are provided as new flowers added by the mod.
Trick Arrows adds an interesting variety of arrows to your ranged arsenal. Some are a bit on the whimsical side, while others focus on the use of some rare (and rather unuseful) items. Included are:
Sashimi does just as the name suggests; adds a more fancy way of consuming your raw fish. But wait, that’s not all. You’ll also find a few other goodies in here including salt, popcorn, apple pie, and more!
We have begun to codename our next major releases as “Next” before we settle on a name. And speaking of settling; we can’t quite do that for this one. So, we are asking for your help in choosing the final name now knowing what you can expect in the next release.
Wayward will be part of the survival-themed Steam sale taking place from August 1st at 10:00 AM PDT (GMT-7) to August 8 at 10:00 AM PDT (GMT-7). Wayward will be -30% off during this sale event. It’s a great time to grab a cheap copy for yourself or a friend.
These upcoming features are just a small preview of what’s to come in the next release. Stay tuned for more news on the re-opening of the development branch (to take a deeper look into everything and provide feedback/testing) as well as the next multiplayer meetup (which has been on hiatus for a bit as we worked on this release).
Oh, while you are at it, make sure to vote on some of the new frequently requested additions to the game on our feature voting page.
Here’s just a small late-night update for you all while we continue working on the next major release. You’ll find a healthy helping of bug fixes in this release with more on the way! Stay tuned!
Bonus Promo: Join us on Discord and gain some insight from the resident experts on Wayward who have all poured tons of hours into the game.
Bonus Tip: Not sure where to start? Starting the game in “Casual Mode” may be recommended for new players to help get their bearings as it allows respawning and disables aggression from creatures. Check out the “Starter Quest” that explains some of the mechanics of the game. Just click the pinned “Welcome!” message that shows up in the bottom left corner to get started!
Improvements
When exporting saves, the file type (.wayward) is now enforced.
Bug Fixes
Fixed Starter Quest “Welcome” quest not being pinned when starting a new game.
Fixed tooltips flashing in simulated turns mode when more than one player was connected.
Fixed fog of war issues after traveling/reconnecting. (Thanks Whaffles!)
Fixed a multiplayer desync related to equipment.
Fixed a crash when advancing island time. (Thanks Grub!)
Fixed cases where weight and crafting recipes were not being updated in multiplayer games.
Fixed certain items not having any weight variance when dismantled. (Thanks riftborn!)
Fixed cooked fish kebabs not requiring fire. (Thanks Lonely Shikari!)
Fixed dedicated displaying a blank screen after a while.
Fixed the pacifier milestone not counting certain creatures properly. (Thanks warriorsforever482!)
Fixed interrupts staying open when leaving multiplayer games.
Fixed wisps vanishing in a couple of instances after pouring.
Fixed container breaking not adhering to normal tile rules. (Thanks DerSimon!)
Fixed dropping items not resetting their quickslot position. (Thanks BeautifulNova!)
Fixed field of view-related desyncs.
Fixed aberrant mudskippers not being dismantlable.
Fixed a brief flash of white during screen transitions.
Fixed instances of equipment rendering over top of trees. (Thanks riftborn!)
Fixed disabled UI Effects/UI Opacity not working on islands intro/game details animation.
Fixed the changelog not getting the proper order of mod changes.
Modding
Fixed issues when a mod was installed locally and via the workshop at the same time.
While we are already working away on the next major release, please enjoy this smaller update to improve the game and fix up some of the remaining bugs on our radar. Stay tuned for more minor/major updates!
Bonus Tip: For merchants to travel to your island, you need to increase your “civilization” score, which can be found while hovering over the reputation icon. Civilization score can be increased by building walls, flooring, and other interactions. They will appear on player-made flooring; so the more you pave over nature (which can have its own drawbacks), the better chance they will travel and trade with you.
Bonus Promo: Attention all content creators! Wayward is now available on Nexus.gg. Nexus allows you to create a storefront to sell games directly from developers/publishers and gives you a share of the profits when somebody buys the game from your page.
New
Added an option to set the maximum number of advancing turns in world options.
Improvements
Added initial support for Steam Deck.
Protected items can now be used for disassembling as long as their durability is over 0.
The fire/lava dangerous warning prompt will now only show if it will actually hurt/damage the player.
Adjusted the camera position to improve centering on the player’s sprite.
Attempting to pick up items/excrement, lockpicking, opening containers, using hitches, opening doors, or digging on tiles that are on fire or in lava will now produce a warning if enabled.
“Allow Hardcore Respawn” is no longer toggleable when not running a hardcore game.
Merchants will no longer stay in place (while a trading dialog is open) while they are taking fire damage.
Cooked fish kebabs can now be disassembled.
Scrollbars will now appear wider for accessibility/touch interfaces.
Improved readability of magical “Endurance” and “Regeneration” properties tooltip text. (Thanks Nobody Important!)
Increased the maximum zoom level.
Removed a scrollbar that could appear on stats in certain resolutions/scales.
Bug Fixes
Fixed character/creature/item graphics not using the correct scale on certain operating systems and hardware. (Thanks ldellapiana!)
Fixed issues when quickslotting multiple of the same item. (Thanks SMMFO!)
Fixed “Remove from Quickslot” removing all instances of that item in quickslots.
Fixed desyncs related to background option updates.
Fixed a duping and disassembly issues with fish kebabs. (Thanks DerSimon!)
Fixed switching slots not working properly.
Fixed several burning events not specifying the proper location of the burn on the player.
Fixed a duplication issue with slither suckers. (Thanks num ca nem vi!)
Fixed a freeze/crash related to fires when advancing island time.
Fixed an instance where the game is shown in color after the player is a ghost after reloading a previous game.
Fixed “phantom” doodads displayed in the fog until revealed not to be there. (Thanks Anketam!)
Fixed some items that produced heavier items when burned. (Thanks DerSimon!)
Fixed efficacy not allowing a rating of 0%. (Thanks DerSimon!)
Fixed creatures being able to follow ghosts still.
Fixed desyncs related to clients joining the server while they were on other islands.
Fixed respawning as a new character not resetting skills or reputation.
Fixed issues where the inventory would appear greyed out after crafting (again!). (Thanks animexamera!)
Fixed the quality of tiles dug up not matching their original quality after stacking more than a single tile. (Thanks Destro!)
Fixed the inventory being able to produce a horizontal scrollbar in some instances. (Thanks DerSimon!)
Fixed multiple visual glitches when doing certain actions over top of any doodad while wearing certain equipment. (Thanks Wuffy!) (Thanks Rayb!)
Fixed the pacifier and friendly milestones spawning more than one creature. (Thanks Benzi!)
Fixed a rare issue that would prevent multiplayer clients from executing actions.
Fixed targetting actions (like repairing) allowing the action on itself when placed in the first spot in your inventory. (Thanks Ursa!)
Fixed weight calculating incorrectly when placing containers in other containers. (Thanks Raxy9975!)
Fixed civilization score discrepancies when tiles melted.
Fixed item actions not working for items outside of main inventory. (Hotfixed) (Thanks Thadon!)
Fixed the bronze shovel having incorrect values for its digging and mining properties. (Thanks Ursa!)
Fixed underline/linked text formatting issues.
Fixed using hitching posts that were on fire not burning the player properly.
Fixed up some incorrect word usage. (Thanks Setimu).
Fixed auto item actions not producing warnings when applicable.
Balance
The tile or doodad quality now affects civilization score.
Fertile soil now provides a civilization score.
Bronze items (and a few other select items) are now tradable but are not sold on merchants.
The dangerous action warning option is now disabled by default.
Technical
Improved “Default” power mode to automatically run in “low power” mode when the device is on battery power.
Improved performance of various UI animations.
Running the game in “low power” mode will disable all continuous animations which will stop all rendering when idle.
