Hello inmates,

This latest patch is a bit smaller and focuses on polish and bug fixing. A special thank you to our tight-knit community of highly experienced players for sharing their concerns about the mechanics that we decided to tweak in this update. Patch 1.11.1 is coming to Steam Tuesday, May 29, and you can expect maintenance to begin at our usual time: 11:00 AM EDT / 3:00 PM UTC. UPDATE: We're now aiming to begin the maintenance at 1:00 PM EDT / 5:00 PM UTC on May 29.

See you in the arena!






Dead Survivalist (male character) and Cheerful Forest Murderer (female character)

You can purchase these items as 5-piece sets that include the Helmet, Shirt, Armor, Pants, and Boots. These sets will both be available in the Weekly section of the Shop starting Thursday, May 31.

Keep an eye out for the Ancestral Skull Bow and Swingable Bear Trap weapons in the Daily section throughout the week and beyond.

Love these designs as much as we do? Check out these sweet wallpapers!
Cheerful Forest Murderer wallpaper: https://imgur.com/a/pHzdVgn
Dead Survivalist wallpaper: https://imgur.com/a/5meTGnZ



King Cold Shoulder (male character) and Icebreaker Prime (female character)

You can purchase these items as 5-piece sets that include the Helmet, Shirt, Armor, Pants, and Boots. These sets will both be available in the Weekly section of the Shop starting Thursday, June 7.

Keep an eye out for the Frozen Skull Bow (not pictured) and Frozen Trap Axe weapons in the Daily section throughout the week and beyond.



Islander Slayer (male character) and Samoan Smasher (female character)

All the items above, including the Dark Antlers and Steer of the Sea Helmets as well as the Pacific Skull Bow (not pictured) and Islander Trap Axe weapons, will begin as Daily items purchasable individually in the Shop.

• Axe hits will now be blockable earlier in the swing animation
  
• The Axe swing will now have the same reach on both the left and right sides
  
• Further improved server Axe hit detection (to minimize instances where it feels like an enemy can hit you from too far away)
  
• Adjusted the Axe jump attack hitbox to make it more consistent with the normal Axe attack
  
• The Cage Trap will now appear in front of the player instead of under when it is used
  
• All enemy Traps will now have three different visibility levels depending on whether you are standing still, running, or sprinting (previously, visibility was determined by your Boots upgrade level and Traps became difficult to spot at high movement speeds)
  
• Trap visibility level will update more quickly when switching between standing, running, and sprinting, meaning that it will no longer be necessary to come to a stop to search for enemy Traps
  
• The Lumberjack Axe will no longer speed up Trap deployment, Armor crafting, and First Aid Kit use
  
• Snowballs will now activate the BoomShroom and Electronic repel effect
  
• Damage received (except cold damage) will now refill player stamina

• Increased the number of daily items in the Item Shop from 3 to 6
  
• NEW: Items in the Item Shop will now rotate at 12:00 PM EDT (previously 11 AM EDT)
  
• Replaced “Archetype” with “Playstyle” in the Options menu

• Fixed an issue where the center zone would always close first in Duo Mode
  
• Fixed an issue where the Rookie label would not be displayed to the Show Director
  
• Fixed an issue that prevented the use of the Glider right after taking damage
  
• Fixed an issue where a normal Axe attack would sometimes register as a jump attack

Hello inmates,

Here are the changes coming to Steam Thursday, May 17 (expect maintenance from 11 AM EDT/3 PM UTC to about 12 PM EDT/4 PM UTC). Look forward to the ability to choose from a variety of Crafting Wheel Playstyles, an update on Show Director progression, new cosmetics, and more!

See you in the arena!



We’ve added different Crafting Wheel Playstyles you can choose from to familiarize yourself with different equipment and experiment with various strategies in the arena. Each of the Playstyles below will equip you with a pre-set combination of Perks, Basics, Tools, and Powers:

The Hunter: The Hunter is a tracking specialist who prefers to gather clues and information about their opponents before confronting them.

The Goon: The Goon throws caution to the wind and engages enemies using brute force. If there’s an enemy nearby, the Goon won’t pass up the chance to fight.

The Shadow: A master of stealth, the Shadow moves through the arena with ease, often favoring a well-placed arrow or trap to take care of pursuers.

Don’t exactly fit into any of these 3 Playstyles? Save your own Crafting Wheel by selecting Custom option. This way, even if you try out different equipment, you can easily come to back to your saved style.



We heard your feedback about the way new Show Director Powers are obtained. A lot of you felt that having a chance to unlock new Powers after each match left too much up to luck and was somewhat unclear, so we’ve decided to make the process more straight-forward.

With patch 1.11, Show Directors will have their own Level and Fan experience bar. A higher Rating will translate into more Fans after a given match. After the update, all Show Directors will be Level 1, and each new Level will be rewarded with a Show Director Power. Don’t worry: None of your existing Powers will be removed.

For now, only Contestants will receive Fan Gifts upon leveling up, but this may change once we’ve got more Show Director rewards ready!

First off: thanks to all the inmates who purchased the Supporter Pack from our in-game shop! The shop is about to expand its stock with more cosmetics, this time offered individually in exchange for Ramen. Visit the Ramen shop to purchase Ramen, then see what’s available in the Item shop and step into the arena more fashionable than ever.

Starting Thursday on Steam, inmates will be able to equip a set of all-new Axes (they might not look like Axes very much, but we promise they’re just as effective) and gas mask Hats. The cosmetics in the Item shop will rotate―some on a daily basis, and some on a weekly basis. So if the items you’re interested in aren’t available right away, check back a bit later! All of the items featured below will be available at some point over the course of the week.

As a reminder, cosmetics will never come with in-game advantages.

• Players will be able to join as the Show Director in Private Matches even if they do not meet the Level 10 prerequisite
  
• The Power Deck Show Directors select in Private Matches will stay saved for future Private Matches
  
• Show Directors will be able to see whether there are any Contestants in the match who have played fewer than 5 matches (a rookie icon will appear next to those players)―make them feel welcome, Show Directors!
  
• Decreased the Show Director Rating requirement for Telepathy from 4 stars to 3 stars
  
• Contestants will now only be able to rate the Show Director once they reach level 10

• Players' Show Director Level will now be displayed beside the Contestant Level in the main menu
  
• Reworked the Dressing Room interface

• Increased the weight of kills in the Official Rating computation

• The roof of the central treetop village in the North East area has collapsed due to structural stress from the many inmates hiding there during Sudden Death

• Adjusted the value of Ramen (the amount of Ramen converted from duplicate cosmetics will increase tenfold, also applied retroactively)
  
• Added a loading screen tip explaining the reward for drawing first blood in match
  
• Added a loading screen tip explaining the reward for your first match and first win each day

• Fixed an issue where the names of the Blue Shirt and Orange Shirt were inverted for the female character (yes, this was supposed to be fixed in the last patch, but massive technical issues like these take time)

Hello inmates,

It's time for episode two of our Behind the Scenes series! Scavengers Studio Creative Director is back to tell you all about the short-term improvements coming to Darwin Project.

Click the image UP to watch Behind the Scenes 2 with Simon Darveau: Summer Roadmap

Hope you're excited for what we've got in store, and catch you next time for episode 3!

See you in the arena!
- The Scavengers Team

Hello inmates,

We'd like to invite you to watch today's Darwin Invitational and participate with your votes! We've got a stellar lineup of contestants who will be randomly paired in Duos over the the course of 5 matches starting at 4 PM EDT!

Tune in to any of the streams to support your favourite contestant:

Forsen: https://www.twitch.tv/forsen
CDNthe3rd: https://www.twitch.tv/cdnthe3rd
xqc: https://www.twitch.tv/xQcOW
Ohmwrecker: https://www.twitch.tv/ohmwrecker
XChocoBars: https://www.twitch.tv/xchocobars
wtcN: https://www.twitch.tv/wtcn
Disguised Toast: https://www.twitch.tv/disguisedtoasths
MoMaN: https://www.twitch.tv/momanus
Shroud: https://www.twitch.tv/shroud
Jotobo: https://www.twitch.tv/jotobo
Show Director perspective: https://www.twitch.tv/darwinproject

Have fun everyone!

Hello inmates,

We’ve got a smaller patch for you this week that follows up on some features introduced in 1.10. These changes are coming to Steam on Tuesday, May 8. (We’ll update with the specific time when we can).

UPDATE: Maintenance for patch 1.10.1 will be from 11 AM to approximately 12 PM EDT (3 PM to 4 PM UTC).

In case you missed it on our social channels over the last couple days: On Friday we fixed an issue with Show Directors not earning Fans and gave them a roster of Powers proportional to their number of matches played when patch 1.10 went live. On Sunday, we fixed an issue with Show Directors being unable to direct Duos matches. Now you're all caught up! Check out the next changes in full below.

See you in the arena!



Thanks for your feedback, Show Directors! Our original Rating requirements allowed only a small fraction of Show Director players to use the full suite of currently available Powers, so we’ve lowered them to the following:

Warm Up - 2.5
Give Wood - 2.5
Electronic - 2.5
Close Zone - 2.5
Speed Up - 3
Expose - 3
Electro-mania - 3
Telepathy - 3
Blood Moon - 3
Heal - 3.5
Gravity Storm - 3.5
Nuke - 3.5
Manhunt - 3.5

We also removed these requirements in Private Matches, allowing Show Directors to use any Power they have obtained during Private Matches regardless of their Rating.

• Updated the default set of Powers available to Show Directors:
  - Give Wood x 2
  - Warm Up x 1
  - Electronic x 2
  - Close Zone x 2
  - Nuke x 1
  
• The Show Director Megaphone is now back to a default ability on a cooldown and will no longer appear in the Power Deck
  
• Removed the red sound wave visual emitted by a tree when a player was hidden inside
  
• Player status icons will now be displayed during Telepathy to clarify who is speaking

• Increased the duration of Blood Moon from 1 minute to 2 minutes
  
• Added voiceover and sound effects to accompany the Blood Moon start, plus music for the entire duration
  
• Blood Moon will change the time of day to midnight and a giant moon emitting red light in the sky will appear.

• Fixed an issue where arrows would sometimes go through some trees
  
• Fixed an issue where the Slow Power, which does not actually exist, was made available to Show Directors
  
• Fixed an issue that would not display the correct amount of matches needed to appear in the Arrow Accuracy, Headshot Ratio, Average Rank, Average Number of Kills, Win Ratio, and Show Director Rating leaderboards
  
• Fixed an issue where clues didn’t work properly while Blood Moon was in effect
  
• Fixed an issue where Expose would sometimes not expose anyone
  
• Fixed an issue where a newly unlocked Show Director power would not appear in the Power Deck until another match was played
  
• Fixed a typo in Show Director Power info text
  
• Fixed an issue where Show Directors could not see their cursor until they opened and closed the Power Deck
  
• Fixed an issue where players’ Official Ratings would not decrease when they died by lava or cold
  
• Fixed an issue where the names of the Blue Shirt and Orange Shirt were inverted for the female character

Hello inmates,

It’s almost time for patch 1.10! If the last changelist you read was 1.9, be sure to check out this catch-up post detailing the hotfixes we pushed over the course of the last week.

Patch 1.10 will come to Steam Friday, March 4 (expect maintenance from 11 AM EDT - 12 PM EDT) Don’t miss our devstream during the maintenance! Tune in here: https://www.twitch.tv/darwinproject

UPDATE: We’ve rescheduled the maintenance and devstream to 1 PM – 2 PM EDT on May 4.

See you in the arena!



There are some big changes in here, so a little bit about the reasoning first. Being the Show Director is a big responsibility: the skill and personality of the Show Director has a lot of impact on the contestants’ play experiences. With the progression system, we’re rewarding experienced Show Director with more Powers and influence over the match while giving newer Show Directors the ability to learn the role with more basic Powers before they become familiar with the mechanics and grow into their style.

From now on, when you play a Darwin Project match where there’s a Show Director with access to Powers such as Manhunt, you’ll know that they earned the ability to use them by playing several matches and maintaining a high Rating throughout. Here's what's involved in the progression system:

1. The prerequisite to play as the Show Director is now Level 10 instead of 5 matches played.
2. Show Directors will begin with a limited amount of available Powers and unlock new ones as they play. Some Powers can be unlocked and equipped multiple times, whereas others can only appear in the Power Deck once.
3. All Powers have an associated Show Director Rating requirement. The higher the Power’s potential to influence the match, the higher the required Rating the use it.
4. The Show Director role will become unavailable if players fall below a 2.5 star Show Director Rating, but can work their way back up by playing matches as contestants

We’re really excited about this improvement since it’s one of the most requested Show Director features, and it’ll create a lot of new Director styles and combinations. Show Directors will be able to browse available Powers and insert them in their Power Decks as they see fit. The Power Deck is customizable from the main menu as well as from the lobby, so the Show Director can decide on the Powers they’re bringing into the match after getting to know the contestants a little bit!




Give Wood (Cost 1): Channel your inner Wood Delivery Guy and give a chosen player 3 Woods.

Expose (Cost 3): The selected player and their nearest opponent both receive a clue on each other

Telepathy (Cost 5): All players can hear one another’s voices

Blood Moon (Cost 5): All players track one another

Electro-mania (Cost 5): Activate all Electronics

We look forward to hearing about your experiences with all these new Powers! We’ll be polishing them over the next few weeks, so don’t hesitate to share your feedback.


Many of you have been asking for ways to support Darwin Project now that it is free to play on Steam. First of all: thank you. We didn’t expect to see so much of this feedback, and it means a lot to us that you care. Or maybe you just really like shopping for clothes? That’s cool, too.

We’re introducing a simple in-game shop with just one purchase option to start: the Supporter Pack. Here’s what it contains:



As a reminder, alternate clothes and weapon appearances will never come with in-game advantages.

Keep an eye out for more stylish items in the near future!

• The Show Director Manhunt Power can now only be used when at least 4 players are alive and at least 2 zones remain
  
• In Private Matches, Show Directors now have the ability to start the game in Solo or Duo Mode (teams are chosen at random)
  
• Decreased visibility for players hidden in a tree
  
• Hiding in a tree will now cause it to shake and emit sound effects
  
• Arrows used to kill Deer will be retrievable from the body again
  
• Shortened the Axe jump attack damage window by 30 milliseconds
  
• Tweaked Axe animation timing to improve fluidity and feedback in combat
  
• Changed the default Mute All key from Y to M
  
• Increased the amount of Wood salvageable from dead players
  
• Aiming your bow no longer consumes stamina, but it does slow down its regeneration

• NEW 5/04: Decreased loading times

• An icon will now appear next to your mute icon when you are talking
  
• Updated the match end screen
  
• Added an option to watch Behind the Scenes videos from the main menu
  
• Corrected the Revenge Cloak description in the Crafting Wheel

• You must now play at least 50 matches to appear on the Arrow Accuracy, Headshot Ratio, Average Rank, Average Number of Kills, Win Ratio, and Show Director Rating leaderboards
  
• Leaderboards will now reset at 11:00 AM ET (3:00 PM UTC) instead of 3:00 PM ET (7:00 PM UTC) to correspond with our (semi) regular maintenance time. Resets will still occur every other week on Tuesdays, with the next Steam reset being May 8. The remaining time before resets will be displayed as a countdown above the leaderboards.

• Fixed an issue where players who downloaded Darwin Project after the free-to-play transition did not have access to all skin colour and hairstyle options
  
• Fixed an issue where players would sometimes jump out of the window in a buried house and fall into an abyss
  
• Fixed an invisible player collision under the bridge
  
• Fixed collisions on big trees being a bit wider than the tree
  
• Fixed an issue where Electronics would sometimes play the wrong animation
  
• The final zone will never be Nuked, even if it wins an audience vote
  
• Fixed an issue where players would sometimes start the match with 5 Arrows
  

Hello inmates,

Last week was a very eventful one with the deployment of our very exciting customization update, and if you haven’t been tuned to our social media channels, you might’ve missed a few changes that happened in the form of hotfixes throughout the week. This post is meant to get you caught up before we announce what’s coming in the next patch!

We published patch notes 1.9 on Friday, April 20, aiming to push the update itself on Tuesday the 24th. While these notes contained improvements that had been frequently requested by the community, such as the ability to earn Fans in different game modes and to unlock new cosmetic items, not all changes were met with the same enthusiasm. Darwin Project players were concerned about the Show Director power targeting update and how it would severely limit Show Director freedom. After reading this feedback on Discord and our other social media channels, we reacted swiftly and tweaked the mandatory votes to affect only Show Directors with a rating of 3 stars or less before pushing the patch. This change has since been updated in the patch notes.

An unexpected issue that occurred right after we deployed patch 1.9 on Steam was that zones would not close properly. If you were online on Tuesday afternoon, you might’ve played a few matches that lasted way longer than they should as a result! This technical issue was caused by a huge amount of vote requests sent to Twitch due to automatic zone closures then prompting an audience vote via the Spectator Interactions extension.

We improved zone closures in a hotfix on April 25 and also fixed a small texture issue with the Founder’s Pack Legendary sets. By then we’d read even more feedback, especially from new players who discovered Darwin Project when it became free to play on Steam just days before, and we identified another trend that we felt was too often leading to unpleasant social experiences in-game: the Show Director Invincibility power. We decided to remove it as part of April 25’s update instead of waiting until the next patch to try to determine, as soon as we could, whether this would have a positive effect for both contestants and Show Directors. And so far, it looks like it might. Right now a second Warm Up power replaces Invincibility, but we’re looking forward to telling you about some new ways Show Directors will be able to spice up Darwin Project matches soon.

On April 26, we definitively fixed the zone closing issue by undoing the change requiring zone closures to be voted on by the audience. The same hotfix removed the AI Show Director, which, in the form it took last week, didn’t create as many exciting moments as we expected. We’re not opposed to potentially bringing those systems back in the future, but only if we’re able to improve them in a way we’re confident will make Darwin Project more fun. Finally, this update also addressed an issue where equipping cosmetic items would affect both the male and female character at the same time.

Later in the day on April 26, we disabled Show Director ratings in Private Matches. This one’s pretty straightforward: the rating should reflect how skilled Show Directors are at making Darwin Project matches more fun, and Private Matches with friends are not the right environment to accurately measure this.

So that was our week. Whew! Though perhaps the biggest news for our Discord community was yesterday’s introduction of the new #fashion-project channel, where all manner of elegant and not-so-elegant outfits are being shown off! Our Discord server now counts over 21,000 members, and if you haven’t joined yet, now’s a good time: https://discord.gg/darwin

On behalf of the whole team, thanks for continuously sharing your feedback with us across all our different channels. We’ve said from the start that we’re building this game hand in hand with our community, and that’s not about to stop just because there are a lot more of you!

Stay tuned for patch notes 1.10! Especially you, Show Directors.

See you in the arena!
- The Scavengers Team

Hello inmates,

We've started a new Behind the Scenes video series recorded here at the studio. The first episode features none other than our Creative Director Simon Darveau as he welcomes all the new players and outlines what to expect from Darwin Project!

Watch it by clicking the image below:



Stay tuned for the next video, which will focus on the Darwin Project roadmap!

See you in the arena!
- The Scavengers Team

Hello inmates,

Here are the changes coming on Tuesday, April 24. Warning: this is a big one! Maintenance will begin at 11 AM EDT (3 PM UTC) and is expected to last about one hour.

The Glider tool was recently unlocked! More information on our official website click here

See you in the arena!




We’re overhauling the progression system to give you the ability to earn a variety of cosmetic items as you level up. As you play Darwin Project matches and gain Fans, you’ll occasionally receive Fan Gifts. Open these packages to discover new styles for your clothes or weapons. We hope you’re excited to start expanding your collection, because we’re adding over 200 items on Tuesday, with more coming later!

Full information click here

Spectator Interactions: Now with More Votes!

UPDATE 4/26: Following your feedback, we’ve undone these changes.

The last update we made to Spectator Interactions allowed viewers tuned in to contestant streams to vote, even if the Show Director was streaming on a different channel. On Tuesday, we’re making another significant update to this feature that will engage viewers even further. The update is in two parts:

1. All zone closures will be voted on by the public, regardless of whether there is a Show Director in the match. This guarantees many votes are launched in a match, giving more control to the audience.
   
2. In matches where nobody joined as a Show Director, an AI will take over the Show Director drone and use Powers whose targets will be voted on by the audience! The Powers that the AI Show Director will be able to use are Nuke, Manhunt, Warm Up, Heal, and Gravity Storm.

In short, if you’re looking to watch some Darwin Project matches, all streams where at least one contestant in the match is streaming (and connected to Twitch/Mixer) will allow you to have a say in the match by voting!

Finding the sweet spot for what Show Directors can and cannot do has probably been the most persistent challenge of Darwin Project’s development so far. Our vision for the role of the Show Director continues to be entertainment-first, with the contestants’ ability to negotiate and win over the Show Director an important factor in the outcome of the match. Unfortunately, some players still feel that Show Directors directly granting Powers such as Heal and temporary Invincibility to an inmate counts as an unfair advantage. The Show Directors themselves sometimes have trouble dealing with the negativity this creates, so we’ve decided to change the way targets for Show Director Powers are decided.

On Tuesday, all Powers that require a player target will cast a vote to the audience. UPDATE: Thanks for your feedback! We've updated this so it'll only affect Show Directors with a rating of 3 stars or less. There’s a sense among players that if a group of viewers decides which contestant receives an advantage, that player has earned it―but the Show Director’s decisions aren’t received the same way. We hope this change will have a positive impact on both contestant and Show Director experiences while still allowing Show Directors to make matches a blast to watch. Note: this change doesn't affect Private Matches.

Further improving and adding depth to the Show Director role is on high priority for our future updates. Please let us know what you think about this update on any of our official channels as always, and we’ll keep working until we get it just right.

Another frequently requested improvement! Playing in Duo Mode, Private Matches, and as the Show Director, will now also allow you to gain Fans. This means that Duo and Private Match enthusiasts will also be able to fill up their Dressing Rooms with new gear starting April 24. (Don’t worry, Show Directors, we haven’t forgotten about you).

• Increased Turret deploy time from 0.5 to 1 second
  
• The Turret will no longer highlight players it aims at
  
• Decreased the Revenge Cloak clue duration from 2 seconds per level to 1.5 seconds per level
  
• Decreased the Detective Cloak clue duration from 20% per level to 15% per level
  
• The Ghost Cloak will now reduce clue duration by 10% per level instead of 15% level
  
• Decreased Radar duration from 15 seconds to 10 seconds
  
• The Radar will no longer detect Traps
  
• The Detector will now detect Traps
  
• Increased Detector cooldown from 30 seconds to 45 seconds
  
• Reduced Arrow knockback by 30%
  
• Increased health recovered when you kill a player from 150 HP to 300 HP
  
• Parrying an Axe attack while trapped now breaks the Trap
  
• Killing a deer with an Arrow now destroys the Arrow
  
• Improved server Axe hit detection (Axe combat will feel better the lower your ping)
  
• Aiming your Bow will now slightly consume Stamina
  
• Snowballs will now nullify Camo on hit
  
• Snowballs will now destroy Turrets on hit
  
• Using the Camo power when the Glider is in effect will also camouflage the Glider
  
• NEW: Tightened the hitbox for the jump Axe attack

• Added volume sliders for music, sound effects, and voiceover

• Removed a huge rock in the North West Electronic area to create more space for combat during sudden death

• Matches can now begin in the daytime, at dusk, or at nighttime (previously they would only begin at dusk)
  
• The snowstorm will no longer begin at the same point in the match

• Fixed an issue where the zone restriction would trigger a crowd favorite vote
  
• Fixed an issue where Holomaps would disappear after the Manhunt cutscene
  
• Fixed an issue where the Turret could hit a player who was out of range if it started firing while the player was in range
  
• Fixed an issue where the Evader Boots bonus would stack when multiple players tracked you
  
• All Bear Traps, Cage Trap, Tripwires, Turrets and Rigged Chests touching an Arena (Electronic power) when it vanishes will be destroyed (to address an issue where these tools would be stuck in the air if the Arena was used during a jump)
  
• Using the Glider will no longer prevent your Stamina from regenerating
  
• Fixed an issue where the Turret would sometimes not be destroyed when hit by an Arrow
  
• Fixed an issue where the incorrect voiceover would play when the Manhunt target was killed
  
• Fixed an issue where the kill by trap voiceover would not play
  
• Fixed a hole near West Electronic area where a player can fall in and get stuck
  
• Jumping through a Portal will no longer cause a hard landing
  
• You will now be able to enter a Portal from the side
  
• Fixed an issue where audio input and output device settings were not saved

We're proud to say that the Darwin Project community is THE MOST AWESOME community there is in this industry. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for this nice surprise. We never thought we'd get sushi and pizza gifted by our inmates.

Update: To get a refund, you need to get in contact with Steam Support and they will refund regardless of purchase date.

We love you all!