I realise you’re all busy people, so let’s cut straight to the chase; I have unequivocally missed the planned launch date, and have moved it 6 months out, to May 6th, 2026.

Now that the bandaid’s ripped off, let’s dig into the how and why, and what this means.

If we correctly recall the quote - “A game is only late until it ships, but it’s bad forever” (by Elleon Guon), and apply this, you’ve got your answer. Not that Phoenix is BAD right now, but getting things ready for launch is proving a lot harder and taking a lot longer than I’d initially thought.

One of the community members, Wombat, made this comment, which really resonated with me - “The 10 year anniversary date is meaningful, but not important. “

Part of my issue with the current state of the build is that I'm not confident in the balance of the game, nor the polish. It's stable, ofc - FCE always was!

When I was working on the various FCE patches, I would play the game end-to-end, multiplayer, for an entire month. Every time. Those of you who’ve played the game a lot will realise that’s a vast time commitment; completing the CryoPlasm fight in under a hundred hours is quite the challenge, and that means 25 hours a week for an entire month to achieve.

I've been so busy constantly running back and forth, patching and fixing and swearing at lighting and fighting Unity breaking stuff that I simply haven't had a moment to try that. I've gotten to Chapter 6 a few times, but then have had to wind back to support issues the Patreons have brought up.

I haven't managed to (visually) change the TD gameplay, let alone meaningful changes to make them target any outdoor facility. I haven't redone the surface resin gameplay to allow low-tier fluid handling. The oft-desired ability to smelt on-site isn't there yet. I haven't finished the rework of the old research system to make it thematically correct for the 'you owe the company' gameplay. It's not done.

I think the TL;DR is that I'm not confident of the quality of the game at this point - I want to be able to be proud of the first release, to point at it and go 'yup, it's great! There will be more to come!' I suspect things are mostly great; I don't think it's broken or bad. It's a million times better than the first FCE release, it's a thousand times better than the first Survival release of FCE, and it's at least 500 times better than Patch 25.

Let's not forget, this is how the Survival of FCE was when we shipped it!

One of the biggest changes I've not even started to look at is the concept of having an 'armoury' of robots; there's a few visuals there for now hidden away in the base (and ARTHER is your faithful starter robot) but ones to increase your storage, return items, provide defence, provide solar energy, provide battery storage (etc) - really powerful, but you need to pick what you need for your current task and it's one-per-player when playing multiplayer (So only one ARTHER, SOL-A, SARAH, etc etc.) Which is gonna be awesome.

So yeah - it’s still coming along nicely (and to be perfectly honest, progress has been superb recently!), it’s still coming out. I promise I'm not about to pull a Duke Nukem Forever. The extra time should let me a lot more confident, because Early Access is still an unforgiving nightmare, and I need to do a kick-ass trailer still.

But here’s what I want it to look like all the time.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1292128707271594015/1428348766666227772/image.png?ex=68f37e73&is=68f22cf3&hm=ae7b46ded727bd5262d5832ffed0d12f86b30fe0fede1a3eab4b5467ff0ffadc&[/url]And here’s what it looks like sometimes[/p][p align="start"][/p][p][img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/5373901/1c29db2e9fa9f4912a21569dbebba050189b6aba.png"][/img][/p][p][/p][p align="start"]Made the right choice? Completely disagree? As ever, you can get ahold of me on twitter, BlueSky, Facebook, or, ideally. Discord:[/p][p align="start"][/p][p][url="https://discord.gg/wB2UWXa"]https://discord.gg/wB2UWXa[/url][/p][p align="start"][/p][p align="start"]Thanks once again to all the Patreons. You’re the only reason we are where we are![/pAnd here’s what it looks like sometimes

Made the right choice? Completely disagree? As ever, you can get ahold of me on twitter, BlueSky, Facebook, or, ideally. Discord:

https://discord.gg/wB2UWXa

Thanks once again to all the Patreons. You’re the only reason we are where we are!

Are you tired of running away?

Now you can not only 'run' but also 'hide' from the creatures.

Spectral Scream's Creature AI is being completely renewed.

The ones that chased you now see, hear, and judge.

---

You won't be detected simply for being close anymore!

• Creatures now recognize the player's 'line of sight' and 'exposure level'.

• Brush past them slightly and they'll be 'suspicious', face them head-on and 'immediate pursuit' follows.

• Sneak behind them quietly... they might not notice. (Really.)

  

---

The creatures that overreacted to every sound have finally covered their ears a bit.

• Now they only react to loud or repetitive sounds.

• They react with a delay to door opening/closing sounds or light footsteps.
  

---

Now hiding is also a strategy.

Behind pillars, inside cabinets, behind doors... anywhere can be your hiding spot.

• New horror where survival is possible without combat, experience it yourself.

  

---

Spectral Scream's new update is coming soon.

This time, not just 'fear' but 'nerve-wracking tension' might overwhelm you.

Experience the upcoming evolution of stealth-based horror for yourself.

---

"The goal of this update was to move away from simple 'run-away horror'

and create 'observing and hiding horror'."

– Spectral Scream Development Team

Bug Fixes

1. Fixed an issue where consecutive charge attacks on a single unit caused the turn to freeze.

2. Resolved unit overlap issues caused by collision during charge attacks.

3. Fixed the problem where charge attacks stopped triggering after several turns.

4. Fixed the mouse cursor visibility issue caused by the controller manager.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where consecutive charge attacks on a single unit caused the turn to freeze.

• Resolved unit overlap issues caused by collision during charge attacks.

• Fixed the problem where charge attacks stopped triggering after several turns.

• Fixed the mouse cursor visibility issue caused by the controller manager.

New features:

At the end of 10 rounds, players can choose to play 5 additional rounds

Increased difficulty, but double realm progression

Adjustments:

Reduced range and bullet flight speed for ranged weapons

Fewer ranged enemies and reduced attack frequency

Fixed a number of bugs, object duplication issues, and the inability to complete some of the quests.

• Fixed the completion of secondary quests on player hosted sessions for clients

• Fixed a situation which ended with the ship weapons being destroyed while connected to a dedicated server

• Fixed a crash related to the online session failing to be created

• Fixed an issue causing the starting ship to be spawned twice

• Fixed an issue which could cause doubling of some main quest NPCs

• Placing multiple blocks at once now works properly underwater and replaces water cubes

• Fixed the missing meteor shower warning from online sessions

• Fixed an issue related to movement of one battery over a stack, which would destroy the stack

• Fixed an issue with the ability to purify a planet after destroying a darkness walker as the last dark entity

• Multiple fixes to the landing beacons in the online environment to address multiple locks and jitters

• Fixed an issue causing doubled objects in cities for online clients

• Fixed the appearance of visual effects from different planets on a client’s planet

• Fixed an issue with outpost naming starting straight with outpost #2

We just released an update to Forgotten Fragments!

Version 1.1.2 Changelog

Fixes

• Fixed Greguus Boss pre-battle soft lock when spheres were not reloaded on player death

• Fixed co-op level 3-1 button partly hidden behind a statue

Thank you for your support and we hope you continue enjoying Forgotten Fragments!

Start your adventure here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1492090/Forgotten_Fragments/

We'll be rolling out the 9.0b Hotfix at 11:00 (UTC).
Please restart the game to download the update.

*Some changes may not be applied to tooltips or Practice modes.

South America

• Matchmaking and ML Bot settings for Normal Games have been adjusted overall.

• 
  Base Defense 40 → 35
  
• 
  Flight Duration 5s → 4.8s

• 
  Wind Zone Kit
  
  • 
    Cooldown 30s → 25s

Chaos

• 
  Red Sprite
  
  • 
    Cooldown 10s → 9s
    
  • 
    Cooldown Reduction Value per Damage Type
    
    • 
      Base Damage: 15% → 12%
      
    • 
      Area Damage: 6% → 5%

• 
  Rio: Hankyu and Daikyu's Fleeting Soul / Spirit Arrow (R) cooldown is now correctly applied.
  
• 
  Barbara: Overclock(R)'s cooldown is now correctly applied.
  
• 
  Alex: His weapon skill's cooldown is now correctly applied.
  
• 
  Cobalt Protocol: Tactical Skills Blink now works properly when used with other skills.

We continue checking your 9.0 reports and working on solutions. Some of these will be fixed in our upcoming 9.1 Update on Thursday 23rd (UTC).

One of the community's biggest wishes has come true! Lights are now recolorable and dimmable! Pick any light-emitting item, and click the new special color swatch. You can pick any color from the palette, or create a custom one. Choose darker shades to dim the light!

Another popular request is here, custom paintings! You can now add your own images in-game (check the specifications by clicking the folder icon when selecting a painting). Just drop images into the folder, restart the game and presto - your masterpieces appear!

Note: custom paintings can’t be shared on the Workshop, sorry!

Every day a new random prompt can be seen (shared across all players). Create a room inspired by it and share your work on the Workshop or in our Discord to see how the community tackles the same idea.

Out of ideas? No problem! Just click the lightbulb icon in the top-right corner to open the idea generator. It'll give you a fun, random prompt to spark your next creation!

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I'm super excited to share this bigger update, the next update will be the Garden Update releasing in November. Share your thoughts in the community, or on Discord - I'm still reading every single comment!

New features

• Recolorable and dimmable lights

• Custom paintings

• Daily prompts

• Idea generator

Changes & improvements

• Search now has tags, the first tag 'Halloween' lists all Halloween themed items

• Halloween items temporarily display a special icon

• Added flames to candles

• Disabled sound when shifting without any objects present

• Added 'Food' and 'Plush' categories to Workshop custom items

• Added two new samples (made by Silthulhu)

Fixes

• Fixed shadows

• Fixed RGB lights

• Fixed shifting and rotating model in custom mode using gamepad

• Fixed blocking cursor on bottom of screen when editing Workshop entry

• Fixed updating mode remaining after pressing New when editing Workshop entry

• Disabled gamepad snapping on shift/rotation controls

• Fixed being able to place objects on gizmo in custom mode

• Fixed issue where sometimes text during requests got cut off

• Fixed back side of 4 sidetables

• Improved roundness of two wall mounted mirrors

• Fix gear shape model

New enviroments

• Halloween themed environment

• Halloween themed soundscape

New items

• 3× Halloween themed paintings

• 3× Cobwebs (Accessories)

• 3× Gravestone (Accessories)

• 3× Dirt (Plants)

• Broom (Accessories)

• Pumpkin (Food)

• Pumpkin carved (Food)

• Pumpkin small (Food)

• Pumpkin bucket (Food)

• Bowl with candy (Food)

• Pizza (Food)

• Pizza slice (Food)

• Kettle (Food)

• Kettle with goop (Food)

• Chandelier (Lamps & Fans)

• Chandelier with lamps (Lamps & Fans)

• Candelabra (Lamps & Fans)

• Melted candle (Lamps & Fans)

• Melted candle cluster (Lamps & Fans)

• String lights - Bats (Lamps & Fans)

• String lights - Pumpkins (Lamps & Fans)

• Broken mirror (Wall Accessories)

• Balloon (Accessories)

• Balloon with string (Accessories)

• Puddle (Accessories)

• Hay bale (Plants)

• Hay bale with ropes (Plants)

• Acorn (Plants)

• Pile of leafs (Plants)

• Witch hat (Accessories)

• Bone (Pets)

• Spider (Pets)

🔥Hey everyone!

I’ve got some news to share! This week, the game will undergo internal closed testing, and already in November (exact date to be announced later), Steam users will get access to a limited playtest version of the project.

🤨Why a limited version, and what will it include?

The game is still in active development. Some elements are not yet finished or currently exist as prototypes. That’s why I decided to share with players an almost complete part of the game — one that will continue to be improved, but won’t undergo major changes.

For this playtest, only Act 2 will be available. The story will start from the middle, since Act 1 didn’t meet my expectations. After much thought, I decided to rework it to make the beginning more cohesive and engaging. Don’t worry — this won’t affect the overall storyline.

It’s also possible that the Early Access release might be pushed to Q1 2026, but that’s a last resort. I want both Act 1 and Act 2 to be included in Early Access so that players can get a complete picture of what the game truly is.

That’s all for now, see you soon!
– Enjel