Dear Darwin Project Community,

Our latest update is mostly containing some optimisation to increase the stability of the game on console while adding something brand new to it!

This week’s missions of Game Changers require you to hunt inmates using the HeadHunter Drone. Play in public matches, locate players using the HeadHunter Drone drone, hunt them down one by one. This quest can be done with any class.

The five quests of the week:


Deal 1000 damage with roll attacks.
Use 15 abilities.
Crouch on a Tank Cannon.
Kill 3 opponents who are equipped with the Headhunter Drone.
Trap 5 opponents (with Cage Trap, TripWire or Bear Trap)


See the rewards and learn more at the Game Changers page

As you may notice, this week also requires you to crouch on a Tank Cannon. Those are available in the brand new tile we added to the game: New Life City. An urban sci-fi tile with high skyscrapers and tunnels in which verticality is important. Discover it now in the clip below and play in New Life City on PC, XBox One and PS4!

We also added an exclusive PlayStation®Plus offer for PS4 users subscribing to the PlayStation®Plus.
This PlayStation®Plus exclusive pack contains a full set of cosmetic items styled after the elusive Blue Ninja.

This pack includes:
- Blue Ninja Outfit
- Blue Ninja Axe
- Blue Ninja Bow

To unlock it, make sure to subscribe to PlayStation®Plus and go to the Darwin Project Store Page either on your browser or on your PS4. This reward will appear under Add-Ons. (Note: You will lose this skin by unsubscribing to PlayStation®Plus)

Due to some technical issues, we are postponing Duo mode a little bit from our initial announcement. Duos will be available on PC/Steam on April 7th. We can expect a slight delay for both PS4 and Xbox One due to some technical difficulties regarding consoles but it should come in early April as well.

Since the beginning of the competitive season, two qualifiers for Steam occurred and one for both XBox One and PS4 as well. We are aware of some technical issues occurring on console and we are tackling the stability matter at the moment. We are also aware of some management hiccups and will make sure to improve those events to make them smoother for both the communities organizing them and the players participating.

Last but not least, we want to send lots of love to the entire Darwin Project community. In these difficult times it’s important to remain kind, compassionate and generous towards one another. Many challenges and difficult times lie ahead but our team is sending everyone love and positive thoughts. We are all in this together. Stay safe.

-- Scavengers Studio team

This week missions of Game Changers require you to hunt inmates using the headhunter drone. Play in public matches, locate players using the headhunter drone, hunt them down and be the one eliminating them. This quest can be done with any class.

The five quests of the week:

• Deal 1000 damage with roll attacks.
  
• Use 15 abilities.
  
• Crouch on a Tank cannon.
  
• Kill 3 opponents who are equipped with the Headhunter Drone.
  
• Trap 5 opponents (with Cage Trap, TripWire or Bear Trap)

See the rewards and learn more at the Game Changers page[www.play-darwinproject.com].

This week’s missions of Game Changers require you to play with the Grapple Gauntlet. Track your opponents in the Arena and hook them directly using your grapple gauntlet.

The five quests of the week:

• Use 7 Consumables.
  
• Shoot an arrow into the climbing Teddy Bear.
  
• Hook 5 opponents with the Grapple Gauntlet.
  
• Deal 1000 Headshot damages.
  
• Craft both abilities in 5 different matches.

See the rewards and learn more at the Game Changers page

Grapple doesn’t tickle!

This week’s missions of Game Changers require you to play with the Jet Wings. Hover in the sky of the Arena, notch your arrows and land 3 shots into your opponents.

The five quests of the week:

• Land 3 arrows while hovering with the Jet Wings.
  
• Finish 5 matches with at least 1 kill.
  
• Deflect 5 opponents’ arrows.
  
• Travel through 7 different pairs of portals.
  
• Craft 10 Shields.

See the rewards and learn more at the Game Changers page

Focus and keep aiming!

This week’s missions of Game Changers require you to kill inmates playing with the Grapple Gauntlet. Play in public matches, locate players using the Grapple Gauntlet, hunt them down and be the one eliminating them. This quest can be done with any class.

The five quests of the week:

1. Kill 3 opponents who are equipped with Grapple Gauntlet.
   
2. Use 5 Gliders.
   
3. Craft a fire on a green boat.
   
4. Survive until sudden death in 3 different matches.
   
5. Land an arrow on an opponent located at least 50 meters away.

See the rewards and learn more at the Game Changers page

Kill the grapple, do not let it grab you!

Dear Darwin Project Community,

Darwin Project is available for free on PS4, Xbox One and PC/Steam and we are releasing today our first big patch since the official launch. From Battle Pass to balance changes, see what’s new below:


Introducing our first Battle Pass event, titled Game Changers. The first Battle Pass since the official launch of Darwin Project, now available on PS4, Xbox One and Steam. Compete in the Arena to honor its newfound Sponsors and their (quite literally) game-changing Class Gear. The Battle Pass starts on Tuesday February the 25th at 12:00PM EST and will end on Tuesday April the 21st at 11:59AM EST after 8 weeks. Complete weekly challenges and earn experience to unlock exclusive cosmetics, fan gifts and ramen!

See the rewards and learn more at the Game Changers page[www.play-darwinproject.com].

Purchase the Battle Pass for 950 Ramens and start earning rewards today! Complete weekly challenges to receive more experience and up to 100 rewards. If you didn’t purchase the Battle Pass, don’t worry, all users can still grind through the 100 tiers available, unlock free rewards, and purchase the pass at any time of its duration to receive all rewards associated with your progress.


Unlock all new exclusive High-Tech skins based on former stars of the Arena - like the undaunted Vonrobo or the enigmatic Orboros! The new skins are available while progressing and reaching higher tiers in the Battle Pass.

Earn exclusive facepaints and haircuts to honour the Arena’s sponsors with style.


You can earn other rewards by reaching specific tiers among the Battle Pass such as Fan Gifts (Some even guaranteed to drop an Epic or Legendary skin!), up to 1000 Ramen, and Battle Pass XP boosts allowing you to climb faster.


New challenges will unlock automatically every week, on Tuesday at 12:00PM EST, allowing you to reach higher tiers faster. All weekly challenges are the same for every player, independently if you purchased the Battle Pass or not, and will reward you with the same amount of experience. Note that weekly challenges can only be completed in public matchmaking and not in custom matches.

See the rewards and learn more at the Game Changers page[www.play-darwinproject.com].


In addition to the Battle Pass tab, you will notice a new tab available: the Class Menu. This tab will let you discover the lore of the Sponsors behind each class currently available as well as their current abilities and gear upgrades. Feel free to check it out to learn more about the classes without having to be in a lobby.


For those who are deeper into the competitive aspect of Darwin Project, we heard you. We know that many of you are waiting patiently to see the addition of Stats Tracking as an incentive to play competitively, which is scheduled for this Summer (ICYMI: our 2020 Roadmap is available here[www.scavengers.ca]).

Why we decided to add Stats Tracking at that time:
Despite the stats and leaderboards being available during Early Access, we needed to rework them on several technical and design aspects in order to make them relevant for Darwin Project. The class system, the rework of the UI, and the fact that we added a new platform on which Darwin Project is now available, meant a significant amount of dev time. With the size of the team, we could not do it simultaneously with the Battle Pass and Duos mode. This is why, in order to produce something that would reach the quality we aim for, we decided to produce the Stats Tracking for this Summer only.

Don’t worry, we have been working on something that will be a good incentive for competitive and dedicated players to train for. We will be sharing more details very soon. Stay tuned!



This update also includes some bug fixes, gameplay and balancing changes.
Find the full list below:

• Decreased snowball cold damage from 20% to 10% of max cold
  
• Decreased Icebolt ability cold damage from 60% to 30% of current cold
  
• Decreased Icebolt ability duration from 4-6s to 3-5s

Dev comment: Death by cold turned out to be way more common that we intended so we’re decreasing the player capacity to inflict cold damage.

• Decreased arrow craft time from 2s to 1.5s
  
• Decreased fire craft time from 2s to 1.5s

Dev comment: Arrow and fire craft time felt too slow compared to the overall pace of the game.

• Decreased headhunter drone death time from 15s to 10s

Dev comment: The headhunter drone happens to be destroyed often, especially during melee combat. Reducing its downtime will make the class less vulnerable.

• Replaced turret with teleport on headhunter drone class

Dev comment: The addition of the Teleport ability will help those who choose it make better use of the map’s verticality.

• Reduced Jetwings Air dash speed by 7.5%

Dev comment: Even with the previous changes, the air dash felt too difficult to counter. Lowering its speed will make it easier to react to.

• Increased Meteor ability speed by 15%

Dev comment: Increasing Meteor speed allows players to combine it with an axe swing more efficiently.

• Increased Barrier ability cooldown from 20s to 30s

Dev comment: The effectiveness of the barrier combined with its low cooldown made it a bit too powerful, increasing its cooldown should make it more balanced compared to the other abilities.

• When killed, inmates now drop a minimum of 5 wood instead of 3

Dev comment: Some combat encounters can last several minutes and 3 wood felt a bit underwhelming as a reward.

• Decrease forbidden zone exponential cold timer from 60s to 15s
  
• Increased forbidden zone exponential cold by 40%

Dev comment: After spending 15s (previously 60) in a forbidden zone, the cold is becoming more intense every second. These changes aim to prevent players from staying in forbidden zones way longer than it was intended to.

• Added a preview system when placing turret or traps
  
• Removed packs from deer loot table
  
• Added 3 arrows drop in deer loot table
  
• Increased glider drop rate in both deer and loot chest
  
• Jetwings “Death from above” gear upgrade now only works if the arrow is fired while hovering instead of falling

• Added a FOV slider (pc only)
  
• Added an option to deactivate the dynamic camera (pc only)
  
• Improved multiple controller force feedback
  
• Improved destruction and targeting visual effects of Turret ability
  
• Optimized arrow and axe visual effects
  
• Improved impact visual effects on barrier and lockdown abilities
  
• Improved audio and visual effects when attacking AI and Deer
  
• Revised lockdown and turret colors to differentiate your own from an enemy's

• Fixed Jetwings “Thruster speed” gear upgrade text that was not indicating a correct value
  
• Fixed Jetwings “Fuel efficiency” gear upgrade text that was not indicating a correct value
  
• Fixed some missing textures from environment assets
  
• Added missing collision to the lake at the top of Yonder Canyon
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause the rarity of items to not be displayed when opening a fan gift
  
• Fixed multiple text that were not translated
  
• Fixed an issue that caused Captain Darwin's fuel bar to turn red when using the drone or the gauntlet
  
• Fixed an issue allowing players to duplicate inventory items

*Note that the bug fixes list is non exhaustive, a lot of other issues have also been fixed.


Enjoy the Game Changers seasonal event, honour the sponsors and remember: SURVIVE!

Thanks for your support!

Scavengers Team

Dear Darwin Project Community,

We did it! Darwin Project left Early Access last month and it is available for free on PS4, Xbox One and Steam. It took us a bit of time to defrost the doors to the Arena but we are super excited to welcome you all there. We’re happy to see so many new Inmates!

We want to thank you all for your unwavering support and trust over the past two years. You have seen the numbers of our recent infographic, you’ve seen the different patches, you’ve witnessed the evolution of the game, to which you have significantly contributed, and you know it was quite the journey!

Now, let’s talk about why you came here: the new content.


We have added to the game a brand new class system, dictated by the Gear you select at the start of a match:

• The Jet Wings: Equip these aerodynamic fuel-injected Jet Wings and take to the skies! Master their maneuverability and acrobatic abilities to daze and amaze your opponents, while raining death from above with a flurry of arrows!
  
• The Grapple Gauntlet: Do you like things up close and personal? Then close the gap in the blink of an eye and bring the fight directly to your opponents and give them the chance to meet the business end of your personalized axe, or grapple the environment for quick getaways!
  
• The Headhunter Drone: Are you the type of person who likes to have a companion with you when venturing out in the wilderness? Then be sure to enter the Arena with this helpful little friend, who can gather resources for you as well as track your opponents to ensure you’re never taken by surprise!

Each class has its own set of abilities. At level 1, you will only have two abilities to choose from. You will only be able to unlock the third ability when you reach level 3, and the fourth ability at level 10. Each class also has its own experience bar and needs to be leveled up separately (you will get fan gifts whenever you level up with any class).

Additionally, each class has three unique gear upgrades that you will be able to boost every match in order to be stronger, faster, and to reinforce each class’ unique playstyle. Each gear upgrade can be crafted 3 times to maximize their effectiveness.

We hope you’ll enjoy the new possibilities and play styles these classes offer!


Another new addition to the game: the Darwinium. To upgrade your gear and unlock your abilities while roaming in the freezing Arena, you will need to use this brand new collectible resource.

Players will be able to gather this mysterious resource by destroying tanks of Darwinium dispatched all around the Arena. You’ll be able to use it to unlock the abilities of your gear and upgrade them.

Each Darwinium tank you find in the wild will give you 15 individual Darwinium. Electronics have been replaced with Darwinium shipments, which will give you 150 Darwinium.

Although we replaced the leather resource with Darwinium, you can still find and harvest wood – happy chopping!


The crafting wheel has also been revamped. With new gears, new abilities, new gear upgrades, and a new resource, we needed to rework the crafting wheel.

From now on, you will only be able to choose one craftable item amongst the five available: Bear Trap, Cage Trap, Pulse Mine, Tripwire and Smoke Bomb.

The crafting wheel is split into two sections –one for each gatherable resource in the map:

• Upper half: Use wood to craft shields, fires, arrows and your personalized craftable item.
  
• Lower half: Use Darwinium to unlock your abilities and upgrade your gear.

Note that the cost of gear upgrades will increase every time you purchase one starting from 50 to 75 and 100 to max it.

These changes to the craft wheel come with a global UI revamp, including a rework of the inventory system.


The inventory system has changed a lot with this update. You don’t have to loot bodies after killing another inmate anymore. Instead, all items and unused Darwinium and Wood are automatically dropped on the ground when an inmate dies. In addition to the unused resources, 35% of the Darwinium used by the inmate to upgrade their gear and abilities will automatically be dropped as well.

Regarding the inventory, you can now drop off any item you picked up to empty a slot of your inventory, or pick up something you may find more valuable. All available items are now available among chests and deer loot.

Each slot of your inventory allows you to stack up to 3 of the same item, max, but you are allowed to gather several stacks of each item in different inventory slots.

In chests and deer, you’ll be able to loot: Shields, all 4 traps, health pack, speed boost, glider, coffee and smoke bomb.

We also limited the maximum amount of arrows to 8. We decided to do so to improve variety in combat, especially increase the switch between axe and bow, to put more emphasis on picking up arrow and to balance arrows versus axes.

We also decide to remove a few items, upgrades and powers that were not feeling relevant with both the new class gameplay and the new inventory system such as:

• Rigged Chest / Hook
  
• Hunter Arrow / Fire Arrows / Berserk Arrows
  
• Axe sharpener / Lumberjack / Scavenger Axe
  
• Fur cloak / Detective Cloak / Ghost Cloak / Runner Cloak / Revenger Cloak
  
• Speed Boots / Evader Boots / Hunter Boots / Ninja Boots
  
• Detector

To introduce the gameplay mechanics of Darwin Project to new players on all platforms, we designed a brand new tutorial explaining the basic rules of the game that were sometimes unclear for new players.

With this new addition, we decided to remove our training yard which would have required a lot of rework time to fit with the new class system.


We added some new cosmetics to the game. We started by reworking the iconic ‘Orange Skin’ which is now exclusively available to Early Access players and created a brand new chameleon skin which changes colors every session depending on the random color the game gives you in the lobby. Note that the weapons for the chameleon suit and the lights on the jet, gauntlet, and headhunter drone are also following the same logic.

You can get your favorite colour for your chameleon outfit in the dressing room for a low ramen fee.

We also added two legendary sets: Dark Dragon and Dark Serpent skins which you now get from the ‘Shop and Sales’ tab.

We also added a new ‘Starter Pack’ with the exclusive and legendary Dark Ninja skin in the primary shop. You can also get 1100 Ramens (Ramen Dinner) and a bunch of Fan gifts to start your adventure in the arena with style.


We also made several other gameplay changes:

• We removed the Show Director prestige system. It wasn’t a clear system for the inmates to ‘rate’ the show directors in their lobbies and was also not a good indicator of a Show Director’s performance.
  
• Inmates are now sprinting by default: We made this change to increase the global pace of the game and to focus the gameplay more on class and abilities than on stamina management.
  
• We made some new daily challenges for you to do while playing in the Arena to get some ramen. We also removed some of them in order to fit with the current core features of the game and especially the class system.
  
• We slightly changed the control schemes for both Mouse and Keyboards but also for controllers in order to fit with the new gameplay, namely the class system.

We’ve prepared a roadmap to provide insight into Darwin Project’s future updates.

We aim to release a Battle Pass at the end of February,complete with a progression system which will allow you to unlock exclusive rewards, such as Cosmetics, while offering unique quests to challenge your skill and wits in the Arena.

We disabled Duo mode at launch due to a number of issues surrounding the addition of classes and bugs in our Invite/Party system. Our goal is to address these in time and present Duo mode again after the Battle Pass by the end of March. Do not expect any major changes to the mode for now but we are thinking about different ways to potentially improve it via future updates.

Approximately one month after the first Battle Pass, by the end of March, we will add a new tile to the Arena: New Life City. We will tell you more about this tile in future communications. Simultaneously, we will improve the Twitch extension to bring an even more interactive experience to viewers on Twitch while watching Darwin Project.

Following this, we will add new classes, Show Director Powers, a second Battle Pass, new additions to game modes as well as implementing new Stats Tracking via the returning Career Profile.

We hope you will be as excited as we are about these incoming updates!

Thanks for your support!

Scavengers Team

We released a new update today on Steam which include some bug fixes and a few balancing changes. This is only a small batch of balance changes but more will come with a bigger update in the future.

• Replaced the teleport ability with the turret on Jetwings.
  
• Reduced Jetwings Air Dash speed by 15%.
  
• Removed the vertical velocity that was stored after the use of the Jetwings.
  
• Activating the Jetwings now cost 3% of the total fuel.
  
• Increased the delay before the fuel start to refill from 0.3s to 0.5s.
  
• Jetwings Air Dash fuel cost is not affected by “Fuel Efficiency” gear upgrade anymore.
  
• Jetwings Air Dash now cost 40% of the fuel bar.
  
• Added a visual feedback in Jetwings fuel bar to indicate the minimum fuel required to use the Air Dash.
  
• When killed, inmates now drop a minimum of 3 Wood.
  
• Darwinium and Wood dropped by defeated players are now regrouped in one stack per resource.
  
• Added a missing VFX when the Headhunter Drone was scanning a clue.

------------

• Fixed several crashes affecting all platforms.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused items to be duplicated during Beach Party.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused Darwinium shipments to count for 300 instead of 150 towards the “Gather 1000 Darwinium” Daily Challenge.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused some UI inconsistencies when using the Grapple Gauntlet or the Headhunter Drone.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused a texture glitch when using the Headhunter Drone.
  
• Fixed an issue where it was not possible to use the safe zone slider with a controller.
  
• Fixed a UI issue when accessing the Dressing Room from the lobby with a controller.
  
• Fixed an issue where Captain Darwin Headhunter Drone and Grappling Gauntlet input were inverted on a controller.
  
• Fixed a UI issue affecting show director safe zone.
  
• Fixed collision issues in the lobby that allowed some players to escape.

Dear Darwin Project Community,

It's time to share with you some of the new things coming your way in the Arena. New opponents, new ways to fight in the arena, new ways to mess with the Arena.. We are glad to announce that the full release of Darwin Project is coming in January 2020 on Steam, Xbox One and… PS4!

Watch our announcement trailer below.