Alien Dawn — patch notes and updates
Stored observation / content update:
Dated developer announcements recorded from Steam. Open the source for the complete update.
| Update | Date | Excerpt / source |
|---|---|---|
| Big Multiplayer Stability Update! | 2026-09-25 | The last several weeks I've worked almost exclusively on multiplayer stability. We've run several test games and this new version is a 10x improvement over the previous version. We will continue to run these developer multiplayer tests so if you are interested in playing along, please let me know! Big thank you to Adeptus AnonyMu5 & Rawhide Kobayashi for playtesting the game with me for many hours of the last few weeks. Weapons & EquipmentAdded AxeAdded Two-Handed Grip to the AxeAdded Alternate Grip Types for Melee WeaponsImproved Loading Shells into ShotgunsReduced the amount of Motion Controller movement required to close the Break-Action S |
| Major Vehicle & Multiplayer Update + New Double Barrel Shotgun | 2026-09-04 | 📝 Developer NotesVehicles receive a major overhaul with new two-handed steering, gear shifting, revised throttle inputs, improved handling, enhanced haptics, and better engine audio for an overall more intuitive driving experience. The new Double Barrel Shotgun is now finished with fully interactive break-action barrel. This is accompanied by an additional way to reload ammo in all guns from the Vest. Alongside these additions, this update includes extensive improvements to multiplayer networking and performance, and overall system cleanup. On another note, in regard to the ongoing development of the game, I post daily development updates on |
| Alien Dawn - Alpha V2 Playtest Update (2.0.231) | 2026-08-11 | Below are all the changes since the previous Playtest update on August 1st.This patch primarily focuses on multiplayer fixes as we continue to make online play stable and a solid gameplay experience. It also includes tweaks and additions, many of which are based on feedback from our friends on the Alien Dawn Discord. I started posting my day-to-day work and thoughts on the game in the "build update" channel for anyone interested in following along. I want to give a shout out to everyone who has been giving their valuable time and insights during this Playtesting phase: Chris Colman, TedSan, HFTK, Megasteakman, Michael Moist, Adeptus AnonyMu5, |
| Brief Update from the Developer ⭐ | 2026-08-02 | 🚨This is NOT the official update for Alien Dawn Alpha 2.0🚨We're switching the default public branch from the old 2024 build to the latest Playtest build for several reasons:1. People buy the game after seeing posts about the new version, then launch a two-year-old build instead. Naturally, that isn't the experience I want new players to have.2. Playtesters potentially use the wrong branch and then give feedback on the incorrect version. 3. No one is actively playing the old version and leaving it as the default only creates unnecessary confusion.I will post a full change log and update when we officially launch Alien Dawn Alpha 2.0. In the |
| Alien Dawn Alpha 2 - Playtesting Open Now | 2026-02-06 | Hey, so I know it's been over a year since I last posted here and that sucks. The gist of what has been going on is that in order for this game to work in any capacity I needed to advance my understanding of the Unreal Engine and game design.I've worked pretty much non-stop on both of those things since the last update in 2024, and I hope you see this latest update as evidence of that.I've already had a handful of completely new people I've never met try it, and while their reaction isn't 10 out of 10, I can tell you it's very different from what I used to get with other builds of the game.On that note, I've always enjoyed the community aspe |
| 🔥Patch notes version 1.22🔥 | 2024-07-28 | 🔥Patch notes version 1.22🔥 I tested this myself with a Quest 3 using Air Link and it worked great! (Previously I was developing on a Rift S and Vive Pro) Very smooth experience on medium settings on my i9 9900 & 2080ti. ➕New NPC Behaviors➕ Alien now appears from the air in Alien Drop Pod Alien has projectile fireball attack with VFX Alien has teleportation defence with VFX Alien has shield defence ability with VFX Soldiers now have voices and talk Soldiers communicate with each other Soldiers alert each other of nearby enemies Soldiers throw grenades Soldiers take cover Soldier can crouch Soldiers have improved rifle animations Wolves eyes |
| BETA TESTING UPDATE 22 NOW - Alien Dawn - 6/26/2024 | 2024-06-27 | If you're here from the Steam Summer Sale, I'm the developer of Alien Dawn and I'm currently beta testing a new version of the game. If you're interested in the game and would like to play this new version, switch to "update-22-preview" in the Steam Betas tab. Things I'm currently working on: New NPC A.I. & Behaviors New NPC Audio New NPC Animations New Sound FX New Music Updated & Improved Graphics Difficulty Modes and Balance If you have any questions or feedback, please reach out to me here or on Discord, thanks! Xtian |
| Alien Dawn Update 21 | 2024-01-17 | If the last update was about porting the game to Unreal 5, this one is about refining the core experience. That means improved performance, better motion controls, and a more fluid gameplay loop. Big thank you to everyone on Discord that helped me play-test this version and gave me their valuable feedback (theloneranger, livid, valor_fall, Thayden, WavformVR, ThaAnimalOne, droneattack, Samuri, bootleg, chaunteuse, Nick, and TROJENxxMCDANK). Big performance improvements (especially in later game segments with many NPC enemies) New vehicle motion controls New reload mechanic New map locations Added more realistic red dot, holographic, and ref |
| Alien Dawn 1.21 Preview - Looking for Play Testers | 2023-12-30 | Hey yall, Xtian here. I'm close to releasing the next version of Alien Dawn (1.21), which is the first update since releasing the Unreal Engine 5 version, and a lot more has been smoothed out since then. This update is primarily focused on quality-of-life game play & performance improvements. The biggest hurdle I've overcome in this update are the multiple solutions I had to find that ensure smooth gameplay throughout each playthrough, in particular on harder difficulties with hundreds of NPCs in the world. I plan to do an in-depth video going over this journey, but for now I want to get this update released. I've never seen the game play bet |
| Alien Dawn | Unreal Engine 5 Update | Out Now | 2023-10-11 | I thought this port from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5 was going to take 3 months, maybe 6 tops. It's been exactly a year since I started on this version I'm releasing today. Why switch from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5? There is of course the obvious, better graphics. But the biggest reason I decided to make the move is because all future updates to the PCVR platform are going to be happening in Unreal 5, and the further I developed down the road of Unreal 4 the more I would have had to backtrack to eventually stay up to date with the latest PCVR features and hardware. What to expect from this new version? My original goal was t |
| Alien Dawn Unreal Engine 5 | Open Alpha | 2023-06-15 | 🗣️ Calling all Escapees! It's the dawn of a new era. Alien Dawn is now open for playtesting in Unreal Engine 5! This is a very early build and there will be bugs and issues to expect, however your help is critical to our goal of successfully bringing the game in to this new era. PLAYTEST INFO: TO PARTICIPATE in the developer feedback UE5 playtest, sign into our Discord and please react to this same message in the "news-and-updates" forum using the 👽 emoji. You'll get access to a channel where we'll notify you when the latest playtest version is released. We'll be using the "alpha-testing-reports" forum on the Discord for reporting bugs, is |
| Alien Dawn "TOP 20 INDIE VR GAMES OF 2023" + NEWS | 2023-01-06 | Hi All, As it is the 6th and still less than a week into 2023 I can still say, Happy New Year! In some exciting news, IndieVR has added Alien Dawn to it's "TOP 20 INDIE VR GAMES OF 2023" list and highlight video. (Alien Dawn is the first up in the video at 1:24) It's always been one of the goals to have Alien Dawns on lists like this, so I can't say how much I appreciate them for believing in what we are creating. This channel is doing a great thing for VR indie devs by choosing to focus on these handcrafted titles. Please support the channel by taking a look! I'll also be on the IndieVR podcast in the next week telling an in-depth story abou |
| Alien Dawn | UPDATE 19 | 2022-12-12 | Hi All! bHaptics Support The most unique aspect of UPDATE 19 is the addition of native bHaptics support. bHaptics is a haptics feedback system that really adds to a high end VR experience, with 40 individual motors in the vest that give the player detailed feedback as to what is happening to their character. An obvious example is if you're getting shot in the back, only the back potion of the vest will vibrate, giving you better situational awareness of the battle. What has been really cool for me was incorporating the 40 individual motors into the inventory system. Each inventory item slot on your vest and backpack react to an item being sto |
| IndieVR - Live Stream Demo! 11am PST 11-20-2022 | 2022-11-20 | IndieVR - Live Stream Demo! 11am PST 11-20-2022! https://www.youtube.com/@Indie__VR |
| Alien Dawn | v1.18a (HotFix) | 2022-11-13 | 11/12/2022 (Early Access) v1.18a Made Tutorial optional on bootup for first time Players |
| ALIEN DAWN - Update 18 | 2022-11-12 | Hi All, I remember all the way back to watching the first random person play our game and watching them try to interact with the slide on the pistol and it not doing anything. After that I saw many others do something similar. It's not that I couldn't figure out how to do it because we had weapon interactions on the Shotgun and Grenade Launcher, but there were just to many bigger issues that needed to be solved before I had the time to make each weapon have interacting parts. New Weapon Interactions https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56a6f64e2399a387c5b92a07/1666570387872-EWJ3YSFI2LLQ9I0FNQ4N/ad_v118_weapon_int_01.gif With today's |
| ALIEN DAWN - Update 17 | 2022-09-30 | The other night I was watching my Dad play the game (he has over 200 hours in), and when he called for extraction at the Radio Tower the Extraction Point didn't appear on the Map. I'd never seen this happen before so I thought it was a one off thing, but then someone mentioned in it in the Steam forums. Must be a bug from the last update. Because of this we're releasing this new patch today in an attempt to fix that bug, among some fun new additions like the gigantic physics based Ferris Wheel that works in multiplayer.🔻 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56a6f64e2399a387c5b92a07/1664483386591-WWA547YSK082UZPKMEFN/Desktop+2022.09. |
| ALIEN DAWN - Update 16 | 2022-09-20 | Hello! 🏠 Home Screen 🏠 A focus of this update has been on revising the opening Home Level of the start of the game. Instead of the Cabin it's now the Old Brick Mansion, and time was invested in adding higher quality models, along with more Physics and Player Interactions to this level. There's still more to be done on the Start Scene Home Level, but it shows a step in the right direction to improving the graphics and game play interactions in the game. 🏆 Achievements 🏆 We've added Achievements to this version, with the plan for future versions to have the achievements unlock Modifiers for the various game modes. This new stat system also |
| Alien Dawn - Update 15 | 2022-08-22 | After watching many streamers, getting feedback on the forums and reading many reviews we decided to focus on 3 things in this update. 1. Performance Performance is the first priority when it comes to VR. One of the most difficult things to do is an open world with hundreds of thousands of individual objects, in particular with multiplayer. Version 15 of Alien Dawn pays specific interest to optimization and should solve many of the performance issues hindering the game, in particular frame drops that happen the longer you play, and in multiplayer. 2. Gameplay An actual tutorial has been something we've thought was important since we released |
| Alien Dawn | v1.14b (HotFix) | 2022-08-07 | 8/6/2022 (Hot Fix) v1.14b Quest and HP Reverb G2 Bug Fixes |
| Alien Dawn - Update 14 | Steam Survival Fest!!! | 2022-08-03 | Welcome to the Steam Survival Fest! We've got a new update in honor of the Survival Fest that includes new content, performance enhancements, new features and 1 new mode. The new Survival Mode is the result of us implementing a save game feature for the player and all of their inventory and vehicles. The save game feature has been requested by many people, and is also helpful to us for development. The Survival Mode also allows us to implement features that have been programmed into the game, but didn't fit into the Escape Mode, like the flyable helicopters you can find at the Radio Towers. Our primary focus will still be making the Escape Mo |
| Update Video / v11-13 - New Free Test Demo! | 2022-07-01 | Hi All! We've got some nice updates for you today with our new devlog covering versions 11 through 13 as well as our new Free Test Demo. We decided to release a Free Test Demo so that everyone is able to test their VR hardware to check for compatibility and performance before purchasing Alien Dawn, and confirm that their VR controller and gameplay preferences are supported. We want anyone interested in this game to be happy with their purchase. There are also several new updates below in today's HotFix. 6/30/2022 (HotFix) v1.13c + Added Free Test Demo to Store Page + Cleaned up Opening Message Screen + Fixed bug where Map 2 would not start s |
| Alien Dawn | v1.13b (HotFix) | 2022-06-26 | Hi All, Thank you to some of the members of our Discord community that helped point out some of these bugs in the latest update (#13). 6/25/2022 (HotFix) v1.13b + Turned on Async NavMesh Gathering - Big performance increase bug fix + Removed Sliding Bug | VR + Changed to OpenXRHMD=40 Highest Xtian |
| Alien Dawn | Update 13 | 2022-06-23 | Hello Everyone! An exciting update for everyone today. First off a big thank you to Brett Driver (Boneworks) for starring as the Resistance Commander character in Alien Dawn. He’s been fantastic to work with and we love the new voice over he’s added to the game. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56a6f64e2399a387c5b92a07/1655869002597-2FEITJASY05GQSA7TO7Y/Brett+Driver_02.jpg?format=240w We’ve also had our main Alien Dawn logo redesigned and are very happy with the results! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56a6f64e2399a387c5b92a07/1655861534376-WM4ZULP0ONGG77IAXSB1/AD_Store_Library+Logo |
| Alien Dawn Update #12 | 2022-06-05 | Hi Everyone, It was brought to our attention that there was a bug on the server side that when a client connected the server would loose their audio. This patch should address that issue and add the new features below. Hope you enjoy and be in touch with more updates soon! Xtian PS. Thank you to everyone leaving your supportive messages and reviews. 6/5/2022 (Early Access) v1.12 + Added obstacles to Mini Bases, Ammo Bases, Radio Tower & Exfil + Added Crawling Alien to Interior environments + Added Invert Mouse option + Added Music Volume option + FPS Hud Quick Slot Bar now flashes which type of Slots are full + Can now Reload Mag on ground if |
| Alien Dawn Update #11 | 2022-05-25 | Hi All, Version 10 had a bug in it that was causing unnecessary CPU usage, which was really a simple engine option that just needed to be turned on. Sorry to the people who had the issue with that version, hopefully this revision solves those problems. This update also happens to come with a few simple additions as well that are listed below. Thank you for being patient with us and to those who reached out to let us know about the bug! Xtian 5/25/22 (Early Access) v1.11 + Added Microsoft Native OpenXR plugin + Added HP Reverb Native motion controller plugin + Removed some excess and unused plugins + Added random Explosive Barrels near Shacks |
| Alien Dawn Update #10 | 2022-05-22 | Hi Y'all, Thank you for being patient as we ported our game Alien Dawn to Unreal 4.27 and the OpenXR API. As mentioned in our last update, this was a fundamental step in creating a modern VR game. Because of this and even though there isn't as much new content as in a usual update, this was the most time intensive but important update yet. The plan moving forward is to continue to polish every aspect of the Escape mode, from the interactive environment, A.I. intelligence, weapon attachments, inventory management and more. It's also been a long time since we released a DevLog, so we figured with this being such a big update it would be a grea |
| Alien Dawn Unreal Engine Upgrade & OpenXR Preview | 2022-03-20 | Hi Everyone! We've been looking forward to migrating Alien Dawn to the newest version of Unreal for a while and have determined now is a good time to do so. OpenXR One of the main advantages to making this upgrade is the addition of a production ready version of OpenXR, which is the unified software standard that all VR manufactures have agreed on. This means far fewer compatibility issues as a VR software developer, in particular as new headsets are released. Developing software in VR since 2015, I can say one of the biggest issues was constantly adapting to the new standards that would come out every year, and each hardware company had thei |
| Xbox / Playstation Gamepad Support & VR Control Updates | 2022-02-24 | Hello Everyone, We have what we think is an important update in the right direction to improve the game and expand our player base by refining the gameplay controls for VR players, as well as adding support for Xbox and Playstation controllers to the Desktop version of the game. All of these updates are a direct result of listening to the people on the Steam forums and Discord, so very special thank you to: LCountach, TedSan, YBDASHOOTER, Smokey3100, Muffll, Skully666, LONFL, & more. Your excitement and help with the game continues to drive us. Alien Dawn - v1.09 Update Gamepad Support: This was a fun project to do and I'm liking the directio |
| Alien Dawn | Update #8 | 2022-02-02 | Hi Everyone, As some of you may have seen, we released our first actual trailer just a little over a week ago and we've been really happy with the response to it. Since then, we've shifted our primary focus to development on the game and today have a new patch with several improvements to help with VR gameplay, like an indicator to show where you were aiming if you missed teleport grabbing an item. There are also a handful of tweaks to the game as well. The game was in need of more mags and ammo spawns, so we added a feature to the weapons where they now have a chance of spawning with a mag already attached and with a random amount of ammo. I |