After months of dedicated work, we’re excited to finally share this overhaul update. This release brings big improvements to Sunkenland, with refined visuals, smarter AI, redesigned islands, and new base-building features—all designed to add depth and balance to the game. We focused on creating a smoother, more immersive experience, enhancing systems you know and enjoy while introducing fresh elements to discover. Thank you for being part of this journey with us!
⚠️ Important: New Game Start Required ⚠️
Due to a major system overhaul, saves from version 0.2.X will not be compatible with this update. If you’d like to continue with an existing save from version 0.2.X, you can access it by switching to the “olderversion” branch:
1. Right-click the game in your library. 2. Select Properties. 3. Go to the Beta tab and choose olderversion.
Note: Saves created in version 0.5.X will remain compatible with all future updates. We apologize for this inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.
Here’s a full breakdown of everything waiting in this new release:
Graphic Overhaul:
Enhanced rendering quality for both underwater and land scenes, bringing a more immersive and visually appealing experience to players. Every aspect of the environment has been refined to create a more cohesive and realistic look.
Improved lighting adds depth to each scene, enhancing shadows and highlights for a more dramatic effect.
Improved Underwater Scenes:
Added more seaweed, overgrown decayed buildings, and denser biomes, making the underwater environment more vibrant and diverse.
Deeper water areas now have enhanced darkness for more atmospheric immersion, creating a more foreboding and realistic deep-sea environment.
More engaging underwater exploration: explore sunken buildings, navigate through debris, and face new challenges, including navigating tight spaces and discovering hidden treasures guarded by aquatic threats.
Island Overhaul:
Remade Islands: Redesigned the islands/atolls to be more visually distinct and combat-friendly. Each island now features unique topography, offering varied tactical opportunities and distinct visual themes to keep exploration exciting.
New Islands Added: Introducing new locations, some featuring unique enemies and factions. These new islands add depth to the game, providing players with more diverse environments and additional challenges to overcome.
New Factions:
Oceanic Republic: A group of survivors who have claimed a few islands. They are not well-equipped, using whatever weapons they can find, though some have firearms.
Atomic Clan: A highly skilled bandit group that primarily occupies the nuclear-polluted power plant area. They are well-armed with machine guns and sniper rifles, making them extremely dangerous.
New Enemies:
We've revamped some of the old enemies and introduced a variety of new ones, each with a look that reflects their faction's background, making each group visually unique. For example, the Atomic Clan wears radiation-protective gear, while the Warhead Clan is outfitted in full military gear.
Improved Enemy AI:
AI now uses advanced tactics: flanking, taking cover, repositioning, using grenades, and charging with melee.
Enemy AI is more aggressive and responsive compared to previous versions, posing a real combat challenge to players.
Combat Enhancements:
Larger, complex islands require extended engagements, encouraging players to carefully plan their assault and make strategic decisions on the fly.
Preparation is key—ensure you have enough supplies like food, water, ammo, medicine, and appropriate weapons for the environment. Engaging in extended fights without proper planning can leave you vulnerable and unprepared.
New Base Items:
Added turrets, fish ponds, seaweed planters, heavy machinery workbench, inventory management robot, and land mines, expanding base building and defense capabilities.
A few notable base items:
Inventory Management Robot: Place items into the robot, and it will automatically store them in the appropriate chests (chests that have the same items). This greatly reduces time spent organizing and allows players to focus more on exploration and combat.
Heavy Machinery Workbench: Enables crafting of gas engines, compressors, and superchargers, necessary for crafting advanced vehicles and items.
Turrets and Landmines: Blueprint items essential for base defense, providing automated defenses and strategic placement options to fend off enemy attacks.
New Blueprints and Items:
Added night vision goggles, harpoon gun, chainsaw, grenade pouch, ammo pouch, and more. These new items provide more options for combat, exploration, and resource gathering, enriching the overall experience.
Improved Base Defense:
Enemies can break walls, infiltrate buildings, and target valuable assets, making base defense a crucial part of gameplay.
Defense investments like traps, barriers, and mines are now more crucial to prevent infiltration and protect valuable assets.
You will receive a notification when enemies are approaching, and an earlier notification if you have built a siren. This allows players to better prepare for incoming attacks.
If you are engaged in combat on another island, enemies are less likely to raid your base, reducing the hassle of having to return to defend. This change helps maintain gameplay flow during extended combat sessions on distant islands.
New Traders:
Added gun dealer, furniture dealer, and a contractor (WIP). Each trader offers unique items and services, expanding the trading options and giving players more choices in how they obtain resources.
Re-balanced the existing trader to include essential resources at a high price, making trading a more viable option for acquiring hard-to-find items while maintaining the challenge of resource management.
Crafting Progression Update:
Essential resources can now be crafted from lower-tier materials, providing players with more flexibility in how they obtain the items needed for advanced crafting.
Lower-level resources remain useful throughout the game, ensuring that all collected materials have value, reducing waste, and making resource management more rewarding.
Gameplay Loop and Progression Improvements:
Rebalanced crafting requirements, weapon damage, survival difficulty, enemy strength, blueprints, and trading to create a smoother and more engaging experience.
Reduced grind while adding combat and defense challenges, making progression more satisfying without unnecessary repetition.
All items are now valuable and integrated into gameplay, ensuring that every resource and item has a meaningful purpose in the player's journey.
Gun Crafting Overhaul:
Modern guns can now be crafted by collecting or crafting parts and assembling them with optional accessories, without needing to collect hundreds of resources to craft a gun like the previous version.
Gun parts can be stored in the gun workbench, freeing up inventory space and making it easier to manage resources while crafting powerful firearms.
Improved Electricity System:
Electricity is essential for advanced crafting and is tied to food production, as fuel now requires food.
Electricity is more useful now than before because many advanced game features require electricity.
Keeping food stocked is crucial for maintaining an electricity supply, creating a stronger link between food production and the ability to power advanced machinery.
Gun Handling Updates:
Reworked gun animations, improved recoil, and overall handling to make gunplay feel more realistic and satisfying. Each weapon now has a distinct feel, adding depth to combat mechanics.
New Guns Added:
Added high-level guns, including VSS, FAMAS, and SVD. These new weapons provide more options for players who prefer long-range firearms.
Claimed Islands Building:
You can now build bases on islands conquered from enemies, allowing players to expand their influence and establish new footholds in hostile territory. This feature encourages players to take control of more areas and grow their base network.
Improved Oxygen Tank Mechanics:
Equip an oxygen tank and press 'C' to manually breathe or automatically when low on oxygen. This mechanic adds more control over underwater exploration and helps players manage their oxygen supply more effectively.
Quality of Life Improvements:
Auto pick-up wood planks when chopping bushes, reducing the tediousness of manual collection.
No need to unequip the air tank for pumping, streamlining underwater gear management.
Extended daylight hours provide more time for exploration and gathering resources, making daytime activities more productive.
Weather System:
Added varying weather conditions: clear skies, cloudy, and rainy storms. These dynamic weather changes add variety to the environment and affect visibility, movement, and overall atmosphere.
New Text Tutorials:
Access tutorials via the pause menu (ESC). These tutorials provide helpful information to guide players through new mechanics and systems, ensuring they can make the most of the game.
From refining gameplay flow to introducing quality-of-life updates, this update brings Sunkenland closer to our vision of thrilling exploration, strategic base-building, and the challenge of survival.
Thank you for being a part of Sunkenland’s journey. We’re looking forward to seeing how you dive into this new chapter!
Update v0.5.08 | Public Test Branch
Enhanced Gun Customization Feature: Drop gun parts directly into the gun workshop, no need to carry everything in your inventory.
Reworked Electricity System: Returned to the fuel consumption system for better convenience and balance. The updated electricity gameplay brings more benefits to overall progression compared to previous versions.
Many New Locations
New Base Structures: Fish ponds, heavy machinery workshop, inventory management robot, and more
Polished Late-Game Experience
New Guns: AUG, FAMAS, AK-12, etc.
Refined Gun Handling
Rebalanced Enemy Difficulty
Overall Progression Improvements, including crafting resource balance, research requirements, and blueprint availability
Improved AI and Hitboxes: AI hides, flanks, charges, and throws grenades
Upgraded Base Defense Mechanisms
Multiple Bug Fixes
General frame rate optimization
How to Opt-In: To switch to version 0.5.08, go to your Steam Library, right-click on the game, and select 'Properties'. Click on the 'BETAS' tab and choose 'publictest' from the drop-down menu.
We're releasing the test build for Update 0.5.02, which includes a major graphic overhaul, new locations and islands, a dynamic weather system, additional items, and more base-building options. This version is in the testing branch, therefore it may not be stable and have some bugs. Please keep this in mind before opting into it.
How to Opt-In: To switch to version 0.5.02, go to your Steam Library, right-click on the game, and select 'Properties'. Click on the 'BETAS' tab and choose 'publictest' from the drop-down menu.
Due to the drastic changes to the world map, we do not recommend continuing your previous game, as your base may end up in the air or other locations or could create other conflicts.
If you encounter any issues, please report them on our forum in the bugs section together with the Test Build note in the header.
Thank you for your support.
Behind the Scenes of Sunkenland | Creating Underwater Biome
Since many of you mentioned that you'd like to see some parts of our development progress, we've decided to give it a try. Here's a video showcasing how we create a more enhanced and captivating seabed. Let us know if you like it and if we should continue making these updates!
Coming Soon to Sunkenland: Enhanced Graphics, Improved Gameplay, and More!
Dear Sunkenlanders, We’re excited to share that a significant update is coming to Sunkenland, packed with features we believe you’ll love.
Enhanced Graphics
We’ve made overall improvements to lighting, post-processing effects, and underwater rendering. You'll notice more diverse biomes and a richer underwater environment, complete with more fish and corals, enhancing the visual experience.
Improved Gun Customization
We’ve simplified gun customization to make it more intuitive. Crafting guns will now require fewer resources, and we’ve added more attachments like gun grips and silencers for you to experiment with.
Refined Survival Mechanics
To add a bit more challenge, we’ve made food scarcer, especially early in the game. This change makes fishnets and planters much more valuable as you work to survive.
Immersive Underwater Exploration
We’ve enhanced underwater exploration, making diving feel more immersive. As you dive deeper, the water will darken, requiring you to use lights. We’ve also revamped underwater ruins, making them more explorable with larger interiors. The new underwater biomes, like seaweed and coral fields, will add to the immersion.
Improved Island Exploration
Our islands are now more than just small rocks. They’re larger, with unique points of interest and diverse flora and biomes, providing more to explore and discover.
Dynamic Weather System
We’ve added a complete weather system, including rain, clouds, and storms, to make the environment feel more dynamic.
Enhanced Day and Night Cycle
Our improved day and night cycle makes the game world feel more dynamic, enhancing the overall experience of your adventures.
Updated UI
We’ve redesigned the user interface to match the new graphics, aiming to increase immersion and provide a more cohesive experience.
Why It Took So Long
This update took quite some time because we are making major changes to the core system. These changes are very time-consuming but are necessary to improve the game, make it more interesting, and streamline the development process for the future. We hear your feedback and want to deliver the best gaming experience possible. It's not a quick fix; it requires a lot of time and effort, but we are committed to it.
We’re grateful for your support and patience as we’ve worked on these updates. We believe they’ll make your experience in Sunkenland even better.
Thank you for being part of our community, and we hope you enjoy the new features.
Bug Fix: Fixed the issue with incorrect electricity storage.
Bug Fix: Fixed the issue where new damaged melee weapons could be disassembled at the advanced firearms crafting station.
Bug Fix: Fixed the issue where fuel generators wasted gasoline without generating electricity.
Bug Fix: Added a "Respawn" button to the ESC menu, which allows manual respawning.
Bug Fix: Fixed the issue with incorrect completion of player missions.
Bug Fix: Fixed the issue where the solar generator blueprint was not displayed on Faraway Island.
Bug Fix: Improved display of fuel generators and performance of wind turbines.
Update V0.2.5 | Test Branch
New content
We are excited to inform everyone that the power system has been updated!
Unfortunately, the old and new power systems are not compatible, so when you log in, you will find all the wires between generators and electrical appliances disconnected. This was an unavoidable action, and we apologize for any inconvenience caused. For a long time, players could only generate power using fuel, which was not environmentally friendly and wasted precious fuel, and the electricity consumption of various household appliances was very high. This was very unreasonable!
To optimize the power system, we have made the following changes:
Weather System: Now, the weather in the game will change periodically. Currently, the game features sunny, cloudy, and thunderstorm weather.
Sunny: Little wind, strong sunlight.
Cloudy: Moderate wind, weak sunlight.
Thunderstorm: No sunlight, strong wind, and it will continuously be cold, accompanied by thunder and lightning.
Future game content will interact with the weather, such as ghost ships appearing only during thunderstorms and active rare fish schools only on cloudy days.
New Power Facilities
Introduced three new power generation facilities: wind turbines, solar panels, and lightning rods.
Wind Turbines: Clean and pollution-free generators. The higher they are built, the stronger the power generation. Try to build them high up! Can only be built on rubber floors.
Solar Panels: Facilities that generate electricity using sunlight. Height affects their power generation capacity but only to a limited extent; building them on rooftops 15 meters high is sufficient.
They cannot generate power at night or during stormy weather.
Can only be built on rubber floors.
Lightning Rods: Generate electricity using stormy weather. There is a chance to store the electricity from lightning in the power grid during thunderstorms.
Can only be built on specialized bases.
Power Grid: To make the entire power consumption network more transparent, a Power Center building has been added. The Power Center and transformers (which can only be built in the next version) are considered power intermediaries. Generators and electrical appliances must be connected through these power intermediaries to function; direct connections between generators and appliances are not allowed.
The role of the Power Center is to display the current energy storage status of the power network, indicating whether the overall electricity loss is positive energy storage or negative energy consumption.
Now, each generator comes with a certain battery storage capability. Once the power generation function is activated, it will start storing energy in its associated power grid.
If you feel that your power grid's storage capacity is insufficient, you can also build standalone batteries to connect to the grid to increase the storage limit.
Junction Box: Use a junction box to optimize your wiring routes.
Fuel Generators: Significantly improved efficiency and increased construction cost. If wind and solar power can't meet your needs, then prepare a fuel generator. As long as there's fuel, power will be uninterrupted.
Various Electrical Appliances: Balanced the power consumption of various buildings and items.
Map Markers
Now, all players can use markers on the map. The method is quite simple, just four steps:
1. Open the map
2. Click the left mouse button on a certain spot on the map.
3. Enter the name for the marker and click confirm!
Clicking the left mouse button on the marker allows you to change its color. When you no longer need this marker, you can delete it by clicking the right mouse button on it.
New Item
To avoid players having to backtrack, we've introduced a new item: the Sleeping Bag! Essentially, it's a one-time use respawn point that you can craft.
Once crafted, it will exist as an item.
You can place it at any location.
You can rename the sleeping bag to avoid confusion with others.
If not needed, you can pack it up with a "Packing Box" for reuse.
Optimizations and Adjustments
Logging Adjustment: For a long time, spears and axes have had overlapping roles. In this version, we introduced the concept of chopping value; the higher the chopping value, the more efficient the tree cutting.
We reduced the health of trees to decrease the time players spend on cutting trees. We also reduced the attack damage of axes; axes are meant for chopping trees, not for combat. We removed the ability to chop trees with combat knives, but you can use machetes instead.
Combat Location Adjustments: -Minor Adjustment: Added water fortress clusters to Iron Skull Base and Iron Helmet Base. -Major Overhaul: Twin Rocks has been completely redone and now requires a helicopter to reach.
Vehicle Adjustments
The method of learning to build helicopters has changed from random blueprints to targeted blueprints at the big bridge.
Helicopter health has been increased to 20,000, while manufacturing costs have been reduced.
We have significantly optimized the way helicopters are controlled and increased their flight speed.
The control methods for other vehicles have also been optimized accordingly.
Clothing Recycling
Recycling machines can now recycle various types of clothing, not only yielding cloth but also a chance to obtain small items like lighters.
Weapon Adjustments
The cost of iron axes has been reduced, with the required iron ingots reduced from 15 to 2. This makes the axe a transitional tool, as its previous cost was too expensive.
The costs of some initial weapons, such as wooden spears and scrap spears, have been lowered.
Serrated axes, machetes, and combat daggers now require damaged components as prerequisite materials for crafting, and their manufacturing cost has been significantly reduced.
Excess damaged components can be decomposed at a decomposition station.
To save space in players' inventory, the stack number for melee weapons that cannot be modified has been increased from 1 to 20.
Machine gun damage has been increased from 180 to 220.
.50 caliber bullets production per batch has been increased from 60 to 100 rounds, with the stack size per group increased from 1000 to 2000.
Bug Fixes
Bug Fix: Corrected sound effects that were not playing correctly while walking.
Bug Fix: Resolved alignment and construction issues with triangular foundations.
Bug Fix: Addressed the absence of some national voiceovers.
Bug Fix: Fixed the issue where some automatic firearms lacked a semi-automatic firing mode, reduced unnecessary model polygons, and enhanced game performance.
Bug Fix: Overcame inaccuracies with ranged weapons by discovering and correcting inherent logic flaws in the base code, leading to a complete overhaul of the shooting code module.
Bug Fix: Identified and rectified causes for some enemies not respawning, particularly addressing scenarios where enemies had been cleared but could not be occupied.
Bug Fix: Implemented a change where enemies on an island will not respawn as long as a player remains on the island, only refreshing once the player departs.
To switch to version 0.2.5, go to your Steam Library, right-click on the game, and select 'Properties'. Click on the 'BETAS' tab and choose 'publictest' from the drop-down menu.
(To switch back, just follow the same procedure and select 'None - opt out of all beta programs'.)"
Modified the position of the "Insert Items of the Same Type" feature for box-like structures to the top right corner of the interface, improving accessibility for some lower-resolution screens that were unable to use this button previously.
Updated the multi-language invitation for friends to join the game, making it easier to understand.
Fixed incorrect underwater ruins due to terrain modification errors, such as the inability to pick up blueprints at amusement parks.
Added a checkbox option on the server join screen to "Only show servers created by Steam friends."
Added a checkbox option on the server creation screen to "Allow only Steam friends or invited players to join the game." If one is not a friend of the server host, they will not be able to see the game listed when this option is enabled on the server join screen.
Increased recoil and reduced accuracy for the DE pistol high-power magazine.
Increased the stack size of crude grenades and Molotov cocktails to 10, and military grenades to 5, with a reduced damage radius.
Redesigned the combat area of Iron Skull Base.
Flags that signify territory control can now be placed, preventing enemy respawns, but buildings cannot be constructed until all combat area redesigns are completed by the development team.
Items in the quick access bar can now be selected with the mouse wheel.
Sleep now shows the time you will wake up, and the cooldown for sleeping has been changed to 20 hours.
Removed the blueprint requirement for bows, now part of Tier 1.
Inflation stations have been moved to Tier 1 and material consumption has been reduced.
Added a low-level oxygen tank, learnable by blueprint in the caves of Castaway Island.
Player death backpack drops no longer have a deletion timer.
Removed the blueprint requirement for stoves, now part of Tier 3.
Significantly reduced the time to cook food on grills and advanced grills.
Bug Fixes:
Bug Fix: Fixed an issue where welding could not be used in the game.
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where radiation meds caused an incorrect max health limit.
Bug Fix: Fixed overly chaotic sound when picking up items.
Bug Fix: Fixed firearms not firing accurately.
Bug Fix: Fixed an issue where the bullet count would not refresh when firearms received bullets.
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where the blueprint for the DE pistol's fine iron receiver could not unlock the corresponding item.
Bug Fix: Fixed a missing texture issue for submachine gun magazines.
