DREADWAY — Patch Notes

Highlights

• 🎓 New Tutorial added
• 🏥 New location: Abandoned Hospital Bunker
• 🎙️ Voice-driven mechanics: phrase recognition + codeword locks + enemies flee on correct callouts
• 🌍 Lobby overhaul: 12 global regions + smart region selection by ping
• 🔧 Tons of stability fixes (softlocks, desyncs, falling through the world, interaction bugs)

✨ New Content & Features

• Added a Tutorial
• Added a new location: Abandoned Hospital Bunker
• Added breath vapor (visible breath)
• Added ultrawide monitor support
• Added adrenaline syringe to revive players
• Added spawn/despawn notifications for outdoor monsters
• Added nuclear strike warnings: 10 hours and 1 hour before impact
• Added voice phrase recognition from voice chat
• Added locked doors that open when you correctly pronounce codewords
• Enemies now flee for 7 seconds if you say the correct codeword loudly and clearly towards them
• Added a red VOIP indicator light that shines brighter based on voice chat activation/volume
• Added a profanity filter for session names (during session creation)

🌍 Multiplayer / Lobby / Sessions

• Refactored the lobby into a session-based system
• Added 12 worldwide regions + automatic best-region selection by ping
• Fixed workbench UI desync after reconnects

🧰 Bunker / Workbench Improvements

Added a workbench checkpoint to the middle of every bunker:

• Store loot safely and keep exploring
• Craft inside the bunker

• If a player is AFK inside the workbench, they’ll be kicked out after 15 seconds
• Fixed cases where players could get stuck inside the workbench
• Fixed cases where the workbench became unusable if someone entered it and then left the game

🐞 Major Fixes

• Fixed double-playing emote animations on clients
• Fixed falling through the map (including in the train)
• Fixed players clipping through train walls and/or falling onto the rails
• Fixed items sticking to player models
• Fixed cases where you couldn’t interact with items or player corpses
• Fixed Tick behavior bugs + freezes after Tick attacks
• Fixed first-person player animation issues
• Fixed Lunchbox VFX display issues
• Fixed items not staying on the train after leaving a location
• Fixed a bug where items dropped on one map could carry over to another
• Fixed cases where the player lost control of the character
• Fixed a bug where Motion Blur and other settings didn’t save properly
• Fixed campfire damage affecting players from too far away
• Fixed multiple localization issues and some main menu fonts for certain languages
• Fixed a bug where the train lever didn’t reset after cooldown
• Fixed a bug where the train could start with <20% fuel if all players died
• Fixed dozens of issues that could cause general game breakage / softlocks

⚖️ Balance & QoL

• Reduced player speed gained from the Speed upgrade
• Reduced UI scroll sensitivity to a normal level
• Reduced the number of mines and traps on locations (player feedback)
• Reduced monster running speed by ~33% (1.5x slower)
• Reduced time to explosion after throwing a grenade

Early-game pacing update (Days 1–3):

• More locations with a shorter route to the bunker (so less running)
• Increased stamina and default player speed (player feedback)

Improved kick feedback + damage:

• Charged kick = 30 damage
• Uncharged kick = 5 damage
• Added more VFX to kicks

Added a burn zone in front of the furnace (yes—you can kick your friend into it 🔥)

🎧 Audio / VFX / Accessibility

• Added swing SFX for Crowbar and Syringe
• Added tile footstep sounds for the new Hospital bunker level
• Removed summer ambience sounds from weather presets
• Optimized fire VFX for low-end devices
• Fixed the seizure/flashing warning resolution for sensitive players
• Lowered bunker workbench interaction volume by 7x

🖱️ Input / VOIP

• Fixed excessive vertical mouse sensitivity
• Reworked microphone detection/binding logic
• Added a microphone sensitivity slider

🐹 Hamster Fixes

• Fixed Hamster behavior after trades: now returns to its stash, stores the item, and continues patrolling (no more “rocket launch” to the player)
• Reduced Hamster trigger distance for transforming into a spider (happens less often)
• Fixed Hamster ragdoll not enabling on death
• Increased the distance for “begging” from the Hamster

❤️ Thank you!

Thanks everyone for the support — and especially for your bug reports. Huge shout-out to streamers too: seeing these bugs live on stream helps me track them down and fix them much faster.

Release is locked in for January 26. The game is currently v0.9.5, and basically the last stretch is just bugfixes and optimization.

In early January we’ll run a big closed playtest of the near-release build.