Hey, everybody,

the new update is finally here. Over the years I tried to come back to Novus several times and it never worked out. Life kept taking me somewhere else and I couldn't get back to development fully. When I then started working on the game again, I chose complete silence (so I wouldn't promise something I couldn't deliver again) and waited patiently until the first update was really finished.

The quiet work turned into half a year of work in my free time during 2025. Since February 2026 I've been working on the game almost all the time, whenever I can. So yes, Novus is back in development. Not full time, but the energy and the will to finish the project are back. For me it's also a way to take off a stone that has been weighing on me for years, even if it isn't visible.

This is an update of the same game, not a new game. But it wasn't a small update, the game changed layer by layer. I moved Novus from Unity 5 to Unity 2019 and then to Unity 2022, which was painful on its own. On top of that new character models, tuning everything that runs under the game, fixing tons of code and new tools for managing game data, which also make the game load its data faster. In many ways it's a different game for you than before. New are the character and controls, saving, the menu, combat, weather, translations, and most of all the economy, trading and almost all calculations in the game, from combat to gathering to crafting. These aren't changes for the sake of change, but improvements and a return to the original vision. The core stays the same. It's still about building, crafting and surviving in the wilderness.

The most important thing for me is the return of the original world from 2015. In 2017 (update 0.50.001) I replaced it with a new world. Back then it looked like a good idea. It solved a few technical problems with Unity 5 and it matched the time and my experience back then. It was a lot of work, everything was built by hand, and even on 9 km² it was level design that slowly pulled the game away from what it was supposed to be. Today I'm somewhere else and I know what works and what doesn't. Now I'm going back to my original vision, in the world that was designed for it back in 2014.

The main world has 64 km² and it's pure wilderness. The only fixed things in it are the Towers of the Creators and the starting place. Everything else you build yourself, or find in anomalies. You can build anywhere, in the whole world, without limits. I want to keep this direction and not make compromises just to please everyone. Those compromises slowly pushed the game somewhere else and me into burnout. It's a return to what I dreamed about when I started. Old players will find the world familiar, but there are plenty of changes. I reworked the coastline so the beaches aren't so big, added biomes that weren't there before, and tuned a lot of details and the whole logic of how the landscape is generated.

The 2017 world stays in the game as the Old World, but I won't expand it anymore, and the important things from it are slowly moving into anomalies. The character is now separate from the world, so you can play both with one character.

The character is completely new. New male and female models, new movement controls and a third person camera. Movement is a lot better than before, even if it's not perfect. I had to remove the first person view for now. I'm sorry about that, but it wasn't possible otherwise right now. You can change the gender any time in the main menu when editing your character. Hairstyles and other things will come there later.

The character finally has a bow and ranged combat. Together with dodging (Q key), combat is much more fun than before. You can also fight without a weapon now. By crouching you can sneak past creatures until they spot you or until you attack. I postponed active shield blocking because of the bow, but it will come. Shield values already count into your defense.

I rebuilt combat. Damage is based on the skill of the weapon in your hand, so specializing pays off. Creatures have fixed tiers 1 to 10, the same as equipment. Your equipment doesn't make them stronger anymore, only your combat skill does.

Weather finally behaves better and by biome, there are sand and snow storms and a forecast 4 hours ahead.

The game is in 18 languages. It's still very much work in progress, but the base works. I still have to tune the UI so the texts fit everywhere. F2 opens new in-game help (Czech and English for now). Instead of pictures it's a kind of start of a wiki right in the game, and I'll keep expanding it.

The game is single player only now. No Ghost mode and no MMORPG plans, I'm keeping my feet on the ground. In 2022 I wrote about co-op in testing. It didn't make it into this update, but it's real. Co-op will come one day, I just really don't know when yet. My dream, terraforming, is just as real. I have it in tests and it works, it just isn't polished yet. A horse will come too. It works and it's ready, it just doesn't have the game logic yet for how to get it and how to take care of it. All of this didn't make it into this update, it would have meant waiting more months.

Events now start on their own based on your computer's date. Halloween starts on October 18, then Christmas comes. But a hotfix will definitely come before that, because there will be bugs :D

Please give Novus one more chance. It's not a next-gen game for the newest machines. The graphics have aged, but not as much as you'd expect. Thanks to the 2015 world the forest still has a nice atmosphere (and I enjoy being there). The game won't make compromises and hold your hand anymore just for better sales or positive reviews. Reviews are a chapter of their own. The negative ones won't just disappear, people won't remove them now and probably not later either. So right now I'm really doing this mainly for myself and for a few loyal fans. So just try it ;)

• In the main menu, bottom left, there is a Migrate old saves button. It loads your old slots (max 3) and each one can be converted separately.
  
• Each slot is converted into a character and a world. So three slots can become three characters and three worlds.
  
• The conversion doesn't delete your original saves. You can still play them in the old version on the novus2019 branch (right click the game, Properties, Betas).
  
• Everything is converted, including money and strong weapons. It won't break the game, but a lot of the new settings won't fit the equipment and experience you have, and you'll lose the feeling of progress.
  
• That's why I recommend starting a new character ;)
  
• Saves are on Steam Cloud, so they are wherever Steam stores them.

• New character, male and female models. Armor has variants for both.
  
• New movement controls and a tuned third person camera.
  
• Dodge with a short invulnerability window.
  
• Wall climbing: just press E at a steep wall. The climbing skill has to be trained and climbing takes a lot of stamina.
  
• Automatic climbing over rocks, jumping up and pulling yourself up on some objects (not all of them are set up yet).
  
• Sneaking by crouching, with enemy detection.
  
• Key binding works and changes apply right away.
  
• Interaction with the world is much better. Building parts are active in mouse mode (ALT), so they don't get in your way when you walk through a house.

• Main world 64 km², wilderness. Towers of the Creators work as teleports and travel is free.
  
• You can build anywhere.
  
• Biomes: forest, grassland, desert, jungle, snow, moss (swamps) and underwater.
  
• Ores by biome. For better ores you have to go further into the world, or into anomalies (that will still change).
  
• The Old World from 2017 stays, but won't be expanded anymore.
  
• After death you respawn at the nearest discovered tower, at an obelisk or at your finished land plot. You still have to go back for your things to the place where you died.

• New saving in a completely different format than before, so problems with saves shouldn't show up as often. Hopefully not at all :D
  
• Character and world are separate and the number of characters and worlds isn't limited. It's also a preparation for co-op.
  
• Autosave every 2 to 4 minutes and when you quit the game.
  
• New main menu.
  
• No account, no server.

• Damage based on the skill of the weapon in your hand.
  
• Bow and ranged combat, new skills archery and bowyery.
  
• The bow needs arrows, they have their own slot in the UI. Draw the bow with the right mouse button and shoot with the left.
  
• Fighting without a weapon.
  
• Creatures have tiers 1 to 10, a starting character meets tier 1.
  
• Creature strength goes up only with your combat skill, not with your equipment.
  
• Target lock on the middle mouse button.
  
• A creature attacks after being hit, packs attack together, timid animals run away.
  
• You can sneak by crouching.
  
• Equipment wears out more and repairs pay off. Weapons and armor can be destroyed.
  
• Defense is learned from the hits you take.

• Almost all calculations are new: gathering chance, resource quality, loot, mining station output and crafting results.
  
• Resource tiers up to T9 based on skill, critical success when gathering.
  
• Transmutation only with enough skill.
  
• Quests give resources instead of money and finished equipment. You craft your equipment yourself.
  
• Treasure chests don't give finished tools and weapons anymore.
  
• You now get money mainly by selling what you craft or find, and from outposts.
  
• Fast travel is free. Rune fragments are now for special goods in the shop.

• Weather by biome in a fixed rhythm.
  
• Forecast 2 and 4 hours ahead.
  
• Sand and snow storms.
  
• Weather is saved, so relogging won't get rid of the rain.

• New micro anomalies without loading. They have different themes and over time they'll become more like small POI quests, puzzles and so on.
  
• Micro anomalies in the world replace the small Creators' chests.
  
• The old anomalies (desert, post-apo, dungeon) are still in the game. At least the dungeon will get a completely different and better form later.

• Events start on their own based on the date: Halloween October 18 to November 1, Christmas December 16 to January 2.
  
• More will come, the way I once planned them.

• 18 languages, the whole UI is translated (still needs proofreading).
  
• New help on F2 (Czech and English), the start of a wiki right in the game.

And much more. There are tons of changes over the years and not everything got written down.

• Co-op. It will come one day, but I don't know when.
  
• Character appearance screen (hair, skin). I didn't make it in time.
  
• The new animals I showed in 2022. I didn't make it in time, the creatures are the original ones for now. The new animals are ready, connecting them just takes time.
  
• Active shield blocking.
  
• First person view. We'll see.
  
• Horse. It works and it's ready, but I haven't figured out yet how to get it and how to take care of it. I don't want it to be just a means of transport.
  
• Realities (desert, post-apo and dungeon) are a product of their time and need a rework.

Please report bugs here on the Steam forum, they won't get lost there. Discord works too, but everything gets buried quickly there. You don't need to report bugs from the old version on the novus2019 branch, that one can't be fixed anymore. In the Old World (2017) I'll only fix bugs that affect the whole game. If I manage it, I'll also go through the forum in the next few days so the old stuff is kept apart from new threads.

Thanks to everyone who stuck with the game and will give it another chance.

McP

• A new game now starts in the morning at 8, not at 3 pm.

• Controls: when two actions share the same key, both turn red in the settings. The game doesn't change them for you, you need to rebind one of them (e.g. Tab for inventory conflicts with combat mode, so combat mode needs another key).
  
• The craft window closes with X again after searching for a recipe. It stays open while you type in the search field.
  
• Esc closes the craft window like any other window. After searching for a recipe it could only be closed with the small X.
  
• Crafting: when a craft fails and destroys a material, the number of items to craft stays set (it used to drop back to 1).
  
• Mushrooms in the anomaly sometimes couldn't all be picked up. Fixed.
  
• Building was blocked after returning from an anomaly. Fixed.
  
• Basic Boots had no model (invisible feet on the female character). Fixed.