UPDATE | 28 OCTOBER: Maintenance for the official server merges has begun. Affected source and destination servers are now offline. Other official servers remain playable until the partial wipe and Halloween update begin at 15:00 GMT / 16:00 CET. We’ll post progress in the comments below and confirm when servers are available again. All connection details from yesterday’s machine moves are listed in the tables below.
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Prisoners,

Our Halloween update will arrive on Wednesday 28 October, bringing new Halloween items alongside ongoing fixes and improvements.

There’s more on the way after Halloween as we continue to build on SCUM. The Tattoo System, controller support and Photo Mode are coming in the next update, as outlined in our October Preview's 'What's Coming' section. Work on our next season is already underway, alongside preparations for ‘Survivalist’ testing, where you’ll help us shape the ruleset.This release also includes a partial wipe across all official servers, and merges affecting selected official servers. Some players will need to take action before maintenance to keep their preferred character.

We want official servers to feel active, with more opportunities to meet other prisoners, team up or find a fight. Players are currently spread across a large official server list, and activity varies considerably between servers. We’re bringing selected quieter servers together so their communities can play alongside more prisoners, making it easier to find an active server.

We know some of you prefer a quieter Island. You can also join a community server with a smaller population, or host your own and tailor its settings to the way you want to play.

Our last official-server wipe was in June, alongside the free-roaming animals update. We still want to align wipes with the start of new seasons, although we haven’t achieved that yet. This partial wipe is needed to carry out the server merges, allowing us to move characters without also transferring bases, gear and supplies.

We previously said the wipe would accompany the Tattoo System, controller support and Photo Mode update. Instead, it will take place with the Halloween release. There will be no further official-server wipes this year, so you can rebuild and continue progressing through the rest of 2026.

We know wipe timing affects how you plan your time on the Island. We’d have liked to give you more notice, and we want partial wipes to follow a more consistent schedule. We’re sorry for the short notice this time.

Here’s what carries over and how to prepare.

• Bases, gear, supplies, Fame Points and quest progression reset across official servers.

• Your retained character keeps their attributes, skills and gold. You can sell gear and supplies beforehand and carry the proceeds over as gold.

• Characters on merging servers move to the listed destinations. Only one character can remain on each destination server. If you have characters on multiple servers being brought together, including the destination, follow the preparation instructions to keep your preferred character.

• These changes apply to official servers only.

Monthly Wipe #1 – Europe and Monthly Wipe #1 – US East are the only live official servers closing without character migration. Characters, gold and progression on those two servers will not carry over.

We know losing what you’ve built or leaving a familiar server is frustrating.
Check the full server list at the end of this post and the character instructions below before maintenance.

Gather round the campfire and share a horror story. On the Island, you won’t have to make one up.

Give your base a Halloween makeover with a new coffin bed, hanging jack-o’-lantern and candleholders. A buildable cooking cauldron joins the new additions, alongside a recipe for Corpse Soup. Whether you should eat it is another question...

All of these additions can be obtained through gameplay. There’s no paid DLC with this update.
We’ll explain how to get them in the full update post on Wednesday 28 October.
The Awareness and Archery 'Into The WIld' XP boosts will end with the Halloween update. Both skills will return to their normal XP rates, and you’ll keep the progress you’ve earned on the character you retain.

Grass poking through your base floor? Ripe plants refusing to give up their harvest? We’re working to tackle both in this update. We’re also addressing animal collisions that can send you and your wheelbarrow flying. Transporting supplies should be dangerous for the usual reasons.

These are a few of the fixes we’re working on for this release. The full patch notes will be published when the update goes live.

Here’s how the official server changes will work, when maintenance begins and how to prepare your character. Check the full server list at the end of this post to see which changes apply to you.

• Servers merging will move their characters to a destination server.

• Servers moving machines may change connection addresses. A machine move alone does not combine characters, although some of these servers are also receiving characters through merges.

• Two monthly-wipe servers are closing without character migration: Monthly Wipe #1 – Europe and Monthly Wipe #1 – US East. We’re also retiring old public test servers, listed separately below.

Machine moves – Tuesday 27 October

Servers listed as moving machines are scheduled to go offline from 09:00 GMT / 10:00 CET.
Expected downtime is around 30–60 minutes, although some servers may take longer.

These moves preserve existing characters, bases, gear and progression. Their connection addresses will change.

Character merges and partial wipe – Wednesday 28 October

The times in the table below apply to Wednesday’s work:

1. Servers participating in character merges, including destination servers, go offline when merge maintenance begins.

2. The partial wipe and update begin across all official servers six hours later. Official servers not participating in character merges remain playable until this point.

Some servers moving machines on Tuesday will also receive merged characters on Wednesday. Both maintenance periods apply to those servers.

Servers participating in character merges, including destinations: complete your character preparation and any selling before Wednesday’s merge maintenance begins.

Other official servers: complete any selling before Wednesday’s partial wipe and update begin.

These are the start times for the work. We’ll share maintenance updates and confirm when servers are available again in the Discord announcements channel, the comments on this Steam post, and on Facebook and X.

If your server is merging, your character will move automatically to their listed destination.

Only one character can remain across all servers being brought together, including the destination itself. If you do nothing, the character with the most playtime will be retained. Character playtime is not visible to players.

Your retained character keeps their attributes, skills and gold. Bases, gear, supplies, Fame Points and quest progression reset. Your retained character will return at their last logged-out location, on the ground and in starting gear.

Characters that are not retained are lost, including their gold and progression. Nothing is combined with the retained character.

If you want to convert gear and supplies into gold before maintenance, sell them on the character you intend to keep.

If you have multiple characters across servers being brought together:

1. Find your destination in the server list below and check every server merging into it. Check whether you have characters on any of those servers, including the destination itself.

2. Choose the character you want to keep. Leave that character unchanged.

3. On each other server where you have an unwanted character, create a new character to overwrite it. This includes the destination server if you already have an unwanted character there.

4. Log out somewhere safe on the character you’re keeping. We recommend a safe zone, as you’ll return at that location in starting gear after the update.

Creating replacement characters resets their playtime, leaving your preferred character with the most playtime when the merge takes place.

Creating a new character permanently overwrites the existing character on that server. Check that you are on the correct server before doing this.

For example, if you want to keep your character from Server A, but also have characters on Server B and their shared destination, create replacement characters on Server B and the destination. Leave your character on Server A unchanged.

Complete these steps before affected-server maintenance begins. See the regional times above.

We’re retiring the official Hardcore servers, including their Third Person variants. Player numbers on these servers have remained low, and maintaining their separate rulesets requires ongoing adjustments as features are added and existing systems change.

Characters from these servers will move to the listed destinations and follow the destination server’s rules and camera settings.

Community server owners who want to recreate these rulesets can download our current settings:

• Hardcore Server Settings[docs.google.com]

• Hardcore Server Settings - Third Person[docs.google.com]

These are the settings currently used on our official Hardcore servers. They may need adjustments as new features and updates arrive.

We’re continuing work on 'Survivalist', the separate official server ruleset discussed in our October preview, with a stronger focus on scarcity and self-sufficient survival. We’ll share more about testing when it’s ready for players to try.

Please follow the character preparation instructions carefully before maintenance to keep your preferred character.

If you have a migration or connection problem after maintenance, contact SCUM Support[help.scumgame.com] with your Steam ID, original server, destination server and a description of the issue.

Reporting a missing character does not guarantee it can be restored.

The Tattoo System, controller support and Photo Mode update we discussed in the October Preview's 'What's Coming' section is next. Photo Mode will be available to everyone, and existing Supporter Pack 2 owners will receive a selection of tattoos in its place. We’ll share the release date and a closer look at the update in its preview.

We’re also working on our next season and preparing Survivalist for testing on the PTS. We’ll share what’s being tested and how to take part when it’s ready.

Find your region and current server below to check what changes for you. Check the destination column too: if you already have a character on a receiving server, the character-selection rules also apply to you.

For readability, 'SCUM Server Official' is omitted from server names.

• Merging: characters move to the destination shown. Follow the preparation instructions above if you have multiple characters joining that destination.

• Moving machines: the server remains separate, but its IP address and port change.

• Closing without migration: characters will not transfer to another server.

All connection details for the servers moving machines have now been added below. Character merges and the partial wipe remain scheduled for Wednesday 28 October.

The partial wipe applies across all official servers, including those not involved in these changes.

Servers merging

Servers moving machines

Official #3 – Europe and Official PvE #1 – Europe kept their existing IP addresses and ports during the machine move. Other servers in this table have updated connection details as shown.

Closing without migration

Servers merging

Servers moving machines

#1 – EU West is also receiving characters from #4 – EU West. If you have a character on both servers, follow the character preparation instructions above to keep your preferred character.

Servers merging

Servers moving machines

Official #2, #3 and #6 – Russia all kept their existing IP addresses and ports during the machine move.

Servers merging

Servers moving machines

Servers merging

Servers moving machines

Closing without migration

Servers merging

Servers merging

Servers moving machines

Two of these servers are also receiving merged characters:

• #1 – US West receives characters from #6, #7, #8, #9 and Global #1 – US West.

• #2 – US West receives characters from #10 and #11 – US West.

If you have multiple characters joining the same destination, including one already there, follow the character preparation instructions above to keep your preferred character.

Servers merging

Servers moving machines

Servers merging

Servers moving machines

Beginner #1, #2 and #3 – South Africa are no longer moving machines. Their current connection addresses remain unchanged. They will still receive Wednesday’s partial wipe.

Servers merging

Servers moving machines

Servers merging

Servers moving machines

Servers merging

Servers moving machines

Beginner #1 – Australia is also receiving characters from Beginner #3 – Australia. If you have a character on both servers, follow the character preparation instructions above to keep your preferred character.

We’re closing the PTE servers used for earlier public tests. We’ll set up new test servers for 'Survivalist' and future game updates, and share how to take part ahead of each test.

The servers below will close without character migration to live servers.

We know these changes ask a lot of players who’ve spent time building and finding a home on an official server. Thank you for taking the time to prepare. Please check your server and follow the character instructions before maintenance to keep your preferred character.

We’ll post maintenance updates and confirm when servers are available again in the Discord announcements channel, the comments on this Steam post, and on Facebook and X. The full patch notes will be published when the Halloween update goes live.

We’re looking forward to showing you more of what’s coming next!

See you on the Island.

Prisoners!

Some of you had a very profitable night fishing in the radioactive zone. A bug meant processing Radioactive Carp produced excessive amounts of Depleted Uranium, allowing players to earn far more money than intended.

Because of the impact on the in-game economy, we needed to fix this today rather than wait for the next update. We know another download so soon after yesterday’s hotfix is disruptive. Thanks for bearing with us.

This release also includes other fixes for fishing, wildlife, equipment and the chat interface. You’ll find the full list below.

FISHING

• Fixed an issue where processing Radioactive Carp yielded excessive amounts of Depleted Uranium.

• Fixed an issue where a fishing spot in the radioactive zone remained active at all times.

• Fixed an issue where fishing rods were positioned incorrectly when dragged on the ground or from the inventory, causing them to move or drop away from the mouse cursor.

• Fixed an issue where catfish could only be caught in lakes instead of also being available in rivers.

KNOWN FISHING ISSUE

• We’re aware that pulling a fish ashore while walking backwards can cause the line to break. This remains unresolved, and we’re working on a fix.

  For now, avoid walking backwards while bringing your catch ashore.

• Fixed an issue where players wearing a headlamp could be visible in the dark even when it was switched off.

• Fixed an issue where a nocked arrow could become unusable and remain stuck on the bow after the bow was dropped and picked up again.

• Fixed an issue where vehicle engine idle sounds could be heard from too far away.

• Adjusted the position and size of the chat and message widgets.

• Fixed an issue where crickets did not spawn on the Island.

• Fixed an issue where birds in a flock could appear stuck together when spawning too close to one another.

• Fixed an issue where circling bird flocks spawned at incorrect locations.

• Fixed an issue where Angler Waders were cut off beneath the Bulletproof Vest and clipped through female characters’ bodies.

• Fixed an issue where the Master Hunter Mask clipped through other clothing items.

As always, if you encounter anything else that requires our attention, please let us know through one of the following channels:

• Bug Reports forum on Steam

• Official SCUM Support[help.scum.game]

See you on the Island, prisoners.