George has brought two more creatures into Shadows of Beginnings on our development side: the Thornlings and the Rot Beetle. We’ve been gathering footage, and I wanted to take you a little farther into the mire to meet them.

This is a development look, not a list of additions to the public Playtest build. We’re still testing how these creatures look, move, and feel in-game.

Thornlings may be small, but they’re an important part of what makes the mire feel alive. In our bestiary, they’re the hive’s Eyes: creatures associated with finding intruders and making the swamp aware of them.

George has brought their swarm form to life, from the thorn-covered little bodies to the way they emerge from wooden nodules. I love how something so small can make a stretch of ground suddenly feel a lot less empty.

We’re continuing to test and tune them. For now, I wanted you to get a closer look at the creature itself—and, once I finish sorting the recordings, at how it appears in-game.

The Rot Beetle has a different story. It’s an armored scavenger overtaken by the rot—the hive’s Conscript, rather than another creature it grew for itself. That idea is written right into its shape: a heavy shell, a curved horn, and vines pushing through what was once an ordinary animal.

George has gotten the Beetle into the game, and my next step is to test it properly. I want to see the real encounter before promising how it fights or what players should expect from it. Right now, this is your first look at a creature taking shape, with more to share after it’s been through the Squatch testing grounds.

This is the part of development I enjoy most: seeing a creature move beyond its model and discovering what it actually adds to the world. Some things click immediately. Others go right back into the forge for another pass.

Which would you be more nervous to find in the mire: a cluster of Thornlings, or one Rot Beetle?

The current Shadows of Beginnings Playtest is open for access requests on Steam. It’s an active development build, so expect rough edges and tell us what you find. The creatures featured here are development work and are not being promised as part of the public build.

Request Playtest access on Steam · Join the Discord[discord.gg]