The next major update for Species: Unknown is planned for late January. We are currently in the final production phase, and we wanted to take some time to share an update on the development of the Lab.
This devlog is not an announcement of “final” features, but a progress update on what we are currently working on, with a particular focus on the Lab.
The goal is simple: to give you visibility into our work, without promising more than what our small team is actually able to deliver. There is still some development time ahead before January, and we prefer to use the coming weeks to ensure a stable, coherent update that lives up to your expectations, with a strong emphasis on testing.
The Lab has been part of our workload for a long time, as it has always been included in our roadmap.
At this stage of development, the Lab is playable, and our focus is now on the quality of the final deliverable. We have communicated relatively little about the January major update so far, as we prefer to focus on the work itself first. As usual, this update will also include balance changes, bug fixes, and additional improvements.
Why does it take time?
We deliberately space major updates several months apart for a few reasons: we are a small team, we leave room for player feedback to influence updates (including regular ones), and we have also spent a significant amount of time balancing, adding content, and fixing issues in regular updates, which we aim to release roughly every two weeks.
Game development is not just about making things “work.” Beyond technical functionality, we also need to ensure the fun factor, and that always comes with its share of unpredictability.
Within the ship you already know, the Lab is the new playable area. You may have noticed that part of the ship was still inaccessible and even completely empty on the large map displayed in the HSS Hawking control room. This is the area we are currently working on.
The Lab acts as a new biome within the ship, much like the crew quarters or the engine room. It adds variety to the moments you experience during your missions, with interactions that are specific to this new zone.
From a lore perspective, the Lab is the heart of the ship, the HSS Hawking is, after all, a scientific vessel. In this new area, players will discover where the creature escaped from. The Lab was also designed following the same gameplay structure as the other zones: explore, unlock, react.
When designing the Lab, we started from our original concept, but we also expanded it based on what players enjoyed in previous areas, and in some cases, we even raised our initial ambitions.
While the Lab’s overall size is relatively comparable to other zones, it will likely feel larger due to greater visual variety. It will not be fully procedural, as that would require a fundamentally different technical approach. However, many of you enjoyed the reactor area and its environmental hazards, and this is something we chose to incorporate beyond our initial plans.
The team is not facing any major technical difficulties, although performance remains an important topic to monitor, especially in certain rooms you will discover. We are taking our time because there are many details, and details matter. You have appreciated this level of quality in the past.
Finally, we are deliberately sharing only a limited number of screenshots of the Lab, as we believe it will be more impactful for you to discover these new spaces (and what you can do in them) when you experience them firsthand.
This Lab is a clear continuation of our long-term vision for the game. It adds new environments, visual and gameplay variety, and lore. It also reflects our Early Access philosophy: listening to players and building the game based on your feedback and impressions.
Nicolas is the main contributor behind the Lab and its development, although the entire team is currently involved in working on this area at different levels.
Requests for new creatures are numerous, and we have our own ideas as well. However, new creatures will not be part of the January update. The same applies to a fully playable new map. We already have prototypes for a future playable map, but it is still too early to talk about it.
The Lab is a long-term project that we have been working on seriously for quite some time. It is now playable and has entered a phase where quality, detail, and overall coherence are the top priorities.
There is still work to be done before the January major update, and we fully embrace that development time. Our priority has remained the same since the start of Early Access: delivering solid, well-tested features that are genuinely enjoyable to play, rather than multiplying premature announcements.
We will continue moving forward in this direction over the coming weeks. If we share limited information between now and the update’s release, it will primarily be because the team is focused on testing, fine-tuning, and final polish.
As always, your feedback matters, and it will continue to shape the direction of Species: Unknown. If you haven’t had the chance to leave your Steam review yet, now is a great time to do it! By doing so, you help the game gain visibility among players who haven’t discovered our work yet.
Leave your Steam review on the game’s page available below.
There is also a milestone we wanted to share with you: Species: Unknown has surpassed 200,000 wishlists, just 6 weeks after its Early Access launch on Steam. This number gives us strong motivation to move forward toward V1, and it also reassures us about the quality of our work, with 94% positive reviews.
Thank you for your patience, your trust, and your involvement. We look forward to sharing what comes next very soon.
François, from WanadevStudio's team.