Into the Fire Playtest · build 23551123 · published
Hello, Souls Seekers! 👋
It's hard to believe, but our public playtests have now been running since May 28th.
Over the past few days, thousands of you have stepped into the world of Into The Fire, battled volcanic threats, rescued survivors, explored our systems, and most importantly, shared an incredible amount of feedback with us.
Whether you submitted bug reports, shared suggestions, posted screenshots, discussed mechanics on Steam and Discord, or simply spent time playing the game, every bit of feedback has helped us better understand what works, what doesn't, and where we should focus our efforts moving forward.
Today, we'd like to share an important update regarding the future of the current playtest and more information regarding a new content update!
After reviewing the amount of feedback, reports, and data gathered throughout the playtest, we feel confident that we have achieved our primary goals for this testing phase. Overall, we got over 35 GB of data to analyze!
Because of that, we will be officially closing the current Into The Fire Open Playtest on June 10th, 2026.
This doesn't mean development is slowing down. In fact, it's quite the opposite. The information we've gathered during the last weeks has given us a much clearer picture of the improvements we want to make across the game. Many of the changes we've already discussed internally came directly from your feedback.
The playtest helped us validate ideas, identify pain points, and uncover issues that would have been impossible to discover through internal testing alone. Most importantly, it showed us which parts of Into The Fire resonate the most with players, and which areas need more work before the next stage of development.
While the current playtest is coming to an end, this is far from the end of the journey.
The next few weeks and months will be dedicated to implementing improvements, addressing the most common issues reported by the community, and preparing future updates for the game.
Before the Open Playtests come to an end, we're releasing one final batch of improvements and changes for you to try.
One of the most common pieces of feedback we've received throughout the tests was that some systems could use better onboarding and clearer explanations, especially for new players experiencing Into The Fire for the first time.
Because of that, we've added a series of new contextual tutorials, reminders, and gameplay hints regarding extraction points, building mode, skill points, morale, fire extinguishers, and rescuing NPCs that should help players better understand the game's mechanics and progression.
However, before we decide how far to expand these systems in future builds, we'd love to hear your thoughts.
Do they help you understand the game better, or do you still feel that certain mechanics need additional explanation?
Since the playtests remain available until June 10th, this is the perfect opportunity to jump back in, try the latest changes, and let us know what you think.
Alongside the new onboarding improvements, here are some of the biggest changes we've introduced throughout the playtest period:
Skill Tree & Perks
New Perk: Breacher – faster breaching and searching
New Perk: Durable – increased item durability
New Perk: Kicker – increased kick and dodge roll impact force
Added 4 new stamina-related perks
Performance & Optimization
Loading screens are now approximately 5 seconds faster on average compared to the first playtest build
The game size has already been reduced by 1 GB
Multiple audio improvements and optimizations across the game
Additional environment and performance optimizations
Gameplay & Balance
Reworked stamina behavior and stamina distribution
Multiple stamina balance improvements
Difficulty adjustments based on player feedback
Additional quality-of-life improvements across the game
Stability & Polish
Numerous bug fixes
UI improvements
Description and localization fixes
Telemetry and backend improvements
General gameplay polish
Before we finish this announcement, we also wanted to let you know that along with the above-mentioned improvements and tutorials, a brand-new update just went live as well that deals with some of the pesky issues that have been reported by our awesome community. You can check the full patch notes below 👇
Fixed
Exiting the survey on the final Wishlist Now screen
Issues causing the player character to become blocked when opening the In-Game Menu or Pause Menu
Various typos
Watchers disappearing in the HUB
Crafting food while having no available inventory space
Added
Leaderboards now highlight your own position
New contextual tutorial reminders related to building construction, these appear when you don't have a Campfire or Well built during the early quests
Reworked stamina behavior, stamina is no longer tied to a fixed recovery timing model
4 new stamina-related perks
Will's first quest is now displayed immediately when starting the game
New extended tutorials for Extraction, Danger Level, and basic gear: Water Hose, Tank, and Backpack
The option to exit the In-Game Menu by pressing F
Overweight handling to stamina behavior
Icons for challenges on the map
Logbook entries for selected quests
Tracked resource information
Improved
Improved Accept and Finish button highlighting during quest selection
Basic gear is now highlighted in the opening scene
Improved Skill Tree descriptions
UI hovers on buttons
Building movement in the Camp
Highlighting for dynamic items
Windows now have correct backgrounds
Further graphics and audio optimizations
Improved telemetry systems
Signs and markers no longer appear in SoulSight View once they have already been discovered
Improved audio snapshots
SoulSight View now displays missing NPCs even at Level 0
Additional environment optimizations
Balance Changes
Stamina Potions now restore more stamina:
Tier 1: 75 → 100
Tier 2: 85 → 200
Tier 3: 95 → 300
Falling Rocks and Storm events now have slightly shorter durations on early levels
Over the coming days, we'll continue monitoring feedback and collecting final reports until the playtest closes.
We'll also be sharing additional insights from the test, including some statistics, lessons learned, and a closer look at what we've been working on behind the scenes.
If you haven't had a chance to jump in yet, there's still time to experience Into The Fire before the playtest ends on June 10th.
Once again, thank you for your support, your feedback, and for helping us shape Into The Fire into a better game.
This playtest has been an incredibly important milestone for our team, and we couldn't have done it without you. Last but not least, make sure to wishlist Into the Fire if you want to stay up-to-date with future news.
~Starward Industries Team