Abnormality news & patch notes

Welcome, new investigators.

I also want to be fully transparent: Abnormality is still growing.

I’m a 22-year-old solo developer, and I’ve been working on this game every single day with one goal: to turn Abnormality into one of the best ghost hunting horror games out there.

• a new media system

• rebuilt maps from the ground up

• improved ghost AI and decision-making

• stronger tension and atmosphere

• deeper investigation gameplay

• better replayability and progression

• improved UI, menus, and overall polish

• new systems that make each investigation feel more alive

Chat with me & the community here: discord.gg/nightmarestudios

Cheers,

Patrick

Until right over the weekend, there will be a double money + XP event in Abnormality.

The easter event is over.

Good luck getting that extra cash & xp :)

Cheers,

Patrick

Welcome to Unholy Egg Hunt – Easter Event 2026

Eggs are now hidden across all locations. Your objective is simple: find them, carry them outside, and place them in the main basket.

To actually keep the eggs, you must finish the contract successfully. That means surviving and correctly identifying the ghost. If you fail, all collected eggs are lost.

Egg count scales with map size. Larger maps contain more eggs, while smaller maps have fewer but are easier to search.

Collected eggs contribute to a lobby progression bar, unlocking rewards such as XP and money, ending with the final Easter trophy.

A Top 15 leaderboard has been added, tracking the players who have collected the most eggs.

The event will be active until April 22nd.

I also want to mention that this event was made on the side while I continue working on Abnormality’s biggest update yet, the Replayability & Progression Update, which includes a brand new Ghost AI, more tension, a much larger variety of items, progression systems, and more.

Good luck

Cheers,

Patrick

• The player voice chat now has a more natural attentuation to the proximity
• Slightly adjusted ghost speeds so they are 100% accurate across all descriptions

• Increased the range of the crucifix when held in hands.

• Fixed a bug where you could not open doors while smudging.
• Fixed some lights that were always enabled in Rookridge.
• Removed floating candles in Holyvale.

Added

• Added ghost backstory. At the start of each map, you now get brief information about the ghost haunting the location.

• A setting for reading temperatures in fahrenheit.

Ghost Speed/Difficulty Rework

• Polished ghost speed overall.

• Removed the ghost speed increase based on difficulty. Ghosts now always have a set speed tied to their behavior in the ghost wiki, which helps with identification.

• Ghosts are faster than they were on lower difficulties, but smudge sticks protect you, and ghosts are still generally much less aggressive and easier to outplay.

• Rewrote all ghost behavior descriptions to be less wordy and more informative.

Balancing

• Reworked smudge sticks. They now have different uses, both prolonging the time before a hunt and stunning the ghost during one.

• Made receiving evidence faster on easier difficulties.

• Drastically reduced the amount of times the ghost will open and close doors.

Improvements

• Made the smudge stick visibly burn when used.

• Made the crucifix visibly burn when used.

• You no longer need to select the starter kit. The starter items needed for the investigation are now added automatically.

• Added more sounds to the ghosts.

• Changed the hand-holding animation for the EMF.

• Whenever someone gets killed, instead of disappearing from the anxiety screen, their name will now remain and be marked as "DEAD".

• The ghost can now crawl on the ground while hunting, making it harder to loop.

• Whenever no one is inside the house anymore, either because they escaped just in time or because their friends were killed, the hunt will now automatically end.

• Removed the film grain/noise effect the night vision had.

Misc

• Renamed Overkill to Professional.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where right-clicking anywhere in the laptop could open the ghost wiki without clicking a ghost name.

• Fixed a bug where the sound of the crucifix burning could continue after it had been used.

• Fixed a bug where the night vision grain could remain on screen.

• Fixed a bug where opening the tablet while using night vision could mess up your vision.

• Fixed a bug where you had to click on the letters of the search box to type a name in.

Note

• I am working on the open mic setting and fixing the previous issues realted to it, I'm hoping to have it in the next update.

Improvements

• Improved the opening tutorial to make it easier to understand

• Added tutorial notifications throughout to help prevent players from getting stuck

• Improved the voice recongition of spirit box

Balancing

• Adjusted the frequency of where doors open.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the tablet would not appear when used

• Fixed an issue where certain sounds could become very loud

Crashes

• Fixed several causes of crashes

Hello everyone,

What an experience it has been having my small passion project featured on the Steam front page. Seeing so many new people discover the game all at once has honestly been surreal. There have been a lot of kind and encouraging comments, some harsher ones too, and a bit of everything in between.

I’ve been reading the reviews, watching streams, listening to feedback, and doing my best to take it all in. Game development is such a vulnerable thing. You put so much of yourself into something, then release it into the world and hope people connect with it and enjoy it. It’s exciting, but it can also be really tough.

I’m 22 years old, and this is my first major project. I had no prior experience going into this, so everything has been a huge learning process for me. It’s been incredibly rewarding, but also challenging in ways I never fully understood until now.

To everyone who has played the game, left feedback, shared their thoughts, or supported it in any way, thank you. Truly. Whether your review was positive or critical, it all helps me learn, improve, and keep pushing the game in the right direction.

If you’ve enjoyed the game and want to support me beyond already buying and playing it, leaving an honest review is one of the best things you can do for an indie developer. It helps more than most people realize, and on a personal level, it genuinely makes me so happy to read what you think.

I care a lot about this game. I care about improving it, and I care about the people playing it. I’m committed to continuing to work hard, keep learning, and make the game as good as it can possibly be.

Thank you so much for playing, sharing, and being part of this journey. I really hope you’ll stick around and continue being part of the community :)

Patrick

We’ve been invited by Steam to feature Abnormality as a Daily Deal.

To celebrate, the game is now 50% OFF! The biggest discount we’ve ever done, and the lowest price it will be for all of 2026.

Thank you so much to everyone who has played the game, shared clips, left feedback, and supported it in any way. It genuinely means the world to me, and none of this would be possible without you.

I’m really excited to keep making more content and updates for you all

Cheers,

Patrick

Added

• New graphics

  • Completely revamped fog

  • Revamped the game’s color grading

  • Removed the washed-out look the game had

  • Created a clearer difference between day and night

  • Improved the game’s overall visual consistency

• New anti-aliasing setting: TSR. Creates incredible visuals, but is very demanding on performance

• New setting: FPS Limiter. You can now cap how high your FPS can go

• New accessibility setting: Colorblind Modes

• A completely new lobby

• New game modifier available on any difficulty: No Evidence. You must rely purely on ghost traits

• Lobby filter, you can now search for lobbies in the browser

Improvements

• Reworked night vision

• The flashlight is now much stronger than before

• You can now see which item you are holding while running

• Improved crouching responsiveness

• Adjusted some interiors to feel less cluttered

• Added more ghost-hunting sounds

• Made footsteps from the ghost more clear.

Balancing

• Increased player crouch speed by 25 cm/s

• Increased player run speed by 15 cm/s

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where the Start button could disappear and prevent you from loading into a match when using the random map option

• Fixed a bug where the ghost could get stuck on Carnival

• Several minor issues fixed

Added

• Crash reporting system. When someone crashes, I can now retrieve the files and fix issues much faster.

• A random map button that lets the game choose a map for you at random.

Improvements

• Added a looping spot in Crescent Pines Motel.

• Improved the flashlight.

• Made item sway feel more realistic when turning around.

• Improved the brightness of the night vision, especially on larger maps.

• Removed the weird white mist that would appear on screen when brightness was turned all the way up.

• Made it so that whenever an item gets close to a wall, instead of clipping through it, its position will automatically adjust.

• Polished the way characters look and react to lighting.

• Readjusted the appearance of the night vision, while keeping the brightness the same.

• Whenever you get jumpscared by one of the ghosts on the death screen, it now shows the correct ghost model.

Optimization

• General performance improvements throughout the game.

• Reworked the hand animations when holding items
• Added more detail to the paths on each map
• Made the item swap animation much more polished
• Made picking up items feel snappier
• Improved the flashlight
• Rebuilt the lobby

• Fixed a bug where the ghost could get stuck on Carnival

Improvements

• Changed how each map appears when you start the game

  • You now arrive by car and leave by car

• Updated the tent

  • Readjusted the position of certain objects and made the area slightly smaller

  • Added wooden flooring

• Made UV evidence stand out much more

• Polished the running animation

• Remade the display of the Spirit Box

Balancing

• Using a smudge stick will now also prevent the ghost from hearing your footsteps. It will still hear dropped items, etc.

  • This gives you a slightly better chance of using a smudge stick correctly to get around the ghost

• Increased player run speed by 10 cm/s

• Increased player crouch speed by 35 cm/s

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue with the Djinn’s ghost trait

• Fixed a bug where UV footprints appeared as rectangles instead of footsteps

• Adjusted parts of the interior in Holyvale Manor.
• You can now close the tablet by pressing Escape.

Added

• Replaced the textbook journal with a tablet journal, which can also be accessed through the laptop.

• Dynamic weather: Each location now starts with random weather conditions.

Improvements

• Redesigned parts of the main menu, lobby screen, and other UI elements.

• Rebuilt some of the layout within Holyvale Manor to allow for better looping.

• Added a slight rotation delay to the flashlight when it's out of hands.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where completing Overkill in Holyvale Manor would not be recognized.

• Fixed a bug where Babadook’s handprints would render as regular handprints.

• Fixed a bug where you could see through the stairs in Holyvale Manor using the camera.

• Fixed a bug where the ghost could not walk under the stairs in Holyvale Manor.

• Fixed a bug where night vision would flicker during a hunt.

• Fixed a bug where you could pick up a crucifix while it was burning.

• Fixed a bug where the audio from the crucifix could continue playing after it had finished.

• When a player steps in salt, it will now leave a shoeprint instead of a footprint.

• Fixed a bug where you could uncrouch in certain areas and become stuck.

Added

• Unfocused Audio – The game’s audio will now continue playing even when you tab out, so you can still hear everything, including voice chat.

• Added a radio that plays subtle music in the tent during matches.

• Added a new ghost model.

Improvements

• Upgraded the ghost wiki.

  • You can now cross out ghosts you don’t think it is.

  • Added a short evidence description under each piece of evidence.

  • Ghosts that don’t match the selected evidence will now be unhighlighted.

• Replaced the old optional objectives whiteboard with a new TV.

• Slightly adjusted the lobby UI.

Network Optimization

When I originally made the game years ago, I wasn’t very experienced with multiplayer coding. That eventually caught up with me, and I’ve spent a lot of time trying to fix it. I wish there were an easy solution, but there isn’t. Over time, I’ve restructured a large portion of the code to make it much faster and more efficient for clients. This means that for players, especially those with higher ping or playing with others from different regions, everything should now feel much snappier. Picking up items, dropping items, running, crouching, basically everything should now feel more responsive. Misc

• Adjusted the flame positioning of the lanterns.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a god spot in Snowbound Lodge.

• Fixed a tent in the Carnival that could permanently trap players and had no collision.

• Fixed a bug where clients with poor connections could spam-pick up an item to duplicate it.

• Fixed a bug where the death screen didn’t display correctly on widescreen monitors.

• Fixed a bug where the lobby music could continue playing during matches.

• Fixed a bug where you could sometimes control a flashlight that had been placed down.

• Fixed a bug where you could turn on a flashlight while trying to pick one up with a full inventory.

• Fixed a bug where items could appear floating for clients.

• Fixed a bug where the very back of the Chapel could be detected as out of bounds and teleport you to the tent.

• Fixed a bug where the sound of taking anxiety pills could be heard from anywhere.

• Fixed a bug where left-clicking with a smudge stick would play the anxiety pill sound.

• Fixed an issue where the ghost would stop chasing players on the upstairs pathway in Motel.
• Fixed an issue where the ghost could become stuck in Chapel.
• Fixed an issue where the ghost could occasionally become stuck in Manor.
• Fixed an issue where the ghost could become stuck on cars and other objects.

Added

• A few candles to light up the base tent of each location

• Added back the radio playing music in base lobby

• 4x New Ghost types

  • Mare

  • Djinn

  • Babadook

  • Revenant

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where in certain cases the ghost could be visible.

• Dynamic scaling: The game now scales to your screen resolution, adding full support for widescreen and other monitor types. No more black bars.

• Adjusted the atmosphere for a more coherent look across all locations.
• Refined the atmosphere in the Character Customizer and Tutorial.
• You can now test speech recognition directly within the lobby.

• Fixed a bug that allowed players to walk through the back side of the tent in Blackwood Chapel.
• Removed the unused “Jump” option from the control settings.
• Fixed a bug where UV evidence would not appear in the Tutorial.

• A brand new ghost model – the creepiest one yet.
• A new night vision system where the light intensity depends on how far away you're looking. This helps a lot on larger maps.

• Reworked the ghost’s aggression system to create a clearer difference between the difficulty levels.

• Adjusted the frequency of ghost events on higher difficulties.

• Fixed an issue where the ghost could drag players out of bounds. This should finally be resolved.
• Fixed a bug where the ghost could freeze in place and stop all movement after dragging a player.

• Added many more Spirit Box questions, such as “Can you make noise?”, “Are you alone?”, “Do you want us here?”, and more.

• Updated the visual color grading across several locations.
• Added a light inside the tent on each map to clearly highlight selectable items.
• Improved night vision visibility on Crescent Pines Motel and Laughless Carnival.
• Increased flashlight intensity and range.

• Slightly increased the difficulty of “Deathwish+”.
• Adjusted the rate at which anxiety increases.

• Fixed an issue where the ghost could remain visible after hunts.
• Fixed an issue where the car could disappear on higher difficulties at Crescent Pines Motel.
• Fixed an issue where UV evidence sometimes would not appear at Laughless Carnival.
• Added safeguards to prevent the ghost from getting stuck.
• Fixed an issue where grass could unload at the motel while standing very close to it.

• Upgraded the navigation system so the ghost can now reach corners.

• When the ghost is extremely fast, it becomes more prone to slippery movement and may miss turns.

• Fixed a bug where hugging corners could, in many cases, keep you safe.

• Optimized the network load of the UV light to help reduce disconnects.

• Fixed two “cheese spots” in Willow Creek.

• New difficulty modifier: “Deathwish+.” This mode is intentionally unfair, heavily luck-based, and features an extremely fast ghost. Personal recommendation: Do not play.
• This is for everyone who loved the higher difficulties where the ghosts were insanely fast.

• Slightly adjusted ghost animations for improved realism.

• Fixed an issue where UV handprints could appear even when the UV light was inside the tent.
• Fixed an issue where certain ghost models did not play footstep sounds while walking.
• Fixed an issue where salt could be automatically placed as a footstep.
• Fixed an issue where the UV stick would not load correctly in Snowbound Lodge.

• Adjusted the chance of hunts happening.

Added

• Added a hiding spot under the stairs in Holyvale Manor.

• Introduced a new UV light system:

  • You can now bring more than one UV light into a match.

  • UV glowstick intensity now decreases over time until shaken again, reducing its detection range.

  • All players now see the same evidence revealed by UV light.

Improvements

• Polished ghost navigation in Willow Creek.

• Rearranged furniture in Willow Creek to remove “cheese” spots.

  • Applied the same changes to Holyvale Manor, Rookridge Hollow, and Crescent Pines Motel.

• Added more color grading options to the lobby.

• Increased volumetric fog resolution for significantly higher quality visuals.

• Added multiple player spawn points in the lobby to prevent players from spawning inside each other.

• Further polished the lobby atmosphere.

• Remade the thermometer screen for a more realistic appearance.

• Improved camera feed quality from 540p to 720p.

• You can now type part of a ghost’s name in the Ghost Search Index, and it will recognize and match the correct ghost.

• Updated the view for dead players to be less wavy and more refined.

• Removed the sound indicator from EMF Level 1 to reduce annoyance.

• Improved ghost visibility during hunts.

• Made the foliage within the carnival more dense.

Balancing

• Overhauled ghost speed system.

  • Every ghost has received a full speed rework.

  • All ghosts are now loopable with sufficient skill on every difficulty.

  • Reduced the intensity of ghost equipment malfunctions.

Misc

• Removed snow from the tutorial level.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the optional objective “Ghost blows out a candle” would not register.

• Fixed a spelling error in one Carnival room.

• Fixed a bug where ghosts could become invisible while dragging players.

• Fixed a but where the ghost could be visible after the first hunt for clients.

• Fixed a bug where the flashlight could still be present for dead players.

• Fixed a bug where the ghost could hear the footsteps of dead players.

• Fixed a bug where the ghost could start a hunt while grabbing a player, killing them.

Improvements

• Significantly increased the light emitted by lanterns to make them more useful.

• Ghost writing is now more visible.

• Polished the main menu, settings menu, and overall UI.

• Completely redeveloped the laser grid system to fix issues such as the ghost idling inside it and the laser grid visual effect appearing throughout the building.

• Slightly buffed the flashlight.

• Added a cooldown after hunts, preventing the ghost from hunting back to back.

Balancing

• Updated some optional objectives:

  • “Witness an EMF reading” → “Witness an EMF reading of 4 or higher.”

  • “Make the ghost light a candle” → “Make the ghost blow out a candle.”

• Improved ghost pathing on Crescent Pines Motel. The ghost can now access bathrooms and other previously unreachable areas.

• Improved ghost pathing on Blackwood Chapel.

• Improved ghost pathing on Snowbound Lodge.

Optimization

• Further optimized performance on Laughless Carnival.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where a weekly objective could require completing a task on a non-existent map.

• Fixed an issue where kicking the football would play an extremely loud sound for everyone in the lobby.

• Fixed an issue where the ghost could become invisible during ghost events.

Added

• New upcoming map added to the locations page within the laptop.

Improvements

• Fixed a lot of 'god spots' within Holyvale Manor

• Fixed the god spot within the entrance of Blackwood Chapel

Balancing

• Reduced the ghost speed within Overkill from 150% faster to 75%.

• Reduced the ghost speed within Deathwish from 200% faster to 100%.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where you could not move the camera left or right.