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Full Steam announcements and update articles for this title.
With the game going on sale for the next two weeks as of tomorrow 6PM BST (10AM PST), there's never been a better time to pick up a copy and begin your adventure!
For clarity, this also includes full Steam Deck control support. I am working on getting the game verified (there's more work to do around performance mainly) but it should be totally playable if you adjust the settings!
Remember, you can always try out the free demo (which has also been updated with support) and see if the game is for you, risk-free!
Added official Gamepad Support for any standard gamepad/controller including Steam Deck.
I've been hard at work getting this working as I know how many of you love to kick back and play with a controller.
I've added a brand new interaction scheme specifically for gamepad, which simplifies the most common game actions like interactions, gathering resources and using facilities!
The UI cursor (and 3D cursor) is still available for precise control and interaction, handily attached to holding the left trigger and moving the right stick.
Added additional facility signage to the Lost World, Magma Rifts and the internals of Scarpa Climber facilities.
Fixed not being able to place items in build mode if colliding with destructible resources and collision checks are off.
Fixed build menu checkboxes potentially being non-interactable when global UI scaling is increased.
I am keen to make the gamepad support the best it can possibly be, so please feel free to leave constructive feedback - it's always welcome!
You can do this in the Steam Discussions or on the Official Discord (now at over 2,500 members!).
Remember, as of tomorrow AETHUS will be 20% off for two weeks, so if you've been waiting for gamepad support before jumping in, it'll be the perfect time!
Next week I'll be taking a couple of weeks off for my first holiday in a long time, so please help each other out on the discussion forums while I'm away!
Finally, if you are enjoying the game the biggest thing you can do to help me out and get the game shown to more players is to leave a positive review! 💖 Thank you so much!
See you next time, folks!
-Alex and Apollo
- Added a new 'Resources' Game Modifier to the New Game screen and the Settings menu, which allows for adjusting resource drop rates higher or lower than standard.
- Dialogues that trigger when the player returns to the surface now also play if the player has died, to reduce potential confusion or a need to quit to menu and resume game or go underground again to trigger them.
- Improvements to the grammar of the Module Authenticator item flavour text.
- Fixed the possibility of the player losing items when using a level transition as they died. - Fixed placeable items retaining a link to habitats when moved outside of them which could cause issues with habitat deletion and/or containers temporarily keeping a bonus from the storage hab when moved outside. - Fixed bad collision on the natural rock bridge near Facility Rho which could cause the player to slide off. - Fixed the formatting of the Passing Out tutorial. - Fixed NVIDIA Image Scaling not working correctly in the settings menu. - Fixed the cutaway for the Manufacturing Hab triggering when on the roof. - Fixed roof glass visuals on Manufacturing Hab. - Fixed the player potentially being able to die and not get back to Omega.
In addition, AETHUS is featured in the Earth Appreciation Festival, which starts today!
Finally, our first post-launch discount period starts in just 48 hours (Sunday) which means it's the perfect time to grab the game if you haven't already!
Added the ability to change the snap point of constructions with multiple configurations - specifically the 3-Way Connector, Cargo Habitat and Core Habitat.
This will allow you to use any of the entrances of these constructions as the 'start point' and create many more configurations than you could before, without needing to disable collision or anything strange.
This control is bound to (V) by default but can be changed in Settings.
Added the ability to disable snapping entirely while holding a specific key, allowing you more control while building or the ability to build right inside the 'snap boxes' around entrances of habs and connectors.
This control is bound to (CTRL) by default but can be changed in Settings.
Increased the size of 'snap boxes' around entrances of habs and connectors significantly so that snapping requires less movement.
If you find that you can't place things as easily inside habs now because of the increased box sizes, simply use the new 'disable snapping' keybind mentioned above.
Control 'helpers' displayed at the bottom of the build UI are a bit more context sensitive now.
- Fixed an incorrect visual state of the Facility Sigma cargo drone.
If you have any more feedback on this area of the game please do let me know, but this should improve things and get rid of the worst pain points you might have felt being unable to get the right layout for your Outpost.
You can leave feedback in the Steam Discussions and the Official Discord (now almost 2,500 members strong!).
I am continuing to add more improvements, and we're still following the roadmap set out in the first big update post which you can see below for a reminder!
I'm thrilled to announce that AETHUS was chosen as part of the Official Selection for the Earth Appreciation Festival 2026, which begins today!
From 5PM BST you can check out a whole host of incredible games sharing the themes of nature, eco-dystopia, and exploitation of natural resources!
AETHUS will be running its first post-launch discount period starting on Sunday at 5PM BST/10AM PST/6PM CET.
The game will be 20% off for two weeks, so if you've been on the fence waiting for patches before jumping in, now is the perfect time!
Finally, as a wee reminder - if you are enjoying the game the biggest thing you can do to help me out and get the game shown to more players is to leave a positive review! 💖 Thank you so much!
See you next time, folks!
-Alex and Apollo
I hope you all had a nice Easter break! Some nice fixes in this one alongside a much-requested new QOL option and a significant balancing-related feature that should help anyone who's feeling a bit 'grindy' in the midgame. I'll be moving to once-a-week patches now going forward! Still some more QOL stuff to come and then it's onto gamepad support and Deck verification!
- Added Drone Pods to the outlying Lost World facilities, which can deliver resources directly to a new central resource silo outside Facility Epsilon. This should alleviate feelings of grindiness in the Lost World by allowing you to collect several 'loads' of resources into one place and quickly transfer them to Epsilon, minimizing running backwards and forwards when farming resources. - Added new Setting - 'Log File Oxygen Drain' - which controls whether Maeve uses oxygen while viewing log files in the world. Turning this off will make for a more laid back experience when exploring.
- Re-encoded the video files in the game so that they work without any issue on Proton by default.
- Fixed the Lambda Welfare Hab door potentially being stuck shut. - Fixed player being able to find the first easter egg before they reach the right point in the story. - Fixed an edge case where the second easter egg was not obtainable. - Fixed the completion time being cut off the final credits. - Fixed Epsilon's east gate opening when a servomotor was installed even if power was not restored. - Fixed an edge case in Omega where the test chamber door could be stuck shut.
Final wee set of fixes and improvements before I head off for some downtime! As mentioned, from tomorrow I'll be travelling to spend some time with family and rest a bit for the first time post-launch - I'll be back to more improvements about halfway through the following week (8th/9th).
- Quakemaker-induced earthquakes now happen much more quickly to stop issues where the player leaves the surface before they're triggered and therefore does not get the earthquake effects.
- Changed the Harvest button in the Hydroponics and Aquaculture panels to be 'Harvest All' and harvest all finished slots with one action.
- Fixed Omicron level transition causing a keycard failsafe behaviour to trigger incorrectly.
- Fixed emergency floor light placeable becoming a standard floor light if moved.
- Fixed inability to move Data Drives to storage.
I wanted to do a little something fun to celebrate the arrival of the spring season (finally!), so I've added a new tiny little questline... a three-task Easter Egg Hunt featuring new voice lines from Roland!
This event is live now with the new patch and will run until April 27th at 18:00 UTC, so there's a full month to participate if you'd like to.
You'll need to have finished Facility Iota to get the first task, which will automatically trigger.
Note: Once you unlock the decorations, you'll be able to use them on that save game slot in perpetuity.
I've been working hard on smashing all the remaining bugs in the game and adding new QOL features based on your feedback both in the Steam Discussions and the Official Discord (now over 2,000 members strong!).
New Settings option - 'Drop Items on Death' to allow for disabling dropping items on death. Can be set at any point, and is called out specially at game start.
New Settings option to auto-open the crafting UI when interacting with a crafting/cooking facility.
New Settings option to auto-grab items crafted at a crafting/cooking facility when complete.
New Settings option to control scaling of the Compass UI element.
Added a count of how many of an item the player has in storage within their Outpost, in the item's tooltip when hovered.
Constructions will no longer snap onto others that they are not designed to work with, e.g. Door Seals onto Airlocks, which should improve the clarity of what constructions can be attached to others.
Added a DX12 launch option to Steam when the game is launched, which should provide much higher framerates and better stability for DX12 capable hardware.
Added a keybind to turn off/on Roland's Chassis Lights upgrade.
Option to disable oxygen drain when reading logs.
Option/modifier key to disable snapping when building.
Improvements to the Hydroponic Farming UI to make replanting seeds quicker.
Much more!
These are obviously alongside the hundreds of smaller fixes, improvements, balancing tweaks and other changes I've been doing.
This is the twentieth patch in the three weeks since launch - I hope you feel like your feedback has been heard, and will continue to be!
I am continuing to add more improvements, and we're still following the roadmap set out in the last update post which you can see below for a reminder!
Added three new SPRING FLING tasks and seven new placeable Outpost decorations tied to them.
Added a new keybinding (default 'L') to toggle Roland's Chassis Lights, if player has purchased the upgrade.
The velocity required to trigger fall damage has been increased.
The Jump Tethers upgrade now lessens fall damage taken by the player.
Adjusted the text of the 'Toggle Critical Items' button in the inventory to change based on the current setting to improve clarity.
Added an extra fall-death trigger to the underside of the bridge outside Rho to stop player being able to hit the ground there and die from fall damage, making their items largely inaccessible.
The player can now immediately construct AtmoDomes (RadProtect Edition) if they come across them before finding the Buildkit plans.
Set dialogues at the Dams to not play until the player has discovered Kappa.
Stopped player entering the Drainage Dam until the player has discovered Kappa.
Fixed being able to transfer items into locked containers.
Fixed fall death triggers not working correctly in the lake around Facility Kappa.
Fixed a potential edge case softlock in BURIED MEMORIES.
Fixed item tooltip referencing Energy rather than Stamina when hovering consumables.
Fixed Airlocks potentially being unremovable due to being linked to their own doorways(!)
Fixed the potential to have a critical dialogue not trigger immediately when returning to the surface, if other non-critical dialogues were also available.
Fixed certain Outpost ambient SFX becoming too loud over time.
Next week I'll be travelling to spend some time with my family and rest a bit for the first time post-launch - I'll be back to more improvements about halfway through the following week (8th).
I won't be able to respond to posts or discussions while I'm away, but will endeavour to catch up with everything upon my return.
Thanks in advance for your understanding!
Speak soon, folks!
-Alex and Apollo
Folks. I can barely put into words how the last week has been. It's been the most unbelievable, exhausting, exhilarating, terrifying week of my life.
I can't even begin to express how I feel right now. I'm still coming to terms with how things have gone, but one thing is for certain - you've secured the future of my tiny wee indie studio.
The story of Pawsmonaut Games will not end with just one released game. The indie dream lives.
Thank you, so very much.
Firstly, huge thanks to every single person who's been posting feedback, bug reports, or just general beautiful supportive comments!
I genuinely try to read every single one, and I have been replying to as many as I can across both the Discord and the Steam Discussions - I'm just one man and there's so much, please forgive me if I haven't been able to give you a personal response.
I've pushed fifteen hotfix patches to the game so far, with a huge variety of changes - bug fixes (both big and small), balancing, quality of life, task and mechanic clarity improvements, and everything in-between.
Critical issues relating to progression blockers have been resolved (sorry about that!), there's still plenty to improve, but I think we've got a great, solid base now to start bringing in some new QOL features and settings next week!
I'm also going to be working towards improving any feelings of too much grind towards the mid-game, with the potential for fun new systems relating to getting around the world or getting resources back to the Outpost.
P.S. If you're still experiencing any progression-blocking issues (the issues themselves are long-fixed but their effects can remain on early save-games) please just reach out via the Discord and I will very happily fix your save game manually so that you can continue! <3
You may have noticed that in the last few days I've switched to a once-a-day hotfix cadence, and as of next week, I'll be moving to patching twice-a-week!
This will allow me to build up bigger sets of changes, which should have a bigger effect on the game!
I don't have a bunch of artists to make fancy graphics with everything coming up as a proper roadmap, and I'd rather be working on making the game better for you than doing it myself, so you get a text list today - I hope that's alright!
There are still a few bugs kicking around in the game, so I'm going to continue squashing them, but it's also time to start getting even more QOL into the game so that the experience can be even smoother and even more players can enjoy the game however they want to!
Some of (but not all!) the QOL features/settings coming next week:
Setting to not drop items on death.
Setting to pause oxygen loss while reading logs in the world.
Setting to turn off snapping to buildings, and general snapping improvements.
Setting to open Crafting Windows automatically on interaction with a facility.
Many, many more settings and improvements!
Here's the bigger stuff in the works for longer-term! Please remember I'm just one man, so I can't provide any tighter timescales for these things, but I promise they're coming!
Sandbox Mode
Gamepad Support
Localization to several languages including German, Russian, and even Chinese (not an exhaustive list!)
Holiday/Seasonal Updates (new themes and new decorations)
Maybe more?
I might even work on a secret little side project relating to different camera styles, so watch this space!
Your support means I can now continue to do this crazy, amazing, beautiful indie game thing for the foreseeable future. I barely dared dream that would be possible, but it looks like you'll be getting at least another game out of me.
I can't say yet what the next game will be - I need to get through the coming weeks and months of AETHUS support, decompress (play a lot of games, and get inspired!) spend time with my wife, thirteen week-old daughter, and Apollo, and ponder what the next thing will be.
What I can say is that I have some very cool ideas already brewing, and even if it's not the next game, the universe of AETHUS is very close to my heart and there's a lot of room for cool new stories!
Oh, and I'm definitely going to aim to make the next game in less than three years this time...
After the 20th of March, the game will revert to its standard $19.99 price until the next discount period!
As a reminder, the game will not discount below 20% for the foreseeable future!
Again, I can't thank you enough for your support for my tiny indie game. It means the world to me.
Speak soon,
-Alex and Apollo
Bit of a smaller one today, the backup save system rework took a fair time, but you will see a much smaller saves folder going forward so I wanted to prioritise this one!
- Reworked backup save system. The ten latest backup saves are now correctly kept, and older backup saves are deleted. - Adjusted the description of various foods to clarify their meat-containing status. - All scroll boxes on UIs now correctly consume input at all times.
- Reduced cost of Electrostatic Field upgrade from 5000 to 2000.
- Increased clarity of GREAT GREEN GLOW in relation to Buildkits.
- Character and physics tweaks to attempt to stop Spire Nodes launching the player into outer space. - Fixed a non-interactable optional log file in Omicron. - Fixed an area where the player could get stuck in the Outer Caverns. - Cooked Cactus Fruit dialogue tweaked so that it's not strange if played later into the game.
- Fixed a progression blocker edge case with the Facility Rho teleporter where the power would not be on after restoring it.
- Fixed the possibility for breaking progression in Omega by skipping ahead in one place.
- Fixed the Unstuck button taking you back to the Outpost when in Omega, now just puts you at the start.
- Tweaks to the naming and task wording of the Crater Climber/Scarpa Surface Module to make it clearer where it needs to be built. Make sure you build it at the crater, don't turn off collision and build it in the ground!
- Increased the spawn rate of Mycelia Nodes. - Increased the drop chance of Queen Mycelia from Mycelia Nodes, and the overall amount of resources dropped. - Increased the time after sleeping before getting tired from 50m to 100m (real time) and the time to get critically tired to 115m. - Increased Stamina regained from sleeping for all durations and lowered the loss of other Vitality stats from sleeping. - Increased the Vitality stats of Cactus Fruit and Cooked Cactus Fruit.
- Fixed the progression/dialogue bug causing stalls in player progress. This was caused by dialogue events rarely not firing during loading screens, which would cause the game to think that dialogues had not finished, and stop new ones playing.
- Fixed the Quakemaker not functioning correctly if Screen Shake was turned off.
- Attempting to fix progression bugs caused by dialogue not playing.
If you still experience this, it would help SO much if you ping me straight away on the Discord!
- Increased the chance of Oxite drops from Kaloxite nodes.
- Increased the total resources dropped by each Kaloxite node.
- Increased the spawn chance of Kaloxite nodes.
- Changed the trigger for unlocking the Dust Ruby Crushing recipe to picking up a Dust Ruby for the first time (was picking up Gold Ore) - this was intentional so as not to overwhelm with recipes at the start of the game, but was causing confusion.
- Improved task clarity of EMP Charge task.
- Fixed potential to climb then jump into Epsilon Secure Storage and get trapped.
- Added the ability to set UI Scaling sliders to 0 to remove that particular UI element. - Added a small note about overlapping UI to UI scaling options. - Removed Oxygen Poisoning debuff.
Thank you all for an amazing launch so far!
It's almost midnight here and I am about to crash, I will be back for more hotfixes tomorrow! <3
AETHUS is available now on Steam and the Humble Store at a special discounted launch price of $15.99 / £13.20 / €15.99, for two weeks!
AETHUS is a fully complete, v1.0 game with no Early Access, so you're getting a finished experience with 30+ hours of content all in one go, with no in-app purchases or other nonsense.
I'm beyond happy to finally have this labour of love out in the world for you to experience, in a full, complete 1.0 package, exactly as I intended.
I hope you enjoy the story of Maeve and Roland as much as I enjoyed creating it.
Oh, and remember, if you played the demo, your progress carries over seamlessly to the full game!
A: Firstly, naturally, you can play the entire game! Mainly though, your demo feedback has helped make the start of the game even smoother and removed any friction you might have felt if you played the demo early on.
Controls have been improved, Maeve's movement speed is faster, she can jump higher, Roland's gravity tethers are faster and have longer range, and there are many more improvements.
I'll keep balancing and tweaking as well as fixing any bugs that appear! Keep the feedback coming!
A: This is a great question! The biggest reason is that because the story and narrative are so core to the game, it just wouldn't be a good experience. No-one wants to start playing, get really into the story and gameplay, and then suddenly you just... can't play any more? That won't happen here!
Plus... we're all just a little bored of Early Access now, right? I wanted to do something different and provide a complete experience with a proper beginning, middle, and end. A full and wholesome adventure that you can devour at your own pace, with no artificial blockers or 'this bit isn't done yet'.
Now, all of this doesn't mean there is zero chance of bugs occurring, that tweaks to balancing won't happen, or that I won't even add more new content! It just means the game is a full, rounded and complete experience.
A: As the game is very mouse-heavy, I wanted to do a proper custom interaction scheme for gamepad that isn't just a half-assed 'support' that's a worse experience than playing with M+KB.
Unfortunately, there just wasn't time before release to do it proper justice. It's a top priority after launch, and I ask that if you want to play the game this way, you Follow and Wishlist on Steam and you'll see the news in future when support is added for a good, solid experience!
Steam Deck Support is officially signed off as 'Playable' by Valve, but I will also be working to make the experience better post-launch and aim to achieve Verified.
A: Honestly, that depends how things go! I'm a self-funded solodev, with no publisher, and honestly, I've put everything I have into this game! My genuine hope and belief is that it will resonate with players and allow me to keep doing this!
If you can help spread the word about the game, leave a positive review, and maybe even pick up the Supporter's Pack, you'll be greatly increasing the chance of me being able to keep going - whether it's on new AETHUS content, DLC, a sequel, or new games!
All that said, AETHUS is a 'complete' experience as described earlier - don't expect additional story content or anything, this is a full, finished narrative!
What I can pretty much guarantee is that I'll be doing:
Any required bug fixes and balancing.
Controller/Gamepad Support and attempting to get Steam Deck Verification.
Localization of game text (including dialogue) into several languages.
A: Absolutely, please do! I'd love to see what you create, so drop by the Discord and drop a link to your channel when you're streaming!
There is no need for a streamer mode as the game features a fully original soundtrack, so no need to worry there!
A: To be 100% clear, this isn't a factory building game, so there aren't any belts or conveyors!
As you explore the world you'll be able to restore equipment (as well as build your own!) which will allow you to automate resource generation - pretty much all the progression-based resources in the game are automate-able.
You can also craft cargo drones which will deliver those automated resources to your Outpost, with specially build Cargo Bays of varying sizes!
A: Feel free to add a comment below, or join the Discord and chat with me directly!
I sincerely hope you enjoy the game and come to love the characters I've created as much as I do.
See you underground,
-Alex and Apollo
About
This page aggregates Steam news feeds, patch notes, and developer announcements for AETHUS, sourced from official Steam community posts.
Major updates, balance changes, and seasonal events often correlate with player-count spikes — cross-reference announcements here with the live charts on the main AETHUS statistics page.
Articles link back to Steam for full changelogs. SteamScope refreshes news entries as new posts are published to the game's Steam hub.