Wrack: Reclamation news & patch notes

Merrily, we roll along (oh wait, Christmas is over) with another big, juicy, post-release update! What's in it, you ask?! Let's get right to it!

QUICK PLAY

The main new feature of this update? Quick Play! You can now replay any map you've already beaten from the main menu. Plus, you can view your highest score, fastest time, best medal, and whether or not you've gotten the tyderium coins on that particular map - all using the tab key! Now you can go after those missing compendium entries with extreme precision.

PLAY MUSIC

Speaking of the compendium, it's also gotten a big update - the ability to play music! If you've found yourself enjoying the game's music, and wish you could give it a listen without fighting for your life... first of all, you're not alone! Second of all, you can now do so within the compendium. You can even toggle the music intensity, to listen to parts that only play when things are going down (high streak, boss almost dead, etc.).

MISCELLANEOUS

Of course, that's not all. Here are some of the other changes in v1.2:

• Giggordo now appears on the title screen (if you've beaten the secret level with at least a gold medal).

• Added green warmup blinking (like what's seen on the sentries and Geizer) to the snipe soldier, and certain boss attacks (Galactron, Gnash, Oculus).

• Fixed some modeling issues with Giggordo.

• Fixed music stopping after beating Giggordo.

• Fixed secret areas blocking enemy sight. This made several enemies seemingly oblivious to you.

• Proper loading of assets ahead of time for switches, and the soul projector on E1L1.

Now, we'll be shifting our focus towards challenge mode - finally giving you something to do with those collected tyderium coins. This will be the focus of the next major update!

Thank you, and really hope you enjoy this update! Be sure to let us know what you think.

Hey there!

There's a very small update to fix a couple of the issues in yesterday's update. Here's what's new:

• Fixed blurriness on models when viewing the compendium.

• Fixed the bazooka alt. fire preventing weapon switching or reloading (making you stuck if you ran out of ammo with it).

Thanks everyone!

Version 1.1 of Wrack: Reclamation is here! This nice, juicy update adds the Compendium - a way to see the game's artwork, in-game models, as well as the credits. All you've got to do is beat levels to unlock these items. The higher medal you earn, the more you unlock! (NOTE: The internal system that was saving your highest earned medal wasn't working properly, so unfortunately, you'll be starting over in this regard.)

But that's not all! Here's what's new in v1.1:

New/Changed

• Added the compendium! You can now view artwork, in-game models, and the credits from the new "Compendium" menu. Items are unlocked by earning medals on the various levels.

• New animated, texture-less halftones for intermission.

• New map-specific intro lines for E1SECRET.

• Increased gloogun grenade velocity by 25%. (Slight boost to the alt. fire grenades as well.)

• Hyperblast rockets now have more thrust. This allows you to greater heights by hyperblast rocket jumping. (And get some secrets in E1SECRET.)

Fixes

• Fixed best medals earned on a map not being saved properly. This allows the gallery unlocks to work properly (from now on).

• Fixed some errant spike balls in Galactron's arena.

• Fixed the SMG playing two sets of hyperblast sounds.

• Fixed a missing texture on some bars on E1L2/3.

• Blocking volume to prevent a softlock. (E1L1)

• Modeling fix to Giggordo.

• Fixed the railgun pickup mesh being off-center.

Thank you everyone! Hope you enjoy it.

First off, thank you to everyone who's checked the game out so far! The response has been wonderful, and it looks like everyone is having a great time so far. (If you haven't yet, the launch discount is only in effect for less than 24 hours!)

But, just because it's released and we've hit version 1.0 doesn't mean we're done with it - not by a long shot! With a full second episode in development (more on this... not soon), we want to make sure you have plenty to tide you over. Therefore, we've got some fun extras coming to the game - from simple extras to major content that we're still figuring out. Let's dive into the post-launch content, shall we?

THE COMPENDIUM

Much like in the original game, we're going to allow you to view artwork seen in the game, as well as other fun bits of art (like concept sketches). It'd also be fun to see something of a bestiary/codex, where you can see more info about your weapons, the enemies, etc. We'll likely include this in the first patch!

CHALLENGES

Some of you have probably noticed those little tyderium coins scattered throughout the maps - which appear to do... absolutely nothing! Well, we'd like to give those coins a purpose: unlocking little challenge maps! These challenges will include things like, survive a certain amount of time, complete a mini level without dropping your streak, etc. We'll likely get this in the second patch.

QUICK PLAY

The original Wrack had two extra modes: Time Attack and Score Attack. It also had a "Quick Play" mode, and in Reclamation, we're going to combine all three! Quick Play will allow you to replay any map you've already beaten. Plus, the results will be sent to the Steam leaderboards, which will allow you to sort by time or score. So, effectively, this is both a Time Attack and Score Attack mode!

INVASION MODE... OR... SOMETHING?

The last one... honestly, we haven't quite figured out yet! But, it's so big, that it's likely to be DLC (possibly free, so be cool)! We're looking at something like an invasion/survival mode where you battle waves of incoming enemies. We'll probably truly make it Wrack and combine it with Balderdash! mode so that if your streak runs out... you die!!

Thanks to everyone for checking out the game, and here's to more! Time to get back to work...

The big day is nearly here! Wrack: Reclamation has been completed, and will be available tomorrow at about 2PM CST.

We're thrilled with how everything has turned out. We've finished everything we set out to do, and it's by far the best Wrack ever - and that's largely thanks to your help. Your feedback on the demo has been incredibly helpful. So, thank you to everyone who left feedback in the forums, Discord, the feedback form, and so on - this game is so much better because of you!

If you haven't yet, make sure to wishlist it! Doing so will really help with some last minute visibility.

Quick pricing note: If you own the original Wrack, you can get Wrack: Reclamation for an extra 25% off! Just make sure to select the "Original Owners" bundle on the store page once it's available.

We look forward to seeing what you think. WRACK! IS! BACK!

Hey there!

Just wanted to document the last (planned) demo update for Wrack: Reclamation. Unless something major comes up, we'll be entirely focusing on the full release from this point on.

Here's what's changed:

New/Improved

• Wrack Remake is now Wrack: Reclamation!

• New VFX for headshots (flesh/metal versions).

• Switching weapons now instantly draws the next weapon. (Your current weapon no longer needs to be holstered.)

• The name of the weapon you're switching to is now shown during the dry fire sequence.

• Switches now fade out when pressed (rather than snapping to their new lighting amount).

• Camera animation now defaults to 0.5 (was 1.0).

• Punchier E1L1 checkpoint cutscene.

• Moved a couple of crawlers on E1L1 so they don't sneak up on you while pressing a switch.

• Music (temporary?) for the E1L2 storyboard.

• Added missing fire speed VFX (the pink glow) for the gloogun.

Fixes

• Fixed (hopefully) newly added settings defaulting to 0, instead of their intended value (ex. bloom).

• Fixed weirdness by stunning minibosses/bosses with a stun attack (pistol hyperblast).

• Fixed objective marker arrows not disappearing sometimes on E1L2.

Thank you!

We're officially coming down the home stretch! With... checks title screen 18 days left until launch, bugs are all getting fixed, the last bits of content are being developed, and the last of the polish is being applied. Things are shaping up great, and we're all very proud!

With everything wrapping up, it's naturally got us looking towards the future. What are we going to do next? More importantly, what do you want us to do next? It's something we pay a lot of attention to - after all, ultimately you all are the ones who are in charge.

The Old Plan

First, allow me to be honest for a moment. When we first announced that two Wrack projects were in development (the Wrack remake, as well as Wrack: Reclamation), I honestly thought everyone would be way more excited for Reclamation. To my surprise, this was not the case at all: the overwhelming amount of interest has been in the Wrack remake - will we make new maps for it, will we make more content, more episodes... etc.

Maybe it was too hard of a sell. A remake of a remake?! Sounds confusing. In any case, it doesn't really seem to make much sense for us to go down this road. Why totally reboot the game again - especially when things seem to be in such a good spot?! Why not just... continue forward? As it turns out, there's a very clear way to do that.

The New Plan

The original Wrack was conceived as a three episode game. As a new studio, we ended up stretching ourselves way too thin trying to produce that much content. Hell, I would still be worried about producing that much content right now ... but one or two more episodes?! Sign me up!

So that's the new plan: We're beginning production of Wrack episode 2!! We still have the original Wrack episode 2 as a base (I played through it recently - it is janky), as well as a bunch of content already made for the old Reclamation - enemies, weapons, etc. We will start figuring out what works, and go from there.

... but, if we're expanding Wrack Remake to go beyond the scope of what the original Wrack was... it's not really a remake anymore, is it? In fact, it's truly a reclamation project seeking to reclaim what the original Wrack was supposed to be - a three episode, action sci-fi adventure.

That's why I'm pleased to announce that Wrack Remake is now...

Questions!

I'm sure there will be questions - and I certainly don't have all the answers. But I'll preemptively answer a few things:

• We're starting with episode 2. No plans on episode 3 right now.

• I don't know how it will be distributed (DLC, standalone game, free expansion).

• There is no release date on the new content.

• It will be primarily set in space with groovy, gravity fun!

Haven't wishlisted it yet? Do it while it's hot!

Thank you!!

When can we finally declare that Wrack is back?! We finally have an answer for you: in one month!

That's right! Wrack Remake will release on Saturday, November 22nd, 2025!

Why a Saturday, though? That's kind of weird, isn't it? The reason is because we were lucky enough to make it into the Winter OTK Games Expo - which was no easy feat. We're very fortunate! It's going to be a fun time, where we'll get showcased alongside many other fantastic indie games. So, be sure to check it out one month from today!

See you then!

Demo Update

Of course, that's not all we have to share! To properly begin the countdown, we've updated the demo which now includes the countdown to the true release date. Of course, that's not all, so here's what it includes:

New/Changed

• The Bravestar now has a functioning hyperblast! It deals damaged based on how much energy it has, and then consumes all of it at the end of the swing.

• The title screen now contains the proper full release countdown.

• Enemies now spawn in alerted.

• After depleting the sword in the tutorial, it now stays depleted until the cutscene explaining its "ammo" finishes (then begins recharging normally).

Quality of Life

• Energy is no longer depleted when striking non-enemies with the Bravestar (barrels, crates, etc.).

• Gloogun grenades no longer come out of the gun at an angle.

• Crusher bodies no longer block grenades/rockets.

Fixes

• Fixed glowing on textures not working at all if settings were turned down to "low".

• Fixed aim not lining up with the crosshair while sliding.

• Fixed a bug causing you to become a zombie.

If for whatever reason you haven't wishlisted the game yet (you know you want to feed the algorithm!), you can do so here:

See you in one month!!

Maybe you played the original Wrack. Maybe you noticed it had some sort of streak/combo/chain/whatever system - it's all pretty interchangeable (but maybe don't call it a "whatever system"). Chances are, you were able to ignore it for the most part, because well... it wasn't well-integrated into the game. It didn't matter.

Considering that was supposed to be one of the main selling points of the game... that wasn't good! A lot of the fun of Wrack is supposed to be about fast-paced combat, with a touch of strategy when it comes to how to take down the next thing before time runs out. In Wrack, kills are oxygen.

So, ever since the original, we've been enhancing the kill streak system to make it as good as it possibly could be. We started this process off in Wrack: Exoverse (that's right, I'm mentioning it), and have continued into Wrack Remake. Here are a few highlights from what we did in Exoverse:

• More Time: First off, the timer in Wrack was way too harsh! Trying to get a single kill with the pistol would usually drop your streak. Starting in Exoverse, you now have not only more time overall, but your timer ticks much more slowly earlier in the streak - so you can at least build some momentum before it gets more difficult.

• Overkills: Starting in Exoverse, it's not just about killing something - it's about how hard you kill them. We added the idea of doing more damage than what it takes to kill an enemy - an overkill. In this game, overkills would cause the enemies to gib into a nice, bloody mess of giblets - and (the kicker!) give you 50% more time to complete the next kill in your streak!

• Timer Freezing: Exoverse introduced some ways to pause the streak timer - including freezing or stunning enemies. Wrack Remake has kept this going by pausing the timer when you deflect a missile, stun an enemy (pistol hyperblast, parry a melee, etc.), and keeping your streak paused while any hyperblasted missiles do their business.

Of course, we didn't stop there! We've also made a bunch of changes in Wrack Remake as well:

• Speed: Everything gets more frenetic when your streak increases! Once your streak reaches 8, your movement speed increases by 20% (this affects your slide as well!); and once it reaches 16, your weapon speed increases by 25% as well - affecting firing, reloading, and more!

• Power: In the original, there was a finisher system that was only usable while your streak was active (and only when above a certain level). We felt that was too limiting, and now you're able to use your hyperblast at any time. However, now it gets stronger as your streak gets longer - powering up when your streak reaches 8 and 16.

• Ultrakills: Here, we decided that mere overkills aren't enough! Now, doing a little bit more damage than it takes to kill an enemy results in an overkill: the enemy becomes a ragdoll and goes flying; but, if you do a lot more damage, the result is an ultrakill, which causes the enemy to blow apart into giblets. Overkills still give 50% more streak time, but ultrakills give you a whopping 125% more time. Fun, and strategic!

• Resets: The ability to kill corpses a second time is critical! You can kill enemies, and then kill their body a second time to reset your streak timer. Resets go hand-in-hand with your melee attack, which does a fantastic job of carving your enemies up again, and giving you lots of time to reload, get your next kill... whatever you'd like to do!

That should about cover it! All in all, all these changes have made Wrack Remake the best possible Wrack experience so far. Don't believe us? Give the demo a play for yourself!

One final thing I didn't mention - these have changes have led to the true way to play: Balderdash! The highest (selectable) difficulty uses the settings of Medium - however, dropping a streak will result in death! This forces you to play Wrack Remake the intended way - without being too overwhelming. I would heavily encourage you to give it a try!

Until next time!

Hey there!

Tomorrow, we'll be entering our third games festival - the Beat 'em up Games Party! With lots of new people checking out the game, it's a great time for a major update, which is exactly what we've done.

Here's what's new:

Storyboards

• Added a new storyboard scene before E1L2 - complete with new artwork!

• Major adjustments to the storyboards display for better spacing, and more readability.

• Adjust the E1L2 intro cutscene to reflect what occurred in the preceding storyboard.

• Minor rewrites to the prologue to make it a little more concise.

HUD

• Major HUD rework! Many elements no longer intrude on the center of the screen, and moved some elements around to make room.

• Added an objective display to the "earn a streak" section of the tutorial.

• The input options bar (ex. Q: Hyperblast) is now larger during gameplay.

New/Changed

• You can now jump while sliding. Doing so interrupts your slide; however, if you've fully crouched from the slide, the result will be a super jump.

• Enemies can no longer damage each other (and rob you of kills!).

• Added a full release countdown to the title screen. (We'll see if this date holds.)

• Added a new display setting for adjusting bloom.

• Toned down some sparks/explosions.

Fixes

• Fixed not being able to draw secondary weapon pickup while firing.

• Armor/health values are now rounded up, instead of down. Fixes the issue of your health appearing as 0, but still being alive (due to your health actually being 0.5 or something).

We've got one more major feature planned that we hope to have done for Steam Next Fest on Monday. After that, we'll be shifting our focus entirely towards the full release. There's an indication on the title screen of when that will be, but... we may delay that, so don't count it as anything official just yet.

Thank you!

Hey there!

Another hotfix as we continue to smooth out any issues you all are having with the demo. There were still a couple of major issues, so we wanted to get this out there ASAP; and, while we're at it, give some major quality of life improvements, too!

Here's what's new:

New/Changed

• Mouse smoothing is now disabled by default.

• Changed the mouse sensitivity step amount from to 0.1 (was 0.25), and the minimum value to 0.1 (was 0.25).

• Raised headshot damage to an even 2x multiplier.

• The melee action can now be buffered.

• Crusher counterattacks can no longer be re-triggered.

• The tutorial now uses more forgiving difficulty settings - regardless of what difficulty level you've picked.

• Opening the exit doors on E1L2 now brings your streak to an end as well.

Fixes

• Fixed boss Geizer attacking multiple times. AGAIN. Does it actually work this time?! Your guess is as good as mine.

• Fixed picking up a secondary weapon not drawing if "weapon switching" is set to never/only if new.

• Fixed miniboss health bars sometimes staying after their death.

• Fixed invulnerability (ex. from Cakewalk) not working for several damage types.

• Fixed weapon pickups triggering when reloading a save on top of a weapon pickup.

• Fixed z-fighting issue on E1L6.

• Misc. fixes to Geizer's laser.

• Minibosses are now invulnerable during their intro.

Thank you! Enjoy.

NOTE: I forgot to update the version number on this, so the title screen still says 0.9.1. It should say 0.9.2.

Hey there!

Just a quick update to fix some of the remaining bugs in the Boomstock 2025 version of the demo, as well as introduce some quality of life changes when it comes to weapon pickups. The whole weapon pickup system got a major rewrite, so it should be working smoothly and intuitively under all weapon pickup settings.

Weapon Pickup Handling

• Weapon switching can now only happen if you don't have the weapon selected.

• Fixes to bugs with being unable to shoot, HUD ammo count after a pickup.

Other Fixes

• Fixed boss Geizer sometimes doing two attacks at once if the intro isn't skipped. Again.

• Miniboss Geizer now attacks a little less frequently.

• Fixed some trigger boxes mistakenly firing after reloading a checkpoint.

• Fixed mistaken emissive values for pressed/unpressed versions (the pressed button was glowing more than the unpressed button).

• Fixed buffered reloads not working properly when drawing a weapon.

• Fixed ammo numbers sometimes getting stuck solid red.

• Fixed the camera sometimes doing a blend when skipping a boss/miniboss intro.

• Fixed weapon fidget animations being able to play while firing your secondary weapon.

• Fixed reload "coyote time" not working with the shotgun alt. fire.

Thank you, and especially thank you to those who have checked out the demo, and reported these issues! You are helping make this much more enjoyable for everyone involved.

Hey there!

Just in time for Boomstock 2025, we have a brand new demo update for you! With most of the bug fixes taking place in hotfixes, we've been able to focus on some new features, as well as some quality of life adjustments.

New/Changed

• Added a new boss warning display to the HUD when approaching a boss. Seems like a good time to checkpoint!

• Reload "coyote time" now applies to hyperblasts. (You can almost, but not quite finish a reload, unleash a hyperblast, and your weapon will be reloaded.)

• Reloads are now buffered after simply pressing the reload key while firing. It no longer needs to be held.

• Your weapon(s) now smoothly lags behind when moving (it's no longer velocity-based).

• New option to disable weapon lagging.

• Added controller vibration for being damaged, dying, landing, landing hard, and rocket/grenade/barrel explosions.

• Completing the finale area of E1L2 now unlocks the door you came from, allowing you to backtrack.

• Switch textures are now brighter and more easy to see.

• A true version number is now listed on the title screen. (This one is 0.9.0.)

Fixes

• Fixed switches not using the proper texture for pressed/un-pressed versions.

• Fixed some trigger boxes mistakenly firing after reloading a checkpoint.

Thank you, and happy boomin' & shootin'!

Hey there!

Another quick hotfix to address some of the issues that have been reported - and a big thank you to those who have done so! One in particular was pretty serious, so we're doing another quick hotfix. Here's what's changed:

• Fixed being unable to pick up the soul projector and proceed on E1L1 when playing on Cakewalk.

• Fixed being able to make checkpoints in the air, or while crouched. (Both can lead to respawning in buggy situations.)

• Fixed being able to open a "Level Statistics" (tab key) and "Pause Menu" (escape key) screen at the same time, and only being able to close one of them.

Thank you, and hope you enjoy!

Hey there!

We've released a quick hotfix to address some of the bugs found in the initial demo version. Here's what's changed:

• Fixed being unable to open the doors to proceed after creating a checkpoint.

• Fixed miniboss Geizer sometimes not attacking at all.

• Fixed boss Geizer sometimes attacking while in the middle of another attack.

Thank you, and hope you enjoy!

So why exactly are we remaking Wrack? I mean... the game was fine, right? Sure, it might not have been the best-selling, most popular game of all time, but it had some good things going for it. Would you be here reading this if it was all bad?

Well...

While it wasn't all bad, the bottom line is this: Wrack didn't live up to its potential. It was plagued with all sorts of issues, from a lousy checkpoint system, to a shoehorned in combo system, and everything in between. Just about everything needed to be re-imagined and rebuilt from the ground up. It needed a reclamation project; and so, we began working on... a game we're not going to talk about right now.

But, while working on that game, we were approached by our current publisher (Red Deer Games) about doing a console port of the original Wrack. Because the original game was made using a custom-made engine (for reasons unknown), a simple port wasn't going to be that feasible. The game was going to have to be re-created in something like Unreal Engine (which we opted to use).

I pitched them the idea of simply publishing the new Wrack game we were working on - rather than subject a new audience to the unrelenting bag of nightmares that was the original game (wait a second - I thought it wasn't all bad!). Although they weren't interested in that, we reached a compromise: remake the content of the original Wrack game, but with all the improvements of the next Wrack game. The result? You'll never guess!

... okay, you probably did guess that.

And you know what? It's been great for everyone involved! First, you are getting a new game with all new mechanics, audio, artwork... the whole nine yards, which I'll dive into in a future post. Plus, you don't even have to wait that long (it should be out this year!). It's been great for us too, because it's given us a project with a more limited scope where we can polish more effectively, and learn as we go. Finally, it's great for Red Deer because it'll let them test to see if this series is right for them without a massive commitment.

The Demo

But hey, don't take my word for it! Try it for yourself... well, maybe not right now, but on Friday when the Wrack Remake Demo comes out! You'll be able to play the first couple of levels and see how far the game has come.

Want to check it out as soon as it comes out? Then be sure to add it to your wishlist!

First, a huge thank you to everyone who's participated in the playtest! Your feedback has helped shape the Wrack Remake into a much better game! Throughout the playtest, we've implemented a number of your suggestions, fixed plenty of bugs, and still have some changes on deck that we'll be implementing in the coming days. So, again, thank you!

This playtest wasn't meant to last forever, however. (Also, bad job by me not mentioning that initially - oops!) So, we'll wrap up this beta sometime tomorrow (Friday August 22nd), and will get to work on the rest of the changes from your feedback.

What's Next?

So what's next - and more importantly, when can you play again? When we release the demo! This will happen within the next month, and will largely resemble the playtest - only with more completeness and polish. So keep your eyes peeled, and you'll see it soon!

Until then, make sure to keep in touch, on... how about X/Twitter this time?

We could have had Kain's sword, the Bravestar, just be a normal sword - you swing it, and things die. Ho hum, nothing special.

In fact, it started off that way! Early on in Wrack Remake, you'd just swing it, and it'd pretty much gib everything - so much to the point where it was overpowered... and started to be boring. Yikes!

I was ready to simply reduce the damage on it and call it a day. But, thankfully our audio guy Michael Markie stepped in and pointed out how satisfying the sword is to use, and how making it not blow up everything in sight would be a mistake. So, together we found a solution - energy!

The sword would remain OP, but only for a short time. With each attack, it'd consume some energy, and eventually become depleted - unable to do the full amount of damage. While it does slowly recharge on its own, waiting around is boring, and we want the game to be beatable using just the sword. The solution?

Enter alternate fire! All weapons in Wrack Remake have an alternate fire; and, in the case of the Bravestar, it works together with the primary fire. Using the alt. fire causes you to block with the sword - allowing you to parry melee attacks, and deflect missiles. If you can pull this off, your sword recharges instantly, and you can go back to rampaging like a boss!

Sound interesting, but a tad complicated? That's part of why we introduced the brand new tutorial! Rather than shy away from mechanics that make the game better and more interesting, but not immediately intuitive... we thought we'd just do a better job of communicating the inner workings of Wrack to you, so you have a much better time with the game, and way less confusion.

Want to Try It?

If you'd like to see how the tutorial, and all these design decisions are working out... there's good news: We're going to have a demo, and it's coming soon! So, you'll want to stay tuned for when that happens (to do so, might we recommend our Discord?). But, there's even better news: We've launched a limited beta of the game! If you're interested, just click the "Request Access" button on the store page.

Limited slots are available as we prepare for the demo, so be sure reserve a spot quickly. (In fact, all spots already filled up at the time of writing this, but we'll open up more spots soon.) We're looking to make this game as great as it possibly can be, and your feedback will help a ton with that. So, it's much appreciated!

If you made it all the way down here, why not join our Discord? We'd love to hear from you!