Post-Launch Roadmap
Square Glade Games' free content plan for Outbound after the May 2026 launch: the Fishing Update that shipped as Version 1.1, the Wildlife Update teased in September 2026 with a photo camera and wildlife journal, and the update after it that adds adventurers, campers, and townsfolk.
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Overview
After the 1.0 launch of Outbound in May 2026, Square Glade Games shared a plan for free content updates spread across the rest of the year. The studio has been clear that the launch build is a starting point and that several systems will arrive in later drops rather than at release. Each update is themed around a season, and the dates are seasonal targets rather than fixed release days, so the schedule may shift.
The studio has also said its first priority after launch is stability and community-reported fixes, followed by quality-of-life improvements, before the larger themed content updates. That order is already visible in the early hotfixes and the 1.0.8 balance pass tracked on the version history page.
Confirmed Seasonal Updates
Season | Update | Status | Contents |
|---|---|---|---|
Summer | Version 1.1 (fishing) | Released June 23, 2026 | Added the long-requested fishing feature: three fishing rods, 32 collectible fish across all four biomes, decorative fish tanks for the camper van and homes, and a journal that tracks the species caught with a zero-to-five star rating. Fish are collectible decorations, not food. Also added buildable stairs and doors for homes. |
Fall | The Wildlife Update | In development | Expands the world's animals and wildlife with additional creatures, including flocks of birds, deepening the living ecosystem across the biomes. Confirmed on August 18, 2026 as close to finished and teased with a trailer on September 9, 2026: wild animals, birds and insects, a customizable photo camera, photos saved to the computer and the Steam library, and journal entries for every animal. No release date announced as of September 21, 2026. |
Summer Update: Fishing (Released)
Fishing was the headline feature of the Summer update and the first major addition after launch, and it shipped as Version 1.1 on June 23, 2026. It was originally unlocked as the fourth Kickstarter campaign stretch goal in 2024 but did not make the 1.0 build, so it led the post-launch plan instead. The update added three fishing rods obtained from Download terminals, 32 collectible fish, fish tanks, and a tracking journal, along with new fisherman structures to explore. In keeping with Outbound's no-combat design, the fish you catch are kept as decorations and logged for completion rather than cooked or eaten. The full breakdown lives on the fishing page, and the patch detail is on the version history page. The studio added no new achievements with the update so existing completionists keep their status.
The Wildlife Update
The Fall drop now has an official name: the Wildlife Update. On August 18, 2026 Square Glade Games confirmed that the whole team was working on it alongside the routine maintenance patches, that it adds a large amount of wildlife to the world plus a couple of further features, and that development was being wrapped up for a release it described as coming soon. On September 9, 2026 the studio followed up with a teaser trailer and a first feature list. As of September 21, 2026 no release date has been published on the Steam news feed, and the studio has stopped attaching a season label to the drop. The original roadmap entry described the drop as adding flocks of birds, alongside more animals to populate The Outdoors and The Coast. The emphasis the studio has stressed throughout development is variety over volume: biome-specific fauna that makes each region feel distinct and rewards slow, repeat exploration. As with fishing, the new creatures follow the rule that no animal can be harmed; they are there to watch and to make the world feel alive.
Wildlife Update Teaser (September 9, 2026)
The teaser post is the first concrete description of what the update contains. The studio framed the list as a preview and closed it with "and more", so it is not the full changelog.
Feature | What the studio said |
|---|---|
Wildlife | A lively world full of wild animals, birds, and insects |
Camera | A camera with customization options: saturation, brightness, contrast, and depth of field |
Photos | Taking photos and saving them on your computer and in your Steam library |
Journal | Journal entries for all wildlife |
Patch cadence | Smaller patches with bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements continue between major content updates |
Console-specific details for the camera and photo features were not covered in the post, which was written for the Steam audience. The Version 1.1 Fishing Update reached the other platforms eight days after Steam, so a similar gap would not be unusual, but nothing has been said either way.
Further Plans and What Is Not Confirmed
In the June 9, 2026 patch notes, the studio said it was laying groundwork for a larger upcoming update, which is why that bugfix patch shipped as a roughly 3 GB download. The Fishing Update followed two weeks later, on June 23, 2026.
Around launch, the studio also discussed a later winter update centered on expanding NPC interactions with more dialogue, lore, and side content. This sits further out than the Summer and Fall drops and the details have not been locked down, so it should be treated as a stated intention rather than a finished plan. On September 9, 2026 the studio gave it a firmer shape: the next big content update after the Wildlife Update will add other adventurers, campers, and townsfolk to the world, each with their own routines and tasks.
Full cross-platform play is not part of the launch feature set and has not been confirmed as a future addition. Limited crossplay within the same ecosystem does exist (Steam with Epic, Switch with Switch 2, and Xbox with the Windows Microsoft Store version), but there is still no crossplay between PC and consoles or between different console families, so groups split across those should still buy on a compatible store to play together. Anything beyond the seasonal updates above is unconfirmed and is left off this page until the studio commits to it.
Separately from the free updates, the School Bus Adventures DLC was unlocked during the Kickstarter and ships bundled with the physical editions. Patch notes and future content drops are tracked on the version history page as they go live.