Revision 19

Overview

Outbound has gone through several development phases since its successful Kickstarter campaign in August 2024. The development history includes a closed alpha for backers, a beta period that introduced a second biome, and the full public release. This page documents every publicly known version and the changes each one introduced.

Patch notes from the studio appear in the in-game news feed shown on the title screen and in the news feed on the game's store page; the table below summarizes the launch and post-launch patches. Not every internal build has public notes, so gaps between version numbers (for example, from v0.5.15 to v0.7.6) reflect periods of internal development without public patch releases.

Development Phases

Alpha Patch Notes

The closed alpha launched on April 14, 2025 for Kickstarter backers who pledged at tiers that included alpha access. It contained one playable biome and most of the core features planned for the full game. Square Glade Games shipped multiplayer co-op from day one, though it was labeled as experimental. The alpha focused primarily on bug fixes and stability rather than new content.

V0.5.5 (April 14, 2025)

The initial alpha build, distributed to backers on the first day. It included one playable biome with hidden quests, three major landmarks to discover, the modular van-building system, crop plots, crafting stations, and experimental multiplayer for up to four players.

V0.5.6 (April 14, 2025)

• Increased vehicle weight capacity from 12 to 20

• Added vehicle weight upgrades to the researcher

• Fixed getting stuck on ladders

• Fixed multiplayer ladder errors

• Added windmill lever and mechanism sounds

• Added decoration slot to side tables

• Fixed shelf colliders

• Fixed third-person driving camera after multiplayer join

V0.5.7 (April 15, 2025)

• Steering adjustments for better vehicle handling

• General ladder improvements

• Fixed foundations and walls loading on wrong floors

• Fixed shelf counter moving and removal issues

• Temporarily removed glass from the game

• Fixed player arm animations

• Fixed multiplayer timing errors

V0.5.8 (April 16, 2025)

• Fixed foundation orientation loading

• Added hanging decorations pack (curtains, lights)

• Fixed non-functional night lights

• Fixed vehicle slope restriction clearing

• Environment and terrain fixes

• Fixed vehicle charge task timing

• Added rivers and lakes to the map view

V0.5.9 (April 16, 2025)

This patch introduced auto-watering for crop plots during rain, one of the most requested quality-of-life features during the early alpha.

• Crop plots now auto-water during rain

• Fixed missing inventory resources from crop plots

• Fixed multiple shelf placement issues

• Fixed save game visibility

• Fixed empty radio signal towers

• Fixed download terminal issues

• Fixed multiplayer startup timing

V0.5.10 (April 17, 2025)

• Synced gacha machines in multiplayer

• Signal tower network synchronization for blueprint selection

• Fixed crop plot building issues

• Removed harvest button from crop plot UI

• Fixed multiplayer light synchronization

• Fixed one-legged dinner table construction

• Fixed item loading for lampoons and curtains

V0.5.11 (April 17, 2025)

• Added "new" item indicators with exclamation marks

• Fixed crop plot harvesting sync in multiplayer

• Fixed hanging decoration loading

• Added collision barriers around the starting area

• Fixed vehicle exit text display after loading a save

V0.5.12 (April 18, 2025)

• Added first-person and third-person driving option during save creation

• Fixed foundations and walls moving with placed items in multiplayer

• Previous FPS mode now applied on restart

• Fixed exclamation mark reappearing on double-click

• Fixed deposited item count display

V0.5.13 (April 22, 2025)

A notable update that added accessibility and comfort settings. Players could now adjust mini-game difficulty (On, Easier, or Off) and tweak fall damage calculations.

• Fixed radio signal discard in multiplayer

• Fixed build mode getting stuck when removing foundations

• Fixed endless lumber from shelf removal exploit

• Added mini-game difficulty setting (On / Easier / Off)

• Compass now moves with the camera in third-person driving

• Adjusted fall damage calculation

• Fixed elevator save-and-quit bug

V0.5.14 (April 24, 2025)

• Fixed "Continue" button on the End of Alpha screen

• Fixed text alignment issues

V0.5.15 (April 29, 2025)

The final documented alpha patch before the team shifted focus to internal beta development.

• Fixed grown crops not loading correctly

• Improved roof snapping for foundations

• Fixed character getting stuck inside vehicles

• Enhanced watered soil visibility

• Fixed look direction after loading a save

Beta Patch Notes

The beta launched on October 15, 2025, jumping from the v0.5.x series to v0.7.6. The gap reflects months of internal development that added The Coast as a second playable biome, the dog companion system, full controller support, a journal for tracking discoveries, and many new materials and recipes. The beta was available to backers who pledged at beta-tier or higher.

V0.7.6 (October 15, 2025)

The initial beta build introduced a large set of new features and content.

• Added the coastal biome with a lighthouse, rocky cliffs, tropical fruits, and a new wood type

• Added dog companion with commands: hold supplies, fetch items, return items to vehicle

• Implemented landmark exploration with three-step verification terminals

• Added journal system for tracking discoveries

• Enabled nighttime driving (reduced sprint capability, homing boots energy cost)

• Added full controller support

• Implemented vehicle tire pressure and maintenance system

• Improved multiplayer stability

• Added new materials for food, furniture, and machines

V0.7.7 (October 17, 2025)

• Dog can now traverse stone stairs

• Fixed crop plot crop acceptance issues

• Added paintings to biomes

• Fixed landmark journal display

• Fixed speedometer reading when out of fuel

• Windows can now close with curtains above them

• Fixed camping door clipping issues

• Fixed bench item placement

• Replaced bamboo with other crops on the garden houseboat

V0.7.8 (October 20, 2025)

This patch added small but well-received touches, including hearts appearing above the dog after petting and weather interactions with campfires.

• Added spinning wheel animation

• Dog now shows hearts after being petted

• Fire extinguishes during rain

• Fixed crop sowing in plots

• Fixed crop progression when camp was not set during sleep

• Fixed fainting and day counter text overlap

• Fixed shelf item customization loading

• Fixed multiplayer pattern, wall, and foundation customization sync

• Fixed vertical painting unlock

• Removed homing boots tutorial persistence after sleep

Full Release (V1.0)

Outbound v1.0 launched in two waves: PC (Steam and Epic Games Store) and Xbox Series X|S on May 11, 2026, followed by PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2 on May 14, 2026. The full release opens up multiple biomes, the complete energy system tied to sun, wind, and water sources, deeper vehicle customization, the full single-player arc, and four-player online co-op across the entire map.

Version Summary

The table below lists every publicly documented version with its release date and the number of notable changes.

Notes

• Patch notes during alpha and beta were originally posted in the Square Glade Games Discord server. The community wiki compiled them into a single reference page.

• Version numbers jumped from v0.5.15 to v0.7.6 between alpha and beta. The intermediate builds were internal and not distributed to backers.

• This page covers only publicly documented versions. Additional hotfixes or minor updates may have been deployed without formal patch notes.

• For details on the game's funding and development milestones, see the Development History article.

Public Demo Patches

The free public demo went live on Steam during Steam Next Fest on February 17, 2026 and remained available until May 8, 2026. Console demos launched on PlayStation 5 and Xbox on March 31, 2026. The demo received four small public patches before the full release.

1.0 Launch Waves (May 2026)

The full 1.0 release was distributed in two waves. Wave 1 covered PC (Steam and Epic Games Store) and Xbox Series X|S on Monday, May 11, 2026. Wave 2 covered PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2 on Thursday, May 14, 2026. The 1.0 build opens up the full world with multiple biomes, the complete energy system tied to sun, wind, and water sources, deeper vehicle customization, the full single-player arc, and four-player online co-op across the entire map.

On Wave 1, the PC version received its Steam Deck Verified badge on April 8, 2026, ahead of release. The Xbox build entered final certification in early May. On Wave 2, physical editions distributed by Tesura Games shipped alongside the digital release on PlayStation 5, Switch, and Switch 2. The launch day article documents the launch waves in detail.

Post-Launch Patches

Square Glade publishes live patch notes through the in-game news feed and the game's store-page announcements. Post-launch hotfix entries are added to this article as they are publicly published. As of this article's most recent update, post-launch patches 1.0.2-800 through 1.0.13 are detailed in the table above; the first week of patches focused on multiplayer stability, dog-companion ergonomics, and quality-of-life additions, the second week shipped the larger 1.0.8 balance pass plus targeted hotfixes, and 1.0.10 added the Download Voucher and Bottle Cap Wallet system that removes weight and auto-deposit behavior for those currency items, and the third week reworked ladders and expanded home customization in 1.0.12. The frequently asked questions article tracks live known issues.

V1.0.8 (May 18, 2026)

The first major balance pass after launch responded to community feedback that early-game travel felt slow and that lumber, fiber, and ore ran short on the opening map. It is the largest post-launch patch so far, mixing movement and economy tuning with a batch of quality-of-life additions.

Balance Changes

• Sprinting at night no longer requires the Homing Boots, so the character can move at full pace after dark from the start

• Sprint speed increased by 15 percent

• Stamina regeneration increased by 150 percent

• Plank recipes simplified to a 1:1 ratio: Everwood, Silverbark, Redwood, and Blossomwood planks each now cost a single unit of their matching wood instead of two

• Repairing the broken bridge near Sunbeam Acres Farm now costs 20 Everwood Planks instead of 30

• Everwood lumber and Fiber spawn more often on the first map to ease early shortages

Quality-of-Life Additions

• Backpack storage gained sorting and a text search field

• Map legend now shows collection counters, which helps when hunting down Signal Towers and landmark terminals

• Map connections are uncovered automatically by default

• Multiplayer ping is now remappable

• Third-person camera gained an auto-centering toggle for driving

• The dog companion now spawns reliably when a save loads

Fixes

The patch also cleaned up several smaller issues, including dog barking behavior, a vendor stall that could fail to appear, and achievement tracking that did not always register progress.

V1.0.9 (May 21, 2026)

A balance-and-bugfix patch shipped three days after 1.0.8. The headline change doubles the amount of clay yielded by clay deposits, addressing community feedback that early-game pottery was bottlenecked on clay supply. The patch also closes a soft-lock bug in download terminals and adds a built-in diagnostic for the team to triage future issues quickly.

Balance Changes

• Doubled the amount of clay received from clay deposits, easing early pottery and crafting throughput

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a soft-lock where download terminals could appear empty and prevent the player from progressing

• Added a one-click button to send the current save and log files for support diagnostics

• Fixed vehicle lights occasionally turning on automatically at the wrong time of day

• Fixed the Ring-a-Ding-Ding! achievement (collect 100 bottle caps) in multiplayer sessions

• Fixed the Cap 'n Snaps map legend so the markers display correctly

• Fixed the Red Ridge Airstrip and Golden Shores paintings appearing visually identical

• Fixed an issue in multiplayer where crop plots sometimes could not be harvested

• Translated several previously unlocalized strings

• Smaller multiplayer stability fixes

V1.0.10 (May 22, 2026)

Nicknamed Download Vouchers and Bottle Cap Wallet, this patch reworks how the two currency items are carried. Players had reported that vouchers and bottle caps shared grid slots with raw resources and were easy to auto-deposit by mistake. The new Wallet UI gives each currency its own dedicated slot, with no weight and no auto-deposit behavior, while preserving the ability to drop items for friends in co-op sessions.

Features

• Added a dedicated Wallet UI with two separate inventory slots, one for Download Vouchers and one for Bottle Caps

• Download Vouchers and Bottle Caps no longer have any carrying weight, so players can hold an unlimited stack

• Download Vouchers and Bottle Caps no longer auto-deposit into van storage, so players never have to lock them in the backpack

• Wallet items can still be dropped on the ground for friends to pick up in co-op

Bug Fixes

• Improved overall multiplayer vehicle synchronization, including a case where vehicles slowly drifted upward over a long session

• Fixed building crop plots and other larger items on top of metal small side tables

• Fixed the dog companion not following the elevator position properly

• Corrected a number of translations

V1.0.11 (May 22, 2026)

A quick weekend hotfix shipped the same day as 1.0.10 to address a multiplayer-only issue with the Pathmaker vehicle. The studio framed it as a small follow-up so players would have a stable build over the weekend.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a multiplayer case where the Pathmaker vehicle could trigger physics issues during base building

V1.0.12 (May 28, 2026)

A regular content patch released the week after the wallet update, alongside a milestone of more than 100,000 players on the storefront. Its two headline additions are a full ladder rework and a wider set of color options for wooden furniture, bundled with the usual round of bug fixes and balance tuning.

Features

• Ladders were massively reworked. The player can now interact with a ladder to snap directly onto it, which makes climbing from above reliable instead of nearly impossible

• Walking into a ladder still starts a climb, so the familiar behavior is unchanged for players who prefer it

• A new setting controls whether look direction changes movement direction while on a ladder

• Ladder animations now play correctly in multiplayer sessions

• Building System gained more customization colors for all wooden items, so homes can be themed in a preferred color

Balance Changes

• Power Cell now costs 2 Battery Components instead of 4, lowering the early-game cost of portable power

Bug Fixes

• Restored the missing Bean Bag chair; players who unlocked the Chill Chairs pack from a Signal Tower now own it as a blueprint

• Materials left inside the bio burner are no longer lost when quitting the game

• The battery assembler can now hold more than four items in its output slot

• Fixed Cap 'n Snaps not storing already-taken blueprints properly

• Fixed customization of the Trellis Foundation when a ladder is attached

• Repaired the rain-catcher colliders at Sunbeam Acres Farm

• Fixed companion UI text overlapping in some languages

• Multiplayer: fixed copying customized furniture, base-center foundation customization, the dog companion now picks up dropped items, and improved vehicle physics with the Pathmaker

• Fixed a graphics glitch at the hangar

V1.0.13 (May 29, 2026)

A small same-week hotfix following the ladder rework, cleaning up two issues introduced by the larger 1.0.12 changes.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed ladders sometimes forcing the player to step onto them when setting or unsetting camp

• Fixed grass occasionally not rendering around the vehicle while driving

V1.0.14 (June 2, 2026)

A small hotfix that continued the multiplayer cleanup, resolving issues that surfaced after the larger ladder and customization update.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a number of issues with the elevators in multiplayer

• Fixed a rare multiplayer case where a character would be displayed twice inside the vehicle

• Fixed the dog companion being able to reach areas where it would go underwater

• Allowed ladders to be built on the side of the School Bus

Post-Launch Roadmap

Alongside the 1.0.8 notes, Square Glade Games shared a seasonal plan for free content updates through the rest of 2026. The studio has said the launch build is a starting point and that several systems will arrive in later drops rather than at release. The full plan, including the confirmed Summer and Fall updates, is covered on the post-launch roadmap page.

• Summer: a fishing system with rods, decorative fish tanks, and journal tracking for the species caught

• Fall: more animals and wildlife, including flocks of birds

• Winter: NPC interactions expanded with dialogue, lore, and side quests

These dates are seasonal targets rather than fixed release days, and the studio has noted the schedule may shift. The fishing update is the next planned drop.