Rooted

What is Rooted

Rooted is an open-world survival game developed and self-published by Headlight Studio, an independent French studio based near Montpellier. The game takes place near the year 2100, roughly 20 years after a devastating bacteriological war that released deadly spores across the landscape. Players must survive in a world overtaken by nature, scavenging resources, building shelters, and navigating Contaminated Zones while facing hostile survivors, dangerous wildlife, and ROTOR Corporation robots left over from the pre-war era.

The game supports solo play (fully offline, no internet required) or co-op with up to 6 players. Rooted blends survival mechanics with narrative lore and exploration across a map spanning over 30 square kilometers.

Engine and Platforms

Rooted is built on Unreal Engine 5.6, having migrated to this version in October 2025 (previously on UE 5.4). The migration brought significant CPU optimization and visual upgrades, including Lumen global illumination on High and Ultra settings.

The game is planned for PC via both Steam and the Epic Games Store. Console versions are planned after the full PC release. The Early Access target is 2027.

Content ratings: ESRB E 10+, PEGI 7. The game is available in eight languages: English, French, German, Simplified Chinese, Danish, Italian, Spanish (Spain), and Dutch.

Core Gameplay

Rooted combines multiple survival systems into an interconnected gameplay loop:

• Crafting: Build tools, shelters, and equipment at workbenches using scavenged materials.

• Base Building: Construct modular bases or secure existing structures like houses and office buildings.

• Weapons: Firearms, melee weapons, and player-crafted armaments across three distinct categories.

• Vehicles: Cars, forklifts, carts, and ziplines for traversal and resource transport.

• Hunting and Fishing: Track deer, set fish traps, and gather food from the wild.

• Gardening: Grow crops to supplement food supplies.

• Food Management: Cook meals, boil water, and manage temperature to stay alive.

• Salvaging: Break down junk items into usable components.

• Electricity and Automation: Power your base and automate tasks as you progress.

• Infection Mechanic: Navigate deadly spore zones using respirator masks and antidotes.

Points of Interest

The game world contains several distinct locations that serve as exploration targets and lore sources:

Full Production And A New World (2026)

On May 29, 2026 Headlight Studio announced that Rooted had moved from research and prototyping into full production, with an Early Access target of late 2027 on Steam and a dev log posted every week. As part of the transition the alpha map was wiped to make way for a brand new world built around the biomes found in Oregon. A large part of the core was reported as coming together at this stage, including a survival simulation that models the body across hunger, thirst, hygiene, temperature, wetness, and fatigue with location-specific wounds, a reworked inventory split between a personal stash and a droppable backpack, a two-way building system with a real stability model, and a single data-driven vehicle architecture spanning land, water, and air. None of this had entered the public build at the time of the announcement; it is confirmed development direction rather than shipped content.

Development Timeline

Development Phases

The game follows a structured development roadmap: four Alpha phases (under NDA), four Beta phases, followed by Early Access, and finally the full 1.0 release. As of Q1 2026, the game has completed two Alpha phases and entered full production.

Community Milestones

• Over 1 million Steam wishlists.

• Over 133,500 players registered for alpha access.

• Kickstarter exceeded 20,000 backers.

Steam Features

Planned Steam integration includes Achievements, Steam Workshop support (for sharing base blueprints), Family Sharing, and player statistics tracking.

Pledge Tiers

All payments are processed through Stripe.

Build Status and Milestones

Rooted entered full production in Q1 2026 after operating in a pre-production phase. The team expansion that accompanied this transition supports the accelerated content cadence visible through Phase 3 of the closed alpha.

Weekly Development Logs (2026)

After moving into full production, the studio began publishing weekly development logs. Updates through early June 2026 covered a squad-based hostile-survivor enemy, multi-seat co-op vehicle roles, a synchronized world radio layer, a data-driven inventory with on-body weapon stowing, sharper animal perception, and procedural work on a dense, overgrown town. Logs through late June 2026 added enemy camps and squad tactics, a reworked firearm damage model, an electricity network, directional storms, and voxel terrain with new open-world vegetation.

The studio has stressed that none of this is in the public build yet; it is confirmed development direction for the road to Early Access. The most recent public patch remains v0.0.2.362.

Open-World Terrain And Vegetation (In Development)

A June 20, 2026 development update brought the new open-world map together with voxel terrain and a full set of quality vegetation, including ash, pine, spruce, black spruce, and a library of larger plants, shown as work in development rather than part of the current public build. The vegetation leans on the engine's geometry system to keep dense plant cover without losing detail when the terrain is built from voxels. The same update gave aiming a more cinematic feel as the player settles their sights and tightened low-stance movement so speed, pose, and camera stay consistent. None of this has entered the public build; it is confirmed development direction.

Early Access Confirmed For Late 2027

On June 12, 2026 the studio confirmed that Rooted will launch in Early Access on Steam and the Epic Games Store in late 2027, with a short Beta phase beforehand and no exact date yet. The studio has continued publishing weekly development logs through full production, with the Week 24 log on the same day outlining in-development enemy camps, a reworked weapon damage model, an electricity system, and full hunting. None of those features are in the current public build, which still runs on patch v0.0.2.362.

Development Logs Into Early July 2026 (In Development)

Weekly development logs into early July 2026 moved the in-development branch of the game onto Unreal Engine 5.8 and continued to refine building placement, per-species animal behavior and perception, a single data-driven survival balance, and claimable powered lighting devices. As with the earlier logs, none of this is in the current public build, which still runs on Unreal Engine 5.6 and patch v0.0.2.362.