- 35% Off Steam Autumn Sale! - 1 October 2026
Hello hello, Hikers! The Gold River Project is 35% off for the Steam Autumn Sale! If you've been waiting for a sale, be sure to grab it between now and October 8th! :) We've been hard at work on a lot of things for you and will have more to share in the coming days. Stay tuned!Happy Hiking!
- Performance & Optimization Test | Try Out BETA Version Of Next Update Today! - 24 September 2026
Hey there Hikers!We're getting close on this upcoming update! In short, we have upgraded from UE 5.4 --> UE5.7 and with that comes new technology aimed at better optimization. New engine update means you MAY see bugs that were previously fixed, this is no problem, we're on it! How to get access:Right Click "The Gold River Project" in the Steam side bar and select "Properties"Select "Game Versions & Betas"Enter Access Code playtest2026 and click "Check Code"After you have gained access to the BETA, you will be able to switch between builds under this same screen so you may return to the live version of the game whenever you'd like :)Please start a NEW game if you end up testing this! We will create a dedicated PINNED Thread called "Beta Testing" - Please put all your details in here, anything you have! What we want from you IF you test:What is your GPU?What FPS are you getting in-game?R…
- Fireside Chat: Talkin' About August! - 4 September 2026
Happy Friday, Hikers! It’s Fireside Chat time! :) Last month, we mentioned August would be a quieter month in terms of updates while we lock in to focus on bug fixes and moving the game onto an updated engine and this is something we’re still working hard on! The good news: so far in our testing, we’re seeing good results and are on the path to getting this done as soon as possible! The less good news: Being a small team, it IS taking a little extra time! Over the course of the past several months, we have really learned a lot. Your bug reports and feedback have helped us get an even better idea of what we’ve done well so far and what we need to improve and as always, we cannot thank you enough. Throughout this process, we are doing extra testing and covering as many bases as we can! We’re working really hard to keep in mind what we can do to make our game more accessible to more people…
- Fireside Chat: The Trail So Far - 3 August 2026
We’re back, Hikers! We can’t believe it’s time for another Fireside Chat already! Following the Mariner update a couple of months ago, June and July, we have been heads down tackling bug fixes with patches extremely frequently. Again, thank you all for all your reports and patience. We have got so much done and also still have so much to do and we really could not do it with all of your help! Because we have been patching so frequently, we wanted to give our players a heads up that during August, we will be pausing patches temporarily! Don’t worry, we’re not stopping for too long! We have a heavy task ahead of us on a big optimization patch which will be taking priority for the time being! While we have been chipping away at optimization, some of the bigger steps are just ahead of us and our priority will be improving the game’s performance for more people with lower specs. We’ll be com…
- The Gold River Project 30% Midsummer Sale! - 23 July 2026
Hello hello, Hikers! Time to touch some (virtual) grass! The Gold River Project is 30% off for the next 7 days! While we continue to work on development, we wanted to treat you all with another sale :). Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far, whether you’ve purchased early access or have kept your eye on the demo, all of your feedback has been immensely helpful! We’ve still got a lot to do but we couldn’t be happier to do it! Remember to hydrate and happy hiking!
- QOL Adjustments, Cooking UI update and new Rope craft option! | July 11, 2026 - 11 July 2026
Hello Campers!! Lots of new QOL fixes, bug fixes and minor updates for the weekend. Be safe out there!! ****** EA.01.26.07.11a CL:10392 NEW - Hunger and Thirst details add to Cooking UI system per recipe. NEW - Bait Rigging Knowledge pamphlet added. NEW - Fish also provide 'Guts' which can be crafted into Rope NEW - Under water mini POI's NEW - More loot boxes in Summer NEW - Added more Food and Resource loot boxes in Peaceful Mode FIX - Quarter / Break items now stack with same items collected FIX - Fish added to cooler FIX - Diving harness bug fixed FIX - Ammo bag can hold .300 ammo FIX - 'ENTER' button in game keyboards interact cleaner with mouse FIX - Collision with MAP on abandon RV FIX - Placed Torches burn out after time elapses FIX - Medical pouch bug FIX - Substation 3 tool box spawning UV flashlights. Box removed and item individual placed along with note EDIT - Items spawn p…
- Patch Notes for July 3rd, 2026 - 4 July 2026
Good evening campers!! A couple of fun new little items to craft or trade for along with some bug fixes. Have a good weekend, happy camping and be safe out there!! :) EA.01.26.07.03b CL:10358 NEW - Lockpick added to Trader. Able to pick three padlocks NEW - Homemade health medicine Lily Lemon Tea. Mixture of Purple Lily's and Lemon Balm FIX - Backpack and Diving Harness badges display FIX - Farm visibility on placement FIX - Hole filled at Mascot Mine pump station FIX - Removed blocking ice inside of summer Substation in winter season FIX - Kayak paddling animation replication FIX - Ladders in Storage location. EDIT - Second chairlift Start / Stop button at the top of Mascot Mine
- Fireside Chat | June | 45 Patches Since Launch, 8 Of Them In June! - 2 July 2026
Another month, another Fireside Chat! June has been a wild month for us, 8 patches released, some big ones, some small ones. Since we launched in January we've put out 45 patches! June introduced:Food DecayPeaceful ModeAuto SavingNew POI (Mascot Mine)Chairlift to Mascot Mine now operationalNew Inventory System, single slot items+++ a lot more! On top of fixing bugs, working on new content for our next major content update (Survivor) we are also transitioning from Unreal Engine 5.4 to Unreal Engine 5.7.4! This transition is going to be a massive amount of work but we're doing it to take advantage of the latest and much more optimized technology that version has to offer. The overall goal with this transition is to make our game much more optimized for all users. We'll have more details on this as we get closer and can run more tests! This is also a great time to remind everyone that revi…
- Quick Tips and Kayaks - Hot Fix for June 26th, 2026 - 27 June 2026
Hello Campers: We wanted to push a small hot fix before the weekend along with a new 'Quick Tips' section. Just click on the Escape key when in game and cast your eyes towards the bottom right of your screen. Enjoy!! * * * Patch Notes for June 26th, 2026 EA.01.26.06.26b CL:10308 NEW - Quick Tips now available in the in-game menu (escape key) FIX - Kayak and Outboard Motor boat inventories now saving/loading correctly FIX - Fishing rods, farming and fishing pouches now fixed after being saved in a FIX - Kayak attachment bug where you could make a cooler
- Steam Summer Sale Bonus Update - 26 June 2026
Hello Campers! We thought we would do an update to help kick off the summer sale. The Mascot Mine was ALOT of fun to create - we hope you have as much fun exploring as we did making it. Oh...and we now have autosaves...no big deal ;) Patch Notes for June 25th, 2026 EA.01.26.06.25b CL:10299 New - POI Mascot Mine... now OPEN!! New - Auto Save (saves every 20 minutes. To be used as a backup save with your own Save)
- 30% Discount | Steam Summer Sale | June 25th --> July 9th! - 25 June 2026
Dear Campers! The Steam Summer Sale is LIVE and we're in it! 30% off for 2 weeks! This will be a short one as we imagine you all have a lot of great games to play! Something that has now been introduced to try and help address frustrations with progression loss, crashes etc is... AUTO SAVING! Auto Saving:Happens every 20 minutesCreates a named Save File called "AutoSave"Only 1 AutoSave file, meaning if you start a NEW GAME, and you have a AutoSave file already, it will override that Our goal was always to ensure we could implement something in-game to help with this, we implemented the Makeshift Campfire but we recognize that we still fall short at certain moments. This will significantly help in those instances! Known edge case problems with Auto Save:If you save while on a ladder, you MAY spawn at the bottomIf you save in a Kayak, you MAY fall out of it and into the waterIf you save w…
- Steam Summer Sale Announcement! | 30% discount | June 25th --> July 9th | - 24 June 2026
Hey Campers!Just a quick announcement from us, we'll be attending the upcoming Steam Summer Sale!We'll be at 30% off for 2 weeks starting tomorrow!
- Introducing Peaceful Mode - 23 June 2026
Hello hello, Hikers! A new update is now live and this one comes with a little something special:Peaceful ModeWe have been working away at this new game mode for a while now. As we’ve read your feedback, we’ve seen a need to provide more options on ways to play! Peaceful Mode will provide a relaxed camping experience for those who just want to enjoy the world we are creating without compromising the challenge that our more Survival Game focused players are looking for! Some of the changes that will be present in Peaceful Mode are:Day Backpacks and Coolers available at Eagle Ridge CampgroundExtra food and supplies placed around the worldStat depletion will move at half the speed it does in NormalNo cougarsMore DeerBecause this game mode is brand new, your feedback will be extremely important! This is just the beginning of this development so in addition to our own testing we have been do…
- New Single Slot Inventory System, Peaceful Mode and more Fixes - 23 June 2026
Patch Notes for June 23rd, 2026 Hi Everyone: Excited to be releasing the new single slot inventory and our new Peaceful Mode. Happy Camping!! EA.01.26.06.22b CL:10270 NEW - SURVIVAL MODE & PEACEFUL GAME MODE - Player's food and water drain slower, No Predators, Extra food spawns (Tubs, Berries, Fridges) NEW - Backpacks and Coolers placed at Eagle Ridge Campsite in Peaceful Mode NEW - Inventory System - Single slot inventory and slot amounts (Optimization) NEW - Added Rope to Traders NEW - Rotten food can be used as compost to accelerate farming time. FIX - Protective case on death fixed FIX - Farm, Ammo, Fishing bag FIX - Abandon Substation door opening, FIX - Journal showing correct note / map after inspection FIX - Field Lab Charlie and radio tower and Mine Chair Lift puzzle saving FIX - Generators saving fuel tank added FIX - Hole in landscape near Mascot mine lift FIX - SS3 Crane cl…
- Reminder: Inventory Update! | Pictures in post for various containers - 22 June 2026
Couple Images here, if all continues to go well with testing we'll be releasing this today.
- Huge Inventory Update For Performance, Optimization, QOL and Carrying More Items - 17 June 2026
Happy Wednesday, Campers! Quite a significant quality of life change is coming soon to inventory & UI as well as our new Peaceful game mode! If everything continues to go well, Patch will go live this upcoming Monday! This is also a great time to say we'll be attending the Steam Summer Sale, at which we will be 30% off! Inventory system: All items in-game will only be 1x1 in size! Why are we doing this? Players will be able to carry more items than everPerformance & OptimizationPC & Controller QOL (Less scrolling)All current loot boxes will change to a 1-4x7 size loot box, please see attached our image showing what isn't safe storage anymore. All items you may have within slots covered in RED are not safe. Please create more storage in your camp to fit all current loot. Following this change we are also reducing the sizes across all inventory components. (Backpacks, jackets, shorts, pan…
- Hot Fix for June 13th, 2026 - 13 June 2026
Hi Campers: A couple of minor optimization tweaks we wanted to get in for the weekend. EA.01.26.06.13b CL: 10194
- Addressing Save Issues! - 13 June 2026
Hello hello, Hikers!What a whirlwind it’s been since the Mariner update! The team has been heads down reading your feedback, squashing bugs, and making changes so we want to give our community an update to address some of the biggest issues we’ve seen players report, particularly the save issues that have been reported. Since Mariner we have fixed these save issues:SAVE issue: Multiplayer locations are now saved and loaded as expected - There are instances where client data is not saved. One known issue is if the host continue to play after client leaves & then saves that. FIX - SAVE issue: Kayak and Outboard boat Inventory is now saved and loaded as expectedFIX - Kayak and Outboard boat attachments now SAVE correctlyFIX - Field Lab Charlie solar panel interaction now SAVE correctlyFIX - Red Cooler now SAVESAlongside these save issues we have also done 54 Changes, Bug Fixes, QOL adjustm…
- Save Fixes, Survival Guide & QOL adjustments In Our Latest Patch! - 13 June 2026
Hey hey Everyone!This is our first of several to come, "named patches"! We will be releasing these as seperate news post as we want to reach out to those players who've potentially experienced these issues. We'll have another post tomorrow with a bit more information on save issues and what we're doing around that. :) This is also a great time to once again mention that we are a small team of 6, where 4 of us are working on the game. The nature of Early Access mean our game is in active development. There will be bugs, there will be issues. But the message we want to get across is that even though a patch might be a little rough in the beginning, we'll fix it. We have done over 30 patches since we launched, we're here to do the work and our ultimate goal will always be to create a fun and engaging experience for all players :) We appreciate all the feedback so far, the work continues!Th…
- Save Fixes, Survival Guide & QOL adjustments | 01:26.06.12a - 12 June 2026
Hey Campers: A couple of good fixes and tweaks for the weekend we wanted you all to have. Enjoy!! Patch Notes for June 12th, 2026 EA.01.26.06.12a CL: 10184 EDIT - Updated Field Guide Survival Manual with Tips & Trick on both sides when inspected EDIT - Moved cooked food on campfire to frying pan when completed EDIT - Rainwater Collector moved to Crafted Crafting Bench EDIT - Clothing shred amount changed - Jackets, shirt and pants: 12, 8, 4 cloth EDIT - Clothing warmth boost +2 FIX - Fishing Bug FIX - Cooler and Boat Chest FIX - Red Cooler now SAVES
