roadtovostok

Hotfix 3 (Press Preview)

Hi! Hotfix 3 for Next Fest Press Preview is now available on Steam.

You can force the hotfix download:
Choose Road to Vostok Demo -> Right Mouse -> Properties
Installed Files -> Verify integrity of demo files

You know that you have the latest version installed when the main menu has RTV_Demo_HF3 on the bottom right corner.

Previous save files are fully compatible.

[ADDED] Settings menu will ...

Hotfix 2 (Press Preview)

Hi! Hotfix 2 for Next Fest Press Preview is now available on Steam.

You can force the hotfix download:
Choose Road to Vostok Demo -> Right Mouse -> Properties
Installed Files -> Verify integrity of demo files

You know that you have the latest version installed when the main menu has RTV_Demo_HF2 on the bottom right corner.

Previous save files are fully compatible.

[ADDED] Border Zone helicop...

Dev Update (07/10/2025)

Hi!

Here's a quick dev update.

It's been quite a busy few days with the Next Fest Press Preview but everything seems to be going mostly alright in terms of demo stability and I'm quite hopeful that with all this important feedback there will be much stable when version of the Final Demo when the actual Next Fest starts.

I'm currently preparing the Hotfix 2 for the Press Preview and here's the current progression listed:
<...

Press Preview (Hotfix 1)

Hi! Hotfix 1 for Next Fest Press Preview is now available on Steam.

You can force the hotfix download:

• Choose Road to Vostok Demo -> Right Mouse -> Properties,

• Installed Files -> Verify integrity of demo files

You have the latest version installed when the main menu has RTV_Demo_HF1 on the bottom right corner.

Previous save files are fully compatible.

[ADDED] Special c...

Upcoming Hotfix (Press Preview)

Hi!

Here's a hotfix list that will be added to the Press Preview build within few days:

[ADDED] Special crates are added to Vostok area with guaranteed high-rarity loot
[ADDED] Special crates have random spawn changes and locations
[ADDED] NVG has goggle separation and upgraded visual look
[ADDED] Auto-stacking for ammo and matches
[ADDED] Sleeping bags and mattress rolls can be used for sleeping both in shelter a...

Road to Vostok Final Demo (Press Preview)

Road to Vostok Final Demo (Next Fest Press Preview) is now available on Steam.

If you have the "legacy" demo installed, you might wanna do a clean uninstall first and download the latest build after that.

Good luck with your survival!

ps. Tutorial is highly recommended :)

- Antti (Developer)

...

#soon

Dev Update (30/09/2025)

Hi!

Here's some extra behind the scenes updates related to the final demo.

I have been working really long days recently to make sure I can polish the build as much as possible before the Next Fest. On top of this every day has included around 1-2h of playtesting and I'm now at point that all the obvious bugs have been fixed, so I haven't had anything must-fix issues recently.

One of the biggest tasks that I did few days ago ...

October Events & Final Demo

Hi! Here's some additional information related to upcoming events and final demo.

Oct 2. - Next Fest Press Preview (Build 1)
I will participate for press preview related to upcoming Steam Next Fest event. This press preview is optional and requires a public build of the demo, so I will share an "early release" final demo build (Build 1) for this and you can test this build also.

This build will override all...

Final Demo (Release Date)

Hi!

I think I already referred this few posts ago but here's the latest info related to final demo release:

TLDR:
October 2th

Long answer:
Since this Next Fest participation has an optional Press Preview deadline October 2th, I'm going to submit the final demo build to that which means that it will be playable next week.

The actual Next Fest starts October 13th, so this "earl...

Dev Update (24/09/2025)

Hi!

Here's a quick dev update.

I have now done a second round of playtesting and the end result was that I found only few new "must-fix" bugs and then some additional lighting tweaks were needed for night time.

I'm currently fixing these new bugs and double checking that the world simulation stays on track no matter what your framerate / hardware is.

One of the key items for the final demo / early access are watches and...

Tooltips & New Info's

Hi!

Just a quick info that I have now updated the tooltip functionality which displays all kinds of necessary and previously unknown info about the game.

Even though most of this stuff isn't available in the final demo (and some not even in early access), I wanted to highlight these so people can connect the dots on some upcoming things related to the world simulation, tasks and how the "world progression" will work.

Examp...

Dev Update (21/09/2025)

Hi!

Hope you're having a great weekend, here's a quick dev updated related to the final demo bug fixing and testing.

I'm now pretty much done with bugs that I gathered from the first longer playtest that I did with the final demo build.

This being said, I think now is good time for me to do another longer playtest and also test with few of my closest friends to see how they play with all these new mechanics.

I'm going t...

Final Demo / Early Access Tutorial

Hi!

Here's a new tutorial for both final demo and early access.

This tutorial will cover all the new mechanics and is highly recommended for players who have even tested the existing demos.

I also tried to reduce non-necessary text from these billboards and only focus on topics that are important and phrased some feature elements better which provided confusion in the old demo.

-Antti (Developer)

Dynamic Container Grid

Hi!

Here's another thing that I decided to grab from the commercial branch to the upcoming final demo.

Previously the grid size for the containers were static, meaning no matter what the container was the interface always displayed a full grid size and only limiting factor was the weight calculation.

This container weight calculation thing was a "gimmick" to bring some limiting logic for the loot storage, but since this ne...

Dev Update (15/09/2025)

Hi!

Here's a quick dev update.

First few water / fishing related topics.

I decided to grab the "auto-swim" detection from the commercial branch to the upcoming final demo, so now the character can enter/exit swim mode seamlessly without a need of any specific swim buttons.

On top of this, the new Village map has now those fish hotspots and in order to introduce some fishing elements when starting a new game, Generalist...

Final Demo Bug Fixing (Update Part. 2)

Hi!

Here's another dev update related to the Final Demo bug fixing.

In the last post, I mentioned that I started with 173 "must-fix" bugs in my list and I mentioned that I manage to reduce that number to 41.

Today I'm at the number 11, so there's finally light at the end of tunnel :)

Now most of the shelter customization related bugs should be done, there's few more magazine system bugs, few with the sleeping mechanic...

Military & Bandit Voices (V2)

Hi! Just a quick update related to voice acting.

For this final demo and upcoming early access, I decided to switch the both Bandit and Military faction voice lines a while ago in order to make them more authentic.

The reason for these switches was that Bandit voices sounded too friendly (compared to the upcoming Nomads which will be the friendly faction) and Military voices had this obvious and kind of immersion breaking "non-n...

Mental Stat + HUD

Hi! Just a little heads-up that I decided to activate the Mental stat from the commercial branch to this final demo.

This vital is a new one and it's linked to medical condition called Insanity. The decrease of this specific vital is pretty slow, so it's not something that you should constantly keep worrying about.

This vital stat can be increased by "enjoyable things" in a post-apo scenario like warm food, snacks, sleeping and c...

Final Demo Bug Fixing (Update)

Hi!

Here's a quick dev update related to the Final Demo bug fixing.

Like mentioned few post ago I was a bit surprised how many edge-cases and "abstract" bugs there were lurking with these new commercial branch system.

When I started this bug fixing process the "must-fix" bug count in my list was 173 and now there are "only" 41 left, so the progression in the past 3-4 days has been quite promising.

The majority of these ...

Final Demo vs. Early Access Feature Lists

Hi!

Here's a feature list chart for the upcoming final demo and early access.

This chart is related to the "experience gap" dilemma which I have talked about few posts ago between the final demo and early access features.

I think this feature separation is quite a good "middle-ground" solution where the final demo will provide enough new features to test while still leaving a good hunger for the early access content which ...

AI Behavior: Shift

Hi!

I'm currently still bug fixing some of these new systems for the final demo but while I was doing some AI stuff I realized that I haven't never shown these AI improvements which are part of the commercial branch.

One of these improvements is a new behavior called Shift.

This behavior is relatively simple but it provides quite a lot complexity to the AI combat since it uses path randomization which makes really hard to pre...

Steam Wishlists (500K Milestone)

Hi!

I wanted to quickly mentioned few things about Steam wishlists.

Like most of you probably know, wishlists are the main "commercial potential" metric for most indie devs like myself and they provide multiple benefits:

• Wishlists highlight that people are potentially interested about your game and this creates a huge amount of motivation for the developer.,

• Wishlists act as unique "mailing list" for...

  2025-09-04 15:31:03 +0000 UTC View Post

Border Zone 2.0 (WIP)

Hi!

Here's a some initial preview for the new Border Zone 2.0.

The main differences compared to the previous one are:
- Modular segments which can be added along with the development.
- Each segment has a different game mechanic for crossing
- Visual style is much more "depressing" and should stand out from the normal Area 05 maps a bit better.
- There's a much clear "no man's land" terrain area between the Area 05 and ...

Dev Update (31/08/2025)

Hi!

Here's another dev update as we go towards September and few topics related to that final demo.

First of all the early access trailer production is going really well. I attached a small behind-the-scenes video clip from the music production and there's all kinds of other things like custom voice acting and specific "surprise features" made for that trailer.

This early access trailer will be one of the most important selli...

Initial playtesting (Final Demo)

Hi!

Today I did some initial playtesting for the upcoming final demo + here's also some of those close-up screenshots from the overhauled Village map.

I think this initial playtest provided few important things:

• The game looks and feels totally different to the demo branch which is exactly what I planned with this commercial branch.
  

• Performance without that much focus on extra op...
  2025-08-30 18:51:09 +0000 UTC View Post

Dev Update (27/08/2025)

Hi!

Here's a quick dev update.

I'm currently working on the Border Zone map and trying to figure out a solid way to integrate this redesigned part of the game world as part of the upcoming demo.

This "Border Zone 2.0" is designed around a large vertical strip idea where I can insert modular map segments for each specific crossing point mechanic, so those doesn't require each a separate map. I will talk more about this idea in...

Upcoming Events & Demo Topics

Hi!, here's a little info about the "final demo" and few events around that.

I just registered on two events (more coming later) which are:

Finnish Gaming Week: Steam Event (Oct. 6 - Oct. 10) https://www.finnishgamesweek.com/steam

Steam Next Fest (Oct. 13 - Oct. 20)
2025-08-24 15:54:48 +0000 UTC View Post

Dev Update (23/08/2025)

Hi!
Here's a quick dev update.

I'm currently finishing up the registration for the Steam Next Fest which involves a bunch of small tasks like taking new screenshots, updating the demo video clips on store page etc.

This process is quite annoying in a way since I have so much cool commercial branch content that I would like to show but since I have to reserve most of that footage for the actual early access trailer, it's quite ...

Village (Ready)

Hi!

Here's now a game-ready layout of the new Village map.

A lot of secondary details gets culled from rendering at this distance (when showcasing the layout from far above) so it looks a bit weird and empty (optimization reasons) but anyways the size and complexity difference related to the demo is definitely improved.

I will now start focusing on the Border Zone 2.0 layout.

Edit: I actually have to share few close-up ...