Poached : Hunt The Hunter News

This update adds a new stealth system, that makes every single piece of foliage in the entire map an active object the player can hide inside, as opposed to being merely decorative. Alongside the update are many other features based on user feedback. Thank you so much to those who keep submitting feedback to me via Discord or Steam, your contributions are invaluable and keep the updates rolling. If you don't wish to join the discord or post on the Steam forums, please post your feedback as a reply to this post or just email me directly at [email protected] - I read absolutely every single piece of feedback and am always dedicated to improving the game wherever possible.

1. Foliage now makes a leaf rustling sound when you move through bushes.
   
2. Foliage now obscures enemy aim when you are standing inside bushes.
   
3. Foliage now makes you "Hidden", with an on-screen indicator, when you crouch inside bushes. Enemies may not spot you while you’re hidden, but once they know you’re in a bush, they’ll still fire into it but with even lower accuracy than if you were standing in a bush. Killing an enemy while hiding in a bush will blow that cover spot for other enemies allowing them to know which bush you are in, but it won't make it easier for them to aim.
   
4. Increased the radius at which goats will run away from the player due to proximity awareness.
   
5. Made conversation heard by poachers talking amongst themselves more audible when approaching the raided camp in Mission 1, Wave 2.
   
6. Fixed issues with animals not reacting quickly enough to gunfire in Mission 1, due to a conditional awareness trigger intended for enemies.
   
7. Sneaky poacher firing from the bushes in Mission 1, Wave 2 now only appears in Hard Mode.
   
8. Fixed an additional issue that could cause an enemy from Mission 1, Wave 1 to meet you at your camp before you've triggered the first stealth tutorial.
   
9. New achievement for killing an enemy without them noticing while hidden inside foliage.
   
10. Fixed some ragdoll issues with certain enemies that were using unscaled time for ragdoll computation.
    
11. Chapter 1 end screen now reads as "2 Weeks Later" to explain certain events better.
    
12. Antialiasing settings have been simplified, and "Soft" is now the default setting as I find it looks best. But feel free to change back to "Sharp" or "Off" if you prefer. The "Overkill" setting has been removed as it's pointless.
    
13. Crafting table now is located at the same location in every mission instead of spawning in different locations.
    
14. Optimized NavMesh Data storage for all sub-scenes and terrain streaming zones.
    
15. Fixed some NavMesh issues allowing enemies to walk through certain structures in the outskirts of the map.
    
16. Rebaked all NavMesh and Occlusion Culling data for all missions to reflect optimizations and navigation for all latest changes.
    

I'll be putting out a series of 10 smaller updates like this one every few days this December, leading up to V0.9 by the start of the new year. Thanks for playing, and speak soon!

[p]Major Additions
[/p]

• [p]New bonus mission playable via the radio tower after Mission 2 (plays in 2 parts), including a new realistic (and educational) objective that involves using a helicopter to tranquilize a rhino in order to safely and humanely remove the horn, preventing poachers from killing them. This is done in real life as the horns grow back and poachers only want the horn, killing the entire animal for just a few bucks. More information on this real life process can be found here: https://www.savetherhino.org/thorny-issues/de-horning/[/p]
• [p]New enemy Vehicle A.I. module: poachers can now enter the area with their own trucks - complete with A.I. driving, pathfinding and reversing. This can be found in the new mission. An enemy vehicle will first attempt to run you over; if they cannot do that the driver will get out and try to kill you the old fashioned way (with guns).[/p]
• [p]New "Cutscene" module that allows for seperate cinematic events to occur in-game without moving to a new scene or requiring any loading screens. (Seen in the middle of the new mission) [/p]

[p]
Achievements
[/p]

• [p]New achievements for completing the bonus mission as well as destroying an enemy vehicle in that mission.[/p]
• [p]New achievement added for fully upgrading your vehicle. (Previously we only had one for upgrading your tires)
  [/p]

[p]
Inventory & Controls
[/p]

• [p]When playing with a keyboard, new "HotKeys" slots are now available in the inventory that allow the player to assign any inventory item to special slots that can then be consumed/activated via the corresponding hotkeys without having to go into the inventory.[/p]
• [p]This can also be used for toggle-based items such as lantern/flashlight/night vision etc for easy access.[/p]
• [p]There are 2 slots that can be used with the "-" and "+" keys on the keyboard without opening the inventory, once assigned.[/p]
• [p]Slots stay assigned, so if you have for example first-aid kits assigned, and you run out - the hotkey will still work for that item as soon as you aqcuire more.[/p]
• [p]Any feedback on this new system is most welcome.[/p]
• [p]I am also looking at making the hotkey buttons bindable once I've cleaned up the menu U.I. a little more.[/p]
• [p]Made first-aid kits unable to be used when health is already at maximum to prevent accidental wasteage. Food items can still be consumed past full health though.
  [/p]

[p]
Enemy A.I. & Combat Behavior
[/p]

• [p]Made enemy A.I. strafe while firing for more engaging combat.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a rare issue with certain tactical enemy A.I. awareness that could cause them to sometimes see you through terrain.[/p]
• [p]Made some enemy ragdoll improvements.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where a single poacher in the Mission 1 camp ambush would patrol out to the first camp where the level started.[/p]
• [p]Made "Carver" enemies that are found carving up animals actually use a knife, and then switch to weapon when alerted, instead of cutting up the animal using their gun.[/p]
• [p]Improved Quality of "Carver" enemy carving animation.[/p]
• [p]Improved the rotation of tactical enemies. (The ones that slide to and stay in a specific location and crouch/fire from cover) [/p]
• [p]Fixed issue with some enemies getting stuck.[/p]
• [p]Increased minimum distance between enemies firing at player.
  [/p]

[p]
Missions, Sidequests & Progression
[/p]

• [p]Fixed issue in Mission 1 which would cause the poacher camp to come to you prematurely if player is messing around with their guns in the camp, or just from the ranger approaching before the player is in the correct range.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue in Mission 2 wave one where the radio transmission refers to 8 enemies but there are clearly only 7.[/p]
• [p]Fixed some internal null reference exception errors relating to waypoint targeting in Mission 2.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue with bonus mission waypoint pointing to the wrong place IF a bonus mission is available after mission 3. This would only currently be caused by the player ignoring the bonus mission after the main mission in Mission 1 or 2, thus forwarding it to the third mission but was still possible.[/p]
• [p]Added notification for completing Chicken Truck sidequest, as previously this relied on the notification produced by the Steam Achievement that you get for completing it which does not allow you to know you have completed it when playing in a subsequent playthrough since you can only get the achievement once unless you manually reset your steam achievements.[/p]
• [p]Fixed some floating meshes in Mission 9 underground tunnel.
  [/p]

[p]
Wildlife & Animals
[/p]

• [p]Improved hippopotamus movement animation and behaviour.[/p]
• [p]Fixed dead zebra in poacher camp one dissapearing before the player gets there due to an optimization bug.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue causing some goats to run with their face aligned to the ground.
  [/p]

[p]
Weapons
[/p]

• [p]Fixed right hand position on Tranquiliser Rifle on-screen view.[/p]
• [p]Balanced Silenced SMG weapon fire sound to be more silent.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a misaligned firing bolt on the silenced SMG.[/p]
• [p]Fixed "Old Faithful" shotgun pickup status not saving in missions, as in it reappearing after loading a game even if the player already collected it from the shed. It will still respawn after missions for ammo harvesting though.[/p]
• [p]Made 2 of the ex-military commander poachers found in Mission 2 Wave 1 look more distinct from each other.
  [/p]

[p]
Vehicle Systems
[/p]

• [p]Fixed bug causing vehicle front axel to dissapear when the player moves up really close while crouching.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue with engine upgrades actually making the car engine worse.[/p]
• [p]Fixed vehicle issue that caused reversing to sometimes go faster than accelleration with no way to stop.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue that could cause your car to be frozen until you get out and then in again if you load a save game with your player already inside the vehicle.
  [/p]

[p]
Environment, Visuals & Effects
[/p]

• [p]Improved visibility when using the "Lions Heart" powerup at night. (And in general)[/p]
• [p]Improved appearance & visibility of rain, as well as rain collision splashes.[/p]
• [p]Fixed bug that would cause rain to continue permanently.[/p]
• [p]Improved quality of fire when your vehicle is on fire, to produce a thick black smoke only instead of comical looking fire particles.[/p]
• [p]Blood pools left by enemies now fade in ultra-realistically instead of the cheap scaling effect that was previously used.
  [/p]

[p]
Audio
[/p]

• [p]Balanced music radio station volume better.[/p]
• [p]Added a slight pitch randomization on audio sound effects when consuming inventory items such as food to make it sound less repetitive when using multiple items in succession.[/p]
• [p]Made "Cash" collection sound more balanced, softer, less annoying.
  [/p]

[p][/p][p]Another update will be out within the next week![/p]

[p]NOTE: The next major update after this one (V0.9) - is one of the biggest updates planned this year, with over 100+ changes, so please stay tuned for that, there will also be some supplementary V0.8.9.x updates prior to that, in the meantime:[/p][p][/p][p]New enemy “D.N.A.” system[/p][p]The game uses procedural outfit mixing (pants, tops, hats, skin tones) to keep enemies cohesive. Sometimes identical looks still appeared together, which broke immersion. The new D.N.A. system assigns each generated outfit a short signature and checks it against recent ones, steering generation toward fresher combinations while preserving the style.[/p][p]
New environment: Guest Lodge[/p][p]A full new area. Entry is different here: arrive by vehicle and drive to the gate. The gate is locked at night, so plan a daytime visit. Find the entrance past the tavern on the right, or follow the lodge waypoint in your vehicle.[/p][p]
New mission[/p][p]Poachers have invaded the guest lodge and are squatting across two buildings. Clear both interiors. This brings tight indoor FPS combat to a usually wide-open world. Supplies on site are limited, so come prepared. It’s a bonus mission: you can’t save during it, but you can save after completion. Once done, the lodge opens for business and you receive a small cash advance from the profits as thanks.[/p][p]
New achievement[/p][p]A trophy has been added for clearing all enemies out of the guest lodge.[/p][p]
Improved enemy ragdolls[/p][p]Collider passes and joint tuning reduce contorted poses, improve foot contact, and produce more believable collapses. The ragdoll algorithm is also faster.[/p][p]
Improved enemy weapon drops[/p][p]Dropped weapons sometimes landed upright. A new drop routine accounts for mass and shape so they fall, bounce, and settle more naturally.[/p][p]
Improved enemy blood[/p][p]Fixed shader glitches and optimized the effect path for smoother visuals with lower overhead during heavy action.[/p][p]
Optimization[/p][p]Many small tweaks improve frame pacing and responsiveness, along with general AI stability and behavior refinements.[/p][p]
Flock fixes[/p][p]Bird flocks at drone charging stations behave correctly again. They land at designated spots and take flight when you approach.[/p][p]
Bug fixes[/p][p]Numerous issues resolved. Details omitted here to avoid spoilers for new players. Ask if you want a full list.[/p][p]
NPC Death Tracking[/p][p]New conditions let the game track who is alive and who is not. Follow-up missions will no longer play radio messages from NPCs who have died.[/p][p][/p][p]For more info, follow our social pages or contact me at [email protected], or join our Discord.[/p][p][/p][p]-Rob \[Ingozi Games][/p]

[p]AI & Combat Behavior[/p]

• [p]Fixed an issue that caused wandering enemies to get stuck during patrol routes.[/p]
• [p]General improvements to enemy A.I. responsiveness and pathing.[/p]
• [p]Optimized internal patrol algorithms for better CPU efficiency.[/p]
• [p]Enemies now react more realistically to sniper kills—no longer charging toward the shooter but instead taking cover and laying suppressive fire to avoid the same fate.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Environment & World Polish[/p]

• [p]Improved grass color consistency and terrain transitions across various biomes.[/p]
• [p]Reduced terrain grass texture memory usage for better performance.[/p]
• [p]Improved some Outskirts areas.[/p]
• [p]Improved some underground cave areas.[/p]
• [p]Sun shafts now only appear during the day—no more rays beaming down from stars or the moon.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where duck ragdolls would disappear or behave erratically at screen edges.[/p]
• [p]Implemented optimized duck ragdoll cleanup to reduce memory overhead.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Tutorial[/p]

• [p]Fixed a progression-blocking bug in the tutorial's second section.[/p]
• [p]Made the second tutorial section skippable to improve replayability and pacing.[/p]
• [p]Polished several tutorial tooltips for clarity and consistency.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Weapons[/p]

• [p]Fixed the on-screen scale of the sniper rifle to better match perspective and feel.[/p]
• [p]Improved on-screen visuals of the shotgun for a more powerful and grounded presence.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Ostrich Racing[/p]

• [p]Ostrich race no longer shows the score/race selection menu the first time you visit in a new game. It now unlocks naturally after the first race like it did in earlier builds.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issues that could prevent ostrich race courses from unlocking.[/p]
• [p]Restarting or starting a new game now resets the ostrich race tournament, making it fully replayable per character/save.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Mission Updates[/p]

• [p]Enhanced environmental and structural detail in Mission 1.[/p]
• [p]Added additional optimization modules to Mission 1 to improve framerate and stability.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Core Gameplay & Systems[/p]

• [p]Fixed a rare but critical bug where dragging the vehicle with the unarmed slot while entering could cause it to freeze and stop turning. Extremely difficult to reproduce or trace, but confirmed fixed by all alpha testers.[/p]
• [p]Improved some post-game elements (details redacted to avoid spoilers).[/p]

[p][/p][p]Quality of Life[/p]

• [p]New achievements added for reading (or at least skimming) all inbox emails at your caravan.[/p]
• [p]Improved audio balancing across radio stations.[/p]
• [p]Fixed some various internal null reference errors.[/p]
• [p]Cleaned up and refactored various code modules for improved stability and maintainability.[/p]

[p][/p][p]It's also now been 2 years since the game first launched into early access, so that means it's only 1 more year until the final launch! I will still continue supporting the game after the launch, but the content will be final by August 26 2026.[/p][p][/p][p]More updates to follow!!!!!![/p][p]As always - thank you for playing.[/p][p][/p][p]Happy hunting.[/p][p]-Rob[/p]

[p]This update includes some new content for players who have completed the game in the post-game sandbox mode as well as general game improvements.[/p][p] [/p][p][/p][p]Gameplay:
[/p]

• [p]Braai meat now shows the ° degree symbol when showing the temperature of each side of the meat, so that it is less confusing as to what those numbers are. [/p]
• [p]Added more Easter eggs to discover. (And polished some existing ones)[/p]
• [p]Standard Shotgun has been nerfed, as it was far too good at headshots from a distance and I didn't want to just make shotgun shells more expensive as shotguns are fun up close.[/p]
• [p]Improved headshot hit detection against tactical enemies that are cover-locked & crouching.[/p][p][/p]

[p]
Bug Fixes:
[/p]

• [p]Fixed a new issue causing the possibility to get stuck in options menu if accessed from the main pre-game menu.[/p]
• [p]Fixed new issue causing the vehicle camera to not rotate when first entering the vehicle.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue that could break cause the vehicle to go into a weird "Tokyo-Drift" mode.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue causing the matches requirement for lighting a braai to not be implemented, meaning you could even throw your matches away via drop in the inventory and still light a fire afterwards. Lighting the fire now also consumes the inventory item, so to light a new fire matches must be purchased from the store. This was originally the intended behavior but some issues were preventing this from happening. [/p]

[p]
Graphics:
[/p]

• [p]Improved driving at night appearance and reduced tree shadow flickering.[/p]
• [p]Improved dirt/grass texture blending in tutorial/shooting range terrains.[/p]
• [p]SSR now enabled by default on all new installations.[/p]

[p]
Optimizations:
[/p]

• [p]Optimized internal scripting used for distance waypoint markers. [/p]

[p][/p][p]Tutorial: [/p]

• [p]Made it easier to hear commander from a distance.[/p]
• [p]Changed song found on collectible secret radio so it's not the same as the one found in the shooting range.[/p]
• [p]Neatened some scene geometry/set dressing.[/p]
• [p]Prevented camera animation from playing if player attempts to run during the sections where running is disabled.[/p]
• [p]Added additional control based tooltips.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue that caused player to instantly die if the vehicle is destroyed during the tutorial.[/p]
• [p]PC is no longer accessible from the tutorial, as this over-complicates things.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Shooting Range: [/p]

• [p]Removed a useless rocket pickup, as the RPG is not available in the shooting range.[/p]
• [p]Added missing colliders and physics to the empty fuel cannisters.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue with some of the shotgun shells falling through a table.[/p]
• [p]Optimized internal scene memory usage.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a Grenade pickup that was mislabeled as "GRENADE (1)"[/p]

[p][/p][p]Warehouse: [/p]

• [p]Improved detail of certain tech.[/p]
• [p]Flashlight pickup can no longer be found here, only in the caves. I wanted it more hidden for maximum reward, the lantern is fine for most lighting situations.[/p]
• [p]Removed placeholder tapes, will re-enable them as audio logs are added so as to create a clear distinction that all tapes are audio tapes.[/p]
• [p]Fixed some objects, such as pieces of paper that had rigidbody components but shouldn't.[/p]
• [p]Fixed some missing colliders.[/p]
• [p]Simplified some of the scene geometry.[/p]
• [p]Improved warehouse outer material texture quality.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Chapter 2: [/p]

• [p]New mission content. Just follow the "?" waypoint after completing the final boss fight.[/p]
• [p]Destroy all 14 pieces of mining equipment after the main game![/p]
• [p]New hidden cave.[/p]
• [p]New secret cryptid lore! The legendary Grootslang.[/p]
• [p]Optimized the rendering of mining equipment and hydraulic excavators to use world streaming like everything else in the game.[/p]
• [p]Noise complaint mission will now have the mining equipment if it has not yet been destroyed.[/p]
• [p]New cave environment.[/p]

[p][/p][p]New Achievements: [/p]

• [p]Destroy all mining equipment after the main game.[/p]
• [p]Locate the cave of the Grootslang.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Other Changes/Additions: [/p]

• [p]Improved enemy angular response time damping.[/p]
• [p]Some small improvements to enemy reflexes.[/p]
• [p]Some other small A.I. improvements.[/p]
• [p]Added some better blending on one of the terrain optimization volumes.[/p]
• [p]Improved enemy patrol walking animation stability.[/p]
• [p]Added a slider to control the amount of mouse smoothing.[/p]

[p][/p][p]I have approximately 10 more updates planned for this year with new content and missions as well as some other requested mechanics such as weapon customization and other game modes. Next year the game content will continue being updated up until its final release out of Early Access in August 26 2026, after which the game will continue being updated and fixed for an additional year, although at that time all content will be finalized.[/p]