Dark Hours News

Hello burglars,

We're back today to announce that the latest regular update for Dark Hours is now available to everyone! In this update, you'll find a brand-new seasonal event Easter Eggs, 6 team bag customizations, QoL improvements, and various bug fixes!





[h3]🐰Easter Eggs Event[/h3]
A giant Easter egg hunt is taking place in Dark Hours! From now until April 30th, collect eggs during your heists to exchange them for Easter tickets. These tickets can then be exchanged for cosmetics available during the event:

• 2 Easter Hats
  
• 1 pair of stylish sunglasses
  
• 2 masks
  
• 1 backpack
  
• 1 teambag designed for the occasion
  

I'll let you head over to this news to learn more about Easter Eggs!
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2208570/view/498317142563751007

[h3]👜My (team)bag is yours.[/h3]
Team bags are now customizable! In this update, discover 6 new team bags, along with a 7th team bag tied to the Easter Eggs event! Not everyone can be in charge of such responsibility. Therefore, the lobby host will be responsible for the team bag!

[h3]⌨Hotkeys items feature[/h3]
Many players had requested the ability to have hotkeys for their items, and it's now a reality! You'll even have the option to rebind these hotkeys as you wish!

[h3]🔧Bug fixes and general improvements[/h3]
We’ve also made a number of bug fixes and general improvements to enhance your overall experience. You can find the full list of changes in the detailed patchnote at the end of the news.


[h3]🗺️ Also: Have you checked our first Devlog & updated Roadmap? [/h3]
We released our very first devlog last week. If you're curious to know everything we have planned for Dark Hours in the coming months, I invite you to check out this news.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2208570/view/615409552076048430

⬇️ The updated roadmap for 2025 ⬇️




[h3]💬Your Feedback[/h3]
We'd love to hear your thoughts on the Easter Eggs event so we can improve future events!

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See you soon,
Raven


[h2]Patchnote #34 for Dark Hours (v0.8.18688) - 10/04/2025[/h2]

Easter Eggs Event NEW: Start of the Easter Eggs event, more information here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2208570/view/498317142563751007
[h3]Monster[/h3]

• Trickster Demon Dance Fix: Fixed a bug where the Trickster Demon could sometimes kill players if they had been previously caught in its mini-game.
  

[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• Hotkeys Items NEW: Added hotkeys to switch between items
  
• Slot color Items Improvement: Differentiation of loot, gameplay, objectives, and event items through different colored backgrounds.
  
• Solo Medal Score Fix: Fixed a bug where end-of-match medals were being counted in solo
  
• Objectives Casino Fix: Fixed a bug where two of the objectives in the casino would not display.
  
• Ui Interact Fix: Fix of a bug where, during an interaction with a door or other object, the UI did not display the correct item.
  
• Goldentag Fix: Fixed various issues with the score in GoldenTag mode.
  
• Tazer Fix: Fixed a bug where it was possible to taser another player from a distance if one of the players had been pushed.
  

[h3]LD[/h3]

• Defibrillator Charge Feedback Improvement: Improvement of the defibrillator recharge feedback
  
• Casino fountain Fix: Fixed a bug where it was possible to throw items into the fountain, potentially causing a softlock.
  

[h3]Lobby[/h3]

• SFX Ready Button ADD: Added a SFX when the player clicks the ready button.
  
• Outline Selection on Customization ADD: Added a selection outline to make navigation easier in the customization menu.
  
• Camera in Customization menu Improvement: Improvement of the camera in the customization menu.
  
• R input visible in lobby Fix: The R input (Information) has been disabled in the lobby.
  

[h3]General[/h3]

• Teambag New: Added new customization options for teambags.
  
• Crash on beginning of heist Fix: Fixed a rare crash occurring at the start of a heist.
  
• Contrat in solo Fix: Fixed a bug that occurred when selecting a contract in solo mode.
  
• Timer end heist Mod: Timer adjustment at the end of a heist.
  
• Death Timer Fix: Fixed a bug where the KO timer remained visible after death under certain conditions.
  
• Cloth Physics Fix: Cloth physics are now properly disabled when the player is frozen.
  
• Frozen feedback Fix: Fixing a bug where the frozen state disappeared faster on customization items than on the rest of the body.
  
• VFX Sink Water Improvement: Visual improvement and fixed a bug where water flowing from a faucet would pass through items.
  
• Rain Ripples ADD: Added a rain ripple effect on the water.
  
• Items description Fix: Fixed a bug where the player could see the description of an item they no longer had in hand when opening their inventory
  
• Player name Inventory Fix: Fixed a bug where the player's name would not display when another player searched their inventory after death.
  
• Hotkey icons HUD ADD: Added icons for hotkey items.
  
• Controller improvement: Controller navigation has been improved.
  

[h2]Hey everyone,[/h2]

Hope you're all doing great!

Today, we're sharing some (not-so-little) news along with an updated roadmap. But before diving into the future, we thought it would be cool to take a step back and look at everything that's been done in Dark Hours. It's already been 5 months since the launch in Early Access!

Here's the breakdown of this news so you can jump straight to what interests you most:

• 1. Key statistics from the past 5 months
  
• 2. All new features added since launch
  
• 3. Community-requested features
  
• 4. What's coming in the next few months: Roadmap update & more
  

We already have a lot of ideas and new features planned for the future of Dark Hours. Let us share our scheduled plan with you. Our goal is to gather your feedback as we may adapt this plan based on your inputs.


[h3]1. Key Statistics[/h3]
Since Early Access of October 2024, we've already released 3 major updates and 33 patches in total. Over 350,000 players have joined us on this journey. It's just... wow... insane!

During the first weekend of March, we even hit our highest peak of concurrent players, with more than 1,800 players online at the same time. That's incredible!



[h3]2. All new features added since launch[/h3]
To better review everything that has been done, we’re listing below all the additions since launch in bullet points. It’s a great way to see how far we’ve come before diving into what’s next!

• 3 New Monsters
  
• 2 New Environments
  
• 6 New Gameplay Items
  
• 1 New Game Mode: Golden Tag
  
• 3 Difficulty Settings
  
• Spray Tags with 4 tags to help navigate in the maps
  
• 14 Emotes (Ranging from gameplay communication to social emotes)
  
• 3 Dances (because dancing while your teammate gets grabbed by a monster is always funny)
  
• 2 Seasonal Customization Sets
  
• 1 New Playable Character
  
• 5 Customizable Backpacks
  
• 2 new Mini-Games and 1 vault puzzle
  
• A brand-new 3D Lobby
  
• 5 new localizations: Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish (for 24 in total)
  

[h3]3. Community-requested features[/h3]
You've given us tons of great suggestions to make Dark Hours even better. We've done our best to implement some of your requests and address your needs.

Here’s a list of features that were added based on your feedback:

• Ability to ban multiple monsters
• Ability to kick & ban players from your lobby
• Leave your marks to help you find your way more easily: the Spray Tags
• A way to revive dead players: the Defibrillator
• Highlighting key objects in the levels (sparkles/items glint)
  
• Key rebinding
• Push to Talk option for voice chat
  
• Option to disable camera shaking
• Option to hide the UI
• Quickplay mode to find other players more easily (will still be improved)
  
• Network improvements (will also still be improved!)
  

And yet, we still have a long list of community-inspired features that we’re planning to add in the future:

• Facing multiple monsters at the same time
  
• Monster Codex for better understanding creatures
  
• Increasing the player limit beyond 4 players
• Personal objectives
• Advanced Items
• Ghost cam improvement for better interaction of dead players with the environment
  
• Maps with multiple floors
• Minimap
• Final score & medal system rework
• Achievements (Planned for the full 1.0 release)
  
• Placing fuses more easily, without having to manually take them out of your bag
  
• Switching items using hotkeys

Other highly requested features, like rejoining a match, text chat, shop system improvements, and a FOV slider need more particular design and technical work, but we are working on it!



[h3]4. What's Coming Next?[/h3]
In addition to the list above, we also have plans to enrich the game with some exciting new features & improvements.

• New Maps: Since you've made it this far, we're revealing the next map of Dark Hours: the Nuclear Power Plant! More maps will follow but we’ll keep it for a next devlog if you will!
  
• New Monsters: And our next challenger will be the Electric Poltergeist! Stay tuned for more!
  
• Monster Variants: We’ll let you guess what this could mean!
  
• The arrival of the Nightmare Mode in difficulty settings!!!
  
• New Contracts, Objectives and Mini-Games
• PVP Game Mode
• Community Features: This might sound a bit vague, but we’d love to introduce the idea that you’re not the only team of thieves in the game. So, expect features like leaderboards, an in-game friends list, and shared data like the number of heists happening at the same time and so on...
  
• Progression System: We also want to introduce a progression system, but the design is still being explored. I won’t say more!
  
• Seasonal Events: We’ve already had two seasonal events with some cool customizations. But we’re excited to make them even better by adding in-game decorations and themed loot (for instance, a chocolate bunny for Easter—just throwing that idea out there!).
  
• We already have some ideas to further enrich the customization features currently available, and we thought it would be great to let you customize your team bag as well!
  
• Expanding the Game's Lore: We’d like to develop the concept of the Mafia Boss, where he wouldn’t be the only one giving you missions but would be in competition with other bosses.
  

We’ve also got some features already in the game that we want to improve, and we'll keep working on them! These are long-term tasks that will be addressed in future updates.

• Rework of the game loop : To start, we are exploring ways to allow players to return to the level if they leave in the van. We might also make a few other changes to the game loop, gameplay items, and shops.
  
• Monsters Balancing and Improvements: there’s still room for improvement, whether it’s balancing them, clarifying some mechanics or fixing some remaining bugs.
  
• Kisser Rework as we want them back in the game.
  
• Difficulty modes balancing follow-up at each regular and major updates.
  
• Loot improvement: either regarding loot placement, repetitions in the same room, and values regarding your progression in the maps.
  
• Improvement of Procedural Map Generation: we will add more verticality to the levels with multiple floors. We are also working to be able to add more freedom in the discovery of new maps seeds, and more variation in map sizes.
  
• Network Improvements: there’s still work to be done on network performance, particularly with physics, latency, and disconnections! We’re on it!
  
• Performance Enhancements: It's a long-term effort that we've already started and will continue with each patch release. Our goal is to improve Dark Hours so that as many players as possible can enjoy it, no matter their setup.
  

[h3]Roadmap[/h3]

We've also taken the opportunity to update the roadmap for the upcoming major updates. Feel free to check it out; it’s also available on the Steam page if needed!



We're really excited about everything we've shared and hope you are too!
Do not hesitate to leave a comment under this news, email us at [email protected], or come chat with us directly on Discord. Feel free to let us know what you think about all the new features announced? Are you hype? Have we missed anything? Let us know!

We are thinking to make more news like this one, to talk to you more about the developpement. Is it something that you want? If so, don't hesitate to tell us! We're curious about it!

Thank you all for taking the time to read this far!

Piece of Cake Team

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[h2]Patchnote #33 for Dark Hours (v0.8.18234) - 21/03/2025[/h2]


[h3]Monsters[/h3]

• Trickster Demon Box Fix: Fixed the position of objects in the boxes to prevent them from getting stuck in furniture.
  

[h2]Patchnote #32 for Dark Hours (v0.8.18218) - 20/03/2025[/h2]

[h3]Monsters[/h3]

• Trickser Demon Minigame Arrows Fix: Fixed a bug where the minigame arrows could be misplaced at the beginning of the round.
  
• Trickster Demon Dance Fix: Fixed a bug where other players caught in the dance could end up getting stuck
  

[h3]LD[/h3]

• Loot Fix: Fixed the collisions of certain loot that prevented them from being collected.
  

[h2]Patchnote #31 for Dark Hours (v0.8.18194) - 19/03/2025[/h2]

[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• Score & Contract Fix: Fixed a synchronization bug between the host and other players that caused clients to have a -1/-1 score and a mismatch in the contract between the host and clients.
  
• Score bug Fix: Fix various bugs in score calculation at the end of a heist
  
• Sparkle effect on key item ADD: Added a sparkle effect on key items to slightly indicate their position.
  
• Interact Throw Object Fix: Fixed a bug where the throw gauge remained displayed if the player was caught by the Trickster Demon at the same time they were charging a throw
  
• Dead body vent Fix: Fixed a bug where if a player died at the entrance of a vent, it prevented others from climbing in.
  
• Balloon Mass Scale Fix: Fixed a bug where inflated balloons were too heavy. They now fly and float properly
  

[h3]Monsters[/h3]

• Trickster Demon:
  - Trickster Attack NEW: From now on, if you get close to the trickster while they’re making someone dance, you'll be pulled into the dance mini-game too!
  - Mini game Trickster Demon Fix: Fixed various bugs that occurred when a player gets trapped in the Demon Trickster minigame during freeze or gas
  - Trickster Demon Presence Improvement: During its first phase, the Trickster Demon will be more present.
  - Box Spawn Fix: Fixed a bug in the museum (Seed: 90555) where some of the Trickster boxes were spawning inside each other and at the center of Administration 2
  - Trickster Demon Box Item Fix: Fix of a bug where items in the Trickster's boxes would end up with an abnormal size.
  - Trickster Demon Gates Fix: Fixed a bug where the Trickster Demon would sometimes close nearby gates when attacking a player, potentially causing a softlock.
  - Trickster Demon Catch Fix: Fixed a bug where under certain conditions the Trickster Demon would instantly kill its target without making them dance first.
  - Trickster Demon Umbrella Animation Fix: Fixed a bug where the Trickster Demon's umbrella animation was not playing during its kill animation.
  
• Mummy appear Fix: Fixed a bug where the mummy could reappear instantly at the same location after disappearing!
  
• Mummy Attack Fix: Fixed a bug where the mummy could stay around a player’s KO until the player died permanently.
  
• Statue Detection Improvement: Improved the statue detection system where certain objects could block the detection and allow the statues to move forward when they shouldn't.
  

[h3]LD[/h3]

• Bottles Disappear Casino Fix: Fixed a bug where certain types of bottles would disappear when thrown.
  
• Lootable Items on Casino Floor Fix: Fixed a bug where some items in the bar that were supposed to be lootable weren't.
  
• Plasma Wall Vault Room Fix: Fixed a bug where the plasma wall appeared for one frame at the very start of the trap when it shouldn't.
  
• Painting disappearance Fix: Fixed a generation bug causing the hallway paintings in the casino to disappear.
  
• Bushes Patio Fix: Fixed a bug where the bushes in the patio were misaligned from their original position.
  
• Fuse & Small Safe Fix: Fixed a bug where fuses in small safes would stick out, letting players grab them without hacking.
  
• Statues in Auction House's art exhibit Fix: Added colliders to prevent softlock on corner statues after being ejected by taser or defibrillator.
  
• Furniture Auction House Fix: Fixed a bug where a piece of furniture was missing in the hallways of the auction house.
  
• Missing button Electrical Fix: Fixed a bug where the buttons to open the electrical gates were missing in the Auction House (seed: 84,609,560 // 1,719,192,832).
  
• Laser in Auction House Fix: Fixed a bug where lasers could spawn on switches in the boudoir.
  
• Bigsafe Padlock Fix: Fixed a bug where the padlock on big safes might not update properly
  
• Target points Fix: Fixed a bug where target points related to procedural generation could overlap, causing different objects (notably the Trickster Demon's boxes) to stack on top of each other.
  
• Bathroom Mirrors Fix: Mirrors in the bathrooms can now be broken as intended.
  

[h3]Lobby[/h3]

• Setting Parameters Fix: Fixed a bug where the game start settings were not saved when the host closed the game settings page in the lobby
  
• Setting Parameters Fix: The settings are now saved from one game to another. If you join a lobby and then create a new one, your saved options will still be there.
  
• Info Team Fix: It is no longer possible to open the Team Info window in the Lobby.
  

[h3]Audio[/h3]

• Sound Looping Fix: Fixed various sounds that were looping when they should have stopped.
  
• Vault Sound Fix: Fixed a bug where the vault opening sound was not playing in the casino.
  
• Camera Speaker Fix: Fixed a bug where, when speaking through the cameras while holding a walkie-talkie, the walkie-talkie's attenuation filter was applied to the speaker.
  
• Sound Effect Trickster Demon New: Added a gunshot sound when the Trickster Demon kills a player.
  

[h3]General[/h3]

• Info Team Fix: Fixed a bug where the team info window stayed open and couldn't be closed while a player was frozen.
  
• Ui Interact CCTV: Fixed a bug where the interaction button was visible when viewing through the CCTV system.
  
• Golden Tag Fix: Fixed a bug where Golden Tag mode could be started in solo.
  
• Golden Tag Vent Fix: Fixed a bug where it wasn't possible to climb the vents in Golden Tag.
  
• Lighting camera Fix: Fixed a bug where the player watching through the CCTV system could see other players without their color.
  
• Arrow input Fix: Fixed a bug where a player would crash when hit by the crowbar while playing the arrow minigame.