Full Release on February 12th — Sector Unknown Leaves Early Access

When Sector Unknown entered Early Access back in July, it was already story-complete, but still a bit rough around the edges. Since launch though, thanks to your bug reports, ideas, and feedback, the game has evolved for the better. I feel very lucky to have such patient, creative, and engaged players helping shape the game (your emailed save files in particular have helped me fix bugs quickly).

So with that being said, I’m excited to announce that Sector Unknown will officially leave Early Access on Thursday, February 12th.

The full release of the game marks an important milestone, but it’s not the end of development. I intend to continue supporting the game with bug fixes, quality-of-life improvements, and refinements based on your continued feedback as it comes in (plus I have a few outstanding things on the list still that will be done in the coming weeks).

Thank you so much to everyone who joined early and helped make this possible. This was my first RPG - the genre I absolutely love playing most - and having others experience the story of Sector Unknown has been both special and surreal.

More details about the launch update will be shared soon.

And for anyone interested (plus I wanted to see them all in one spot myself), here’s a full list of changes since the EA launch - all driven by your feedback and bug reports, listed from most recent to oldest:

Fixed a bug with loading a game on the starmap and the camera not centering back on the player ship.
Added a new Resources screen showing all collected resources in one place (instead of in inventory).
Added a toggle in the Inventory screen to show/hide resources (resources are now hidden by default).
Added a new Tutorials section that lets players review all unlocked tutorials at any time.
Jump gate destination labels now display the planets and stations available in each target system.
Adjusted the position of the Return to Entrance button to sit slightly lower for better visibility.
Fixed an issue where the Return to Entrance button could appear when opening the map screen.
Fixed an issue where planet rollovers could incorrectly display as Scanned when they were not.
Added a Return to Entrance button for certain completed "dungeon" areas (Desalination Plant, Nabi Power Facility, Eremtera Pirate Base, Eremtera Weapons Facility), allowing faster exits after completion.
Added tooltips to planets on the star map for improved clarity.
Added an achievement verification pass to retroactively unlock achievements earned during the demo and prologue. (Note: This does not apply to Viking Poet, A Wild Gunt Appears, and That’s The Stuff.)
Fixed the Nurse/Party Ship entrance and exit interaction (clicking on it would sometimes not exit the player from the ship).
Added dynamic visual indicators on Maku that reflect planetary defense upgrades, including turrets, combat robots, supplies, and fortifications.
Improved ship movement audio, with smoother fade-in and fade-out transitions when starting and stopping.
Fixed a bug where ambient background music could skip prematurely to the next track, sometimes happening two or three times in a row.
Fixed an issue where character outfits would fail to update correctly after leaving Hell’s Gate.
Fixed an issue causing the pilot portrait to not update properly after Hell’s Gate.
Fixed glitchy combat movement animations affecting guards in the Hell’s Gate prison station.
Intelligence now grants additional skill points per level, resolving an issue where companions recruited at higher levels did not benefit from Intelligence increases.
Added an option to enable edge-of-screen map scrolling (disabled by default).
Increased attack animation speed for Custy and maintenance robots.
Fixed an issue where the player character’s Unarmed stat was not saving correctly.
Fixed a bug causing the first Pilgrimage travel node to only activate when the player stood extremely close.
Restored missing room fog of war intended to conceal the washroom on the prison transport.
Fixed the camera sensitivity label in the Options menu not updating correctly when switching languages.
Added Brazilian Portuguese as a language to the game.
Adjusted the take damage animation for rifles and carbines.
Fixed a few reported minor dialogue grammar errors.
Fixed an issue where ambient and planetary music could become confused after combat, occasionally skipping multiple tracks before settling on the next one.
Improved lighting in Chaff to make rear hallways easier to see.
Further refinements made to several quest logs.
Fixed a bug with killing Othello at the cave-in site not triggering the commandos at the monastery afterwards.
Fixed a second issue where Halt the Cleansing could fail to progress after first leaving Maku, thereby leaving the quest stuck on the "Launch into space" phase.
Fixed a bug allowing the turret control terminal on the final planet (no spoilers) to be accessed before defeating the platform enemies.
Improved controller and Steam Deck support, including full D-Pad navigation for core screens, controller-based camera pan/rotate/zoom, and more consistent screen opening and closing behaviour.
Adjusted several combat grids on Hell’s Gate and a few other planets that were positioned slightly too high.
Fixed a dialogue bug with Lion Rashad sometimes not advancing the Credit Check quest.
Added auto-saves to space combat encounters to prevent a bug with enemy ships still showing up on the starmap if they have been defeated or have left.
Fixed a major issue where updated NPC conversations (e.g., Layla on Sjo) were not saving correctly.
Resolved a bug that prevented EA9630 from appearing at base after being recruited.
Fixed an issue where two Engineering research tree items failed to unlock after completing their prerequisites.
Removed an unreachable rollover on the digger in Eremtera (it was never intended to be accessible).
Revised several quest descriptions to provide additional clarity and detail.
Fixed underground combat grids with Gunts on Eremtera where party members could become stuck in certain tiles.
Updated combat grids on Coldfoot to prevent party members from spawning on top of each other.
Corrected z-clipping on several exterior panels on the Eremtera tower.
Fixed an issue with the terminal used to resolve the quest “Deleting the Past” (Stringfellow must now be in the party to access his records as intended).
Resolved a bug where character feet could clip through the carpet in the Sjo brothel.
Fixed an issue where Halt The Cleansing would sometimes fail to update when launching into space.
Improved overall performance by refining several backend scripts that were eating up small amounts of FPT.
Weather effects are now disabled on lower graphics settings in order to free up more FPS.
Revised graphics quality presets (for example, Very High now correctly enables shadows).
Fixed an issue with the Party button hover state text.
Fixed a roof visibility bug at the Nabi power facility when entering the building.
Refactored the save system to save much faster; the game now saves 50–70% faster, and all old saves still work.
Resolved an issue where the resolution dropdown didn’t work in Windowed mode; the game also no longer forces fullscreen when opening the Graphics tab.
Fixed an issue on Helfyr where players could not kill the Gunt in the vent when playing in languages other than English.
Fixed a bug causing Custy to use his old dialogue tree after being recruited.
Fixed a bug where the Gunts being tormented by Skitters in the Sunscarred camp were not showing up in their cages.
Fixed a bug with the water and the mini-map on Sjo.
Added expanded descriptions to quest log entries for better clarity.
Introduced a respec option (available in new games only) for skills.
Added clearer visual cooldown indicators on combat action buttons.
Added a rollover to the Jump Gates (current jump gate and destination).
Changing conviction or origin during character creation no longer resets attributes and skills.
Quest markers are now enabled by default for new games.
Quest markers now stay visible on NPCs despite their distance from the player.
Replaced the old fullscreen toggle with a drop-down for Fullscreen, Windowed, and Borderless modes.
Refactored the resolution drop-down to include all common PC, ultrawide, and legacy resolutions, matching modern CRPG standards. The system now automatically detects and defaults to the player’s current display resolution.
Fixed an issue with the quest advance slider appearing sometimes while the character screen was still open.
Fixed field-of-view inconsistencies across resolutions — the camera now dynamically adjusts FOV when resolutions change.
Fixed startup distortion caused by certain resolutions; the camera now correctly initializes with the proper aspect ratio.
Fixed an issue where UI sounds could still trigger in windowed mode when the other windows are open in front of it.
Fixed a bug on Linux where the graphics menu displayed an incorrect placeholder resolution of 320×200.
Fixed the version number so that it moves to the right side of the screen on wider resolutions.
Fixed an issue where, in windowed mode at 1280×1024, UI screens such as Character and Party were displayed too large (it's not perfect at that resolution, but it's much better than before.)
Added a resolution check for the Party and Character Windows so that the models always stay in view depending on the resolution.
Performed another optimization run on the game, attempting to squeeze out every last bit of FPS for players. Was more aggressive with the light maps and shadows, noticed another good jump on my end.
Fixed a bug with enemies standing where they last died during game reloads.
Fixed a few minor dialogue grammar errors.
Stringfellow and Moses can now wear helmets, though they will show as invisible.
Key bindings now display on top UI button tooltips instead of using hard-coded bindings.
Fixed a bug with resources sprites sometimes being overwritten with another sprite when deconstructing items.
Fixed a bug with a Null crafting option appearing on the base fabricator.
Added the ability to sort helmets and armor plating in inventory.
Fixed a bug where it was possible to speak about the robot with Kamal before speaking with Lena Franklin.
Fixed a bug where some missions could be turned into Torque, despite working for Elliot.
Options – Split the Controls portion into its own section and added key mapping for camera panning.
Options – Fixed an issue where the camera recenter binding was not resetting correctly.
Eremtera – Updated highlight and movement icon colors; the previous white highlights and orange icon were difficult to see against the snow.
Character Screen – Adjusted the Perks panel width to match the Stats panel for a consistent layout.
Fixed a bug with portraits sometimes displaying as a white silhouette.
Added a quest resolution to recruit EA-6930 instead of having him self-terminate.
Added a quest resolution to allow for a happier ending for PO-7564.
GPU Instancing enabled for many scene materials - greatly reduces CPU overhead from draw calls, especially in large areas with lots of repeated objects (props, enemies, environment clutter).
Switched backend to IL2CPP - moves game logic from Mono to compiled C++ for faster execution and better CPU efficiency.
Enabled Incremental Garbage Collection - reduces stutter by spreading out memory management work across frames instead of pausing the game.
Added right-click rotation for models on the start screen and in the base appearance editor.
New camera sensitivity option available in the settings menu.
Project upgraded to comply with Unity’s latest security requirements.
Bug fix: Mining doors on Maku now properly open after the base has been claimed.
Hell’s Gate – Added a new quest to free the prisoners of Hell’s Gate, the infamous Star Frontier black site where countless citizens vanish without a trace. Hidden in orbit perilously close to a blazing star, the station’s location ensures that escape is impossible. This mission becomes available once you’ve pacified Eremtera and can be started from your comms terminal on Maku. Completing it grants War Score and unlocks a new ending slide. This 15-20 minute mission closes a long-standing narrative thread surrounding Hell’s Gate.
Camera Panning – The camera will now remain above the terrain at all times, improving panning on hilly planets such as Eremtera.
Space UI – Refined several UI behaviors: System labels now remain visible even when a planet box is open, and the injectors side panel in ground combat no longer appears at random.
Ship Thrusters – Fixed an audio bug where thruster volume was not tied to the master volume setting.
Added new space combat actions, unlocked at piloting levels 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100
Fixed enemy pilot names (no more “Enemy NULL”)
Fixed bug where combat panel didn’t display correct stats in space
Added character name to delete confirmation box on save/load screen (to clarify which character is being deleted)
Pilot portrait now updates when a new pilot is assigned to the player ship (after levelling piloting skill on character sheet)
Appearance Terminal - As requested, a terminal has been added to your base on Maku where you can no go to adjust/change the appearance of your player character. It can be found in the room with the bar after the base has been recovered. You will be able to change any of the physical attributes of your player such as skin color, hair, moustaches, beards, etc.
Movement Bug - Fixed a movement bug on the star map associated with saved games being loaded with a new screen resolution.
Autosaving Message - A message now appears when the game is autosaving as players were mistaking this for a freeze previously.
War Score - Fixed a minor bug with one of the war score amounts being tallied incorrectly.
Added an option to turn off weather on Sjo and Eremtera, if the system is causing slow FPS. This can be found under Options > Gameplay. This added an additional chunk of FPS for me while testing.
Performed a second round of optimization for the starmap.
Fixed a few very minor dialogue bugs.
Characters now run when moving (instead of walking) by default. This can be toggled on or off in Options > Gameplay.
Camera panning added to the star map. Press Tab to re-center the camera on your ship, just like with the ground camera.
Player ship movement optimized. Performance improvements free up a significant amount of FPS previously consumed by this script.
Creature damage bonuses now apply to the entire party, not just the player character.
Player character names are editable. Click your name on the character screen to rename your character.
V-Sync option added – You can now toggle V-Sync in the Options (Graphics menu). It is on by default (to prevent screen tearing), but you can turn it off to uncap framerate. This especially helps players who previously saw their FPS drop to 20–30 at certain resolutions due to V-Sync fallback behavior.
Terrain performance improved – Optimized terrain rendering across planets. On Maku (the first planet players lands on), this provided a massive performance boost: while testing this morning, I saw an improvement in framerates from ~50 FPS up to ~170 FPS. Similar improvements can be expected on other planets.
FPS counter option – Added an in-game FPS counter label that can be toggled on/off in Options (Graphics). This is off by default.
Performed an optimization pass on the game via refactoring of script logic, animation controls, party portrait caching, and lowering physics timing. This should add approximately 20-40 FPS to games now depending on systems/planets. Will continue to work on this, as it is an ongoing project.
Fixed a few small dialogue errors.
Fixed bug with camera panning and the story moving the player character to a new location - the camera now snaps back to the player after moving to the location.
Fixed bug with interior doors in the Maku mining facility sometimes being closed when they should be open (after base recovery)
Fixed small bug with the Frostbitten mission and finding thermal layers too soon.
Auto-saves can no longer be deleted as this was occasionally affecting player's save games.
Fixed bug with Chinese localization players not being able to land on planets.
Added new research trees for space combat that assist in both resource gathering and combat.
Custy has been busy while you have been on Nabi or Sjo - coming back to the mining facility, you will now find a bar has been added to the previously empty back room.
Added Chinese localization.
Added new companion blurbs during NPC dialogue sequences.
Added new War Score for destroying hostile ships in the sector (non-hostiles like the friendly haulers do not count toward this).
Added ship pilot portrait to the starmap screen for easier identification.
Camera during map interactions now only recenters on the player if the character is offscreen.
Fixed a bug where changing languages did not update tooltips on party portraits.
Added free camera movement using W, A, S, D or the arrow keys - this detaches the camera from the player character and allows players to explore the map independently. Pressing Tab reattaches the camera back to the player character.
Fixed a bug with key-mapping not working in options
Fixed a bug with fades associated with peaceful Skulk resolutions in the Maku facility
Added some additional optimization to the inventory/character screen - all inventory items use a sprite rather than a raw image. This increases the speed of the window opening.
Added an ultra font size to options.
An animated click target icon will now appear when you click to move. This will better help players know where they clicked and are moving their character to.
Fixed a bug where the mouse click and player movement targets were far off.
Fixed numerous bugs with certain conversation skill checks not awarding XP.
Fixed several conversation non-skill check nodes providing XP when they should not have.
Fixed bug with soldiers on Nabi did not provide XP if killed with the vents or via airstrike.
Fixed bug with hair indexing on start screen sometimes not matching game models
Fixed bug with several early-game dialogue options providing double XP
Fixed bug with Chillbloods on Eremtera not providing war score
Fixed bug with datapad in barracks #2 on Eremtera not picking up
Fixed the locations of a few unreachable crates
Fixed bug where player could climb cliff at Helfyr monastery
Fixed tooltip bug on crafting screen component boxes
Fixed bug with mysterious typing sound in ghost ship (this was not an intentional hint at something, just a bug)
Fixed Treat Leroux's quest marker not showing due to building overhang
Fixed bug with party nurses and the wrong conversation order soft locking "Heal Thyselves" quest
Fixed bug with disection robot space portrait not showing
Fixed bug with planet being claimed after quick loading a game before it was claimed
Fixed bug with sorting by new reseting when unequiping an item
Fixed a bug with swapping weapons and the combat actions bar not changing to new weapon abilities.
Fixed a bug with perk point amount not correct when recruiting companion.
Fixed a bug with experience points and experience points required not correct when recruiting companion.
Fixed a bug with five extra skill points being assigned to companions when recruited.
Fixed a bug with companions experience points being set to 0 if recruited and same level as character.
Fixed a bug with Vibroknives not having any damage, hit chance, or other other stats.
Branchflower now provides damage bonus to Unarmed as well as Melee and Ranged characters.
Fixed a bug with new level icons showing when reloading a game from before a new level was achieved.
Fixed a bug where the new level icon was covering the narcotics icons tooltip.
Range Master, Blade Master, and Weapon's Master bonuses now apply to max damage numbers as well as min numbers.
Fixed a bug with the Options screen and the checkmark not showing the true state of Fullscreen vs Windowed mode.
Windowed mode now makes the resolution dropdown non-interactable.
Added the ability to add and swap primary and secondary weapons. Primary and secondary weapons can be added on the character screen and can be swapped during combat.
Adjusted icons on character start screen to show attribute/skill icons when changing personality traits
When recruiting companions, their level now matches that of the player.
Fixed a bug with door terminal skill checks not saving.
Fixed a bug with loading a game saved with a different resolution.
Fixed a bug with the label showing a bounty message rather than a recruiting one when recruiting companion.
Added a new feature: armor plating. These are reinforced armor plates designed to be worn beneath utility clothing or space suits, providing additional protection during combat. Armor plating has three designations: light, medium, and heavy, with quality of each tier also adding additional protections and health benefits. In another update, I will add Action Point penalties associated with the different tiers. Armor plating can be found in crates, vendors, and looted off certain enemies.
Fixed tutorial bugs on prison transport.
Fixed a serious bug with the options menu crashing the game when opening from the start screen.
Geneflux can no longer be used to heal if player is at full health
Added beds to Eremtera (can be found in the barracks buildings)
Reduced Strength In Numbers damage bonus
Stun beams can now miss during combat (overpowered before)
Added a tutorial reminding players to click to read datapads for skill increases, bonuses, and mission advancement
Added a tutorial reminding players of TX930's personality matrix can be clicked on from inventory to initiate dialogue
Added different dialogue for TX930 depending if still on prison transport or on planet
Fixed a bug with tutorial window closing when other UI windows close
Fixed interior doors in Scrapyard Sals and the Eremtera barracks
Possible options menu fix
Inventory boxes now indicate newly acquired items with an icon (goes away when rolled over)
Inventory view now has sort by newest items toggle below (default is normal sort by item type and quality as secondary)
Fixed bug with Eremtera bioweapons facility and lost platoon being swapped in war score
Fixed bug with Eremtera bioweapons facility being counted twice as war score
Fixed bug with Star Frontier computer hacked not giving war score
Fixed bug with partying nurses not giving war score
Removed purple missing material flare on Eremteta
Remove math clamps on war score (missions were maxed out at 8000 previously)
Raised war score maximum for stockpiled weapons
Fixed incorrect quest markers for Make Yourself At Home
Fixed bug with Scrapyard Sal giving two components instead of one (if previously skill rolled for the component then cleared the salvage site afterward)
Fixed bug with Shock Edge tooltip throwing null
Fixed bug with being able to break map from Geothermal station on Helfyr
Fixed two unreachable crates on Eremtera and Helfyr
Fixed a bug with Dank Marl's dialogue
Fixed bug with Nabi transmission dish dialogue
Fixed a bug with Linda Harris re-issuing the Heal Thyself mission
Fixed (potentially) options crash to desktop
Added electrical attacks to vibroswords
Quest markers now rotate so that they are always showing vertically on the map
Moved the trigger node for the Buddhist missionary robots next to the entry node so that it triggers on arrival
Fixed UI bug so that inventory and other scrolls will work if cursor is between boxes
Fixed a few border bugs on Nabi (Solar Farm, Signal) and Helfyr (many)
Fixed bug with Brother Marl having a quest marker (meant for Ola Touch)
Fixed bug with Overkill perk critical damage result (it now affects regular damage at +10 per team kill)
Fixed a major bug with space combat sometimes not starting properly
Fixed a bug where players can sometimes get stuck behind the supply depot on Eremtera
Added a bit of dialogue after killing the first set of commandos at the smelting plant on Helfyr, letting players know they must cross the stone bridge to continue.
Fixed a bug with quest markers not loading properly from player preferences
Fixed a bug with locked containers not loading properly from quick load
Revised the combat initiative bar to show all combatants, as well as whose turn it is. The bar also differentiates friendly from enemy combatants with a skull icon.
Crafted weapons now have a chance to generate a modification if the modification slot roll is flawless or legendary. These modifications are similar to the special attacks/abilities found in some looted weapons.
Added more vibrosword portraits and models.
Revised crafting side tabs to better show which section the player is in.
Increased scrollbar speeds (too slow before).
Fixed small dialogue error with Tim Orr.
Added additional dialogue for Otis Drinkwater if you met his brother on Sjo.
Fixed bug with Lucas Katz not appearing in building one after his confrontation.
Fixed bug where player is able to walk into lava off of bounty platform
The combat grid now shows squares inside of the attacking player's movement range to better visualize the combat space and where the attacker can move - if players prefer the old combat grid with just the outline, this can be toggled off in options.
An icon will now show on the side portraits if a character has levelled.
Pressing space bar now loots all in an open container or corpse
Added a research tooltip if a skill is too low to research a particular item.
Fixed a bug with recruiting Cheetah if the part was already full.
Fixed a bug with the Salas bounty battle and the player not being able to move on the grid.
Fixed a bug with locker on Eremtera able to be searched before speaking with Wade Burnham
Fixed a bug with one conversation path with the Sunscarred leader, Otis, not progressing the "From The Sands" quest.
An overhead compass has been added to the game (this can be toggled off in options if you desire).
Claimed planets now highlight as red instead of white -this lets players know which ones they have visited and which ones they have not.
Moved the pirate base arrival trigger to right when you arrive outside (to avoid missing the trigger by wandering too far past it).
Fixed bug with the unarmed skill points not saving for player.
Fixed bug where sometimes companions would not follow you during local travel and would be left behind.
Deactivated empty crate in Nabi Technician's outpost as it was confusing.
Added camera movement and rotation to right-mouse as well as middle (for laptop users)
Base armor now increases every 10 levels for NPCs
Fixed bug with character worker model and hair (was showing Don Estaban hair, so moved into hair prefab for this model)
Fixed dialogue bug with Chaff computer
Fixed bug with space combat and attacks still being able to be used, despite not enough AP
Fixed bug with robots controlled in combat being able to use injectors
Fixed bug with Close Call not always reporting a grazing hit
Fixed bug with Stunned status text overshadowing damage text
Fixed bug with Clearing The Deck npcs not showing up on Sjo
Fixed bug with NPCs not always moving back to original spots if reloading in middle of combat
Added plus or minus signs to attribute pips
Fixed bug with combat sounds not tied to game volume
Fixed a bug with combat music sometimes starting outside of combat
Add copy of TX930's backup to inventory (this is the one from the crash site)
Fixed bug with door, trap and jump gate sounds not tied to game volume
Fixed bug with quick loading from character screen
Fixed a bug with visors disappearing and also sometimes showing as pink (I need to test this part more, but I think I have solved that issue)
Fixed bug with not being able to land on story planets with language set to Russian
Fixed a bug with combat music not fading out cleanly when combat complete
Fixed bug where ambient audio stops after a time and does not locate a next song
Fixed a bug with beards showing on forehead while in space suit