Mycelium: The Silent Contract News

[h2]Contractors![/h2][p]This is an announcement I've been dying to make. Mycelium: The Silent Contract has an Early Access release date. You'll be able to sign your contracts and head into the forest on April 27th, 2026.

[/p][p]Following a rigorous round of playtests (thank you for the generous feedback to all of you, who have participated!) and polishing I feel the game is ready to be pushed out of the nest and soar through the stormy night sky. Early Access is an important step for Mycelium, as it will allow to get some real Steam visibility and get more people to play, which in turn will allow me to make the forest even more deadly experience even more enjoyable and start adding more content.[/p][p]If you haven't yet - please wishlist the game using this handy widget:[/p][p]
[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]That's the announcement for today, but come by often, as there will be more news coming your way soon! Keep safe, Contractors.[/p][h3]Have fun, take care, don't die![/h3][h2]
— Po Kolu[/h2]

[h3]Hey, Contractors,[/h3][h3]Lex here.[/h3][p][/p][p]If you've been putting off venturing into the forest this is your last and final call to do so. I've been tracking the progress of the currently ongoing playtest and I have to tell you it fills my cold, black, little heart with pride to see over 600 people taking on the challenge and taking the Mycelium playtest for a spin. Not only that! I'm very grateful to over 50 of you who took their time and gave me their thoughts on the game.[/p][p]You've been asking how much longer the playtest will remain accessible. Seeing that the train isn't stopping and new people are joining in, I decided to do one last hurrah and keep the thing up for one more weekend. However, come Sunday, February 22nd, around 3pm PST I'm pulling the plug.[/p][p]Before I go. While I like to keep things a bit mysterious, there's one stat in particular I'm too proud not to share with the class. That is: over 60% of the playtesters dedicated more than 2 hours to scouring the woods in search of the precious mycelium specimens and trying not to be maimed, eviscerated, sucked dry, trampled, eaten, or just plain scared to death by monsters. Not a small number put more than 5 hours into my game! [/p][p]Once again, I appreciate all of the kind words (and mild verbal abuse) you've been feeding me via the feedback form. I will put all the feedback into good use making the game even more engaging and accessible to newcomers before the Early Access release (that is once again moving a bit further for that exact purpose - trust me, it's going to be worth it).

If you're reading these words but by some twisted conjunction of reality planes did not yet put Mycelium: The Silent Contract on your wishlist, here's a handy widget to make it as easy as possible for you (in the spirit of making e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g easier to get into). Please don't hesitate to mash that button![/p][h3][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]Again - the playtest will be wrapping up this Sunday. Have fun, take care, don't die![/h3][h2]
— Po Kolu[/h2]

[h3]Hey, Contractors,[/h3][h3]Lex here.[/h3][p][/p][p]I’ve been hunkered down in the dev-den for what feels like an eternity, but the spores are finally spreading. I'm beyond stoked to announce that Mycelium: The Silent Contract is officially opening its doors—well, its root systems—for our first major Beta Playtest.[/p][p]The Playtest is now LIVE! Everyone asking to join will be granted instant access and up to 3 friend invites. Just press the "Join the Playtest" button right under the trailer on the game's Steam page. [/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink](If you haven't yet - make sure you wishlist the game while you're there - the buttons are right next to each other. Convenient!) [/p][h2]A beta what, now?[/h2][p]Wait, what’s actually in this Beta? How is it different from the demo? I'm tossing you into a chunky slice of the early game. Expect some heavy lifting on the atmosphere, a few "did I just see that?" moments, and the core mechanics of the contract itself. It’s a bit raw—expect a few jagged edges here and there—but that’s the whole point of a playtest, isn't it? We’ll be letting folks in in waves because, honestly, we don't want too many people at once stomping on the precious mushroom roots, now do we? [/p][p]A quick favor... Since we're a small team, your feedback is basically our lifeblood. If you find a bug that lets you fly through walls or if a particular texture looks like mashed potatoes—tell us. We’ve set up a specific channel in our Discord for the nitty-gritty feedback. Once the playtest goes live (and anyone who signs up for it WILL be notified when it does), there will also be a short survey accessible via game's menu to make it easy for you to leave structured feedback quick and hassle-free. Because enough of the challenge here comes from the Forest itself, and its denizens. [/p][p]It’s been a long road getting to this point. There were moments where I thought we'd never get the stars and the fungal growth patterns to look "align just right," but here we are. It’s weird, it’s quiet, and it’s waiting for you. [/p][p]See you in the forest. [/p][h2]— Po Kolu[/h2]

[h3]Hey, Contractors, [/h3][h3]Lex here.[/h3][p][/p][p]It’s been a hot minute since the last proper update, but I’ve finally finished gutting and rebuilding huge parts of the demo. Being a solo dev means some days I’m a coder, other days I’m a lighting artist, and most days I’m just confused by my own math.[/p][p]Anyway, v 0.47.01 is live. Here is the breakdown of what's actually changed.[/p][p][/p][h3]The "New" Demo Experience[/h3][p]I already gave you some details on the reasoning behind why I want to change the demo. I realized the old tutorial was—to put it mildly—a bit of a drag. So, I scrapped it. It’s gone. In its place, I’ve added Mission 0. It’s a dedicated training mission that feels like part of the world rather than a pop-up checklist.[/p][p]While I was at it, I also:[/p]

• [p]Nuked the Intro: You can jump straight into multiplayer now. No more waiting around.[/p]
• [p]Simplified Saves: I removed the multiple save slots. You get one slot now, and if you want a fresh start, you can just reset it.[/p]
• [p]The Lobby Glow-up: I reworked the lighting in the lobby (it’s much moodier now) and finally got the room binding system working properly.[/p]
• [p]Free Drip: Since I took away the tutorial, I moved some equipment and the new Outfit system into the lobby for you to mess around with.[/p]
• [p][/p]

[h3]Mechanics & Polish[/h3][p]The "4-cycle" limit always felt a little arbitrary to me. I’ve changed the demo limitation to 5+1 missions, each lasting 15 minutes. On average, you’re looking at about 2 hours of playtime now.[/p][p]Other "quality of life" (if you can call it that in a horror game) tweaks:[/p]

• [p]Audio: Proximity voice chat is much tighter now, and I added a noise gate setting so we don't hear your breathing.[/p]
• [p]The Bestiary: The Codex and Bestiary have been completely reworked with unlockable entries.[/p]
• [p]Visuals: Added a volume meter to the UI and fixed about a thousand bugs that were crawling around the missions.[/p]
• [p]Lobby Secrets: There’s a working shower now. Why? Why not. Also, there’s a new riddle hiding in there and some Christmas decorations to keep the existential dread festive.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]The Schedule Shift (A.K.A. The "Tough" News)[/h3][p]I have to push the release date back. I was aiming for January, but realistically, we're looking at late February or early March. As much as I want to get this out, I need that extra month to actually listen to your feedback and polish the edges. Shipping a half-baked Early Access experience is the last thing I would like to do. I want my Early Access as playable as I would expect as a player, myself.[/p][p][/p][h3]A New Partnership[/h3][p]On a much bigger note, I’m no longer flying entirely solo on the publishing side of things. I’ve teamed up with Proteus Interactive, a new indie publishing label. They’re taking over the heavy lifting for the promotional side of things, as well as Steam release management, which lets me focus 100% of my brain on making the game actually good.[/p][p]Go check out the update on Steam, and let me know if I broke anything else in the process.[/p][p]Stay safe in the forest. Or don't. It's more interesting that way.[/p][h3]— Po Kolu[/h3][p][/p][p]PS. Please remember to wishlist the game![/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]

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[h3]Hey, contractors,[/h3][h3]Lex here.[/h3][p][/p][p]It's been a while since I made a meaningful post, so I guess it's time to keep y'all updated on Mycelium's current state.[/p][p][/p][p]Based on your feedback and impressions on the demo, I'm postponing new stuff and instead am fixing the problems and improving/reworking the existing features to make them better and clearer by the time of Early Access release.[/p][p][/p][h3]Here is a small sneak peek on what I'm doing:[/h3][p][/p]

• [p]Tutorial removed. Erased. Annihilated. Non-existent. Instead, I'm making a Mission 0 for new players to learn things. Hilarious, isn't it?[/p]
• [p]Terminal reworked. No more confusing arrows that were the reason you couldn't find the map. The new interface will confuse you even more![/p]
• [p]Lighting reworked in the lobby. Still working on that but I swear - if you keep setting your brightness to 3.2, I'm going to remove that setting from game. Unless it's a joke. However, this rework should fix occasional game crashes I know some people had when loading into the lobby.[/p]
• [p]Voice Chat improved. Noise suppression and other tweaks that should make it even better. Unfortunately, the streamers I've seen don't use in-game voice, so I haven't received much feedback on that matter.[/p]
• [p]Game UI rework. More control hints and other stuff so that you won't have to wander in darkness because you didn't know how to switch on the flashlight.[/p]
• [p]Numerous fixes and improvements. Visuals, physics, bugs, etc. Your life will never be the same.[/p]

[p][/p][p]I'm sure there is more but I don't remember. So stay tuned and get ready to be lost in the forest. Soon.[/p]