Outbound’s 1.0.8 Update Brings Positive Changes and Here’s What’s Coming Next

Outbound, the cozy van-life simulator, has had a kind of tumultuous start, but the developers haven’t lost heart and are making up for the snafus with some great quality-of-life upgrades and a plan for the months ahead. Full disclosure: I backed this one on Kickstarter, and I’ve only played a couple of hours, but I’ve enjoyed it so far. Let’s talk about those updates and what’s ahead, campers!

Patch 1.0.8: May 18, 2026

The newest patch to Outbound includes some quality-of-life and balancing changes. My favorite ones are being able to sprint at night, increased sprinting speed, and increased stamina regain. Moving faster is always a benefit! Especially when you’re gathering materials.

Here’s the full list of patch notes:

Balancing

• You can now sprint at night.
• Increased sprinting speed by 15%.
• Increased stamina regain (regain after empty stamina bar) by 150%.
• Removed Homing Boots (temporary sprint at night) because they don’t serve a purpose anymore, now that you can sprint at night.
• Changed Sawmill recipes as follows:
• Recipe Everwood Plank changed from requiring 2 Everwood to now requiring only 1 (ratio 1:1).
• Recipe Silverbark Plank changed from requiring 2 Silverbark Wood to now requiring only 1 (ratio 1:1).
• Recipe Redwood Plank changed from requiring 2 Redwood to now requiring only 1 (ratio 1:1).
• Recipe Blossomwood Plank changed from requiring 2 Blossomwood to now requiring only 1 (ratio 1:1).
• Map 1: Bridge at the Sunbeam Acres Farm now only requires 20 Everwood Planks to repair, instead of 30.
• Increased the amount of Everwood lumber and Fiber in Map 1.
• Increased the amount of Durafiber in Map 2.
• Doubled the amount of Red Ore in Map 3.

Improvements

• Added sorting and text search to Backpack inventory.
• Map: Improved legend, added counters of collected/interacted things. Especially handy to check how many Signal Towers / Terminals are left on a map.
• Connections between maps are now always uncovered by default.
• Connections between maps have clearer map icons now.
• Multiplayer highlighting / pinging can now be remapped (default: middle mouse button / left stick press).
• Dog companion now always spawns next to you when loading a game. This helps with dogs that are stuck (we will also work on preventing that).
• Added a setting to turn off auto-centering of the third-person vehicle camera.

Bugfixes

• Fixed dog companion always barking when leaving the vehicle.
• Fixed Cap ‘n Snaps not showing on map after a transition between biomes.
• Achievement Certified Researcher now properly includes the research stations in the 4th dome as well.

Outbound Roadmap: The Road Ahead

Now that we have the latest updates out of the way, let’s talk about what’s coming! The first big update looks to be fishing! According to the roadmap, this is coming in the summer, which should indicate it’s coming in the next couple of months. It’s understandable that they wouldn’t give more precise dates. After all, you never know what could go wrong to cause a delay.

Notably, the fish you catch won’t be for eating. Based on their Steam article, this is the case for all animals in Outbound. The fish are for collecting, so there will be fish tanks added along with the fishing rods and a journal update to track them. I’m a completionist when it comes to games like this. So I love the journal tracking everything I’ve found.

In the fall, we’re getting more wildlife, including flocks of birds. That’s exciting because the world does feel a little empty right now. I’ve only encountered bunnies. And then, in winter, NPCs with dialogues and lore will be coming. And, since it says “help people with tasks,” that sounds like more side quests. I like to see that this is coming.

How Is the Game So Far?

I have enjoyed Outbound’s gameplay so far. It’s fun to explore with a friend, gather stuff, and learn to make new things. However, the game has a kind of unfinished feel. The fact that additional wildlife and NPCs are coming later makes this feel more like an early access rather than a full release. I’m not mad about the game in its current state, but there are things that, in my opinion, should have been there from the start.

In my current play, the van hasn’t been upgraded much either, so I imagine things will get more interesting as we unlock the ability to build it up. But there’s also a lack of clarity on exactly how that happens. I’m hoping there’s more guidance as the game continues.

Outbound is on Steam for $24.99, which is absolutely reasonable. Through May 25, it is 10% off, so you can get it for $22.49. It is also available on Epic, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, Xbox, and PlayStation.