Once Human update The Way of Winter challenges you to survive the elements

Once Human continues to build on a successful start as developer Starry Studio details its next major update. The sci-fi survival game continues to maintain its momentum on the Steam charts since its July launch, with regular content drops giving players plenty of reason to keep coming back amid regular updates for challengers such as Palworld, Rust, Ark, and Valheim. Next on the list is new Once Human update The Way of Winter, which will pit you against some of nature’s most hostile elements.

Once Human The Way of Winter arrives in mid October, and it focuses on the self-named PvE scenario, which is broken up into five seasonal phases. You’ll have to deal with both extreme heat and cold as the weeks roll on, coming to a climax in phase four. There are also a multitude of rewards up for grabs in the free Steam game, with additional prize pools becoming available as the scenario rolls on.

Of the five phases in the Way of Winter, four of them make up the main scenario itself, starting with the initial seven days of ‘Arctic Domain.’ During this time, “raging wind and snow devastate everything in their path.” You’ll have access to public crisis events, Hale’s Moving House, Cargo Conquest, and Securement Silos.

Following that comes eight days of ‘Scattered Ash,’ where “lava flows and surges, and the scorching air carries away all hope.” All areas of the snowy realm will be unlocked and the Ember Strand area will be available. Dungeons will be available in hard mode, along with a seasonal progress task to eliminate the Chaosweaver. There are also two additional wish machine prize pools, with flame-based legendary weapon and armor blueprints up for grabs.

If that all sounds like a lot, phase three brings ‘A Glimmer of Hope,’ with ten days where you’re tasked with teaming up with your fellow Metas to build a home. You’ll be able to tackle pro mode dungeons, along with the continuation of the seasonal Chaosweaver task. The two wish pools from phase two will remain available during this period as well.

Of course, that moment of calm only leads to the grand finale. As ‘The End of Ice and Fire’ arrives, giants of both elements will begin to rise, and “the north shall be enveloped in the shadow of annihilation.” During this time, you’ll see the final form of the Chaosweaver, whose appearance affects the area temperature in a large range. Work together, however, and you can eliminate the threat completely.

This fourth phase lasts for ten days, and adds two additional frost-themed prize pools for weapons and armor joining the existing ones. There’s also an extra seasonal task to build and protect thermal towers. Once that comes to an end, the ‘Break of Dawn’ will bring a close to the event, lasting for 28 days, during which you can sign up for the new season.

The arrival of the Way of Winter patch on Thursday October 17 will also bring with it an update to seasonal tags. “Starting from then, all scenarios will use the same set of seasonal tags, including tags related to seasonal combat environments, cradles, prize pools, deviant invasions, and more,” Starry Studio explains. “They remain consistent so that players can select the same server as their friends, unaffected by the layering mechanic.”

The update also introduces Cradle Override adjustments and the much-touted blueprint conversion feature, which allows you to spend limited conversion attempts to swap the star levels of any two unlocked blueprints of matching rarity and gear type. It will unlock when you reach level 40, or automatically with season two, and conversion attempts will regenerate at a fixed time each week along with a seasonal refresh. Starry says it may also add additional attempts when making balance changes to help players adjust their builds.

Once Human The Way of Winter arrives on Tuesday October 17. You can play the game for free on Steam. You can read the full details, including the legendary gear up for grabs in each prize pool, courtesy of Starry Studio.

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