Update Roadmap for the Rest of 2026

To give you an idea about what you can expect to be released next and what is planned for the rest of the year, we present you the following overview of our update roadmap for MENACE.

Game development is very dynamic, and our team works in an especially iterative way, so we will only give you the order the patches or updates will be released in. We can also say that all of them will most likely be released within the year.

No. 1: Balancing Overhaul

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So far, we've only done minor balancing adjustments and approached the most urgent issues or obvious outliers. Over the past months, we've started looking a bit deeper into which items, perks, OCIs or characters are favoured and which are not and why.

Some things are currently hardly used by any player, while others are used a bit too much. Our goal here is explicitly NOT to make all things equal. We are aware that some items, perks, or OCIs are just very situational and are picked by only a few players, and that is exactly what we want. However, we want to level pick rates a bit to make sure there are no dominant builds or ways to play the game. In the end, we want to enable build variety, and this includes working on extreme outliers.

Of course this big balancing patch is just one step, and balancing will continue as before. However, we hope that it will balance the game on a more fundamental level by touching hundreds of stats and characteristics at once.

The patch will contain over 100 changes, including some new content like accessories and changed or updated perks. It is currently being tested in the closed beta group and will be ready to release very soon.

No. 2: Squad Leader Update #2

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One new squad Leader and one new pilot will join the battle in the next Squad Leader Update! One of them has been the topic of lots of rumors for quite a while, and the other is brand new. Both will have rather different personalities and playstyles, but we do not want to spoil too much here. There will be a dedicated Dev Diary about them in time!

They are almost finished with just a couple of barks and some final polishing and testing missing, so we are rather confident about releasing them soon.

Extended Campaign Option

With the Squad Leader Update, we will also offer a new “Extended Campaign” option that reduces the progression through the game to roughly half of what it is now. This is for all players who enjoyed modes like XCOM’s Long War and want to take things slow!

No. 3: Main Story Expansion #1

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By far the biggest update to the game during the planned Early Access period. We have been working on this update for a long time. It will advance the story of the game while adding a heap of new content to almost all areas. Especially the Constructs will get a load of new units, but players can also increase their firepower with Level 2 Blueprints and lots of new items.

With this update the game will be more than 60% complete, so this is a big milestone towards the full release. This update will contain content that only unlocks on fresh campaigns, but of course all existing save games still work and can be continued.

Outlook 2027

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One of the first updates of 2027 will focus on the System Map, adding new mechanics and ways to interact to it. It will make the Map more engaging and immersive.

For the next year we will focus on updating the Environment and Assets on all planets, adding the missing planets with their factions, adding some more Squad Leaders, as well as adding the final piece of the game's story. On top of that we are still working hard on the Character interactions that will explore and advance the relations between characters and reveal a lot more about their background, history and relations.

Finally, we are always working on new things that pop up along the way and that we do not explicitly plan for. Others might call it feature creep, we call it iterative design! So you can expect a lot of improvements and new things that are not on the list yet.

The Golden Joystick Awards 2026

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To close things out, we also wanted to share some exciting news: MENACE has been nominated for Best Early Access Game at the 44th Golden Joystick Awards!

If you’ve been enjoying the game, we’d really appreciate your support. You can cast your vote for MENACE here: https://www.gamesradar.com/goldenjoystickawards/

Since MENACE entered Early Access on February 5, 2026, we've released sixteen updates, the latest being the Mission Selection Overhaul. And now you've had a look at our plans for the rest of 2026!

Thanks again for being part of the community and for all your support!

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](https://www.gamesradar.com/goldenjoystickawards/)

Engage, Explore, and Stay Informed

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You can find us on Discord, BlueSky, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit for discussions, updates, and feedback. You can also subscribe to our monthly MENACE newsletter on our website.

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