The Stars Reach team shipped a new update on June 15, 2026, focused on squashing stability bugs and giving the game’s fluids a serious glow-up. They’ve been tightening bolts and patching the hull, aiming to clean up problems introduced in a previous patch.
Gas and Water Get a Shader Upgrade
The big visual change here is the overhaul of gas and liquid rendering. The devs applied fresh shader magic to make fluids look sharper, and they claim it should boost rendering performance too. Key additions include:
- Gas stencils for space and planet surfaces
- Underwater rendering with beams through the water surface and an underwater effect
- A new fog system based on custom gas rendering (localized for now, but planned to be contextual to biomes)
- Simple nebulae in space
- Clouds now use the same system
“Beware of low-hanging, heavy fog. Visibility may be diminished… and you never know what could be lurking out there.”
Chat Bubbles Get Personality
The team gave chat bubbles a complete makeover. They fixed wonky textures, banished word-wrap gremlins, and added a bunch of new bubble styles mapped to moods and say alternates. Fonts are more readable now, and bubbles intelligently adjust their stay-time based on message length.
Bug Fixes and Quality-of-Life Tweaks
Beyond the flashy stuff, the update includes practical fixes. Players can now Inspect fellow Wayfarers to check their profiles. The devs added improved logging to track crashes, fixed a zoning issue tied to the Probe Light item, and updated the medical box art in the Crucible firebase. Temporary icons in the skill UI help with readability, and indirect projectile prediction got better.
There are known issues though — gas floating on water can look pixelated at times, and fog might be heavier than intended.
