Clawed — Community Update: Post-Launch Discussion and What is Next...

Clawed — Community Update: Post-Launch Discussion, Co-op Issues, and What Comes Next

Hello, Prehistorians!

First, we want to take a moment to thank everyone who showed up for Clawed's launch. We know it has been a bit rough on the co-op end, and we appreciate all the feedback, kind words, fair criticism, and support.

Today, we want to address the launch, what we've learned, what we've been up to, and what we're doing now.

First, the most important part: Clawed has not been abandoned, nor will it be.

We are aware that our next game, Dragonfall, had been announced previously, and we've seen rumours that we've shifted our focus to it. Right now, 100% of our focus is on Clawed—fixing the game's issues and delivering new content.

Dragonfall will go back into development next year once we've corrected our mistakes with Clawed and rebuilt some trust within the community.

So, let's talk co-op.

To say even we were caught off guard by some of the co-op issues would be an understatement.

We've learned a lot from this experience, and it has made us completely rework and rethink our testing process. There is no good excuse. This game was a challenge to make, particularly because of the co-op development process, and some of our inexperience tripped us up.

As many of you saw, we had to roll back several updates after releasing them. Some patches were breaking the game in new ways, and we were left trying to work out why.

After a lengthy deep dive, we discovered three deeply rooted problems:

1. The co-op hosting foundation we're using is fragile and not robust enough when it comes to joining and hosting games.
2. The save system simply wasn't working correctly in co-op games and needed a redesign.
3. The quest system was a modified version of Dragonfall's quest system—which was originally designed for a single-player experience—and also needed to be redesigned for Clawed's co-op environment.

All of this should have been caught before launch, and it wasn't.

So, here's what is happening.

Clawed is currently being developed on two separate fronts.

On one front, we'll be tackling the existing version of the game. We'll recommence patches and hotfixes in the coming weeks to reduce the issues players are experiencing in the current build.

The second front is a broader rebuild of the game's co-op experience, including a new quest/task system. The game-hosting backend is being reworked and replaced, and we've enlisted some additional help for this.

We're also addressing other feedback we've received. We're making changes to the interaction system and adding hip fire and mantling to improve player movement.

Changes to the Veyra Island Campaign are coming too. We'll be opening up certain areas and adding new puzzles and areas to the existing map.

The grappling hook has also been reworked following your very loud and very clear feedback.

Essentially, many of Clawed's underlying systems are being replaced and will serve as a new foundation for what comes next.

What comes next? New content.

Many of you have already played through the campaign, and we're very aware of that.

One of the reasons we made Clawed is because we felt the game could grow and expand beyond its first campaign. We've had these plans for a long time, and it's important that we correct the foundational issues now so that we don't continue building on rocky ground—especially when it comes to co-op.

Tourist Mode

As we've mentioned before, Tourist Mode is a separate game mode where you experience Prehistoria as a tourist, prior to the events of the campaign.

You and your friends can visit shows, buy Dino Dogs, and explore the grounds together in a fun, chill experience.

The Demo's Prehistoria Returns

For those of you who played our demo, you'll know that the final game's park was a complete redesign.

However, we've seen plenty of people share their love for the demo's version of Prehistoria.

So, it's coming back.

A new campaign set within the demo's version of the park is on the way.

And One More Thing...

Our third and final addition will be revealed when it's ready—and when we're confident we can deliver it correctly.

It's a new experience and not a small feat for us. We'll reveal more in the near-ish future.

So, when?

Post-launch, it took us some time to figure out the right move to make, what needed addressing, and why. We believe this is the responsible way forward for us, our studio, and, more importantly, you—the players who supported us.

The Clawed 1.5 Revamp will arrive this year, in 2026, starting with a new version of the current campaign alongside the new co-op systems and game improvements mentioned above.

Following that, Tourist Mode will roll out, followed by the Demo's Prehistoria campaign.

We'd like to move fairly quickly with these additions, as both are already quite far along and are currently waiting on our new framework before we can move forward with them.

We'll keep you updated as we go.

Finally...

Clawed is no cash grab for us, and your support is not something we take for granted.

This is a game we'd like to continue building on. Don't get us wrong—we're still a small team, and this is not a live-service game—but even in some of the rougher reviews, we see the word "potential" mentioned constantly.

We'd like to see Clawed reach that potential.

Right now, we're back to putting down the groundwork to make that possible.

We're sorry it has taken us this long to properly address everything, but we needed time to understand what went wrong and to get the answers you deserve.

We hope this clears up the road ahead and gives you a better understanding of what's happening on our end.

Thank you for your support, your feedback, and your time.

Flatrock Games