Under a Desert Sun: Seekers of the Cursed Vessel (DEMO)
Revolving Gear Studios
Aug 27
As promised, before we move into the Early Access release on September 10, I wanted to update the demo so it better represents the game as it will be released in Early Access.
I’ve made it part of the company motto that buying a game should feel fair and complete, and having a proper, representative demo is part of that promise. The same goes for things like no microtransactions or season passes, which in my opinion are often just ways to keep monetizing things that used to be included in the price of a game.
This demo update is comprehensive, and I’ve included a list of the major changes below.
If you’re reading this, I hope you’ll give the demo a try, consider wishlisting the game, or—if it’s September 10 or later—maybe even pick it up!
The previous public demo was still running on B4.35, dating back to around October 2025. The new demo is now running on B4.98, bringing it much closer to the current state of the game.
That means roughly ten months of development, fixes, new systems and improvements have now made their way into the demo.
What's changed?
Combat & Gameplay
- Extensive combat feel and responsiveness improvements
- Improved weapon handling and reload behaviour
- Per-shell reloads can now be interrupted naturally when you need to fire
- Improved dodge/roll behaviour and cooldown feedback
- Expanded special weapon mechanics and clearer ready/cooldown feedback
- Improved enemy encounters and combat balancing
- Health globes can now appear during combat to help keep fights moving
- General improvements to hit feedback, readability and moment-to-moment controls
Skills & Character Progression
- Major improvements to the Skill Card system
- Improved skill selection and presentation
- Expanded character progression
- Ultimate skill progression and unlocks
- Improved saving of unlocked skills and progression
- Numerous balance and usability improvements across character abilities
Loot & Equipment
- Expanded loot and equipment systems
- Improved inventory and equipment handling
- Additional items and character progression options
- Numerous improvements to how equipment and character stats are presented
Local Co-op
- Major improvements to the game's local co-op systems
- Support for up to four local players
- Improved controller handling and player joining
- Better separation between Player 1 keyboard/mouse control and additional gamepad players
- Numerous fixes to systems that previously assumed only a single player was present
World & Exploration
- Expanded and improved playable content
- Improvements to the day/night system
- Improved Fog of War and exploration systems
- Updated encounters and world presentation
- Additional environmental, visual and gameplay polish throughout the demo
Controls, Settings & Performance
- Extensive controller improvements
- Continued Steam Deck optimization and compatibility work
- Improved New Input System integration
- Better UI and control behaviour across keyboard, mouse and gamepad
- A much broader selection of graphics and gameplay settings
- FSR support is now available directly through the settings menu
- Numerous input, performance and compatibility improvements
UI & Quality of Life
- Major UI improvements throughout the game
- Improved cooldown and ability feedback
- Improved character and skill interfaces
- Improved tutorial behaviour, including better control over tutorial guidance
- Numerous readability, feedback and usability improvements
- Better support for different resolutions and handheld play
Presentation
- The full prologue intro is now included and can be watched at the start of the game
- Improved visuals throughout the game
- Updated post-processing and rendering
- Continued performance optimization
- Improved cinematics and presentation
- Additional voice work and audio improvements
- A large amount of general polish across environments, effects and interface elements
And plenty more
B4.98 represents such a large jump from the previous demo that listing every individual change would turn this post into a development diary of the last ten months.
Some content from the current game has deliberately not been included in the demo. I still want the full game and Early Access release to have places, encounters and surprises that demo players haven't already seen.
But the demo should now give a much better impression of what Under a Desert Sun has become.
If you've played the old demo before, I would genuinely love for you to try it again. The difference between B4.35 and B4.98 is substantial.
And if you run into anything strange, please let me know. This is also a very useful opportunity to put the new demo through its paces before Early Access.
Under a Desert Sun: Seekers of the Cursed Vessel enters Early Access on September 10.
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This announcement was originally published by Revolving Gear Studios on Steam on Aug 27, 2026.
Open the original on Steam