Survive and fight in first person, gather resources and haul them home, then step back and command your squad like an RTS. It all happens in one persistent world, and your soldiers die for good.
You lead a small squad into dangerous, procedurally generated regions to grab what you can and get out alive.
Minute to minute, you're on the ground in first person: clearing towns, fighting rival factions and the infected, cracking crates and salvaging anything useful. At any moment you can pull back to a command view and give your squad orders like an RTS. Same world, same moment, no separate mode.
Whatever you extract comes home to a private base you build up between runs. Craft ammo, mod guns, cook rations, recruit people, then deploy again stronger. Bring back the loot and you get stronger. Lose a soldier and they're gone for good.
A
FPS + RTS in one world
Fight it yourself, or step back and command it. Both run in the same live simulation.
B
A squad that remembers
Your people level up by doing the work. Whoever you play is in command, and when someone dies, they stay dead.
C
Extraction with stakes
Every run comes down to one question: keep looting or get out with what you have?
D
A base that grows
Loot becomes buildings, ammo, gear and soldiers, and eventually an army that changes the map.
02
How a Run Works
Seven steps, repeated at a bigger scale every time.
01
Deploy
Pick a region and its settings on the deploy screen, gear up, and drop in.
02
Explore
Push through procedural towns and wilds. Every map is generated from a seed.
03
Fight
First-person firefights against AI factions and the infected, with your squad beside you.
04
Loot
Crack crates, search bodies, salvage clutter. Everything you carry is at risk.
05
Extract
Keep pushing or get out? Make it to extraction and the loot is yours to keep.
06
Bank it
Back at your HQ, everything you extracted goes into your stash and stays there.
07
Build
Build, craft and recruit, then deploy again stronger.
All images are real, unedited greybox captures. Final art is in progress.
IN THE BUILD: playable in the current greybox IN DEVELOPMENT: designed, being built ROADMAP: later phases
03
Two Layers, One War
RTS command and first-person combat aren't separate modes. They're two ways of controlling the same running simulation.
> FIELDFirst-person combat and aiming, with optional third-person for driving and walking around.
> COMMANDStep back into the HQ command view. Select units, give orders, manage production and logistics, then drop back into a body.
> MOBILE COMMAND ARRAYA crafted, carried item that opens RTS mode in the field. Better antenna materials extend your command range. in development
> LIVING WORLDAI factions recruit, build, move armies and take territory while you're away.
GREYBOX · ENTERING THE RTS HQ COMMAND VIEW
GREYBOX · A SQUADMATE GOES DOWN
04
Whoever You Play Is in Command
There's no fixed hero. The squad member you're controlling is the acting commander, so switching bodies is a core tactic: play your specialist when you need one.
> CHAIN OF COMMANDYou set the succession. If the leader falls, the next in line takes over, and the highest-level survivor steps up if the chain is empty.
> MORALESquads perform better under higher-level leaders. Lose the acting commander and morale drops, harder the higher their level.
> DEATH IS FINALA dead soldier takes their skills with them. The run ends only when everyone is gone.
in development Designed and approved; being built now.
05
Skills Grow From Use
No perk points. People improve by doing the work and through training facilities at your base. Nobody is ever locked out of a skill line, and mixing skills unlocks hybrid twists on top of the base abilities.
Hacking+Demolitions=Bomb Dronein development
Hacking+Firearms=Combat Hacker: Gun Dronein development
Hacking+Medicine=Med Dronein development
> HACKING SKILL TREE in development
Today, Hacking grows by claiming and powering facilities. Higher levels are planned to unlock: hacking AI buildings · unlocking doors without a charge · taking down drones · hijacking and redirecting enemy airstrikes · cutting a site's power · stealing money from terminals and trader safes.
That's 4 to 17 million guns for every star in the Milky Way.
The plan: 150 weapons and tools, 30 equipment types and hundreds of weapon slot modifiers.
That's why no gun in Black Swan is pre-listed. Each one is saved as a recipe and built the moment you craft it or find it.
IN THE BUILD · AMMO PRESS: FMJ AND AP ROUNDSIN THE BUILD · MODIFYING A COMBAT BLADE
In the build
Parts & materials
Choose the material for each part. Materials are designed as trade-offs, not straight upgrades. Condition runs Rusty → Worn → Fair → Good → Perfect → Pristine.
In the build
Real crafting stations
Ammo presses, field kitchens and workbenches, each with real recipes, real materials and real crafting times.
Chips in the build
Chips, gems & runes
Every gun gets a socket, and 7 tech chips already slot in, from Armor-Piercing to Explosive Rounds. Coming next: gems graded by carat, real Norse and Celtic runes that wear out with use, and up to three sockets on melee weapons and tools.
In the build
One fuse system
Nine fuse kinds: timed, impact, proximity, remote, tripwire, pressure, airburst, delayed impact, anti-tamper. Each explosive family gets its own set.
// NEW & INCOMING
Fresh From the Forge
New systems just landed in the game, and more are already being hammered into shape.
NEW · IN THE GAME NOW
NEW
Material Combiner
Fuse two materials into a brand-new hybrid at your base. Then fuse the hybrids.
NEW
91 First-Fusion Hybrids
One round of fusing alone opens 91 new materials. Go deeper and the list runs into the billions.
NEW
Marketplace
Buy what you can't craft and what never drops. Every part carries its own material onto your gun.
NEW
13 Gun Materials
From polymer and wood to titanium, carbon fiber and exotic alloy.
NEW
7 Tech Chips
Armor-Piercing, Target Prediction, Explosive Rounds, Rapid Fire and more, slotted right into your gun.
NEW
14 Guns, 10 Component Slots
M4, AKM, MP5, M249, P90, FAL, SVD, M1 Garand, Remington 700, RPG-7 and more, each built part by part.
INCOMING · IN THE FORGE
INCOMING
Attachments
Red dot, holo, ACOG, thermal, suppressor and grips, mounted in the field.
INCOMING
Gems
Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, Topaz, Amethyst, Diamond and Skull/Onyx, graded by carat.
INCOMING
Runes
12 runes and knots, from Crude to Masterwork, that wear as you use them.
Every one of these multiplies the arsenal. The count only goes up.
07
Build Your HQ
Your private HQ is where loot becomes power, and it stays between runs. It's invite-only: nobody gets in or loots it unless you invite them.
> BUILDPlace workshops, depots, radio masts, troop centers and production buildings.
> TRADEA base marketplace to buy and sell, plus regional markets and traders out in the world.
> ATTENTIONHigh-tier factories put out smoke and draw attention. When the activity meter fills, raids come. in development
IN THE BUILD · PLACING BASE STRUCTURESIN THE BUILD · WORKSHOP AT THE HQ
08
A World That Fights Back
IN THE BUILD · PROCEDURAL WILDS
In the build
Procedural regions
Seeded worlds with towns, industrial sites, military positions, deposits and extraction points. Bigger multi-story buildings and megastructures are on the way.
In the build
Fog of war
Unexplored areas are black, explored ones go dark gray, and only what's visible right now is live. Radio towers push the fog back.
In the build
AI factions
Factions that move, fight, defend valuable sites and respond to you. No armies out of thin air: they're built from resources and production.
In development
The infected
Hordes are already in the field. Next up: distinct shamblers and sprinters, claw and bite attacks, and a horde mode.
An optional language model running on your own PC for squad radio and after-run debriefs. The game runs normally without it.
09
The Swans
Rare artifacts, nothing like ordinary loot. Tied to major progression, base unlocks and rare discoveries.
Swan
Gold Swan
Diamond Swan
Black Swan
What they do: [classified, devlog reveal]
//
Dev Speed
Real numbers, straight from the repo. Last 14 days.
469COMMITS
350K+LINES OF C#
342JOBS SHIPPED
100+COMMITS IN ONE NIGHT
10
Roadmap
Roadmap v2: six phases (0–5), built from the actual task list. No dates, just order. In development; order and scope may change.
367 jobs finished · 1,064 on the roadmap
JUST ADDED · OCT 2026Grenades: thrown explosives are now in the field. · Oct 16Airfield: build an airbase, load planes with bombs and call in bombing runs. · Oct 16
DEV UPDATE · OCT 22, 2026
Fixes · in dev build
Fix (in development, Oct 22): Deposit All Except Selected now moves every other item that can be deposited from your bag into the container and keeps the pointed item in your bag, still selected, while worn or equipped gear stays in your bag. · Oct 22, 9:05 PM ET
Fix (in development, Oct 22): In the RTS command view, U now only issues Stop and Shift+U opens research, and the drag-select box now starts where you click. · Oct 22, 8:41 PM ET
Fix (in development, Oct 22): Pressing Esc now closes open menus one at a time, in order, through a single menu manager. · Oct 22, 8:41 PM ET
Fix (in development, Oct 22): Gun parts now only offer the hybrid materials that fit that part, so you no longer see choices like a wood barrel in every weapon slot. · Oct 22, 8:40 PM ET
Fix (in development, Oct 22): Menu panels are now fully opaque and easier to read, the F2 help now opens with a short overview of what you do in a run, and holding Alt frees the mouse pointer and pauses look and fire. · Oct 22, 7:59 PM ET
Fix (in development, Oct 22): Far-off terrain now has solid ground, so walking far out no longer drops you through the world. · Oct 22, 7:42 PM ET
Fix (in development, Oct 22): The skill offer popup now shows ACCEPT (Enter) and LATER (Backspace) with a free mouse pointer, hides while the game is paused, and clicking ACCEPT no longer fires your gun. · Oct 22, 7:28 PM ET
Fix (in development, Oct 22): The airdrop plane now flies past the drop point before it despawns. · Oct 22, 7:16 PM ET
Fix (in development, Oct 22): You can now reload using ammo you looted into your bag. · Oct 22, 6:36 PM ET
Fix (in development, Oct 22): Equipping a weapon or tool now takes it out of your bag, so it no longer counts twice in your inventory. · Oct 22, 6:35 PM ET
Fix (in development, Oct 22): Exiting to the main menu from the pause menu now closes the airbase screen, so it no longer stays stuck open when you start or load a game. · Oct 22, 6:14 PM ET
Fix (in development, Oct 22): Fused hybrid materials now load correctly from a save, keeping their traits even when one hybrid is made from another, so they follow the weapon slot rules. · Oct 22, 5:50 PM ET
Now in the game · in dev build
You can now get in and drive the Light Utility Truck properly, with improved driving feel, chassis handling and chase camera. · Oct 22, 5:09 PM ET
In the RTS command view, units now get thin color-coded ground rings (green for your squad, blue for friendly NPCs, red for hostiles, yellow for neutral camp NPCs, white for loot drops and crates). · Oct 22, 2:40 PM ET
Resupply trucks now sit on the ground at the Trade Post and extract pad instead of hovering in the air. · Oct 22, 2:25 PM ET
In the RTS command view, battle sounds now come from where the camera is looking. · Oct 22, 2:00 PM ET
Rifles all use a consistent firing sound. · Oct 22, 1:57 PM ET
Soldiers stand properly on the ground instead of floating. · Oct 22, 1:53 PM ET
FMJ rounds fire one clean gunshot sound with no falling whistle. · Oct 22, 1:49 PM ET
In-development build.
Other updates & plans
Weather: storms in snow biomes now show light snowflakes (in development). · Oct 22, 1:44 AM ET
Minimap (in development): the RTS command view minimap now sits on its own solid panel with a separate legend box. A design for a resizable minimap with map markers is written up; building it is on hold for now. · Oct 22, 2:05 AM ET
Skills balance comes with the people-system phase. · Oct 22
Multiplayer: co-op and regional servers move to the final phase. Solo comes first. · Oct 22
Planned: enterable multi-level buildings and underground dungeons. Stretch goal: deeper is more dangerous, with tunnels linking far parts of the map. · Oct 22
Tester bug batch triaged and fixed. These fixes are built and reviewed, and they ship with the next update. · Oct 22
Bug fixes: AI no longer clips through walls, a clearer skill-offer popup, consistent rifle sounds and better equipped-item handling. · Oct 22
Vehicle overhaul: real collision physics instead of invincible vehicles, impact damage, proper speed, no turning in place when stopped, the driver no longer clips through the roof, and the camera stays with the car when menus are open. · Oct 22
Tutorial: flow drafted, with a base tutorial first and then a fixed tutorial map. · Oct 22
Team: a local AI model joined the dev team to help with docs. 7 parts passed review. · Oct 22
DEV UPDATE · OCT 21, 202674 updates in one night. Here are the highlights. · Oct 21Air power: your planes and air support now survive saving. · Oct 21Deploy map: see the real generated terrain before you drop in. · Oct 21Sound & feel: new ambient and voice sliders, smarter sound mixing, and thrown grenades that look right. · Oct 21Crafting: inspect any item to see what you can craft with it. · Oct 21Coming up: base expansion is part of Phase 2 (Foundations), and the lighting and graphics pass comes with the full overhaul in Phase 4. · Oct 21
DEV UPDATE · OCT 18–19, 2026Bombs: high-explosive bombs in 200, 500 and 1000 lb sizes, with bigger blasts, higher cost and heavier loads for your planes. · Oct 18–19Medicine: a full medical item catalog, and clinics now stock meds worth looting. · Oct 18–19Crafting & research: every recipe now takes real time to craft, and the soft vest can be researched and built. · Oct 18–19Weapons & visuals: guns get separate materials and textures per part, frag grenades get a proper model, magazines stay loaded when stored, and surfaces get a sharper, higher-detail pass. Still greybox, with the full graphics overhaul on the way. · Oct 18–19
The full graphics overhaul comes in Phase 4. Current footage and screenshots are pre-overhaul.
NOW · PHASES 0–1
Phase 0 · Build health
Clean, reliable test builds cut from the latest code
Fix files that silently drop out of the build
A performance check so the game doesn't get slower over time
Phase 1 · Tester bugs & core loop
Fix bugs reported by testers
Far terrain that goes invisible, stutters and frame hitches
How To Play pages and menus that overlap
Weapon foundations finished before new weapon content
NEXT · PHASES 2–3
Phase 2 · Foundations
The people system first: command, skills and professions
Save system sized and ready before new world content
Item lifecycle, base expansion, quests, real gun models
Phase 3 · Content
A road network across the map first
Enterable multi-level buildings and underground dungeons
Skills balance, alongside the people system
Weather, sites, factions and events built on the foundations
LATER · PHASES 4–5
Phase 4 · Polish & graphics
Full graphics overhaul: lighting, textures, animations, effects
UI and audio polish
New footage
Phase 5 · Long-term, including multiplayer
Solo first: multiplayer waits until the single-player game is solid
Co-op (each player with their own squad and base)
Regional persistent servers with raidable FOBs
Your private HQ is never raidable by other players
HOW WE BUILDAn AI team works through a roadmap ordered so nothing is built before what it depends on.Each job gets its own prep folder.Code is reviewed before the lead dev applies it.Public updates go up here as each fix lands.
Order and scope may change as development goes. Design stance: no pay-to-win.
11
From the Field
Work-in-progress greybox captures. Click any image to enlarge.
Request Early Access
Black Swan is in active development. What you see here is a work-in-progress greybox, and systems change every week. Early access builds are rough, and space is limited.
