I’m confident that CampFire Studio, the developers behind Soulmask, got together after binge-watching History Channel’s Ancient Aliens and said, “Let’s make a survival game around this stuff!” And you know what? I’m here for it. The game drops you into a pre-colonial Mesoamerica, where you and your friends can build the tribe. Surviving, exploring, and recruiting new tribe members are an essential part of game mechanics. The twist here, however, is that there is a mysterious and ancient technology hidden away in the otherwise beautiful environment. And now, we may be seeing the release of version 1.0 very soon, as in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Soulmask is not quite at the same tech-versus-bow-and-arrow level as Horizon Zero Dawn; instead, it leans into the question “What if Ancient Aliens have history right?” You’re given a mask early on that has mystic powers, and later on, it can be upgraded with new technologies as you discover them and beat the bosses in the biomes. This makes the game stand apart, along with the mechanic of growing your tribe by, well, forcibly hiring them. Conan would be proud.

CampFire Studio just announced the release of 1.0 along with a plethora of updated information and plans for the future. There is a caveat to this, however, that there is still a great deal of work planned before the developers consider the game complete as they envisioned. Many areas that need polishing will be focused on to ensure there are no roadblocks in gameplay and progression. Balancing, tribesmen, and game interactions are currently being hammered out. There is a huge change to tribe management, along with the possibilities of a tribal kingdom. Though there isn’t any word currently on what that might look like.

New players to Soulmask will find the tutorial section much easier, drawing them into the gameplay loop and mechanics much faster. The developers have promised to make the road to a united tribe much less lonely. New gamers will also find they have three modes when they begin their play through: Curious Survivors, Expansion and Persistence, and Song of the Brave, with Curious Survivors being the easier, more casual experience. Established players may want to look at the Song of the Brave difficulty, especially those who find the tedious production and construction aspects slow and time-consuming. New survival modes aim to enhance the combat and survivability experience.

Workshops and base management are receiving a much-needed optimization. Bringing inventory and workbench management into a more streamlined one-click solution. New automation options have also been added. New factory automations, enabling the movement of resources via ropeways, have been implemented, facilitating the flow of resources from mines to their designated destinations.

Training has also been updated to allow tribesmen to increase their proficiency, giving them the chance to gain exceptional skills. You’ll need to feed them, of course, and this too has been improved over previous releases. Sleeping, food, and even equipped preset templates have been added or enhanced, giving your tribesmen a much-needed happiness boost.

Enemy tribes won’t like a new, puny tribe leader, and they won’t be able to get away with forcibly hiring their men or women now, when an enemy has the potential to raid your settlement. To help combat those raids, new defensive buildings have been added to equip your base. Floor traps, or the more direct auto turret, will surely slow their progress.

Tribes and the emerging civilizations that have always been present in the world always have been something the developers wanted to express. Players and the community have helped them keep that focus and momentum. Some of that might have been lost as development and early access continued; it’s always possible to lose sight of what the developers wanted to express. Soulmask v1.0 helps to bring that back into alignment, and developers are excited to share it with the community. I, for one, can’t wait to dive back into Soulmask and experience the world all over again.