With next week’s update right around the corner, development has shifted into full polish and balance mode across several major features. From a brand new mortar system to the evolving workbench upgrades and a near-finished Industrial DLC, this update is shaping up to bring a solid mix of new gameplay and long-awaited improvements.

Mortar

A brand new explosive option is shaping up for next week’s update, with the mortar rapidly coming together as a fully-fledged weapon system. What started as a prototype is now deep into gameplay integration, complete with crafting, ammo types, UI, and a full round of polish.

The mortar will sit at Workbench Level 2, costing HQM and metal pipes to craft, and can be researched for scrap. It’s getting multiple ammo types right out of the gate, including high explosive and fragmentation rounds, each with their own crafting costs and intended use cases. Early balance passes are already underway, and the system is even being slotted into both vanilla and hardcore tech trees.

On the usability side, a dedicated mortar UI has been added and continues to be refined, with fixes for scaling, syncing, and edge cases like disconnects. Animation work is also seeing heavy iteration, including updated first-person handling, IK fixes, and improved camera behavior. Visuals and effects are being layered in as well, with placeholder firing sounds, screen shake tweaks, and improved projectile presentation.

Overall, this is looking like a serious addition to the game’s arsenal—something that could shake up base defense and raiding if it lands in a strong state next week.

Workbench Upgrades

The new workbench upgrade system continues to take shape and is now moving firmly into its balance and integration phase ahead of next week’s update. This system expands workbenches into something much more modular, allowing players to install upgrade modules that enhance different aspects of gameplay.

Rather than being crafted directly, these upgrades are now found through loot, with different tiers of crates offering different types of modules. Lower-tier crates will offer things like comfort, defensive, and recycling upgrades, while higher-tier military and elite crates hold more powerful options like prototype, efficiency, and accelerated upgrades. There’s also early balancing happening here, including a 25% failure chance for prototype upgrades, suggesting some risk/reward mechanics are being built in.

On the backend, the system has seen a major cleanup and optimization pass. Upgrade handling is now more efficient server-side, visuals are being pooled for better performance, and a number of older systems have been stripped out or refactored. At the same time, smaller touches like inventory sounds and UI cleanup are helping round things out.

With loot tables, balance, and performance all being addressed, this system is clearly approaching a more finalized state—and it’s shaping up to be a meaningful shift in how players progress and specialize their bases.

Vending Machine UI

The vending machine UI overhaul has now landed in main and is shaping up to be a pretty meaningful quality-of-life upgrade heading into next week’s update. This isn’t just a visual refresh either—it’s a more informative and flexible system that should make player-run shops easier to browse and interact with.

The new interface now surfaces a lot more useful information when buying items, including condition, ammo, and even genetics where applicable. Skin support has also been expanded across the board, with both selling items and cost items now properly handling skins. There’s been a number of backend fixes here as well to ensure skin IDs are validated correctly and purchases behave as expected.

Overall, this looks like a solid improvement to the trading experience, especially for players running more complex shops. It should make vending interactions feel a lot cleaner and more transparent once the update goes live next week.

Industrial DLC

Work on the Industrial DLC is continuing at a rapid pace, and it’s starting to look very close to being ready for release—potentially alongside next week’s update. A lot of the recent commits are focused on finalizing assets, polishing textures, and getting everything properly hooked up for distribution.

Most of the core items appear to be in place now, including industrial storage variants, a garage door, and the industrial torch. These have all seen multiple passes on textures, models, LODs, and icons, with recent work pushing things into what looks like final-quality territory. On top of that, the entire pack has now been wired up to Steam properly, with items assigned IDs and linked to unlock through the DLC as expected.

There’s still some light polish happening—things like texture tweaks, icon adjustments, and small fixes—but overall this has shifted from active development into final prep. If things continue at this pace, this DLC looks like a strong candidate to land with the upcoming update next week.

Binoculars Update

Binoculars are getting a pretty substantial overhaul, turning them into a much more polished and immersive tool ahead of next week’s update. This isn’t just a visual tweak—there are meaningful changes to how they behave and what information they provide.

A new system now suppresses the HUD while using binoculars, removing distractions like the crosshair and giving a cleaner view. The lens itself has been upgraded with new shader work, including dirt, scratches, and improved rendering that fixes issues like being able to see through water. Tick marks and distance-based click feedback have also been added, making it easier to judge range while scanning. Ping markers have also been integrated into the system, making it easier to mark points of interest while scouting.

There’s been a lot of refinement as well, with fixes for UI scaling, reconnect issues, and general stability. A toggle for night-time effects has also been introduced, giving a bit more control over visibility in darker conditions. Altogether, binoculars are shaping up to feel much more like a proper scouting tool rather than just a simple zoom feature.

Game Room DLC

Work continues on the upcoming Game Room DLC, which is shaping up to bring more social and interactive elements into Rust. This week builds on the early foundation, with further development on the darts minigame alongside continued support for other game room-style props like pool tables.

The darts system in particular is getting more fleshed out, with improvements to aiming, accuracy, and overall feel. A focus mechanic has been introduced, along with smoother reticle behavior and a zoom option to better line up shots. Scoring logic is also being refined, including proper handling of edge cases and more accurate board calculations. On the development side, tools are being added to visualize scoring zones and fine-tune how throws register against the board.

Animation and interaction work across the broader game room set is still ongoing, reinforcing that these won’t just be decorative items. While this DLC doesn’t appear to be targeting next week’s update, it’s clearly progressing toward a more complete, interactive experience centered around base interiors and social gameplay.

Backend & Performance Improvements

Alongside the more visible additions, there’s been a significant amount of work happening behind the scenes this week, focused on AI, performance, and overall engine stability. While most of this won’t be immediately noticeable in moment-to-moment gameplay, it lays important groundwork for smoother performance and more reliable systems moving forward.

A major area of focus continues to be the ongoing AI navigation overhaul. The team is pushing toward a new navmesh system, with extensive fixes and safeguards being added to improve stability and prevent edge-case issues like NPCs failing to spawn or getting stuck. This system is now being locked behind a startup flag rather than a runtime toggle, suggesting it’s still in testing but moving toward a more controlled rollout.

On the performance side, there are a number of optimizations targeting rendering and large environments. Vegetation in particular is seeing improvements, with lower LODs now disabling wind effects and motion vectors to reduce overhead in dense areas. There’s also continued work on batching systems and rendering behavior, which should help improve performance in busy scenes.

Beyond that, a wide range of general fixes and improvements are going in across physics, networking, and automated testing. It’s the kind of foundational work that doesn’t grab headlines, but plays a big role in keeping the game running smoothly—especially as more complex systems continue to be added.

Other Stuff

Apartment complex monument continues to see heavy iteration, including marketplace layout improvements, new props and furnishings, penthouse upgrades (new flooring, textures), and overall set dressing polish
Deep sea loot balance adjustments, including a nerf to patrol boat loot and new internal tools for simulating loot tables
Salvaged cleaver refresh continues with updated animations and a full audio rework pass
Bowless crossbow receives a new world model with visible arrow mesh and general setup updates
Spectator mode improvements, including better viewmode handling, demo playback fixes, and third-person behavior fixes
Server browser update work begins, including early support for geolocation-based improvements
New placement system support for ignoring entities during upgrades/reskins, fixing issues like large furnace reskin failures
Spraycan improvements to prevent unnecessary reskin menu interactions in edge cases
Battering ram head now correctly shows its health
Ongoing player animation polish across a wide range of actions, including weapon handling, movement, and idle states
Continued work on weapon effects and handling, including fixes for magazine drop behavior and world-space alignment
Rendering and visual polish across multiple systems, including lighting, emission behavior, and general material fixes
Continued Unity 6 upgrade work, including input system fixes and editor/tooling updates
Expanded automated testing and CI improvements, including more reliable test coverage for combat, vehicles, and deployables
Various backend cleanups and optimizations, including serialization fixes, networking improvements, and general stability work