Rust adds a jungle biome - the biggest change to its map in 9 years
Vine work
Survival hellscape Rust has added a tropical jungle biome to its procedurally generated maps, the biggest change to the landscape of the game in nine years. It'll appear close to where new players spawn and hides a number of threats and fun. Poisonous snakes will skitter through the undergrowth and riverside crocs will chew your face given the chance. There are ruins and temples hidden among the trees, housing some basic loot. And you can swing from vines, perhaps inspiring a whole new life in the canopy. Probably for the best, considering there are now tigers and panthers stalking the ground below.
Developers Facepunch detailed all the changes in an update post on Steam. Maps are still procedurally generated (they've been this way since the nudist murder sim moved to Unity 5 in 2016) but until now maps have been basically a mix of arctic, temperate, and desert biomes. So this does seem a significant new addition to the deadly dog-eat-dog dangerzone.
To help out with that, there are two new weapons: a boomerang that returns to the player, and a blowpipe "for those who enjoy causing problems quietly." It can be loaded up with different types of dart ammo, including an "incapacitate" dart that slows its victims and obscures their vision for a time. Or a "radiation" dart that simply stacks radioactive ill-health onto your foe. Hideous behaviour, and not one bit surprising for Rust. The new wildlife sounds equally brutal.
"The tiger may be the deadliest animal you'll ever encounter [in] Rust," say the devs. "It closes in extremely slowly from behind, and only strikes when it's sure to kill. A moment of inattention in the jungle is all it takes."
To make sure that enemy's AI doesn't feel "unfair and bullshit," the animal will have a set of cues that you have to watch and listen for while roaming the fern-ridden floor. "It'll be on you to experiment and discover those hidden signals."
The overgrown temples (an ancient ziggurat, for example) will hide some mysteries, we're told. And slightly less weathered ruins will contain "low-tier supplies and maybe even a few surprises tucked away". The place is also a botanist's delight, from the sounds of things.
"The jungle biome features a large variety of completely new foliage," they say. "This includes new types of bushes, such as bromeliads and monstera. New undergrowth plants like arrowroot and calathea. As well as [a] variety of new trees like trumpet trees, jungle palms and sandbox trees. The biggest of them all are enormous kapok trees that you will be able to climb and swing from."
There's a bunch of other stuff accompanying the update (here's the full patch notes), including beefing up of servers, and a DLC pack with an Aztec-flavoured AK-47. If only Moctezuma had had one of these...
I'm not going back to Rust, even with all this lush-looking leaf rendering. I haven't visited its randogen den of misdeeds in over a decade, when I chronicled a nine-life misadventure with its chaotic players. But even I can see the game has changed a huge amount since then, adding boats, water pistols, submarines, musical instruments, NPC quest-givers, and even - oh my god - backpacks. No wonder it remains one of our best survival games. If you're made of sturdier stuff than I, this could be a good time to go camping.