Updates & Patch Notes

Scrap Mechanic 1.0 & Drilling Thunder — July 24, 2026

The full-release update. After years in Early Access, Scrap Mechanic 1.0 launched on July 24, 2026 alongside the Drilling Thunder chapter. The base game price on Steam increased to $29.99 at launch. Existing owners receive the update free through the same Steam library entry.

What is new

• Mining Island and Grow Labs. A story landmark with voiced NPCs, a collapsed mine elevator, and the route into the underground. See the Mining Island guide.
• Full underground layer. Every world now has a procedurally generated cavern network with rare metal veins, lava pockets and new enemies.
• Chapter 2 questline. Interactive NPCs at the Mechanic Station and Mining Island drive a voiced story that ends at the Trash Bot boss. Read quests and NPCs.
• Plasma Drill and Plasma Saw. Late-game mining tools that cut through tough bedrock in a 3x3 area. Indexed on the plasma tools page.
• Ore Crusher and Ore Prospector. Machines that process raw ore and filter gravel for rare materials.
• Claygun. A terrain-shaping tool for the desert biome and base terraforming. See how to use the Claygun.
• Schematics. Collectible items that unlock Craftbot recipes when scanned by the Schematicbot. Full reference: Schematics.
• Dynamic weather. Rain, storms and desert tornadoes that affect visibility and travel. Details: weather and biomes.
• Cookbot overhaul. Kitchen automation, Revival Burgers and food tiers for boss prep. See Cookbot and food.
• Automated farming meta. Vacuum-pump gantry farms are now the standard endgame food loop. Build guide: automated farming.
• New enemy roster. Cablebots, Minerbots, expanded Tapebot variants and the Trash Bot boss on warehouse rooftops.
• Steam achievements. 34 achievements added with the 1.0 client.
• New building parts. Sticky wheels, 360-degree pilot seats, Turret Seat, Sawbot, UV growing beds, Battery Generator, digital clocks and boomboxes.
• Engine overhaul. Frozen bearings, improved physics batching, up to 512 dynamic lights without ray tracing.
• Graphics upgrade. New glass shader, improved lighting, cinematic camera angles.

What changed in balance

• Crafting recipes and item acquisition rebalanced for smoother progression.
• Item Schematics now gate many mid-game and late-game recipes.
• Warehouses are darker and harder; Tapebots remain glass cannons but hit harder.
• Raid aggression rebalanced; farming raid cells reworked.
• Hunger and thirst drain slower in the current 1.0 tuning.
• Haybot projectile spam reduced; Farmbot charge attack added.
• Lava now spreads and burns through blocks — a real hazard underground.

Saves, mods and Creative Mode

• Survival saves from pre-1.0 Early Access may not load. Axolot warned players to start fresh Survival worlds or roll back the Steam beta branch if they need an old save. Creative worlds are less affected but should still be tested after updating.
• Mods may break temporarily until authors update for the new engine. Check the Workshop before updating if you rely on mods.
• Creative Mode and Challenge Mode remain available with 400+ parts and 40 Master Mechanic Trials.

For deep dives, start with underground mining, Mining Island and the getting started guide.

Earlier patches (2024-2026)

The 1.0 release included several updates rolled up into the final build. The major pre-1.0 milestones were:

• 0.6.0 — Added the tutorial quest system, on-screen hints and the Builder Guide.
• 0.5.0 — Added the Easy difficulty option and the original Survival Mode.
• 0.4.x — Added the Mod Tool, expanded the scripting API reference pages, and added the World and Custom Games workshop categories.

For a complete history of every patch since 2016, see the official Steam news page.

Where to read future patches

We will update this page whenever Axolot Games publishes a new patch. Bookmark it and check back after every Steam update. You can also follow the official Scrap Mechanic Discord for real-time announcements.

What to expect after 1.0

Axolot Games has hinted at:

• Additional underground biomes.
• More boss-tier enemies.
• A creative-mode scripting update.
• Workshop expansion with new custom game types.

We will update this page as more details emerge.