Abiotic Factor, which in my humble opinion is one of the most underrated games of 2025, is getting a surprise update! Dubbed the ‘Holiday Cryosphere’, you can check out this free addition to the game in the trailer below.
If you’ve not heard about Abiotic Factor, then you’ve been missing out. The game is basically a survival crafting experience for 1-6 players set in the depths of an underground research facility that gives off heavy Black Mesa/Half Life vibes. Players will find themselves caught between paranormal containment failure, a military crusade, and chaos from a dozen or so different dimensions. You play as a scientist, and it’s up to you to invent machines to aid your survival. It’s also hilariously good fun, and available on Xbox Game Pass.
In my review, I said “If you fancy moonlighting as a budding scientist battling for survival against other-worldly forces and scientific experiments gone wrong, you’re going to love Abiotic Factor. It’s a refreshing and charming take on the survival genre, full of great mechanics and systems, an engaging story and world and importantly it’s an absolute blast to play with friends. Go in as blind as you can, because like with all scientific endeavours, the joy is in the discovery.“
Beyond the update itse;f and the trailer seen above, the developers at Deep Field Games have released a message to the community thanking them for an amazing 2025. It’s very fun, heartwarming stuff – you can check that out here.
Holiday Cryosphere Update Full Patch Notes
For the full details on everything this new update brings, you can check out the full patch notes (which have been ‘spoilered’ if you care about such things over on Steam. We’ve copied them in full for your convenience below.
Facility & Portal World Changes:
- New Location: IS-0188, accessed by [REDACTED] in [REDACTED] Containment Block. Access requires the Scientist to have progressed past Helmholtz and reached the Cascade Labs Control Center.
- New (FREE) Home World: Winter Cabin, unlocked by completing IS-0188
- Drastically optimized certain types of sunlight/moonlight shadow casting, which should help performance at sunrise/sunset in Home Worlds and some other portal worlds.
- [STEAM ONLY] There is a new Weather setting in Graphics Settings. Low will be the original appearance/distance you’re used to, the new High setting will allow you to see weather a bit further away but could cause performance issues.
- Minor visual updates to Anteverse 23
- There is now a findable Soil Bag on The Train
- Fixed some texture issues in Shadowgate.
- Fixed some water zones in the Garden Home World not being interactable and not having proper water physics.
General Gameplay Changes:
- Bench Press XP has been rebalanced for more consistent and less ridiculous values.
- Exercise Bike XP has been rebalanced as well.
- Other scientists can now see you cranking the Energy Pistol.
- Changed the way vehicles behave when flipped, relying more on actual physics than teleportation.
- Added an error message when a vehicle fails to flip upright due to some insurmountable obstacle.
- Fixed various cases where SUVs and other vehicles were not properly flipping upright when asked politely to do so.
- Fixed an issue where vehicles that were recalled would maintain their momentum, causing them to disappearing again if moving at too high of speed.
- Vehicles no longer suggest they can be flipped if they have a driver. (It wouldn’t work previously anyway, now the interaction is hidden.)
- Client scientists now unload levels slightly faster.
- Shields now auto unholster after existing exercise equipment.
Sandbox and Difficulty Changes:
- Sandbox Setting: Enemy Damage to Deployables can now be set to 0.
- Fixed setting Hardcore Mode from the Sandbox Options menu still allowing Scientists to change difficulty mode. The bug was cosmetic only, so Scientist couldn’t actually play Hardcore Mode on Normal.
- Invisible Radiation is now properly categorized on the Sandbox Settings menu
Entity Changes:
- Please remember to keep IS-0127 contained and away from IS-0188
- Traveling Traders are no longer immune to IS-0018.
HUD, Journal & Wristwatch Changes:
- Fixed Mil-Spec warning stating the incorrect Accuracy level
- Fixed a Scientist’s DBNO icon persisting until another Scientist goes into DBNO when playing on Hardcore mode.
- Fixed POCKETS text in inventory not localizing properly.
- Fixed chat text message stating incorrect information with Trypanophobia mode enabled.
Audio & Effects Changes:
- Added a sound when deploying the Healing Briefcase.
Item & Deployable Changes:
We’ve observed that ammo bench recipes were a little more punishing than initially intended, so we’ve done a pass on the gunpowder recipe as a means to alleviate that a bit. The basic idea is you’re gaining more gunpowder in general, and spending way less soil for your bullets. Instead, you’ll need a little more antegel to keep your bullet economy going, since it’s plentifully available in Mycofields and there aren’t currently a whole lot of recipes that use it. – TV
- Gunpowder Recipe updated.
- Antegel: 1 -> 5
- Carbon: 1 -> 3
- Soil: 1 (unchanged)
- Produced Items: 3 -> 10
- New Furniture: Rustic Rocking Chair
- New Furniture: Rustic Dining Chair
- New Furniture: Rustic Dining Table
- New Furniture: Creature Rug
- New Furniture: Mounted Alien(?) Head
- Rocking Chairs now animate, including sound.
- New Recipe: Snowman
- New Deployable: Arrival Bell. Rings whenever aTraveling Trader appears nearby.
- New Plantable Food: “Carrot” along with some new recipes related to it
- The Wishing Shelf. … A what? Wishing Shelf. Abe. It’s a Wishing Shelf.
- New Recipe: Wall-Mounted Item Stand
- New Wall-Mounted Deployable: Holiday Sconce
- Hangable Christmas Stockings added
- Our new designer Tom (TV) has just joined the Abiotic Factor team and his first major task was
rebalancing Zag’s terrible Bench Press XP gain ratesworking with Kate to add lots of great buffs for our many baked foods. Most complex baked foods now apply new buffs when eaten to make them more worthwhile. - Pest Pot Pie now has Hearty Bite buff.
- Pekkie Brekke Hash now has Very Hearty Bite buff.
- Carbuncle Casserole now has Carbun Copy buff.
- Creepy Meat Pie now gives Flesh Ritual buff.
- Carbuncle Pizza now gives Wahoo! buff.
- Pumpkin Cookie now gives Gourd Skin buff.
- Salted Honey Pie now gives Honey Sealed buff.
- Fries, Carrot Fires, and Pumpkin Bread now give Sedentary Lifestyle buff.
- Pestato now gives Don’t Pester Me buff.
- Glowing Gateau Slice now gives Restoring Bite buff.
- Gumdrop Cookie now gives Energy Boost buff.
- Shadowberry Pie Slice now gives Shady Business buff.
- Stuffed Roast Peccary now gives Primal Power buff.
- Removed Souper Satisfied from Hearty Stew because it already has a buff.
- Many food buffs longer than a minute (or so) are now saved and will resume when reloading the world save.
- Various buffs that previously would have no effect when re-applied will now reset their buff duration at that time. (Caffeinated, Toasty Tummy, Brain Freeze, Fish out of Water, Fisherman Snack, Scintillating Skin, Glowing Gleaner)
- Weapon muzzle flash particle effects should no longer show when scoped in.
- Updated Phone Booth and Magazine Stand glass texture
- Fixed ammo station being unable to access nearby chests.
- Various new hidden collectibles. (No peeking at your presents!)
- Items dropped in snow will now pop up to the surface after coming to a rest.
- Updated appearance of Glowing Gateau Cake
Customization Changes:
- A new character face customization is available after completing IS-0188
- Several new holiday-themed clothing is now obtainable in IS-188
Other Fixes:
- Fixed Jackson’s TV in introduction having some geo clipping into the screen (thanks Nervly!)
- Updated fire effects by the Behemoth found in Anning Containment Block. The fire should now be visible from the window (thanks Nervly!)
- The shovel held by Dr. Hammond should no longer have strange floating collision.
- Fixed Dr. Thule’s animation when using the Bench Press.
- Various localization fixes.
- Fixed Traveling Traders being able to sit on unconstructed furniture.
- Fixed a bug where client Scientists could talk to Traveling Traders who were in their fear state or otherwise fleeing combat.
- Fixed a bug where stationary Traders would not be able to talk or trade if enemies were nearby.
- Fixed Favorited and Pinned Recipes not correctly loading from save.
- Fixed user settings not saving after entering the tutorial.
- Reduced likelihood of seeing floating furniture when in Home Worlds or other portal worlds. Not all cases have been resolved at this time.
- Scientist-placed furniture now has a max render distance and may not appear from infinite distances away.
- Fixed certain traits not properly granting items at the start of the game.
- Fixed a bug where stationary traders would not be interactable or fail to save their state properly under certain conditions.
- Fixed visual stretching or tearing bugs on GATE Security Chest when in certain more extreme poses.
- Fixed a major hitch when switching to certain journal tabs.
- Fixed “Delete Items” button sometimes showing on non-trash can containers.
- Fixed Platform Cart storage space being reduced erroneously in a previous update.
- Citizens of Anteverse 23 should no longer turn invisible when killed by an Electrothrower.
- Fixed Peccary turning while frozen and charging, when in Apocalyptic difficulty mode.
- Fixed Citizens of Anteverse 23 T-posing when they ragdoll.
- Set the correct durability material for Transformers found in Hydroplant.
- Re-Added ID Cards to Holiday tops. (Sweater received for beating the game.)
