Novus Gets First Update Since 2018 After Eleven Years
Wednesday, October 07, 2026By Indie Kings | October 7, 2026
Updated October 7, 2026: Eleven years after its early access launch, survival game Novus Inceptio has received its first major update since 2018, per PC Gamer columnist Christopher Livingston. Solo developer McMagic Productions, aka Martin Markus Mastný, rebuilt combat, expanded the map from 9 square kilometers to 64, and shifted the game to singleplayer with co-op planned.
Image: Novus hero with sword and shield. Credit: PC Gamer.
The image above is a Novus still: the lone hero stands with sword and shield, with a mountain wall behind. It is the closest many players have come to the game in years.
What changed in the Novus Inceptio update
Per columnist Christopher Livingston's report for PC Gamer, early access survival game Novus Inceptio shipped a major update this week, its first since 2018. The game entered early access in October 2015 and, according to the same report, remains in early access today, about 11 years on.
The headline changes, as reported, are a rebuilt combat system, a much larger map, and a shift from the old structure to a singleplayer focus, with plans to add co-op later. Solo developer McMagic Productions, identified by the columnist as Martin Markus Mastný, posted on Steam on October 5 and asked the community to give Novus one more chance. Mastný said the game is back in development, though not full time, and that "the energy and the will to finish the project are back."
Standing headline note: this was the game's first update in roughly eight years, and the developer treated it as a reset. He wants to strip out the compromises that burned him out and rebuild toward the MMORPG vision that started everything, with the current singleplayer map and reworked combat as the proving ground.
The columnist frames the comeback as a fair shake request rather than a marketing push. Whether players show up is up to the game's rebuilt systems, and Mastný himself says he would rather be judged by results than by apologies. For a solo project in a crowded survival market, that framing is at least realistic, even if the odds remain long.
Update facts as reported
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Game | Novus Inceptio, early access survival game |
| Developer | McMagic Productions, solo dev Martin Markus Mastný |
| Update cadence | First major update since 2018 |
| Map size | Grew from 9 km² to 64 km² of "pure wilderness" |
| Combat | Rebuilt |
| Mode | Now singleplayer, with plans for co-op |
| Development status | Back in development, not full time |
| Community ask | "Please give Novus one more chance," posted on Steam October 5 |
Per columnist Christopher Livingston, PC Gamer, October 6 2026.
Timeline of Novus support as reported
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2013 | Mastný jumps into Unity, learns C# and Unity workflows |
| October 5, 2015 | Early access release of Novus Inceptio on Steam |
| Early 2016 to 2019 | Mastný works full time, community and bugs dominate; burnout follows |
| 2018 | Last update before the new one, per the report |
| Several mostly quiet years | Development halted; roughly a seven-year break |
| October 5, 2026 | Steam post: "Please give Novus one more chance" |
| Week of October 6, 2026 | First major update since 2018 ships |
Per columnist Christopher Livingston, PC Gamer, October 6 2026.
Why development stopped for so long
Mastný told Livingston that he started learning Unity in 2013 and spent the years through the October 5, 2015 early access launch learning, building, and trying things. His central idea was that Novus would one day become an MMORPG, and he built the server layer, the databases, and the connections to Unity to support that vision.
Steam changed the job overnight, in his telling. Suddenly the workload included PR, sales, community management, bug fixing, and player reactions. When new questions sat unanswered on the Steam forum each morning, he answered them himself. His community manager, he said, ended up handling bugs and acting as a quiet advisor. He felt he had to accommodate everyone and thank them for playing.
His days, he said, looked like this: wake up, deal with the community, work on the game all day, and keep dealing with the community while doing it, with no time off. He kept that pace full time from early 2016 until 2019 and kept making compromises to please people, chase good reviews, and deliver whatever was requested. The result, as he described it, was total collapse and burnout, and it damaged the game itself. Compromise turned it into something it was never supposed to be, and he said he can see that now in the code and the mechanics. His goal today is to bring it back and fix it.
- 2013 to 2015: Learning Unity and C# while building toward early access.
- 2015 to 2019: Full time work split with relentless community support.
- 2019 onward: Collapse, burnout, and a long quiet stretch.
- 2026: Energy returns, new update, rebuilt direction.
Why the developer came back
For Mastný, the return is about fulfilling a dream. He has a strong vision of what Novus Inceptio should be, and while he accepts he cannot realize 100 percent of it, he said the world and environment still gave him a good feeling whenever he launched the game. He could spend an hour running through the forest, enjoying the landscape, and listening to the music. That feeling is why he went back.
He also framed it as a responsibility to the players who supported the game. Novus, he said, is a big chapter of his life that changed it for better and for worse. He wants to close that chapter fairly and well, and to finish the game to a state where he is personally happy with it. The emotional tie is strong: he called the game his child, and said it is hard when people curse at it, because he put it together as well as he could.
The message to skeptical players
Mastný's message is unsentimental. In his head, he said, he had to erase the roughly seven-year break and imagine he was back in 2019, moving on again, just with new experience from other projects. He can't promise anything, he said, and he doesn't want to. The only thing he can offer is patience and proof: watch whether he keeps going the way he wants to. Early access, he argued, lets him keep changing things while it is possible and reacting to the community, which is what he has been doing anyway. If players watch for a while, they can decide whether trust is earned back.
Advice for solo survival devs
His advice to other solo developers is simple: make what you enjoy. Study other games and learn from their successes and their mistakes. But he added that he would not want to be in their shoes right now. It was hard in 2015, he said, and today it is much harder. There is still a lot you can do in survival games, so look for new challenges.
He also offered a harder lesson about co-op. He avoided classic co-op, and commercially it hurt the game a lot that it was not multiplayer. Sometimes, he said, you have to step back from your own vision when it is the thing dragging the game down. Back then he could not see that. Only distance, or hearing it from someone else's experience, makes it clear. That experience is his main advice now.
- Make what you enjoy: Passion sustains long solo projects.
- Study other games: Learn from both wins and misses.
- Watch your vision: Co-op absence hurt commercially; be ready to adjust.
- Protect your stamina: Community load, sales, and PR can burn a one-person studio.
FAQ
What is Novus Inceptio?
An early access survival game from solo studio McMagic Productions. It launched into early access on October 5, 2015 and remains in early access, per the PC Gamer report.
Who is the developer?
Martin Markus Mastný, who develops as McMagic Productions. He is the game's solo developer and the source of the quotes in this story.
What is new in the update?
Combat has been rebuilt, the map grew from 9 km² to 64 km², and the game is now singleplayer with co-op planned. It is the first update since 2018.
Why did development pause for so long?
Mastný described burnout from full time work from early 2016 to 2019, including handling the community, bugs, PR, and sales himself, plus the compromises made to please every request.
Is the game going full time again?
No. Mastný told the columnist it is back in development, but not full time.
Will co-op return?
He said classic co-op was avoided early on and the game is now singleplayer, but there are plans for co-op. He also said commercially skipping co-op hurt the game.
Bottom Line
Novus Inceptio is back from a long quiet stretch, and the October 2026 update is its first since 2018. The headline changes per columnist Christopher Livingston are a rebuilt combat system, a map that grew from 9 km² to 64 km², a singleplayer focus with co-op planned, and a solo developer who says the energy to finish is back. Mastný is not asking for instant trust, and he is not promising outcomes. His appeal to players is direct: watch, judge, and decide whether Novus deserves one more chance. After 11 years in early access, the answer now depends on whether the rebuilt game can finally hold his full attention, and theirs.