CRUEL Patch Notes — January 9, 2026
Aggregated from Steam, cross-tracked with Battle.net coverage on GamePatchNote.
Hey everyone, I can't believe it's been a whole year since the initial release date, so why not celebrate with a big update! 
There's a lot to cover, so I can't list all the minor changes, but I'll list a brief on major changes:
Achievements are now in!
Perk system has been overhauled with some additional perks added.
More Melee weapons.
A new Lever Action rifle.
New enemies & enemy variants. Changes have also been made for the more unfair moments ....Yeah I'm talking about the Crows.
Visual overhaul Levels and Models have had a facelift, and Level colors have been tweaked to give a better visualization on progression.
Better UI on menus.
Erik's gamble logic has been redone. If you gamble with a perk he steals it rather than killing you.
Level generation has changed, with better optimization and a more diverse layout.
Unlockable skins for each game mode.
New endless mode added.
Melee mode has been updated to give you melee based perks at the start.
1hp mode has changed to perfectionist.
Sparing the dog now unlocks other modes.
The tape deck now changes which track plays on the next floor.
More options settings, FPS limit, and arachnophobia.
Additional music tracks added.
Updated "Aim Assist" to improve support for controllers. Although I don't recommend playing with a controller, this change makes it more tolerable.
Plus many more
I know some people might not like all the changes being made, so I've left the old build available under the "Legacy" beta branch. Just note I will not be supporting this version in the future.
I tried to get as many features as I wanted in I know some are still missing. I tried to make them work, but they just didn't feel right so instead of having them in and spoiling the experience I've left them out.
What's next? Well I'll spend some time fixing any issues that pop up, but I will be primarily focused on working on a new project.
Last thing. I just want to say a big thank you to all the people who have supported me. Without you I wouldn't have been able to continue working on Cruel and other games. Honestly you don't know how grateful I am. If you want to chat or have an issue, I'm always available to reach out to either by my public discord
https://discord.com/invite/qKVez5C8GX
or you can email me at
Cheers,
Jamesy