Early Access Update V0.9
Poached : Hunt The Hunter Patch Notes — May 30, 2026
Aggregated from Steam, cross-tracked with Battle.net coverage on GamePatchNote.
After many years of slaving over a hot keyboard, the final stretch is finally here. So much has been achieved in the last 5 years and this update is a celebration of that.
The last few updates have mostly focused on bug fixes and polishes, and more of that will happen but since the game is now in a very stable state. This update focuses on general fun and depth.
1. New achievement icons.
All placeholder icons have been replaced with actual images taken directly from the game. It feels more in keeping with what Poached actually is - the store page achievements now reflect the real game rather than standing in for it.
2. New achievements.
In addition to the 76 new achievement icon replacements, I have also added another 16 achievements, bringing the total of achievements to 92. The total amount of achievement the game will have upon launch is 100. This is the maximum amount of achievements an indie game is allowed to have on Steam for some reason, as soon as they allow me to have more - I will add another achievement : "Ranger 101" which will be the 101th achievement for achieving all other 100. The platinum trophy, so to speak.
3. Discoverable locations & wildlife
In conjunction with the new achievements as well as the new logbook below, specific locations and animals can now be "discovered" and logged. There are a total of 20 locations and 33 unique animals across 4 categories to discover in your game.
4. New field guide
You now have access to a field guide/logbook in your inventory. This allows you to do a few things:
Track animals discovered, in 4 categories, including information and facts about them.
Track locations discovered, as well as learn more information about them and log times visited.
Track all sorts of various stats about your gameplay.
Track progress of all new collectibles.
Read helpful tips to help you gain the most out of the Poached experience.
5. New arena mode
After completing the game, a new arcade machine will now appear in the shebeen/pub "Poached : Hunt The Hunter", allowing you to play an interesting indie game with moderately serviceable graphics about hunting poachers in Africa. This serves as a perpetual arena based version of the game that allows you to fight waves within a small outdoor arena.
6. New contract job system
The game now has various new small side quest jobs you can collect from various characters. If you see any character with a "?" exclamation point above their head, speak to them to obtain a job. Some might include simply collecting certain items along your other missions, and others may divert you to an entirely new location. More of these are going to be added in future updates, this update merely establishes the system. More to follow soon, but you can currently find the first job inside the shebeen/pub where the groundskeeper will ask you to help them collect certain items to help create an exotic gin for sale, and share some of the profits with you.
7. New collectibles
New collectibles have been added to the game and hidden around the world, the progress for this can be logged and tracked via the new field guide. There are 5 types of new collectible, each category containing an achievement for collecting all of its type, as well as a global achievement for locating all 32 unique collectibles:
10 Unique Gold Statues
6 Unique Magazines
8 Unique African Masks
5 Unique Rubber Ducks
3 Unique Music Discs
NOTE: Small carved wooden statues and animals do not count as collectibles, as these are inventory items that currently have no use but that you will be able to sell at the shops for money in conjunction with other "junk" items in the upcoming V0.9.1 update.
8. Improved controller support
Controller support has been worked on a bit more, adding the ability to skip dialogue while using the controller as well as other missing actions. General compatibility tweaks for controller experience have also been implemented as well as vehicle improvements for controller based driving.
9. Environment enhancements
Various areas of the reserve have been improved with additional detail and nature added, from internal environmental Easter eggs to just plain flora and fauna as well as landscaping improvements to various parts of the terrain. New trees have been added and additional shrubberies. New points of interest have been added to house some of the new collectibles and add interest to various outskirt locations around the reserve. The new environment details also include some shallow end bodies of water the player can "swim" in on the surface that can be found at the top of rock formations near waterfalls. The terrain textures have also been given a thorough rework with better details and more consistency.
10. Various bug fixes
In conjunction with the major changes above, as per usual a few small other fixes have been bundled into the update. They are as follows:
Fixed issue with tactical poachers not being scanned by binoculars.
Fixed night vision not saving/loading.
Fixed a floating box of rusks in guest lodge.
Fixed weird shadow cast by campfire crafting "ghost".
Fixed issue causing packages to be delivered to shooting range.
Fixed bug causing menu screen to display over loading screen if player presses quick load key while inside the main pause menu.
Fixed issue with "greater good" achievement not firing.
Fixed incorrect lighting for shopkeeper in final level of game.
Fixed bug causing goats hunted progress to save/load but not load progress towards final end stats including "Expert" achievement per level.
Fixed pool ball collision sound always playing on level start when entering shebeen.
Fixed weird occlusion culling errors found when looking out of window from groundskeepers house.
Fixed the "Noise Complaint" achievement triggering at the start of the mission and ruining the surprise, as well as the mobile home despawning during this mission if the player had previously purchased it before locating this mission.
Fixed a rare bug that would cause zebras to be stuck in the "Scared" state while walking with 2X animation speed at regular walking speed if colliding with the player while scared.
Fixed a weird zoom issue that could occur if opening inventory while using binoculars at maximum zoom.
Fixed weird behavior exhibited by running over buffalo with your vehicle.
Fixed issue with hippo attack animation firing too late.
Fixed issue with certain animals running away while playing their eating animations instead of their running animations if your back was turned to them when they started running away.
Fixed bug causing anti-venom to not work if you are at full health.
Fixed rare condition that could cause a player to save their game while dead and stuck in a loop if killed by an elephant.
Fixed issue with smaller animals such as warthogs ignoring vehicle collision.
Fixed a missing stealth zone on a shrub near the mission 1 poacher camp.
Fixed bug causing player to spawn underneath their vehicle when exiting the guest lodge if they used the "Leave" option from the menu instead of exiting via the vehicle interaction.
Various other small bug fixes.
11. Various improvements
As well as various bug fixes, further miscellaneous improvements to the game have been made:
Added "double click to use/equip" function to inventory for quicker access to items alongside the existing right-click context menu.
Improved giraffe texture.
Upgraded appearance of wild boar hunting trophy decorations in guest lodge.
Added crocodiles back to game, found near waterfall after finishing the game.
Added advanced procedural spine animations to crocodiles.
Improved pop-in of certain objects at a distance.
Anti-venom now respawns during post game content.
Improved appearance of ZC75 pistol so it looks more cohesive with other weapons in the game.
Added an additional hippo that can be found in the post game for players who wish to complete their animal logs but never played the bonus hippo mission.
Added proper terrain slope alignment for snakes.
Improved character #4 arm material.
Improved buffalo texture appearance.
Added more hidden easter eggs.
Improved in-game radio save state loading in terms of how the radio progresses when the player is not listening to it.
Numerous internal scripting and performance optimizations.
This marks the start of the V0.9.x development cycle. Which means this is the final stretch towards the game being released. A final release date has also been decided on, 1 February 2027. This allows me enough time to put in the extra polish and requested features, and brings full development to 6 years since its conception in 2020. More to follow on this soon!
- Rob