Hey there prisoners!
We have some big news for everyone who hold SCUM near and dear to their heart!
With Into the Wild, we’re grouping our next three monthly updates around one shared focus: hunting, fishing, cooking, wilderness survival, and the systems connected to them.
Into the Wild will run from May to July, with each monthly update bringing new features, bug fixes, quality of life improvements, balance changes, and reworks to existing systems tied to the season’s theme. Some things will arrive sooner than others, because bigger systems take time to build, test, and balance, but our aim is simple: every month should move that part of SCUM forward.
The first Into the Wild update goes live on Monday 25th May.Before we go into the details on the May update, we want to make one thing clear: THERE WILL NOT BE A WIPE with May's update! 
Now, let’s answer a few things we’ve already seen prisoners asking about Into the Wild:
Does Into the Wild have a season pass?
No. Into the Wild doesn’t have a season pass or battle pass. The May update, and following monthly updates, are free for all players. When we say season, we mean the next group of updates, and right now, it’s hunting season!
Will everything arrive in the May update?
No. May is the first Into the Wild update, not the whole season in one patch. More features, fixes, balance changes, and improvements will arrive in June and July.
Why focus on hunting, fishing, and wilderness survival?
These systems are a core part of SCUM, and players have given us plenty of feedback on how they can be improved. Into the Wild lets us build on that side of the game across multiple updates, while future seasons will cover other areas of SCUM.
Is this just new content, or are existing systems changing too?
Both. Each update will include new additions alongside reworks and improvements to existing systems tied to the season’s theme.
Will there be bug fixes too?
Yes. Bug fixes and quality of life improvements are part of each monthly update. We’ll share the full list when the patch notes go live.
With that covered, here’s a sneak peek at what you can expect from the upcoming update:
Animal trail generation
The existing hunting minigame will be a thing of the past! Animals now leave physical trails in the world that you can follow and read - but how well you can see them depends on your Awareness skill.
Hunter's Grotto
The all new spot that you can find in Trader outposts where you will be able to purchase hunting provisions, as well as take on new hunting related quests!
Bait feeder
A deployable item you can loot or purchase, which you can load with different food items as bait that attracts specific animals to a specific location.
Smoker
The Smoker is a base building element that lets you cure and smoke various meats with minimal ingredients, dramatically extending their shelf life and turning raw survival into something that actually feels sustainable.
Type of kill influences meat quality
The way you take down an animal directly affects the quality of the meat it yields, meaning that going in guns blazing might fill your inventory with something far less useful than a clean, calculated kill would.
Farming rebalance
Growth times have been shortened, yields are now tied directly to your Farming skill level, and the overall loop has been tightened to be more intuitive and rewarding.
Dynamic Fish Activity
More fishing spots, new audio and visual cues, and fish size and weight now directly affect how much inventory space they take up and how many fillets you can carve out of them.
Inventory auto sort functionality
We have added the option to sort items by type, amount and durability, both from your character's inventory and from other inventories such as chests.
Food loot rebalance
Food loot distribution, as well as spawn rarities, have been heavily rebalanced across all locations, with many non-survival foods removed from various loot spawners.
Other bugfixes and QoL improvements
More info on those when the patch goes live!
This is just a taste of what you can expect from the upcoming patch. We'll go in-depth on all the changes that will find their way into the game on release day. We'll be dropping some sneak peeks via our socials, so make sure to check those out!
See you next week!