"How do I craft a backpack?" is typically the fifth question I ask when starting a new survival game, following "How do I craft an axe?" and "Where can I find water?" and "How do I make a campfire?" and the all-important "What the hell was that noise?"
That's because when carrying resources and food and tools and junk around in your pockets you tend to run out of room pretty quickly, so a backpack that gives you extra inventory slots is an essential early game survival staple.
Except in Rust, that is. The multiplayer survival game has been around for 10 long honkin' years and it's only now just getting around to adding backpacks. Which isn't to say the concept just occurred to the developers: according to Rust guru Shadowfrax, backpacks were first proposed about six years ago, it just took a while for them to actually get here.
- Rust's crafting update gives the survival sim real-time food cooking and pies to rival Monster Hunter, but the tastiest treat is the ability to make and throw 'bee grenades'
- Rust goes medieval with the Primitive update: siege weapons, swords and shields, and maybe a few jewel-encrusted assault rifles
Better late than never! Facepunch Studios' latest devblog says backpacks will arrive on February 1, but if you can't wait that long they'll be available for testing on Rust's staging branch next week. Nice.
That's not the only thing coming to Rust in 2024. Updates will include new monuments, a tutorial for new players, a clan system, and something else that's almost as exciting as backpacks: motorcycles. There's also a new biome in the works, procedurally generated caves, and other features planned for the next 12 monthly updates.
Now for the sad news. Pets, which were teased back in 2022, won't be coming to Rust anytime soon.
"If you follow our public commits page, you'll know we worked on pets for several months and suddenly stopped. For several reasons, we halted this project, and it will not be released this year," Facepunch producer Alistair McFarlane says. "Our goal is still to have pets in Rust, but we have several obstacles to overcome first."
Apparently Rust's AI system needs improvement before you can gain a furry follower, and the studio is recruiting for an AI programmer to help. Maybe in 2025 we'll finally get to romp through Rust with Rover.
