Inferno Protocol Early Access Roadmap

Tektonic Interactive put Inferno Protocol into Early Access on 28 August 2026 and answered Steam’s standard Early Access questionnaire in public. This page is that questionnaire in wiki form, plus the extra hints hiding in achievement names. It is not a leak. If a Steam news image disagrees with a sentence here, believe Steam.

Shipped history lives on patch notes. How to play the current three layers lives in getting started and maze navigation.

Why Early Access, in their words

The studio said the map is already big and content is already solid, but they want to keep building with the community before calling it finished. Co-op survival horror, they argued, lives or dies on how it feels with friends, so player feedback sets the priority list. They committed to continued development toward a full 1.0.

That is the honest frame. You are buying a maze that will grow, not a frozen 1.0 with DLC stickers. Mixed launch reviews and netcode complaints are part of that bargain. If you only want a finished product, wait; the tools and guides will still be here.

How long

“Roughly 9–12 months. We’ll adjust this based on the feedback we get.” Count from 28 August 2026 and you are looking at a 1.0 window in mid-to-late 2027 if they hold the estimate. They have already slipped a public calendar once (teaser copy said Q1 2026; Early Access landed in August). Treat 9–12 months as intent, not a pre-order bonus.

What is playable now

Three maze layers / biomes: Junkyard, Jungle, Swamp. A central settlement with farming, building, trading. Harvesting, crafting, traps, injectors, Prologue, online co-op to six, 40 achievements listed. Demo content (Giant Rat, notebook, cooking rewrite, traders) was folded forward. The demo itself is gone.

What 1.0 is supposed to add

“We’re planning to add 4 more biomes across the remaining 3 layers, each with its own enemies, weapons, and mechanics.” That is the headline. Press materials also talked about deserts and frozen halls as examples of places that should not be underground. In August 2026 Tektonic posted a public calendar: Winter in September, Desert in December, and an unnamed drop in April they were not ready to show. Achievement Rock Bottom (Winter Layer) matches the ice line. None of that makes Winter or Desert playable until a Steam patch says they are live. Read biome feel on maze layers. Do not schedule a Winter weekend on a tweet alone.

Other achievement names that sound like systems rather than layers: Stop Maze Turning, Beam Me Up, Beauty Rest, Boom Specialist, Handyman of the Maze, Feel Like a Chef, Apex Predator’s Apprentice, Home Sweet Horrifying Home. Some of those map to beds, cooking, explosives, and building you can already touch. “Stop Maze Turning” is the interesting one — a hint that rotation can be interrupted. No public puzzle guide exists; we will not fake one.

Price

List $13.49. Introductory 20 percent to $10.79 through 7 September 2026. The studio said they plan to keep the current price stable for most of Early Access and raise it as layers and features land, as a reward for early backers. That is a plan, not a coupon contract. Regional prices vary. There are no gift codes.

How they want feedback

Same as the demo: Steam Discussions, Discord, email. Official links are collected on community links. If you are reporting a floor fall-through or a lobby boot, include layer, player count, and whether proximity chat was on. If you are requesting a biome, look at the four-biome promise first so you are not asking for content they already claimed.

How this wiki will follow the roadmap

New biome → navigation, enemies, weapons, home facts. New injector label → injector guide and ranking. New comms tool → co-op and settings. We will not mark Winter as playable because an achievement icon exists. We will not mark 1.0 as done because a content creator said “soon.” Early Access is the status in facts.json until Tektonic ships a 1.0 post.

If you are deciding whether to buy during the intro sale, the useful question is not “is it finished.” It is “do I want three layers, settlement crafting, and a maze that lies, while the next four biomes are still a promise.” If yes, read getting started. If no, bookmark the updates hub and wait for a layer you care about.