The hardcore survival game Rust has released a fresh update “Spring Cleaning” from Facepunch studio — and now forced labor is officially legalized there. The main feature of the patch was the long-awaited hydropower, but the developers implemented it with a very specific nuance that fits perfectly into the local atmosphere.
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Water wheels: how to extract electricity from prisoners
The authors have added massive water wheels to the game — they can be placed directly in rivers or the ocean for uninterrupted energy generation. It would seem that this is an absolutely logical development of the base after wind turbines and solar panels. But there’s a catch.
As it turned out, water is not necessary for this mechanism at all. The wheel functions perfectly on the principle of a giant squirrel cage. The player can jump inside, start running — and directly convert their own calories into pure kilowatts. Facepunch answered reasonable questions from the audience with her trademark cynicism: yes, handcuffed prisoners can also be driven inside. A free generator based on someone else’s suffering is a harsh post—apocalypse in all its glory.
Armored hatches and nerf fishing
In addition to generators, the update has seriously gone over the survival meta. What else was brought to the servers:
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Armored manhole cover — ultimate protection for vertical entrances. The raiders will now have to spend a lot more explosives.
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Colored buttons are a tiny but wildly useful detail for competent management of a smart database.
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The mechanics of overfishing — sitting endlessly on the shore and farming food safely will no longer work. The location is being depleted, so players will have to step out of their comfort zone.
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Updated technology tree — the process of researching the necessary drawings has been made more intuitive and smooth.
Egg Hunt event and skins on Steam
In parallel with the survival on the servers, the traditional Easter Egg Hunt event started. The scheme here is classic: you run around the map, collect loot, combine ordinary eggs into bronze, then into silver and up to the top gold versions. To fully immerse yourself in the festive madness, the Steam store has already rolled out fresh rabbit costumes and stylized items.
It seems that Facepunch simply does not know how to make boring patches. Adding a hydroelectric power plant to the game is a basic game design, but allowing the turbine to be turned by someone else’s hands is the concentrated, unique spirit of Rust.
