Timberborn's 1.1 update went live on Steam late on Thursday 3 September, about 10pm our time. It's free for everyone who owns the beaver city-builder, and it's the first major update since the game hit 1.0 on 12 March this year after four and a half years in Early Access. Your 1.0 saves still work, but Mechanistry says a new game is the better way to see the changes.

Two new maps lead it. Nomads is 256 by 256 and the water flow shifts across the map as the cycles change, so a spot that's lush now might dry out later and your beavers may have to pack up and move. Pillars is 192 by 192 with limited, fractured space up top and a hostile area below. Then there are two Tier 4 monuments, one per faction: the Hall of Abundance for the Folktails and the Arch of Progress for the Iron Teeth, each costing 15,000 science points and sitting between the Tier 3 monuments and the endgame Wonders.

The watertight buildings are the change engineers will care about most. An Airlock, an Impermeable Tubeway for the Iron Teeth, an Impermeable Power Shaft and a stackable Compact Mechanical Pump all let beavers and power lines pass through reservoir walls without springing a leak. The existing Mechanical Pump has been rebalanced to suit. A new plant, the Succulent, grows only on dry land, dies if you overwater it, and stores a bit of water that lumberjacks harvest when they cut it down.

The smaller stuff adds up too: goods and population statistics with proper graphs, four new attractions (a Sauna and Domed Garden for the Folktails, a Massager and Dance Pit for the Iron Teeth), beaver workwear including helmets and feathered caps, and relays that now take more than two inputs. The old Sluice is gone for good and gets replaced by Fill Valves on existing saves. The engine moved to Unity 6, which lifts the minimum on Mac to macOS 13.

Mechanistry's release notes still quote the game at more than a million copies, a figure it first announced back in September 2023, so treat that as a floor rather than a current total. The game is on Steam for A$35.66 right now, 30% off the usual A$50.95, with the discount running until 17 September. I could only confirm the update on Steam, so if you own it on another PC store, check there before assuming it's landed.