The Isle‘s team published DevBlog #62, outlining recent hordetest work and new playable dinosaurs in August. The update summarizes progress on the tyrannosaurus and Elder systems, reports on issues discovered during hordetesting, and lists ongoing work on allosaurus, austroraptor and several other species. Comments from the developers also highlight animation and sound progress.
Filipe – Lead Programmer
The engine upgrade from 5.4 to 5.6 caused some delays but was completed because it was needed for the larger systems. The tyrannosaurus and the Elder System have an initial pass out in the hordetest branch. Work has started on the allosaurus and austroraptor, with the allosaurus expected to require fewer bespoke systems and therefore smoother iteration. Several new dinosaur design documents have been finished and approved for implementation.
Ariel – Programmer
The pteranodon’s spearing mechanic is moving through QA and into the hordetest branch, with related bug fixes and balance adjustments ongoing. A directional variant of the tyrannosaurus muzzle swing has been added and is bound to Alt + RMB; it focuses on a sweeping knockdown rather than raw damage to help hit targets behind the player. Attack hitboxes were reworked for better alignment with animation paths, which should reduce stray hits that were visually unexpected. A number of smaller bug fixes and tweaks targeted tyrannosaurus and elder interactions.
Wedge – Sound Designer
Progress continued on the Allosaurus sound suite, expanding its vocal identity with a wider range of adult attack and pain sounds plus calls for courting and other mechanics. The bulk of the most important adult vocal sounds have been completed and remaining audio tasks are being prioritised as animations and mechanics settle.
hypno – QA Lead
Hordetesting of the tyrannosaurus and Elder Systems exposed several stability and replication issues. The team is investigating rubberbanding on the hordetest servers and a character replication bug that can spawn players as the wrong species. QA logged many high priority issues for the rex, including subadult animation blend failures, an interaction where thrashing a pinned target then pressing carry caused an unintended weight change, and a lock into sparring after certain attack sequences. Oh, and QA reported a total of 236 issues opened for the tyrannosaurus so far.
KissenKitten – Animation Supervisor
Animation efforts focused heavily on the rex and the incoming playables: allosaurus, austroraptor, kentrosaurus and baryonyx. The rex required a large animation set to reflect its life stages, with the team producing nearly one thousand animations that were integrated with tech animation, sound and programming. Curious how the rex changes through life? The design aims to shift playstyle across growth stages from fast and fragile to a dominant adult.
Other playables are progressing: the allosaurus is expected to enter hordetesting once sounds and mechanical tweaks are finished, the austroraptor is receiving swimming and vocal work, and kentrosaurus and baryonyx remain in development with their own vocal design underway. Avaceratops and oviraptor are close on animations, with locomotion work remaining for oviraptor. The pteranodon spearing is entering testing and the deinosuchus will receive some of its long‑planned abilities and smoother swimming behavior. Several roster updates await final audio integration.
Read the official Steam devblog for the full breakdown and image gallery.
Discuss the update and your hordetest experiences in the comments.
Chat about design choices and bugs on X and Bluesky after you leave a comment.
