Once Human's biggest underground threat yet just got harder to ignore
Version 2.3.5 dropped on March 25, 2026, and it's not a minor patch. The update introduces three new enemies (including one that disguises itself as a tree), a full Devourer phase that punishes every sound you make, a sweeping blueprint system overhaul, and weapon balance changes that shift the meta in RaidZone. At roughly 15.34 GB on PC launchers, this one warrants a proper breakdown before you load in.
What's new in version 2.3.5?
The patch covers a lot of ground: new deviants and deviations, a reworked Super Anomaly system, Territory Terminal improvements, RaidZone quality-of-life updates, and the first stage of a major blueprint acquisition overhaul. Every player also receives 1,000 Starchrom, 100 Mitsuko's Marks, 300 Starwish Tokens, and 30 Colorful Badges as login rewards after maintenance.
New Deviation: Brave George
Brave George is a new Combat Deviation built around damage absorption and shielding. His behavior changes depending on the scenario you're playing.
Balanced Attack and Defense (Survive, Capture, Preserve)
In this scenario, Brave George fills a damage-absorption role. His Battle Skill puts him into a charge-up state: taking damage during the charge increases the shockwave's power when it releases. His Ultimate has him channel energy into an enlarged sword and shield, then perform a spinning sweep that stuns all nearby enemies.
Supreme Defense (other scenarios)
Outside Survive, Capture, Preserve, Brave George shifts into a pure tank role. His Battle Skill absorbs incoming damage and reflects it back to nearby targets when the effect ends. His Ultimate creates a large protective domain that boosts shield capacity and grants a large shield to all Metas inside.
How to get Brave George
- Survive, Capture, Preserve scenario: Found through wilderness exploration.
- Other scenarios: Defeat the Forsaken Giant to obtain him.
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If you're running a team composition that struggles with burst damage phases, Brave George's Supreme Defense Ultimate can be the difference between a wipe and a clean clear. The domain shield stacks on top of existing shield capacity.
New Devourer phase: how does Dark Hunt work?
The Dark Hunt is a new special phase added to the Devourer encounter. The moment it activates, visibility drops to near zero and the rules change entirely.
During Dark Hunt, the Devourer is blind but its hearing is amplified. Any sound you make, whether from movement, shooting, or throwables, causes it to burrow rapidly toward that location and strike. The phase lasts 60 seconds if you wait it out passively.
Pale Hands deviant threat
How to end Dark Hunt early
Hidden in the darkness are special Deviants called Pale Hands, each carrying a large gas canister. Here's the key mechanic: if you lure the Devourer toward a Pale Hands deviant using a gunshot or throwable, the Devourer will swallow the canister. The canister explodes inside it, forcing the Devourer into a weakened state and ending Dark Hunt immediately.
warning
Pale Hands actively attack you during Dark Hunt. Don't focus so hard on luring the Devourer that you ignore the Pale Hands closing in from other directions.
Two valid strategies exist here. If your team is low on resources or health, staying silent for 60 seconds is the safer play. If you want to maximize damage windows, bait the Devourer into a Pale Hands and end the phase fast.
New enemies: Sea Rabbit and Morphic Tree
Sea Rabbit
The Sea Rabbit lives in Nalcott's deep-sea regions. It appears passive until disturbed, at which point it latches onto your head, deals physical damage, and injects a neurotoxin. The toxin reverses your movement controls: pressing forward moves you backward. Underwater, that's disorienting enough to be lethal.
Two counters work reliably:
- Fire or high-temperature weapons drive the Sea Rabbit away before it attaches.
- Leave the water. The Sea Rabbit detaches automatically in dry environments.
Note that underwater combat in 2.3.5 now supports daggers, Throwing Daggers, Grenades, and Activators, giving you actual options down there.
Morphic Tree
The Morphic Tree is an Elite Deviant that hides among normal trees in dense forests. Entering its "grove" triggers hallucinations that make trees appear as humanoids pointing toward the Morphic Tree's location. The puzzle mechanic: keep chopping trees and follow where the hallucinated figures point until you find and defeat the real Morphic Tree.
The catch is that each tree you fell deepens the hallucination. Take too long and you get permanently trapped in the grove.
danger
If you're farming wood and stumble into a Morphic Tree grove, don't panic and run. Follow the hallucinated directions methodically. Defeating the Morphic Tree drops a large amount of wood plus special rewards, making it one of the more efficient wood-farming encounters in the game.
How does the blueprint system overhaul work?
This is the biggest structural change in 2.3.5. The old system of drawing blueprint fragments, combining them, and navigating the Wish Machine is being replaced with a direct Starchrom-based unlock system.
What changes immediately (March 25)
- Blueprints unlock and upgrade directly from the Blueprint screen using Starchrom. No more fragment drawing or combining.
- Wilderness rewards (crates, exploration points, dungeon first-clears, tasks) now award Starchrom directly instead of blueprint fragments.
- The Blueprint Shop is closing. Spend any remaining Starchrom there before the update.
- The Stellar Stairway and Asterism systems are removed. Sources that awarded Asterism now award Starchrom directly.
- The Wish Machine is temporarily disabled for blueprint draws after March 25.
Material conversion
Wish Machine rework (April 22)
The Wish Machine returns on April 22 with a new purpose: activity rewards. Draws will no longer consume Starchrom. Instead, completing daily gameplay and activity tasks earns draw chances for supplies and cosmetic rewards. The formula also becomes unlocked by default.
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Starchrom earned from events, the Battle Pass, Collection Level, and similar sources does not count toward the monthly Starchrom cap. Plan your acquisition accordingly.
Super Anomaly system: what's changing?
The old Coherence, Void, Phase, and Balance Super Anomaly types forced specific weapon choices against specific enemies. That system is gone. A new general resistance mechanic replaces it, meaning any weapon type can counter any enemy if used correctly.
Practically, this removes the Cradle Override nodes tied to Super Anomaly enemies, freeing up node slots for custom builds. Dungeons also lose their weapon restriction affixes. If you were running a build specifically to counter Balance enemies with Fortress Warfare weapons, you can now run whatever you want.
Cradle node slots now free
RaidZone weapon balance changes
Three weapons received stat adjustments in 2.3.5. Here's the full breakdown:
The FP-9 and MPS5 both get a damage bump and faster reload, which the patch notes attribute to their crafting costs not matching their performance. The EBR-14 trades 3 damage per shot for a 0.4-second reload improvement, a tradeoff that favors sustained fire over burst.
Territory and RaidZone quality-of-life updates
The Territory Terminal got a redesigned interface with two practical additions: you can now repair specific structure categories (walls only, for example) instead of everything at once, and the new Max Repairable Parts toggle automatically repairs as many structures as your inventory materials allow.
RaidZone-specific changes include:
- Batch structure upgrades directly from the Territory Terminal (specify grade and type, such as upgrading all wood walls to stone)
- Territory reinforcement maximum duration extended from 24 hours to 72 hours
- Overflow protection prevents wasted reinforcement materials beyond the 72-hour cap
- Hive and Team functions merged into a single system
- Players no longer auto-leave teams when going offline
- Door and window animation speed improved significantly
One fairness fix worth noting: you can no longer use house blueprints to instantly place buildings while your territory is in combat status.
Other notable changes
- Climbing: The Jump button no longer interrupts climbing. To manually stop climbing, hold the opposite direction for 0.3 seconds (press S while climbing up, for example).
- Body type setting: A new option lets your character's body type display as customized regardless of body weight changes.
- Legendary Mod Crate rates are now visible directly on the Mods interface.
- Pollution Zone elite distribution in Visional Wheel S3: Aberrant Progeny changes Elite Frostella to Weather Forecaster.
- Journey Tasks are removed from RaidZone. Challenge Tasks have been reworked with new rewards.
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