Sometimes players don't want an easy experience, choosing instead to opt for a game that's either insanely hard by default, or at least has the option to increase the overall difficulty. Titles such as The Long Dark and Escape From Tarkov are known to be brutal, as is Facepunch Studios' online survival game Rust. The latter is particularly punishing, and anyone who's ever played it can attest to its sheer savagery. However, that's what makes it popular, and the studio is continuing to improve things with a series of updates.
June's update for Rust has gone live recently, and a post on the game's Steam page outlines what players can expect in terms of changes and tweaks. An attached video gives a general oversight into what's been implemented. Perhaps one of the major adjustments is to the combat system. In particular, the studio seems interested in changing things up a bit, especially as weapons were implemented seven years ago, and have stayed pretty much the same ever since. One of the changes is to gun recoil, which is now based on a gradient system, instead of the previous "pattern based recoil."
Given the importance of weapons in Rust, updates to the system have clearly been a long time in the making. The post on Steam also says the quality of the gun sounds themselves have been improved, as well as updating the view models for weapons when the player holds them. Aside from the weapon overhaul, there's also been some general quality of life tweaks, and some more additions to the new rail network system that's been implemented.
A previous Rust patch added a railway system, or at least the groundwork for one. At the time of that update, it was just a "proof of concept" with no actual gameplay involved. In general, it seems as though Facepunch Studios has been dedicating a lot of time and energy into implementing a ton of new ideas into the game, as well as tweaking it for an overall better experience.
Needless to say, Rust has become one of the most influential survival games around, sitting up there with the likes of No Man's Sky and DayZ. It may be a brutal online game filled with ferocious wildlife and trigger-happy players, but that's part of its appeal. It's a difficult game to get into, especially that first night, but the satisfaction of being able to survive for days on end is ultimately rewarding.
Rust is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Steam