Starry Studio has locked in October 22, 2026 as the release date for Isles of Abyss, a free expansion for Once Human that moves the survival shooter's focus onto open water, as the studio announced on its official X account. Starry Studio is billing it as the largest content update the game has received since it launched in 2024. New players who want to be ready before the ocean opens can start with our Once Human beginner's guide.
Once Human Isles of Abyss Release Date and Platforms
The update goes live on October 22 in most regions, which is October 21 in Pacific time. It lands simultaneously on PC, mobile, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, with Xbox Game Pass subscribers getting access at launch alongside everyone else. Isles of Abyss carries full cross-play and cross-progression support across every listed platform, so a character's progress follows the player from one platform to another.
What Isles of Abyss Adds at Sea
Isles of Abyss centers on naval survival. Players design and upgrade ships that double as mobile bases, crafting workshops, and weapons platforms, ranging from small skiffs to Mobile Sea Fortresses. The expansion spans five distinct sea regions built around island exploration and underwater resource gathering, and introduces hazards specific to the ocean setting, including predatory lighthouses and living islands that behave as environmental threats instead of static scenery. Tying the new content together is The Sunken Lord, an ancient entity the studio places behind the expansion's toughest encounters beneath the waves.
The Final Pioneer Test Before Launch
Ahead of the full release, Starry Studio has already been testing the ocean scenario in public. The September 16 update, version 3.0.6, opened the final Isles of Abyss Pioneer Test, a trial run expected to last 22 days for players who signed up through the earlier recruitment. Those players can switch to the pioneer server from the scenario selection screen, while everyone else waits for the scenario to open in October.
Beast Riding and Server Merges in Update 3.0.6
The same 3.0.6 update reworked the Beastmaster archetype with a Beast Riding system that lets players mount tameable animals directly, saddled or bareback, and fire weapons or attack while mounted. Bareback riding drains Stamina, while a saddle makes the mount stable. The feature is rolling out in stages: Beastmasters are limited to one active summon until September 28, after which the cap rises to three. Starry Studio also confirmed permanent-server merges for two long-running scenarios, The Way of Winter and Deviation: Survive, Capture, Preserve, while the permanent servers for Manibus and Endless Dream have no merge plans for now. The Way of Winter merge ran during the September 16 maintenance, and the Deviation: Survive, Capture, Preserve merges start with the South America region before other regions follow in later batches.
A second update is scheduled for September 28 to make facial and body reshaping free, withdrawing Chrysalis Tokens and Butterfly Dyes and cutting the Metamorphosis Token from 880 to 300 Crystgins, according to the 3.0.6 patch notes. That puts two updates on the calendar before Isles of Abyss arrives. Starry Studio describes the expansion as taking the game's land-based world onto the open ocean for the first time since the 2024 launch. For a full assessment of where Once Human stands today, see our Once Human review.