Starry Studio has set the Isles of Abyss launch time for October 21, 2026, at 4:00 PM (PT), when a maintenance update opens the ocean survival scenario for Once Human on PC, console, and mobile, according to the studio's Isles of Abyss launch dev blog. The scenario is PvE, runs on a core cycle of about 21 days, and arrives alongside a PvP map, Isles of Abyss: RaidZone. Players preparing for the scenario can start with our Once Human beginner's guide.
Isles of Abyss Launch Time and Server Opening
The 4:00 PM Pacific start corresponds to 7:00 PM in New York, midnight in London, and 1:00 AM on October 22 in Paris and Berlin. A server notice published on October 20 confirms that Isles of Abyss servers open immediately after the update: four in North America and Europe, and two each across South America, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, with more added as capacity fills. Each server holds 12 worlds. Sign-ups are not available in advance; players enter from the scenario sign-up screen once servers open, and squads formed on the team-up platform are guaranteed to land on the same server.
Characters that transfer from another scenario go through scenario settlement, so level and supplies restart, while cosmetics, Blueprint levels, and Mod levels carry over. The permanent server is now expected on November 18, 2026 (PT), later than the November 12 date given in the October 16 dev blog. The scenario launches without a Vision tag; its Vision World opens with the S5 Vision release.
Phases, Haywire Zones, and The Sunken Lord
Phase I lasts about five to ten days and shortens as a server's purification progress advances. Phase II runs 11 days and unlocks the endgame challenge against The Sunken Lord, after which the rest stage begins. The archipelago runs from tropical coconut groves to cold tundra, starting at Fragrant Cape. "Haywire Zones" change exploration rules through weather such as the Mist of Deceit, Black Tide, Time Rain, and Skyfire; in Reefshadow Bay, the Mist of Deceit lowers the temperature and shrinks visibility as health drops. The story follows the captain Malla and the investigator Ran.
Launch Rewards, Halloween Events, and a New Frost Weapon
The launch brings new Legendary Blueprints and Gear Blueprints as sign-in gifts, a double rebate on first purchases, and a free commemorative weapon skin, with Halloween events starting at the same time. A developer blog from October 12 adds a new weapon, the SOCR "Cosmic Visitor," which builds Frost Vortexes and fires Ice Spears, and a matching armor piece, the Snowline Elite Vest. Youngling Huts, used for breeding animals, cannot be built in the RV or on water territories in Isles of Abyss.
Isles of Abyss: RaidZone and the Naval Core Contest
RaidZone opens with its main mode, the Naval Core Contest, a PvP format in which all players share the same waters without separate worlds, with scarcer resources and more frequent encounters. One RaidZone server per region opens immediately after the update and reopens every two weeks, with separate console-only servers. The ocean expansion was first dated in September, as covered in our Isles of Abyss release date news.