Matrix Games Forums

Greetings,

DW2 has come a long way since launch, and it is a real pleasure to explore the ever-improving, developing, and expanding universe of possibilities. But we still have a long way to go before the content pipeline catches up with DWU. I thought it might be handy to have a thread that consolidated the various announcements, teasers, and such across the various roadmap and livestream commentary to get a better feel for the big-picture arc. Please feel free to add to this if I have overlooked anything.
NOTE: None of this is official. While I strive to capture info that was stated from an official source, all of this is very much subject to change. Nevertheless, it is the best info we have currently.

BASE GAME IMPROVEMENTS Through Beta 1.3.3.2
New Features: Teekan and Haakonish faction refresh.
Ship/Fleet Behavior: Loads of fleet improvements coming with the next update; fuel tanker overhaul
AI and System Behavior: Improvements to resource economy, tourism, and troop management
UI and Message Behavior: Improvements to colony construction UI; integrated automation settings in messages
Modding Support: Stand by.
Game Setup: New automation policy summary and explanation at game start
Explicitly Mentioned Items in the works with unknown ETA: Galactopedia Search; Fleet/Tactical Tutorial; "Don't message me about this again" feature.

FACTION REFRESH
Human: Done!
Mortalen: Done!
Boskara: Done!
Zenox: Done!
Teekan: Part of Beta 1.3.3.2; coming soon!
Haakonish: Part of Beta 1.3.3.2; coming soon!
Ackdarian: Last faction to be updated (Spring 2026 - per Roadmap)

FACTION EXPANSION
Ikkuro: Done!
Dhayut: Done!
Quameno: Done!
Gizurean: Done!
Atuuk: Done!
Wekkarus: Done!
Securan: Next official Faction DLC (ETA post-Spring 2026) *Not officially teased
Naxxilian: Next official Faction DLC (ETA post-Spring 2026) *Not officially teased
Ketarov: Unknown; no official mention of it yet.
Kiadian: Unknown; no official mention of it yet.
Shandar: Unknown; no official mention of it yet.
Sluken: Unknown; no official mention of it yet.
Ugnari: Unknown; no official mention of it yet.

FEATURE EXPANSION
Return of the Shakturi: Done!
Shadows Rising: Officially announced at Slitherine Next; Coming "Winter" (Q4 2025 or Q1 2026). Teased content includes playable pirate factions with contract-style systems, one or more neutral "Tortuga-esque" havens/bases where any faction can trade, pirate-specific ships/textures, and (possibly) more of the Distant Worlds timeline to explore. Pirate and independent factions have been significantly reworked to bring much more depth and interaction to the game regardless of the style of faction you choose to play. More unrevealed content.
Expansion #3: A third feature expansion is planned after "Shadows Rising". No more information is available at this time.
Other Teasers: During the AMA, it was touched upon several times that a possibility exists for a later expansion covering aspects of internal politics for empires. Clearly, this is just a community brainstorm at this point, but there was repeated interest and it was well received by the devs.
MORE?!?!: A forum discussion revealed the XML existence of several new Character types, including a detailed "cabinet" for high-level advisors, as well as individual ship captains and planetary governors. Erik mentioned in that thread that more characters are planned to be implemented into the game, but ETA is unknown
(https://forums.matrixgames.com/viewtopic.php?t=411219).

OTHER STUFF
Penal Colony: While AI empires will already use slavery mechanisms, there is no clear indicator to the player that a given world is enslaved, unlike DWU, which renamed planets as "penal colonies". In a forum thread, Erik confirmed the AI utilizing slavery, but doesn't rename worlds to penal colonies "yet". Could we see a return of this thematic element? Stay tuned.
Steam Achievements: Erik elaborated during the AMA that Achievements are planned, but will be treated as a very late-in-development addition (not unlike DWU, where achievements were added near the end). This better integrates the achievements into the full DW2 content tree, which at this point is still growing.
Orbiting Planets: While it hasn't been officially removed from the realm of possibility, it is very unlikely we will see orbiting planets in DW2. Reasoning is based on the difficulty of coordinating pathing in a 3D environment as well as resource demands; cost-versus-benefit is too low to pursue.
Multiplayer: Elliot mentioned in the AMA that DW2 was once flirting with multiplayer, but that it didn't end up being feasible at the time. It is not officially stricken from the realm of possibility, but it is also not currently part of the development plan.
Completely New Factions/Content: When asked if we may see races/factions or content never before introduced to the Distant Worlds franchise, Erik and Elliot have each said that while no such content is in the works, it is a possibility in the future.


That's all I have so far. If there are other items that have been mentioned or that you would like me to list/track here, please let me know and I will try to keep the OP up to date as the game continues to evolve. Cheers!

Updated through Beta 1.2.9.2 and "New DLC and Control Update Announcement"

Thank you for a good summary.

Would people prefer that I post here after each update to bump it up for easy visibility, or just quietly edit the posts and let this sink in the list?

Here's the link to the latest official Roadmap, for those who want to read more: https://www.slitherine.com/news/state-o ... admap-2025

Thanks for this, that all checks out.

Thanks Erik! Happy to help keep this info handy.

Minor formatting change to consolidate the info better.

The latest DLC and Control Update announcement article: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... 3598100792

DLC and Update are scheduled to be available April 03, 2025!

Thanks for this I learned that a don’t remind me was in the works. Finally ! No more repeated messages.

Please bump this thread every time an important feature is announced

Apologies for the delay. I just made it through my busiest time of the year (I'm a tax accountant in the US), and by the time the dust had settled, I found that I was behind not one but TWO updates ("Control" and "Tactics") and a Factions DLC release, plus two livestreams and an AMA. The Distant Worlds 2 Universe has been very active in recent weeks, and we have loads of great new features to explore! Thanks to the DW2 team for all of the goodies

I've updated the OP. Looks like we now set our sights on the July update mentioned in the roadmap, for which Betas will probably begin appearing in the next month or so. Good times.

Thanks for the work. I look forward to play as a pirate

Updated though Beta 1.3.1.0 (July 03 2025)

Updated through "Slitherine Next 2025" stream.

Big updates:
- Next patch coming August 07, 2025
- Next feature DLC officially revealed: "DW2: Shadows Rising" is the official name of the "pirate expansion" and is expected this "winter" (Q4 2025 or Q1 2026). See the stream for early teaser visuals.

Updated through Beta 1.3.3.2
(https://forums.matrixgames.com/viewtopic.php?t=413890)