Dead Weight
In the codexAdventureIndieRPG

Dead Weight

Face the Ancient Gods! Set the sails of your flying pirate ship and embark on a roguelite adventure in the steampunk world of Dead Weight. Explore floating islands in search of loot. Choose a class and enjoy turn-based tactical combat on tiny battlefields where every step matters.

DEV: Klukva GamesPUB: Klukva Games, Spaghetti CatAppID 2646720
UPDATE PULSEevery ~21d·last 43d ago·6 recent on record

Is Dead Weight still being updated? — the short answer, with the evidence.

90.0
Strong

Elixir Rating

82.2% of 617 Steam reviews are positive, which after adjusting for sample size gives a reception score of 79. The developers have shipped 3 substantial updates in the past six months, adding 11.0.

reception 79·support +11.0·Strong

Computed from Steam’s own review tally and observable developer activity — never from anyone’s opinion of the game. How this is calculated

Should you look into this?

From Steam's own record

Current price

$9.09$12.99−30%

Development

Actively supported

Last heard from developers

16 days ago

Usual rhythm

every ~11.5 days

Substantial updates (6 mo)

3

Current silence

within normal range

The developers post roughly every 11.5 days and were last heard 16 days ago — within their normal range. 3 substantial updates landed in the past six months, 1 of them major. It is currently 30% below its usual price.

Distilled by the oracle

Our coverage

1 dispatch written from this game’s announcements

releaseAug 31, 2026

Dead Weight v1.0.3.4 Reins In Pirate Respawns, Rebalances XP Gain

Dead Weight's developer Fearawl has shipped patch 1.0.3.4, the game's second post-launch update, shaped by player reviews, discussions, and bug reports. Larger tasks remain in progress; this release targets the problems players flagged most often.

What changed

Map and towns

  • After unlocking the "STAGE II" meta upgrade, a flag button appears on the global map. Raising the pirate flag causes weaker pirates to fear the ship's Battle Power and stop attacking.
  • Pirate ships no longer respawn endlessly on the global map after being destroyed.
  • The Dock's unlock condition has changed: players must now spend more than 1,024 Fuel during a run, replacing the previous requirement of visiting 2 refueling islands. Fuel spent in the prologue does not count.
  • The Lighthouse now scouts an area only if at least 30% of its fog remains hidden.
  • Random global-map events are distributed more reliably, reducing clusters of identical events spawning near each other.
  • Pirate ships without fuel display a separate map icon during the "Fuel Crisis" event.

Balance and skills

  • Guaranteed battle experience has been reduced across all tiers: values drop from 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 / 175 to 50 / 75 / 90 / 110 / 130.
  • Experience bonuses from weapons and armor now apply only to the character wearing that equipment; gear on allies no longer raises the hero's XP gain.

Note: the source text for the Double Arcing Shot change was cut off and its full details are unavailable.

Taken together, the patch makes the global map less punishing in some respects — pirates no longer infinitely respawn — while tightening progression so that XP accumulates more deliberately.

Two years of development

■ substantial ■ routine

Nov2025FebMayAugNov2026FebMayAug

35 announcements · 5 substantial · 9 months with nothing

Recent Transmissions

30 entries in codex

Community AnnouncementsSep 17, 2026
Supporter Pack Release Discount

The Dead Weight Supporter Pack is now available on Steam!It’s a great way to support Klukva Games. The Supporter Pack includes the original Dead Weight soundtrack and an artbook dedicated to the game’s development.To celebrate the release, …

Community AnnouncementsSep 4, 2026
Make The Most Broken Build to Win The Supporter Pack

Ahoy, pirates!Player gbljhub blew us (and Deradahn) away with a 102-damage attack in a single turn. If you can match, beat, or even get close to this record, you’ll win the Supporter Pack for free!Contest rules:Create the most broken build …

Community AnnouncementsAug 28, 2026
Supporter Pack Releases on September 17th

September 17 marks the release of the Dead Weight Supporter Pack!It will include an digital artbook and a soundtrack featuring 13 original music tracks. To celebrate the release of the pack, Dead Weight will also be available at a discount!…

Community AnnouncementsAug 21, 2026
Patch Notes — v1.0.3.4

The second Dead Weight patch is now available!We’re continuing to read your reviews, discussions, and bug reports. Some larger tasks are still in progress, so in this patch we focused on the issues players mentioned most often: combat probl…

Read our dispatch on this

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsAug 14, 2026
A Closer Look at The Supporter Pack

For the last few weeks, our artists have been working on the Dead Weight Artbook, which will be a part of The Supporter Pack along with the official Dead Weight Soundtrack. This Artbook includes 186 pages of artwork and sketches created dur…

Community AnnouncementsJul 31, 2026
Patch Notes — v1.0.2.3

It’s been two weeks since Dead Weight launched! Since then, we’ve been reading your reviews and discussions, going through your feedback, and collecting and sorting bug reports, ideas, and suggestions.Thank you to everyone who took the time…

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsJul 29, 2026
Last Chance to Buy Dead Weight With 25% Discount

Ahoy, pirates!We want to remind you that the release sale ends on 31st of July, so if you were thinking about buying Dead Weight, don't miss your last chance!The Skies are waiting!

Community AnnouncementsJul 24, 2026
Upcoming Patch Preview and Some Stats

Ahoy, pirate! It has been one week since the release of Dead Weight, and we would like to share what we have been working on during this time. Our main priority right now is collecting feedback and responding to critical issues. We read rev…

Community AnnouncementsJul 23, 2026
20k Copies and Development Roadmap

Ahoy, pirate!It's been a week since the release of Dead Weight. In just 6 days, Dead Weight has sold more than 20k copies! Just 3 years ago we couldn't even dream about it, and now we are here. We are truly happy to see you appreciating Dea…

Community AnnouncementsJul 17, 2026
24 Hours Since Release and Supporter Bundle

24 hours ago, we released our dream game Dead Weight, and we already have more than 100 reviews! Thank you! We couldn't even image achieving this without you, pirate.We're also closely listening to your feedback, so please, if you have anyt…

Community AnnouncementsJul 16, 2026
Dead Weight Is Out Now!

Dead Weight is finally here!Set up your sails and get ready to face the Ancient Gods! Play Dead Weight now!More than 3 years ago, we started the development of our dream game. Tens of thousands of hours later, it's finally finished. We coul…

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsJul 15, 2026
Dead Weight Arrives Tomorrow!

Ahoy, pirate!Get your flying ships ready because Dead Weight arrives to Steam tomorrow!It will be a huge day for us, and we can't wait to share Dead Weight with our fans who have been supporting us throughout 3 whole years of development. S…

Community AnnouncementsJul 10, 2026
How Much Will Dead Weight Cost?

Ahoy, pirate!Some of you have been asking us about the price for Dead Weight. Well, we are ready to answer!Dead Weight will cost $12.99 with a launch discount of 30% it will be $8.99. And of course there will be regional prices to make the …

Community AnnouncementsJun 24, 2026
Get Ready to Face The Ancient Gods on July 16th with Dead Weight's Release

Ahoy, pirates!Get your flying ships ready because Dead Weight is coming to Steam on July 16th, 2026 at 18:00 CEST.4 playable characters;3 regions with unique enemies;3 mighty bosses;3 Ancients Gods with questionable morals;hundreds of weapo…

Community AnnouncementsMay 22, 2026
Playtest Is About to Close

Ahoy! We are back from our small vacation and ready for the last push before the release.To focus on the upcoming release, we plan to close the playtest. It's been open for quite some time, and we got tones of feedback from you. It helped u…

Community AnnouncementsMay 1, 2026
Upcoming Playtest Update

Ahoy, pirates!As promised, today we will tell you about all the fixes we've made for the playtest. These changes will arrive next week.Here are the changes:Updated item balance and the madness mechanic. The logic for spawning corrupted unit…

Community AnnouncementsApr 24, 2026
News and Future Plans

Ahoy, pirates!This iteration of playtest has begun 6 weeks ago, March 13th.During this time 2866 unique players have traveled across the Skies in the playtest, 3163 did it in the demo version of the game. And 658 of them have also submitted…

Community AnnouncementsApr 10, 2026
Dead Weight Dev News & Demo Update

Ahoy! One more week has passed and we can't wait to tell you about a few new things we've been working on.FatigueWe are planning to change the fatigue mechanic. We aren't really happy with its current state, since it limits the player a bit…

Community AnnouncementsApr 3, 2026
About The New Movement System

Ahoy!Last week we mentioned UI updates. Today we will tell you about the upcoming movement system updates.So, do you remember how it used to be? You choose the movement skill and pick a tile that's within your movement radius. Rinse and rep…

Community AnnouncementsMar 27, 2026
Playtest: What's Next?

The playtest has been live for almost two weeks now.More than 1500 players took part in it, with an average playtime rising up to 1.5 hours after the addition of the second region. One out of five players left their feedback in our special …

Community AnnouncementsMar 20, 2026
Explore a New Region on Playtest

Ahoy!Last week we launched a new playtest with Berry being available there. We promised to also unlock the second region of the game once we had enough info on her. Well, you guys did a great job with it! Thank you for the tonnes of feedbac…

Community AnnouncementsMar 12, 2026
Dead Weight Development Update

Hi there, pirates! We have some news for you!Release WindowYou might've noticed that Q1 2026 is about to end, and we still haven't said anything about the release date. Well, planning things has always been our greatest weakness.After caref…

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsJan 16, 2026
Dead Weight Just Hit 100k Wishlists

Dead Weight has reached 100k wishlists!Thank you, pirates, for helping us to hit this huge milestone. Now all that remains is to release the game :) Stay tuned!

Community AnnouncementsDec 17, 2025
Dead Weight: Prologue is OUT

Dead Weight: Prologue is out now! Play it for free!Play as Arn, a mighty Barbarian.Learn what happens in the beginning of the story of Dead Weight.Meet the Ancient Gods for the first time and gain supernatural powers.Upgrade your flying pir…

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsOct 15, 2025
Check out Provoron!

Hey everyone!This week is the Steam Next Fest, and we wanna give a shout-out to our friend from the indie dev scene who's been working solo on her game Provoron:It's a hand-drawn 2D adventure with puzzles about a little crow named Ankou. Th…

Community AnnouncementsOct 15, 2025
Play the Demo Now!

Steam Next Fest is in full swing! And our new Demo is waiting for you. Play it now!Fight Aluza, save Berry and explore the first region of the game filled with dozens of goblins waiting to be pushed into the Abyss!

Community AnnouncementsOct 9, 2025
Dead Weight is coming to Steam Next Fest!

All aboard!Dead Weight is coming to Next Fest on October 13th. And the Demo is out NOW!Explore the first region of the game. Defeat Aluza, the corrupted Oracle, and save Berry! Oh, and don't forget to add Dead Weight to your wishlist😉

Community AnnouncementsAug 29, 2025
The Playtest is Over

The playtest is over! Thank you for playing!We've gathered hundreds of feedback messages that will help us make Dead Weight even better.

Community AnnouncementsAug 22, 2025
The Playtest stays open for one more week

Astrologers proclaim one more week of playtesting! The cost of resting and the amount of gold gained in the Docks have been changed. We will keep the playtest open for one more week to see how these changes will affect the gameplay.

Community AnnouncementsAug 14, 2025
The playtest is LIVE!

Hop on the playest and enjoy slaying goblins and bugs!