8 September 2026 19:48 UTC · Community Announcements · [Impeller] HardBurn
In The Black - Heat DeathHeat is now a weapon, a warning light, and a way to die. This patch rips out the old approximated heat model and replaces it with a brand-new, ground-up thermodynamics system. Your coolant loops, armor panels, radiators, and core systems now trade energy realistically, and your cockpit finally tells you which part is cooking before the reactor does anything dramatic.Here’s everything that’s new, everything that got better, and everything we fixed.NEW: Thermodynamics & Heat DamageNew Thermal System. We built a high-performance high-fidelity thermal system from scratch.
29 May 2026 22:25 UTC · Community Announcements · [Impeller] HardBurn
Watch Patch Video on YouTubeOverviewThis patch serves as a final push before our first content update. The team has focused heavily on hardening the core systems pilots use outside of missions: the squad/co-op system, ship inventory, and the ship modification pipeline.Key HighlightsSquads System & Co-op Contracts are officially back online.Cosmetics Unlockable through rank progression.Inventory Management is now significantly more reliable.Core System OverhaulsSquad & Co-op PolishAudio Sync: Co-op music and voiceover events are now properly synchronized between pilots, eliminating silent missi
15 May 2026 23:32 UTC · Community Announcements · Exothermic Megan
Greetings, Pilots!Here's an overview of our Early Access hotfixes and stability updates:New BloodSport LocationOpen Space - 5 v 5 - Pure dogfighting. No asteroids. No stations. Just the vacuum.Gameplay & Game Mode LogicWe've overhauled the logic that governs round transitions and bot behavior. The previous systems had some...exploitable loopholes. Those have been closed.Team Deathmatch Round-End Evaluation: Addressed a lingering issue where TDM rounds could end prematurely, even with active players in their ships. The evaluation logic is now more robust and correctly assesses the state of all
7 May 2026 00:53 UTC · Community Announcements · Exothermic Megan
Greetings, Pilots.We've deployed a hotfix to address a critical hardware failure that slipped through recently and TrackIR support has now been restored. Some of you rightly pointed out that TrackIR went dark on launch. The device's Product ID was updated prematurely on our end, breaking the link. We've rolled back that change to restore immediate functionality. This gets head tracking back online for everyone who depends on it. We're coordinating with the TrackIR team to get the official ID integrated properly in a future release, but we weren't going to leave you flying blind in the meantime
6 May 2026 15:19 UTC · Community Announcements · Exothermic Megan
Greetings, Pilots. Thank you to everyone flying with us during our Early Access launch. Your feedback is helping us move quickly. Our first hotfix is already live and includes:• Re-enabled onboarding after fixes for physics, collision, and progression blockers • Added fail-safes to prevent players from getting stuck during tutorial flow • Fixed unkillable Destroy objectives for better mission consistency • Temporarily disabled the Squad system while we improve multiplayer stability Another round of fixes is already in testing, including: • Hidden mouse cursor issue at the end of contracts • Ad
4 May 2026 15:16 UTC · Community Announcements · Exothermic Megan
Greetings Pilots,Another week, another round of updates as we prepare for launch into Early Access. We've been busy under the hood, overhauling core systems for performance, stability, and gameplay correctness. Here is the breakdown.Core System and Performance OverhaulsWe have landed a significant overhaul of the ship physics, armor, and mass bookkeeping systems. Armor meshes have been removed from the rigid-body simulation, which should yield a noticeable performance improvement in heavy combat. Vehicle mass has been split into distinct 'gameplay' and 'physics' pools, giving us more granular
30 April 2026 17:27 UTC · Community Announcements · Exothermic Megan
Greetings, mercs!We are incredibly proud to announce that the Early Access release of In The Black will launch May 5th. That date also honors the 65th anniversary of the first manned spaceflight of an American astronaut: Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 suborbital flight in 1961. We partnered with our good friends at LT Gaming for this exclusive announcement on their YouTube channel:The full press release can be viewed here: Nuclear-Powered Space Combat Simulator In The Black® Launches May 5We are incredibly grateful to all of the people who have helped bring this game to life over the past decade. Th
26 January 2026 20:59 UTC · Community Announcements · [Impeller] Toucan
Another week, another batch of changes straight from the void. We're continuing our push on UI and quality-of-life, and this time our sights were set on the projectile impact points (PIP). The old lead/lag pips were functional, but let's be honest, they were dumb and static. We've overhauled them completely.Alongside that, we've continued paying down a massive amount of technical debt, ripping out old systems and replacing them with more robust engine subsystems. This work isn't glamorous, but it's essential for stability and squashing entire classes of bugs and preventing future ones before t
12 January 2026 19:31 UTC · Community Announcements · [Impeller] Toucan
We've updated our Tobii head and eye tracking smoothing algorithms to reduce jitter and lag. We also slipped in a few bugfixes on some nasty edge cases that have been plaguing us.Core System OverhaulsTobii Eye/Head Tracking Rewrite: We've thrown out the old over-simplified smoothing system that felt disconnected and jittery. The new smoothing system is based on a complex prediction model that will guess where you're looking next. The result is a much tighter, 1:1 feel with significantly less jitter. We also tweaked the default acceleration values to something that feels more balanced out of th
10 January 2026 04:13 UTC · Community Announcements · [Impeller] HardBurn
Tobii Support & Backend UpdateAlright pilots, listen up.This week was about ripping out the guts of our singleton managers and replacing them with actual Engine Subsystems, because we're tired of race conditions and "spaghetti code" being a valid architectural pattern. We paid down a massive amount of technical debt, but we didn't leave you empty-handed. We’ve finished the Tobii Eye Tracking integration, so you can finally aim where you look.New Feature: Tobii Eye TrackingWe’ve added full Tobii integration. It’s not just a wrapper; we did the math to make it feel right.Head & Gaze Tracking: Fu
11 December 2025 22:27 UTC · Community Announcements · [Impeller] Toucan
Features & System ChangesHead Tracking Overhaul: The system for head tracking and vehicle cameras has been completely rewritten for significantly smoother and more accurate 1:1 control.Head tracking rotation is now independent of manual freelook (mouse/joystick), allowing for simultaneous input.It's recommended to reset your look multiplier back to 1.0 found in Options > Misc.Tracking input settings can be found under Options > Input > View as the last two options.Pause Tracking: Freezes the headtracking look orientation.Toggle Eye & Head Tracking: Disables head tracking and restores the playe
6 December 2025 19:28 UTC · Community Announcements · [Impeller] HardBurn
What's NewWe're excited to introduce the completely redesigned Input System 2.0 for In The Black! This major overhaul brings a modern, flexible input management system that makes configuring your controls easier and more reliable than ever before.⚠️ WARNING: All previous input settings will be reset! Legacy profiles are not compatible with the new system. Your controls will reset to defaults upon first launch.Track-IR Head-Tracking Support (NEW) Track-IR support is now integrated, giving you true head-look in the cockpit for better spatial awareness, target tracking, and immersion.Look around
19 November 2025 00:16 UTC · Community Announcements · [Impeller] Toucan
Visual ImprovementsAugmented Vision: Added Augmented Vision on activation of Sensors to help new and seasoned players find their way in the dark of space.Ultra Wide Support: FOV now adjusts dynamically based on screen aspect ratio to ensure that all vital parts of the ship cockpit remain visible regardless of monitor aspect ratio.Vehicle HUD Update: When the HMCS widget is triggered to be visible, the HUD brackets will now hide themselves to reduce visual clutter on screen.Game Resource MenuThe new Game Resource menu is now available. You can access it through the News button in the hangar. Th
5 November 2025 20:04 UTC · Community Announcements · Impeller Studios
Major AdditionsCamera Zoom OverhaulRebuilt from the ground up for smoother, more realistic control.Added Toggle Zoom and refined Auto-Zoom behavior (now only activates on initial target focus).Implemented a true optical magnification model, improving precision and feel.All zoom settings now live under a dedicated Zoom tab in the options menu.Player Feedback ImprovementsThe post-submission “Thank You” screen now displays an Issue ID to help us trace reports faster.Visual Effects UpgradeThe Hyperion-class ship now features new, improved destruction effects.BreakoutExplosionFixes & OptimizationsA
29 October 2025 01:30 UTC · Community Announcements · [Impeller] HardBurn
Several bug fixes and Quality-of-Life updates, here are some of the most notable:Gameplay & Tutorial ImprovementsWeapons Tutorial Revamp: Players can now freely rotate their ship from the start of the tutorial, removing forced aim alignment. This prevents issues with ship drift during the railgun section and improves player agency.Basic Flight Training Enhancements:Instruction text now animates to maintain player focus.Visuals adjusted to improve readability; asteroids and background clutter reduced.New logic zeroes player velocity when movement goals are achieved to reduce false detections.Fr
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