Happy New Year, everyone!

For those who celebrated, I hope you had a chance to relax and recharge over the holidays. Here’s to starting 2026 fresh and full of adventure.

One of the biggest pieces of feedback from the original Skye was around character movement and animation. It’s something I’ve been focusing heavily on, and I wanted to share a first look at how this is evolving in Skye: Rebirth.

The current build now uses Unreal Engine’s Motion Matching system, allowing for far more natural and fluid animation blending. Walking, running, turning, and combat transitions feel noticeably smoother and more responsive, with movement that adapts naturally to player input rather than snapping between animations.

Looking ahead, I’m planning to migrate to Unreal Engine 5.7’s new “Mover” system, which takes this even further. The goal is to make every step, swing, and movement feel grounded, weighty, and believable—helping you truly inhabit the world of Skye rather than simply control a character within it.

Weapons now holster visibly on the player when assigned to a slot but not currently equipped. No more disappearing gear.

You can also use a quick weapon wheel to seamlessly sheath and unsheathe weapons, making switching loadouts feel fast, intuitive, and immersive during exploration or combat.

Weapons now support:

• Light attacks

• Heavy attacks

• Chained combos

This is the foundation for the revamped combat system. I’ll go into much more detail when I cover parrying, blocking, and the updated combat mechanics in a separate video, but I wanted to showcase some of the new animation work here first.

Object interaction has received a major overhaul.

Picking up items is now fully animated and context-aware:

• No more puff of dust

• No stationary character

• Animations react to the height and position of objects in the world

• The player physically picks items up before placing them into the inventory

This makes even small interactions feel more tactile and grounded.

All remaining core animations—including wood chopping and the new stone harvesting—have been reworked. These now support:

• Horizontal and vertical chopping systems

• Object sub-harvesting

• More physical, weight-driven motion

All of these new animation and movement systems are now fully controller compatible. From movement and combat to weapon switching and interactions, everything has been designed to feel just as smooth and intuitive on a controller as it does on keyboard and mouse.

Whether you prefer to explore Skye from the sofa or at a desk, the experience is now fully supported and tuned for both playstyles.

I hope this small insight into the new animation systems gives you a clearer picture of how Skye: Rebirth is shaping up. There’s still a lot more to show, but this is a big step toward making the world feel alive, physical, and immersive.

Thanks for sticking with me—and as always, more to come.

Hey everyone ,

Before the year comes to a close, I wanted to properly speak to you all.

First — I’m sorry for how quiet things have been. Skye has had setbacks and long periods where progress wasn’t visible. That silence wasn’t intentional, but I understand how frustrating it’s been, and you deserved better communication.

What’s important to say now is this:

Skye is now an entirely new game, developed primarily in C++ using Unreal Engine 5.7, with a new foundation built to properly support the long-term vision.

I wanted to share this small glimpse of the new Multiplayer Lobby. MP has been a long road to walk but I am finally there.

What’s already in development:

Fully rebuilt Multiplayer foundation

The entire Isle of Skye map opened up

New sub-harvesting mechanics

Completely reworked animations & locomotion

Full controller support, including rebuilt UI

New combat system: shields, parrying, combos & finishers

New enemy AI and boss encounters

Plus more, including new Ghost Building

This has been a long road, but it’s finally starting to feel solid underfoot.

From January 2026, I’ll be showing all of this off in much more detail — and the newest playable build will be coming soon.

Thank you to everyone who stuck around. Your patience hasn’t been taken for granted.

Merry Christmas

More very soon.

— Jarl Alston