- NO CLEAN START Playtest is Live. - 21 September 2026
After months of work, No Clean Start is finally in your hands.This is our first public Playtest. The game is still in development, so expect rough edges, bugs and things that will change — that's exactly why we want you to play it.If you've already been granted access, you should find No Clean Start Playtest in your Steam Library,If you haven't joined yet, you can still request access from the Steam page.Play it, explore, experiment — and let us know what works and what doesn't.You can also join us on Discord to report bugs, leave feedback or just talk with us about the game.Thanks to everyone who has been waiting for this.See you inside.Riccardo
- NO CLEAN START PLAYTEST BEGINS MONDAY - 19 September 2026
The doors are about to open.No Clean Start's first public Steam Playtest begins Monday, September 21 at 10:00 AM UTC / 12:00 PM CEST.If you've already requested access, check your Steam Library — the Playtest may already be waiting for you. It won't be playable until Monday.This is a limited public Playtest and your first chance to step into No Clean Start, explore the facility, fight your way through the infected, experiment with its systems and help us shape what comes next.PLAYTEST STARTSeptember 21 — 10:00 AM UTC / 12:00 PM CESTIf you haven't requested access yet, you can still do it directly from the No Clean Start Steam page.Request access. Wishlist No Clean Start. And we'll see you inside on Monday.There is no clean start.
- A Small Glimpse - 2 August 2026
A Small GlimpseOver the past few months we've been sharing the systems behind NO CLEAN START through our development diaries.Today we'd simply like to show a small glimpse of the game in motion.This short clip isn't a trailer, and it doesn't try to tell the whole story. It's just a brief look at the atmosphere, the pacing, and a few moments taken directly from the current build.Since our last update we've continued refining virtually every aspect of the experience: enemy behavior, encounters, weapons, visual feedback, balancing, performance and, above all, replayability.Our current focus isn't adding as many new features as possible. It's making sure the existing ones work together consistently and provide an experience that feels rewarding over repeated runs.We know many of you have already requested access to the upcoming Steam Playtest, and we're genuinely grateful for the interest t…
- Approaching the First Playtest - 11 July 2026
Hi all,Over the past few months we've shared many of the systems that make up NO CLEAN START: encounters, enemy behaviors, player classes, weapons and progression.Most of those systems are now in place.Our focus has gradually shifted from building new features to refining the experience as a whole.A significant part of our work is currently dedicated to balancing encounters, tuning weapon handling, refining visual and audio feedback, improving enemy variety, and making sure that all these individual systems work together consistently.One area receiving particular attention is replayability.Because NO CLEAN START is designed around repeated runs, every playthrough should feel familiar enough to reward learning, while remaining unpredictable enough to encourage different decisions. Much of our recent work has been about finding that balance: adjusting encounters, refining progression, imp…
- No Clean Start – Dev Update #6 - 19 June 2026
Hi all.Over the past few weeks we've been focusing less on introducing entirely new systems and more on expanding the ones that are already in place.A large part of development has been dedicated to increasing gameplay variety while continuing to improve stability and overall performance. As we move closer to the first public playable build, every new feature also has to integrate cleanly with everything that already exists.A new infected variantOne area we've been expanding is enemy variety.One of the newest additions is a new infected type internally inspired by a parasitic infection. Unlike the regular infected, these creatures are literally being consumed from the inside by aggressive parasites that have spread throughout their bodies.The infection has progressed so far that parasites can often be seen emerging from the mouth and other wounds while the host is still alive.Their most…
- No Clean Start – Dev Update #5 - 4 May 2026
When Not Everything Comes CloseSo far, most of the threats we’ve shown have been based on proximity.Shamblers, by design, create pressure by forcing the player into close-range decisions — when to approach, when to disengage, when to take risks.This week we’re introducing a different type of threat.Not all enemies in NO CLEAN START rely on getting close.Remnants of What They WereSome of the infected are not ordinary creatures.They are former soldiers and special forces units originally deployed to contain the outbreak. Over time, the infection has altered them both physically and mentally.Their faces are deformed. Their behavior is unstable. Most of their reasoning is gone.But not entirely.What remains are fragments — partial memory, conditioned reflexes, residual habits from their previous roles.In some cases, this includes the ability to handle weapons.Weapons as Part of the BodyOne o…
- Rebirth / No Clean Start – Dev Update #4 - 24 April 2026
Classes Are Not Just LoadoutsUp to this point, we’ve talked about space, encounters, and the systems that shape them.This week, we’re introducing something that directly affects how players approach all of those systems: classes.At a glance, classes might look like simple loadout variations. In practice, they define how a run feels from the very first minute.More Than a Starting KitEach class begins with a different loadout, but that’s only one part of the system.Under the hood, classes are built around a set of core character attributes that influence how the player moves, survives, and interacts with the world.Some of these are already active in the current build, while others are being integrated progressively.The current set includes:HealthStaminaMovement speedStealth (how much noise the player produces)Agility (affecting reload and handling speed)Resistance to bleedingResistance to…
- Rebirth / No Clean Start – Dev Update #3 - 11 April 2026
Hi everyone, in this update we want to share a new enemy type we’ve been working on over the past days, and how it fits into the broader light/dark gameplay systems.As with most of our recent work, the focus is not just on adding variety, but on reinforcing consistency across systems and making player decisions more readable.A new light-dependent enemy: the AylesWe’ve introduced a new enemy type called Ayles (literally, “the eyeless”).Unlike the Shambler, which is primarily active in dark environments, and the Ranged enemies that tend to avoid darkness, the Ayles behaves in a complementary way: it only appears in runs where certain areas are powered and illuminated.If a player activates lighting systems during a run, subsequent runs may feature this enemy in those same areas. In this sense, it is indirectly tied to the player’s previous actions, reinforcing the idea that the world evolv…
- Rebirth / No Clean Start – Dev Update #2 - 4 April 2026
Hi everyone, welcome back to our weekly update.Over the past week, we focused on expanding interaction systems related to enemy behavior, particularly around distraction tools and throwable devices. At the same time, we’re continuing to see the game take shape in a way that is increasingly aligned with our initial vision, which is encouraging for the whole team.AI Interaction: Distraction as a ToolOne of our goals is to give players indirect ways to manage encounters, not just through combat.We’ve been working on systems that allow players to:redirect enemy attentioncreate temporary safe pathsbreak line-of-sight pressureThis adds a layer of decision-making that goes beyond shooting, especially in constrained or high-risk situations.Throwable DistractionsWe introduced simple throwable objects, such as stones, that can be used to:generate sound on impactattract nearby enemiesinfluence mov…
- Rebirth / No Clean Start – Dev Update #1 - 30 March 2026
Hi everyone, with this first dev update we want to start sharing a more concrete look at the current state of Rebirth / No Clean Start, as we approach the first build we’re preparing for the coming weeks. This build will be available for free on Indiegala, and later on Steam.Over the past months, we’ve focused mainly on solidifying the core loop and the main gameplay systems.In this post, we’ll give an overview of what is already playable in the current version.🔁 Core LoopRebirth as we already said is a first-person roguelite built around deterministic runs.Each run is generated from a seed that defines:path structuredoor statesloot distributionactivation of certain eventsThis approach allows us to maintain variety while keeping the experience controlled and fair, avoiding frustrating randomness.🧭 Map Structure & ObjectivesThe level is divided into three main zones.To complete a run,…
- The Shambler: One Type, Many Behaviors - 21 February 2026
In previous updates we talked about space, encounters and the systems that shape them.This week we want to focus on the main inhabitant of those spaces: the Shambler.At first glance, it may look like a single enemy type. In practice, it behaves more like a framework than a fixed unit.Not All Shamblers Are Immediately HostileShamblers are built using a behavioral structure. Instead of turning them into simple “attack on sight” enemies, we chose a more layered approach.Most Shamblers are not permanently aggressive.They can exist in a neutral state, reacting only when they perceive a threat. A threat can be:excessive noisesudden proximitydirect interferenceor clear hostile intentIn practical terms, this means that simply approaching one too closely can be enough to trigger aggression. Getting within a few centimeters is often interpreted as a threat.This is not accidental.The majority of l…
- Encounters Are Not Random - 7 February 2026
So far we’ve talked about space, doors and movement — the foundations of how the player experiences the world.But a world without encounters is just architecture.Over the past weeks, a large part of development has shifted toward building the systems that actually bring these spaces to life. The focus has been on how encounters appear, evolve and interact with the environment rather than simply placing enemies in rooms.In many games, encounters are either fully scripted or completely random. Both approaches have advantages, but they also come with limitations. Fully scripted encounters lose their tension once they are learned, while fully random encounters often feel chaotic and disconnected from the space they happen in.For NO CLEAN START, we are building something in between.Encounters as SystemsInstead of placing enemies manually across the level, the game relies on a structure we in…
- No Clean Start – Designing Tension Through Space - 30 January 2026
In No Clean Start, the building itself doesn’t change between runs. The layout is always the same: corridors, offices, courtyards, maintenance areas. What changes is how the player can move through that space, and what the environment allows — or prevents — at any given moment.From the beginning, our goal wasn’t to rely on procedural room generation. Instead, we wanted to design a coherent, believable place that remains tense and unpredictable through its systems, not through random layouts.A Fixed Layout, Different DecisionsEvery run takes place inside the same compound. Rooms are not shuffled, and the geography stays consistent. What changes is the state of the building.Some doors that were easy to open in a previous run may now require power or a key. Certain routes may look viable at first, only to reveal themselves as dead ends later on. Only one exit is actually open in each run,…
- Foundations: Why Space Comes Before Everything Else - 26 January 2026
Before systems, mechanics, or enemies, we started with space.In NO CLEAN START, space is not just a container for gameplay. It’s the first system the player interacts with. Long before any explicit rule is introduced, the environment already teaches how to move, where to hesitate, and when something feels wrong.This is why the early development focused almost entirely on contained, readable spaces. Not large areas, not spectacle, but layouts that communicate intention. Corridors, thresholds, blind corners, dead ends — these elements are not decorative. They define tension, safety, and risk.A narrow corridor slows you down. A turn hides information. A long straight path creates expectation. None of this requires UI, prompts, or tutorials. The space itself does the work.Designing space this way also means accepting limitations. Rooms need to make sense. Connections must be consistent. Sho…
- FIRST DEV DIARY – NO CLEAN START - 22 January 2026
This is not a clean start. And it was never meant to be one.NO CLEAN START was born from the idea that restarting doesn’t mean erasing what came before. It means carrying mistakes, knowledge, and consequences forward — and letting them change how you move, how you think, and how you survive.This game is built around repetition, failure, and observation. Not as punishment, but as a learning process.Every run is an attempt, not a reset. The world reacts. It remembers patterns, behaviors, and decisions. And what player learns matters more than what he unlocks.From a design perspective, this means focusing on systems before scale. Because spaces are contained, readable, and intentional. And movement, interactions, and progression are built to reinforce tension and awareness rather than speed or power.Development of NO CLEAN START is being shared openly from the very beginning. This page wil…
