The Last Caretaker invites players to explore, build, and uncover the secrets of this transformed world

The world has changed. An endless ocean stretches in every direction, its surface broken by the last remnants of those who stayed behind. Machines still hum with forgotten purpose, beacons flicker with old signals, and infrastructure continues its silent operations. But something else stirs — technology repurposed, reshaped to drift in silence.

As the Last Caretaker, a player must navigate this vast ocean, scavenging lost knowledge, reactivating dormant systems, and ensuring the survival of humanity’s final remnants. Deep within the Seed Vaults, the last human embryos wait for their journey to the stars. But not all that remains is dormant. Some machines still whisper, still move, still watch.

The Last Caretaker is built on four core pillars that shape gameplay and story: Connection, Exploration, Caretaking, and Resilience. Every action, choice, and discovery brings players closer to fulfilling their mission of ensuring humanity's future.

Developer Channel37 announces that The Last Caretaker will launch in 1.0 in Spring 2027, arriving simultaneously on PC and XBOX, and available to play Day One with XBOX Game Pass.

The announcement marks the next major step for the science-fiction survival-crafting game following an Early Access period that began in November 2025. Since then, The Last Caretaker has shipped seven updates, sold more than 400,000 copies, and seen players average approximately 50 hours in its drowned world.

Channel37 has also released a new XBOX launch trailer, introducing players to The Last Caretaker ahead of its arrival on XBOX with Game Pass Day One.

THE ROAD TO 1.0

Channel37 reveals a new roadmap covering the journey ahead, highlighting major themes still to come, including new systems, locations, progression, and story developments, while teasing exciting new content already in development, still to be revealed.

The next major step is Update 6.0, planned for PC in early October 2026, expanding the world and its systems as The Last Caretaker moves closer to the larger questions and events shaping the full game.

FROM EARLY ACCESS TO 1.0

The Last Caretaker entered Early Access with a clear mission: recover human seeds from a drowned Earth, restore the systems needed to grow them, and launch humanity back into orbit. Since then, the humans in orbit have formed Committees and reached back toward Earth through Project Eden. New vehicles have opened the ocean vertically, from deep-water exploration to aerial travel. HoloMemories, Cultural Memories, new locations, and quest-lines have revealed more of the world's history.
Alongside new content, Channel37 has continued improving performance, stability, usability, and existing systems, guided by how players actually play.

AFTER 1.0

Spring 2027 marks the end of Early Access and the beginning of the next chapter for The Last Caretaker. Channel37 will continue expanding the game beyond 1.0, with new content, systems, locations, stories, fixes, and surprises still to come. While 1.0 marks the completion of the Early Access journey and the game’s full release, the world of The Last Caretaker continues to grow.

“Early Access is giving us something more valuable than a fixed list of features to finish,” said Antti Ilvessuo, Co-Founder and Creative Director at Channel37. “It is giving us hundreds of thousands of people living inside the game and showing us what matters. Spring is 1.0, but it’s not where we put the tools down; rather, it’s the next chapter in an ever-evolving journey.”

Key Features:

• Create: Scavenge valuable resources to repair critical systems, upgrade your robotic capabilities, and craft tools essential for maintaining your operational capabilities.
• Explore: Navigate an endless ocean dotted with towering remnants of another time. Weathered megastructures, decayed platforms, and forgotten stations still cling to purpose. Some structures hold valuable resources, others whisper with long-lost signals. 
• Discover: From encrypted recordings to long-dormant terminals, fragments of human history remain scattered across the ocean. Each piece recovered adds another thread to the story of what came before and what must come next.
• Nurture: Balance nutrition, energy, and memories to cultivate the first new humans in centuries. Every launch to the orbital colonies is a step closer to completing the Caretaker's ultimate directive.
• Survive: The ocean is beautiful, but it is not safe. Rogue machines, biomechanical threats, and unknown forces seek to disrupt your mission. You must adapt, defend, and find a way forward, no matter the cost.

Currently available through Early Access (Steam / Epic Games Store), The Last Caretaker is coming to PC and Xbox Series X|S in Spring 2027.