This cycle, the beta arrives with some massive underlying technology changes and a lot of new gameplay and content. This release marks the first step into Naev’s next era with Rust-powered internals and the debut of our fully integrated plugin manager.

You should be able to continue old 0.10.0+ saves, but due to the scale of changes (especially engine-side), starting a new fresh save will give the smoothest experience. For saves older than 0.10.0, please load the save once with 0.12.6 before loading it with newer versions.

What’s new?

1. Engine migration begins: Rust + SDL3: The engine now uses SDL3 and the port to the Rust programming language has started, improving stability and paving the way for major future upgrades.

2. Integrated Plugin Manager: Naev now includes a native plugin browser, installer, and updater, all with access to the online plugin repository built right in.

3. Major content additions:
   • 28 new missions and events
   • New intertwined Imperial minor houses
   • New systems, anomalies, portraits, objects, and more
   • 20+ new songs
   • New and reworked outfits
   • 11 new ship variants

4. Significant gameplay tweaks: Heat mechanism removed, pirates are less dangerous to new players, camera is truly isometric, improved forward weapon aiming for the player, and core outfits have been reworked to use a 1 or 2-slot system.

5. Lots of fixes, balance work, and internal cleanup: From physics touch-ups to mission fixes, weapon tweaks, save robustness, and API consistency, a lot has been improved in this release.

As usual, the beta may contain bugs, weirdness, or things that go “pop” in the darkness of space. Please try it out, break things, and tell us what happened so we can fix it before the 0.13.0 final release.