The limited 2025 test
An official Steam announcement scheduled a limited playtest to begin on March 3, 2025, at 15:00 CET. The post said that test was planned for two weeks. This is dated information about a historical build, not evidence of access today.
The later open playtest
A later official announcement says an open playtest launched on July 30, 2025, at 13:00 CEST. It described Steam request access with no keys and said the event would run for several weeks. Its access rules and content cannot be assumed for a current version.
What the historical posts described
The 2025 open-playtest messaging named painting, drilling, gluing, assembling, and a new electricity system. It also asked players to send bug details and screenshots through Discord. Those statements concern a test build and do not validate final-game mechanics or troubleshooting steps.
The public try-before-release route
In the August 12, 2026 research snapshot, the official publicly available route was the free Steam demo rather than a newly announced playtest. The demo released on July 24, 2026, as app 3642880. Whether a new playtest has been announced since that snapshot is Pending confirmation.
Do not use old test advice as a guide
Player discussions about old playtest objectives are community material, not release documentation. A historical build may have different UI, job states, and progression from the demo or full game. Current objective solutions and known issues are Pending confirmation.
Why the dates matter
The two recorded tests are tied to 2025 announcements: a limited March event and a later open July event. The latter was described as open through Steam request access without keys, but that instruction applies to the historical event rather than a standing entitlement. A date, access method, or feature named in an old playtest post should therefore be treated as archival information, with present-day access Pending confirmation.
The posts themselves retain value as dated official evidence, especially because they identify the team's own test language and timing. What they cannot do is replace the current Steam store state, which changed when the separate demo became available in 2026. A present playtest request button, eligibility rule, or test-build download is Pending confirmation until it appears in a current official source.
What a historical test can and cannot prove
The official playtest messaging can support the fact that the team publicly discussed painting, drilling, gluing, assembling, and an electricity system for that test period. It cannot establish final control layouts, tool behavior, balance, save compatibility, or that every named system shipped unchanged in the demo or full game. This distinction prevents a useful historical source from being misrepresented as a current walkthrough or release guarantee.
It also means a feature's presence in a 2025 announcement is not sufficient evidence of a release-date feature list. The later full-game news item and the demo description provide newer but still scope-limited context, while the official record remains pre-release at the stated cut-off. Final implementation, changes between tests, and post-launch behavior are Pending confirmation.
Use the demo for current public access claims
The August 2026 official record identifies a free Steam demo, released July 24, 2026, and connects it to the full game through its Steam metadata. That is stronger evidence for a public try-before-release path at the source cut-off than the year-old test announcements. Whether the demo remains installable, whether a new test is running, and whether test access has reopened are Pending confirmation and should be checked on Steam directly.
The demo record is specifically type demo and is_free true, which prevents it from being confused with a closed beta or a key-only playtest. Its own description is also limited to selected jobs and basic activities, so it should not be labelled as a full release candidate. Current demo content, build identity, and availability by region are Pending confirmation.
How to evaluate a playtest claim
Look for an official Steam announcement title, publication date, and an app-linked access instruction before calling a playtest official. A community post can report what someone saw, but it cannot replace a developer or platform statement about eligibility, schedule, or the build's content. If a claim lacks those markers, current registration, key availability, testing dates, and bug-report procedure are Pending confirmation.
The official announcements also distinguish an older limited test from the later open test, a distinction that can disappear in reposts or search snippets. Preserving that difference helps avoid advising users to request access through an expired process. Any new event's rules, duration, feedback channels, and geographic restrictions are Pending confirmation until they are officially published.