Hello,
we hope your week has been pleasant.

2.1 Experimental

This week we released the 2.1 experimental. You can read the full changelog on our Forum.
Funnily enough, the changelog was too long to post on Reddit, as the limit is 40,000 characters... oops :).

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You can opt in to experimental now, and there are some things to bear in mind:

• You get all the 2.1 changes today.
• 2.0 save games will load, but there may be changes that break your factory designs.
• We recommend backing up any saves and blueprints you care about before switching.
• Once updated, blueprints and save games cannot be downgraded to 2.0.
• There may be further gameplay changes and tweaks.
• Mods you rely on may not be updated yet.

By playing the experimental releases, you can help us improve the game:

• You are our QA, so please report any bugs on our Bugs forum.
• Any gameplay feedback or suggestions go to Ideas and suggestions.
• Give your thoughts on any of the discussions in Active topics.
• You can help us translate the 2.1 update on our Crowdin project.

How to opt in to the Factorio 2.1 experimental:

• Clean download: Download the full experimental package on our Download page.
• Website version update: Settings → Other → Enable experimental updates.
• Steam: Right-click Factorio in the library → Properties... → Game Versions & Betas → Experimental.

Other details

As a part of the update of our graphics and audio systems, we have raised the minimum operating system requirement on Linux. The minimum version of the system's GLIBC is now 2.36 (released in 2022). If Factorio doesn't launch on your system, you may need to update. Headless and Steam versions are not affected.

We have also raised the minimum requirement for macOS to 10.13 (High Sierra), which officially reached end of support and end-of-life back in 2020, and hasn't been supported on Steam since 2024.

Cracking on

We are going to be fixing bugs, polishing remaining areas, and listening to your feedback. 2.1 is not finished and we are actively digesting all of your input.

For now it has been quite a few months of focused work getting the initial experimental releases into a good shape, and we have some vacations planned, so the pace might not be absolutely turbo 100% full throttle. That is to say, please don't expect us to be changing things in too much of a rush, we still have plenty of time before we plan to mark it stable, and we will make any decisions and tweaks thoughtfully.

Our team isn't done with the project, we aren't all immediately jumping ship and washing our hands of the game. 2.1 may be the last major Factorio update, but that doesn't mean we have lost our passion and love for the game.

Friday Facts Furlough

With the experimental out, we are going to reduce the pace with the Friday Facts, and not keep to any specific schedule. It is quite fun to do these blog posts, and we have a few more things to share in the future, so these definitely aren't the final facts we will post.

As always, let us know what you think at the usual places.