Abiotic Factor Holiday Cryosphere Update 1.2 Patch Notes

Abiotic Factor Update 1.2, also known as Holiday Cryosphere, brings winter into the underground facility with a new snowy portal world, a fresh home world, holiday gear, food changes, and a long list of fixes. The lab is still deeply unsafe, but at least now it can be festive about it.

What Is New in Holiday Cryosphere?

The main addition is IS-0188, a new location reached through the Dirac Containment Wing after the required story progress. Players must have passed Helmholtz and reached the Cascade Labs Control Center before gaining access.

Inside the Holiday Cryosphere, scientists can explore a quiet snow-covered world, investigate the new Immurement Subjects, and follow the environmental story told through the area. Snowball fights are also part of the update, which is useful for groups that need a break from being professionally endangered. For teams playing together on an Abiotic Factor server through HolyHosting, this is the kind of update that works best when everyone can reach the new content at the same time.

Completing IS-0188 unlocks the free Winter Cabin home world. This cabin includes a warm hearth, rustic furniture, and nearby soil for farming. The update also adds Carrots as a plantable food, plus recipes and food buff changes that make cooked and baked meals more valuable.

The Holiday Cryosphere trailer shows the new seasonal content below.

Update 1.2 Patch Notes for December 15, 2025

The full Holiday Cryosphere patch notes cover new content, balance changes, and fixes across the game.

Facility and Portal Worlds

• Added IS-0188, reached by a redacted route in a redacted Containment Block after progressing past Helmholtz and reaching Cascade Labs Control Center.
• Added the free Winter Cabin home world, unlocked by completing IS-0188.
• Optimized certain sunlight and moonlight shadow casting, improving performance around sunrise and sunset in home worlds and some portal worlds.
• Added a Steam-only Weather graphics setting. Low keeps the original appearance and distance, while High shows weather farther away at a possible performance cost.
• Updated some Anteverse 23 visuals.
• Added a findable Soil Bag on the Train.
• Fixed texture issues in Shadowgate.
• Fixed Garden Home World water zones that could not be interacted with or did not have proper water physics.

General Gameplay

• Rebalanced Bench Press XP for more consistent values.
• Rebalanced Exercise Bike XP.
• Made Energy Pistol cranking visible to other scientists.
• Changed flipped vehicle behavior to rely more on physics instead of teleportation.
• Added an error message when an obstacle prevents a vehicle from flipping upright.
• Fixed several cases where SUVs and other vehicles failed to flip upright.
• Fixed recalled vehicles keeping momentum and disappearing again when moving too fast.
• Hid the flip prompt on vehicles that currently have a driver.
• Made client scientists unload levels slightly faster.
• Shields now auto-unholster after existing exercise equipment.

Sandbox and Difficulty

• Added a sandbox option that lets Enemy Damage to Deployables be set to 0.
• Fixed Hardcore Mode set from Sandbox Options still showing that scientists could change difficulty. This was visual only and did not actually allow Hardcore worlds to play on Normal.
• Correctly categorized Invisible Radiation in the Sandbox Settings menu.

Entities

• IS-0127 should be kept contained and away from IS-0188.
• Traveling Traders are no longer immune to IS-0018.

HUD, Journal, and Wristwatch

• Fixed a Mil-Spec warning that showed the wrong Accuracy level.
• Fixed a scientist's DBNO icon persisting until another scientist entered DBNO in Hardcore mode.
• Fixed POCKETS inventory text not localizing properly.
• Fixed incorrect chat message text while Trypanophobia mode was enabled.

Audio and Effects

• Added a sound effect for deploying the Healing Briefcase.

Items, Deployables, and Food

• Updated the gunpowder recipe so bullet crafting is less punishing. It now uses Antegel 5 instead of 1, Carbon 3 instead of 1, Soil remains 1, and produced items increased from 3 to 10.
• Added Rustic Rocking Chair, Rustic Dining Chair, Rustic Dining Table, Creature Rug, and Mounted Alien(?) Head furniture.
• Rocking Chairs now animate and include sound.
• Added the Snowman recipe.
• Added the Arrival Bell deployable, which rings when a Traveling Trader appears nearby.
• Added Carrot as a plantable food with related recipes.
• Added the Wishing Shelf.
• Added the Wall-Mounted Item Stand recipe.
• Added the Holiday Sconce wall-mounted deployable.
• Added hangable Christmas Stockings.
• Rebalanced Bench Press XP gain rates and added new baked food buffs.
• Pest Pot Pie now gives Hearty Bite.
• Pekkie Brekke Hash now gives Very Hearty Bite.
• Carbuncle Casserole now gives Carbun Copy.
• Creepy Meat Pie now gives Flesh Ritual.
• Carbuncle Pizza now gives Wahoo!.
• Pumpkin Cookie now gives Gourd Skin.
• Salted Honey Pie now gives Honey Sealed.
• Fries, Carrot Fires, and Pumpkin Bread now give Sedentary Lifestyle.
• Pestato now gives Don't Pester Me.
• Glowing Gateau Slice now gives Restoring Bite.
• Gumdrop Cookie now gives Energy Boost.
• Shadowberry Pie Slice now gives Shady Business.
• Stuffed Roast Peccary now gives Primal Power.
• Removed Souper Satisfied from Hearty Stew because it already had a buff.
• Many food buffs longer than about a minute now save and resume after reloading a world.
• Reapplying several buffs now resets their duration, including Caffeinated, Toasty Tummy, Brain Freeze, Fish out of Water, Fisherman Snack, Scintillating Skin, and Glowing Gleaner.
• Weapon muzzle flash particles should no longer appear while scoped in.
• Updated Phone Booth and Magazine Stand glass textures.
• Fixed ammo stations being unable to access nearby chests.
• Added hidden collectibles.
• Items dropped in snow now rise to the surface after settling.
• Updated the appearance of Glowing Gateau Cake.

Customization

• Added a new character face customization unlocked after completing IS-0188.
• Added several holiday-themed clothing items obtainable in IS-188.

Other Fixes

• Fixed Jackson's TV in the introduction clipping into the screen.
• Updated Behemoth fire effects in Anning Containment Block so the fire is visible from the window.
• Fixed strange floating collision on Dr. Hammond's shovel.
• Fixed Dr. Thule's Bench Press animation.
• Applied various localization fixes.
• Fixed Traveling Traders sitting on unconstructed furniture.
• Fixed client scientists being able to talk to Traveling Traders while the traders were frightened or fleeing combat.
• Fixed stationary Traders being unable to talk or trade when enemies were nearby.
• Fixed favorited and pinned recipes not loading correctly from saves.
• Fixed user settings not saving after entering the tutorial.
• Reduced floating furniture in Home Worlds and other portal worlds, though not every case was resolved.
• Added a maximum render distance for scientist-placed furniture.
• Fixed certain traits not granting starting items properly.
• Fixed stationary traders sometimes becoming non-interactable or failing to save their state.
• Fixed visual stretching or tearing on GATE Security Chest in extreme poses.
• Fixed a major hitch when switching to certain journal tabs.
• Fixed the Delete Items button appearing on non-trash containers.
• Fixed Platform Cart storage being reduced by a previous update.
• Fixed Anteverse 23 citizens turning invisible when killed by an Electrothrower.
• Fixed Peccaries turning while frozen and charging in Apocalyptic difficulty.
• Fixed Anteverse 23 citizens T-posing when they ragdolled.
• Set the correct durability material for Transformers in Hydroplant.
• Re-added ID Cards to Holiday tops, including the sweater received for beating the game.