On April 2, Merge Games released a free update for its survival game Smalland: Survive the Wilds. The content pack is called the Wyrdweaver Update, with the mysterious boss enemy Wyrdweaver at its center.

Long before Obsidian launched the survival hit Grounded in September 2022, Merge Games was already working on a similar game—Smalland: Survive the Wilds. I slapped it onto my wishlist back in December 2017, but the studio ran into financial trouble not long after.

That’s why Smalland didn’t make it into Early Access until March 29, 2023—and since then, Merge Games has rolled out version 1.0 along with a whole stack of hotfixes and updates. Even in April 2026, the British devs clearly aren’t letting up, as the newly released Wyrdweaver Update shows.

The additions teased in the trailer (see below) mainly revolve around the new boss Wyrdweaver, described as a master of a forgotten arcane art. Take down the nasty bastard and you’ll get a new armor set for your trouble. But the Wyrdweaver Update has more going on than that—here’s the full rundown.

What’s in the Wyrdweaver update for Smalland

New caves: The developers didn’t just drop the Wyrdweaver into the world at random. They gave the boss a proper stage with new, expanded cave areas. That means extra dangers, secrets, and more room to explore—including hidden rewards.

Additional gear and spells: Alongside the previously mentioned armor set, which roughly resembles knight’s armor and apparently comes with—hallelujah—angel wings, there are more new items to grab. In a press release, Merge also mentions a unique weapon and ancient spells that unlock new abilities.

Improved base building: A new building tier lets you expand settlements further and beef up their defenses.

Technical and gameplay improvements:

• Expanded field of view up to 140
• Journal bug fixes (Clover Key)
• Camp: when relocating the camp via the Great Tree, placed objects no longer disappear
• General performance and graphics optimizations

Trailer shows the Wyrdweaver hideout

At 01:09 minutes, the trailer for the Wyrdweaver Update is on the short side. The main scene shows the player character in the new "angel armor" slowly crossing a high stone bridge toward the heart of the Wyrdweaver’s hideout. At the end of the bridge stands a tall stone tower, with a temple-like rotunda behind it. It could serve as a combat arena, among other things.

On the left and right of the main scene, there are also gameplay clips showing the new armor and weapon in action—against a dark giant insect that looks a bit like a fly or a bee. The video seems to cut off just seconds before the Wyrdweaver appears. So no, you don’t actually get to see the arcane figure here, but it is featured in the article’s header image.