The Last Caretaker Enters Early Access: Channel37’s Underwater Survival Builder Surfaces

Four years after a handful of veteran Trials developers in Finland banded together to create a new studio, Channel37 has surfaced with its first release: The Last Caretaker. Available now in Early Access on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, the game pivots from the stunt-bike precision the team is known for to an atmospheric blend of survival, building, and resource management – this time inside the chassis of a dutiful maintenance robot waking to a drowned world.

A caretaker with a mission, a ship with a heartbeat

You don’t play a lone castaway. You inhabit the circuitry of a caretaker unit whose first task is to coax a slumbering vessel back to life. Reactivating the engine is the spark; from there the ship becomes your mobile sanctuary and evolving workstation. The loop is clear but compelling: dive into flooded ruins, salvage rare components, fabricate modules, and feed energy back into the ship so it can carry you farther into the unknown. Every upgrade strengthens your odds of achieving the ultimate directive – nudging humanity away from extinction.

Early Access already frames a strong identity. Rather than endless meters to fill, systems interlock with a utilitarian logic: oxygen, power, and storage dictate how boldly you can venture. The ocean is not merely a pretty backdrop; it is a world-sized factory floor, where currents, pressure, and darkness add risk, rhythm, and surprise.

What’s in today – and what’s on the horizon

Alongside launch, Channel37 published a public roadmap that makes its intentions feel tangible. The studio is targeting a 1.0 release in 2026, with a steady cadence of content between now and then.

• Before year’s end: a content drop with new modules for deeper customization, night vision for safer descents, a fresh node-driven questline to structure progression, plus environmental additions like warehouses and caves. There’s even a lighthearted basketball mini-game to blow off steam between salvage runs.
• 2026 cadence: four major updates are planned – one kicking off the year, two arriving in spring, and a final summertime release. If the schedule holds, the path lines up neatly with a full 1.0 launch later in 2026.

That transparency matters. Survival games thrive on iteration, and Channel37’s plan suggests an evolving seascape of biomes, missions, and ship-building toys to rethink your loadouts every few weeks.

“Survival that makes sense”

“We’re delighted to share our vision with players, and are committed to the long-term future for The Last Caretaker. We wanted to make a world that feels like it could exist; it’s survival that makes sense. Sharing this roadmap now shows our intention, and we’ll deliver all of this and more as we head toward full launch in 2026.”

Performance and platforms

On the technical side, the PC version supports NVIDIA’s DLSS 4, including Multi-Frame Generation and Super Resolution, so players with compatible hardware can push higher frame rates and clarity while traversing long oceanic corridors and cavern systems. Prefer the cloud? The game is also playable via GeForce NOW, letting you pilot your caretaker from modest laptops or handhelds without compromising the experience – perfect for quick resource runs during a commute or travel.

Why this underwater trek stands out

Plenty of survival titles send you scavenging; fewer give your base a personality. In The Last Caretaker, the ship is almost a co-protagonist. As you add modules – fabricators, scanners, storage bays – the vessel’s silhouette and capabilities change, unlocking new routes and strategies. Night vision promises to shift the game’s tempo, making midnight sorties viable, while warehouses and caves hint at larger logistical puzzles: staging materials, managing bottlenecks, and planning multi-leg expeditions.

Where some ocean survival games emphasize terror or aimless drifting, Channel37 leans into purposeful momentum. The node questline structures curiosity without strangling it, and the rebuildable ship keeps your progress tactile. Each salvage haul isn’t just a number; it’s a panel installed, a thruster tuned, a new light piercing the abyss.

Early Access outlook

If the team hits its milestones, 2026 will be a busy year for caretakers everywhere. Today’s version already stakes a confident claim, offering an evocative setting, coherent systems, and a clear north star: save the ship to save what’s left of us. With frequent updates on the slate – and performance tech that scales from high-end rigs to the cloud – The Last Caretaker is well positioned to grow into a distinctive survival builder with real staying power.

Whether you dive in on Steam or the Epic Games Store, make sure your graphics drivers are current to take advantage of DLSS 4’s latest improvements. Then power up that reactor, chart a course, and see how far the ocean will let you go.