Substructure 17 Grows Deeper as White Knuckle Gains a New Region and More on September 29th

Get ready to enter The Abyss on September 29th and enjoy a slew of other additions, including new substructure inhabitants, expanded regions, new Perks, unlockable shortcuts, and more!

Los Angeles, USA - September 15, 2025 — Three-person, New Mexico-based dev team, Dark Machine Games, alongside indie horror publisher, DreadXP, have revealed the release date of the first major content update for their incredibly well-received speed climbing horror roguelite, White Knuckle. The Abyss Update, launching on September 29th, adds an entirely new region along with a variety of other new content.

You can run; you can climb, but can you escape The Abyss?

After navigating Silos, Pipeworks, and Habitation, players will enter The Abyss, featuring three distinct levels that harbor a number of new denizens, some friendly and many others deadly, including The Face, a new form of The Mass to pursue the Climber. New to the update are Artifact Items— extremely powerful objects that replace gaining a new Perk in The Abyss, each of which can change the way you play. To offer a shorter, albeit more dangerous route to the top, unlockable shortcuts will be added for Silos and Pipeworks. Other additions include new levels in Silos and Pipeworks, new Perks, new secrets, and more.

In White Knuckle, you are a lone climber, and your only goal is to escape the decaying depths of Substructure 17 with your life. To conquer the vertical labyrinth, you must carefully manage hand stamina, limited inventory space, and scarce supplies, all while avoiding or outrunning the dangerous entities that call the compound home. As you scale the crumbling structure, you’ll gain perks that can increase stats like stamina regeneration, jump distance, and speed. Using tools like pitons, rebar, and rope will aid your ascent, but be mindful of your greed, as too many items will weigh you down, making it much harder to climb, and one wrong move will send you plummeting to become one with The Mass.

The Abyss Update New Features:

• The Abyss: An all-new region with 3 contained levels.

• Five extremely powerful Artifact Items, which replace receiving a new Perk in the Abyss, each capable of changing how you play.

• Shortcut Regions for Silos and Pipeworks: After unlocking, skip sections of the game and climb through far shorter, more dangerous areas, at a cost.

• New Denizens

• Region Expansion in Silos and Pipeworks

• New Perks

• New Secrets

• And More!

White Knuckle is available on Steam now, and The Abyss, the first major content update as part of Early Access, will be launching on September 29th to coincide with the Steam Autumn Sale at a 15% discount. A demo, still rated at 98% overwhelmingly positive with almost 2,000 reviews, is available for prospective climbers to test their skills and try to acclimate to the harrowing life in Substructure 17.

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White Knuckle on Steam

White Knuckle is a first-person roguelite speed-climbing game. Ascend through the guts of SUB-STRUCTURE 17 using precision movement mechanics. Sharp reflexes and resource management will bring you out from under ten thousand meters of concrete and decay.